One of Cleanaway’s long-serving regional managers is moving east to replicate his strong model of people development and operational excellence to grow its Industrial & Waste Services (IWS) base for Cleanaway in Queensland.
Norman (Norm) Gomm has been appointed Queensland State Manager after six years in his current role, during which revenue has increased from about $40 million to more than $100 million.
He is being joined by Account Manager Rob Vincent, who has also been behind the success of the South West Western Australia & South Australia (SWWA &WA) region and who will relocate from Kwinana to Brisbane from 1 July to remain a part of Norm’s team.
Norm, who started at Cleanaway 14 years ago as a branch manager, attributes most of the team’s success to the people.
“In the leadership team, most of us have worked together for six years and all of the managers I work with have come from the ‘tools’. We started as casual operators, moved on to be full time operators and then on to be managers. If anyone wants to take the next step, they need to find replacements, which means identifying and developing people so they can move into these roles,” he says.
Underlining the importance of internal promotions and succession planning, replacing Norm as Regional Manager is one of his direct reports, Perth Metropolitan Branch Manager Scott Hamilton.
Over the last three years Scott and his team have grown Perth branch revenue from $9 million to more than $20 million. They have expanded the service area from metropolitan Perth to the vast southern WA region and secured several key contracts spread across that area.
Pictured from left: Scott, Rob and Gomm
The IWS business provides a wide variety of specialised services to the infrastructure and resources markets including drain cleaning, non-destructive digging, vacuum loading, high pressure cleaning and pipeline maintenance to customers such as alumina refineries operated by Alcoa and South 32.
General Manager IWS Paul Birighitti says the appointments demonstrate IWS’ commitment to the Queensland market, succession planning and internal promotions.
“We are moving a successful leader to another state because we see great potential for Norm and his new team in Queensland, where we intend to not only protect our leading market position in the state but expand it,” he says.
“It’s also a credit to Norm, who has been with Cleanaway for 14 years, that Scott can take his place and that Rob is prepared to move with him to try to replicate the success of WA in Queensland.”
Norm believes the WA business model is applicable to Queensland and he is looking forward to working with the rest of the existing Queensland IWS team.
“We have a very consultative approach in which nobody is more important than anyone else and everybody has a role to play. I hold workshops offsite with operators in which I ask them for feedback and show the potential for them to advance at Cleanaway. The only way we improve is by getting feedback from the people on the ground. It’s about open conversations,” he says.
Scott came to Australia from Scotland and worked as a vehicle mechanic for a further year before joining Cleanaway’s predecessor Transpacific Industries as an operator and moving up through the ranks to supervisor and then branch manager at Kwinana Beach.
“I planned to be here for one to two years to get experience in mining. Nine and a half years later I am still here. That’s because I have been given opportunities to progress. I was looking at it as a job before. Now I am looking at it as a career,” he says.
Like Norm he also attributes their success to people.
“It’s about having the right people in the right places. Norm has always valued people and ensures we understand how important our people are. As a team we discuss everything and work out the best solution in all situations.” Scott says.
“Customers trust us. We build relationships with them as we build relationships with each other. The fact that we have been here for a long time gives them confidence in our service ability.”
Pictured from left: Rob, Norm and Scott
Rob joined Cleanaway more than six years ago after 14 years with the Royal Australian Navy, starting as an operator before moving through safety and branch manager positions to his current role.
“Initially I wanted to ease myself into civilian work life. I had friends who worked as operators at Cleanaway and decided to join myself,” he says.
“I quickly learnt there are a lot of opportunities within Cleanaway, and I made a decision to pursue a career here. Initially it was in safety but as I worked closely with operations, I decided to take up the opportunity to become a branch manager.”
Rob says a secret to the success of the SWWA & SA region is that all of the managers and supervisors came from the ‘shop’ floor.
“It’s all about internal development and succession planning, identifying good people and using them in the right areas,” he says.
“For me the transition between my various roles has been easy because I have a very good understanding of the business from a safety, financial and operational perspective and ready-built relationships.
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