Episode 24: Thriving in Uncertainty with Amanda Cattermole

When our next Trailblazer took up the challenge to take on the role of CEO and lead the Australian Digital Health Agency at the height of the pandemic, she felt that it was a near-impossible place to lead from, considering the limitations of not being able to be in the same physical space as most of the staff. But on reflection, Amanda Cattermole now sees how this has shaped the flexible and hybridised work environment that’s now fundamentally everywhere. In our latest episode, Amanda joins us to talk about taking the path less travelled and leading in uncertainty.  

Listen to episode twenty-four:

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About this episode:

This episode is a great example of a leader who is passionate about creating an organisational culture that’s focussed on stewardship, built on deep collaboration, and comprised of leaders at every level who add to the culture by enabling stewardship and innovation and creating a convening role with the broader ecosystem.  

It also conveys a powerful message of the impact that leaders can have in seeing things and pathways for others that they can't necessarily see for themselves and how, with the right encouragement, it can profoundly impact their career journey in a really positive way.

Even in the midst of the pandemic's uncertainty, Amanda could immediately see that everything had changed in the world of health and digital innovation. The conversation had changed. No longer was the debate around privacy and security, though these were still critically important; it was now about accessing healthcare immediately.

Amanda shares how another important change at that time was that the players in the healthcare ecosystems had to come together in a completely different way, which required radical and immediate collaboration. These fundamental changes saw the introduction of telehealth and electronic prescribing, things that had been spoken about for years, being implemented in six weeks.

As a response to these pivotal changes, the Agency needed to be really different, too. They needed to step into the role of convenors of the system. Leaders needed to have a relational skill set in crafting and amplifying the Agency's role as a steward and deliverer and focus on the organisational culture.

Amanda details this further, diving into the importance of hiring the right people, how every leader at every level needs to contribute something to the collaborative culture of the organisation, and how you can create an environment where the artefacts and daily ways of working exemplify what you have said your organisation is going to be. By creating artefacts that reflect this, you show clarity, which trust is built on.

 “Some of the most unexpected ones (jobs) are the ones that I kind of couldn’t have seen if you’d gone back to my earlier self that I wouldn’t have predicted in anyway, have in some ways been the most incredible.”

Having also served as interim CEO of Services Australia during the 2019/2020 bushfire season, you may presume that Amanda has always been one for taking up challenges. Still, as Amanda describes, whilst the sense of making a difference and seeking purpose have been a common thread throughout her career stemming from her childhood and influenced by her parent's deep passion and dedication as public education teachers, it has also come from the privilege of working for leaders who have seen things and pathways for her, that she couldn't see for herself, and who were caring enough to press her in the right ways to take on roles that were seen as riskier.

Through these critical junctures, Amanda has overcome her own uncertainty in taking on roles that seemed unfamiliar to her at the time to realise that her skills aren't bound to the particular area that she worked in. Rather, they are broader and could be applied in different places and in different ways of leading teams during change, nurturing other leaders, and setting and creating positive cultures.

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Amanda Cattermole

Chief Executive Officer

Australian Digital Health Agency

Ms Amanda Cattermole PSM is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Digital Health Agency, a role she commenced in September 2020.

Auspiced by the governments of Australia, the Agency is the steward for digital enablement of Australia’s health system, with a lead role in coordinating national engagement, delivery and adoption of digital health to enable person-centred, connected healthcare.

The Agency also builds national health infrastructure and delivers national digital health products and services that make it easier for healthcare providers and Australian healthcare consumers to access, manage and share health information and that support a sustainable health system delivering safe, high-quality health services for all Australians.

Prior to this Amanda held several senior roles at Services Australia, including interim Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, and Deputy Secretary, Health and Aged Care Group, where she was responsible for the delivery of payments and services to Australians under Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme and in the aged care sector.

Amanda has previously held senior roles in Commonwealth departments, including Treasury, the former Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Department and Prime Minister and Cabinet.  She has held senior State government roles in the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and the Western Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs. In her earlier career Amanda worked as a lawyer in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of Laws and a Master of Business Administration. In 2013, she received the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service leading reform in providing housing for Indigenous people in remote communities and the National Gambling Reform laws.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.