Elijah Macartney-Fuao Highly Commended in Yooralla’s Emerging Leader Award 2021

Elijah has consistently demonstrated a friendly demeanour, thorough work practices and provides conscientious support to customers, staff and teams.

The Emerging Leader Award is for individual Yooralla employees, not currently in senior leadership roles, who have excelled as emerging leaders by demonstrating leadership potential. Yooralla’s annual awards recognise team and individual staff who go above and beyond the expectations of their roles.

A valued team member

Elijah has been a member of the Yooralla team as a Disability Support Worker in the Outer South before joining the Outer East team as a Service Manager in April this year. As Service Manager, she brought stability, assisted her peers in managing their workloads, and has engaged in several special projects that are beyond her Nelson Street service deliverables.

“Working with such a wonderful team of people I was quite shocked that I had been highly commended. I felt so grateful to even be nominated. I think there is so much to recognise in our organisation and I wouldn’t have obtained this achievement without the support of my peer team of Service Managers as well as my staff team at Nelson St. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such passionate amazing workers that inspire me every day,” said Elijah.

Elijah was nominated by Project Manager, Neurological SIL Services, Andrea Walters, who recognises Elijah’s contributions over the seven years she has worked for Yooralla.

“Elijah has quickly gained the support and trust of her customers and colleagues alike. She often details her human rights focus in supporting customers and her team to achieve their goals,” said Andrea.

“Elijah leads by example with particular focus on customer empowerment to ensure they remain at the centre of their own journey, decision making and goal setting.”

Her nomination was supported by Senior Clinical Advisor, Nadia Garcia and Divisional Quality Manager for Residential and Respite Support Services, Kirsty Gatsios. Kirsty has been impressed with Elijah’s demonstration of Yooralla values in all interactions including during training, telephone conversations and team meetings.

“The curious and conscientious nature of Elijah’s leadership is key in the way she supports customers to receive a person centred, well-informed and unparalleled customer experience,” said Kirsty.

Supporting peers

Elijah regularly volunteers on projects across the organisation. She has shown a passion to learn and improve outcomes for her service and the wider organisation. Elijah has supported another region to complete their peer audits, assisted staff to de-escalate significant incidents and guided members of the team to learn more about Yooralla's values. She has also assisted staff to develop time management practices, learn new systems such as CMS and to complete their induction and learning pathways.

Being self-reflective to ensure best practice

Andrea Walters has observed Elijah’s ability to reflect on workplace situations to identify potential solutions before seeking advice from her manager.

“Elijah has an unwavering ability to remain calm, positive and with a strong sense of best practice as she leads her team through challenging incidents, hospital admissions and unexpected staffing related matters,” said Andrea.

Elijah has shown that she refers to policy in her work, is innovative, solutions focused and adapts to dynamic situations swiftly and with good humour.

“I base my success in my role on wonderful outcomes for customers little and big, which is what motivates me to aim for excellence. Although not always perfect, I can say that my team and I are always doing the absolute best we can with the tools we are provided and we can get through difficult situations while still providing person centred support,” said Elijah.

Elijah is most proud of the way she and her team navigated complex situations during lockdown.

“We are still going and motivated to keep going every day.”

Congratulations to Elijah on being Highly Commended. Yooralla is grateful for your positive contributions to the organisation’s workplace culture where you have led by example to prioritise customer’s needs.