Kristy Atlana
Melbourne,VIC
Summary
Experienced People and Culture professional with over 15 years in public, commercial, and not-for-profit sectors, delivering impactful business results and enhancing employee experiences. Proven ability to navigate between strategic and operational roles, fostering high performance and a values-driven culture aligned with business objectives. Extensive expertise in all facets of People and Culture, including talent acquisition, change management, employee engagement, and organizational design. Recognized for building strong relationships and providing strategic advice, ready to leverage skills to elevate organisational success.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of People and Culture
Bendigo Kangan Institute
Cremorne
11.2023 - Current
- Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer.
- Leading a People and Culture team of 45 across Business Partnering, Workforce Planning, Talent Acquisition, Organisational Development, Workplace Relations, Diversity and Inclusion.
- Transformed the people and culture team, increasing customer satisfaction from 53% to 77% in 18 months.
- Deployed new HRIS (SAP SuccessFactors), optimizing efficiency and effectiveness across all core people processes, aligning with best practices while increasing customer satisfaction from 43% to 79% within 18 months.
- Designed and executed comprehensive people and culture strategies supporting organisational goals and objectives.
- Motivated, engaged, and inspired team members to improve ways of working, leading to higher levels of collaboration, job satisfaction, and customer service.
- Spearheaded organisation-wide change initiatives to foster continuous improvement, cultural transformation, and drive performance.
- Promoted values-aligned culture via strategic learning, development, and diversity efforts.
- Worked with cross-functional teams to achieve goals.
- Demonstrated strong problem-solving skills, resolving issues efficiently and effectively.
- Utilized advanced technical skills and expertise to troubleshoot complex problems and implement solutions.
People and Culture Change Consultant (contract)
Box Hill Institute
Box Hill
05.2023 - 11.2023
- Executed workforce transformation project to align employees with strategic objectives.
- Implemented restructuring initiatives, reducing operational costs and improving efficiency.
- Advised executive leadership team on implementation of target operating model and structure, functioning as trusted advisor and subject matter expert
- Uplifted leadership capability through coaching, performance, and development plans to enable leaders to lead the workforce through significant change.
- Conducted organisational development interventions to tackle cultural issues and enhance leadership skills.
Executive Director, People and Culture
Knox City Council
Wantirna
09.2022 - 06.2023
- Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.
- Leading a People and Culture team of 28 across business partnering, workplace relations, workforce planning, remuneration and benefits, talent acquisition, people operations, organizational development, diversity and inclusion, volunteer management, payroll, health, safety, and well-being.
- Led transformation of people and culture via analysis of HR operating model, HR interaction model and structure, moving from operational to strategic function, launching shared services and centre of excellence to satisfy current and future business requirements – a considerable change project in traditional and resistant organisation delivering improved service quality and 10% salary savings.
- Attained employee engagement score of 70% within people and culture team, surpassing organisational average of 59%.
Business Partner, Manager, Executive Director
Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (Department of Health)
Melbourne
09.2016 - 06.2022
- A commercially operating not-for-profit public entity reports to the Minister for Health and is responsible for the management of 362 hectares of land, $900 million in assets, $300 million invested, and $100 million in capital projects underway at the time.
- Advanced through various positions within six years, attaining promotions from Business Partner to Manager and ultimately to Executive Director of People and Culture.
- Led a People and Culture team of 15 across business partnering, workplace relations, organisational development, change management, internal communications, talent acquisition, and health, safety, and well-being.
- Manage a budget of $3.5 million.
- People Strategy - partnered with Mercer to develop strategy aligned to current and future workforce needs and organisations strategic plan, featured four strategic pillars containing 43 initiatives over three years. This was achieved by engaging key stakeholders through collaboration and consultation, including focus groups, fostering excitement while incorporating feedback into the future-focused and co-created People Strategy.
- HR operating model, customer interaction model and structure - led transformation of people and culture function through review of these, shifting from operational to strategic, with improved customer satisfaction from 53% to 82% over 12 months.
- Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Strategy - partnered with HSE Global to address evolving conditions, securing stakeholder commitment to the strategy and roadmap – time, resources, budget – resulting in a 40% reduction in WorkCover premium and serious injuries.
- Gender Equality Action Plan - led development and implementation, including a new standalone sexual harassment policy and initiatives to combat harassment in the workplace.
- Executed implementation of new HRIS, streamlining core people processes through automation and digitization, which elevated efficiency and enriched reporting insights to enhance customer satisfaction.
Business Partner, Employee Relations and Change Le
Toyota
Melbourne
08.2010 - 07.2016
- Led employee relations, change management, and internal communications initiatives during manufacturing closure in Australia, including drafting letter and speech from President to all employees announcing closure and subsequent redundancies of most employees.
- Achieved 20% cost reduction in Toyota’s Global Mobility Program through negotiation of all supplier agreements and management of 15/21 compensation and benefits
- Projects - designed health and wellbeing program, Graduate Engineer Program and employee engagement.
- Comprehensive business partnering across: talent acquisition, employee relations, compensation and benefits, culture, learning and development, succession planning, employee engagement, performance management, organization design, workforce planning and restructuring.
People and Culture Advisor
Reflex Copy Paper
11.2009 - 08.2010
People and Culture Coordinator (contract)
Baw Baw Shire Council
11.2008 - 11.2009
Education
Master of Human Resource Management -
Deakin University
01.2026
Diploma of Business (Human Resource Management) -
Box Hill Institute of TAFE
PROSCI And PCI Accredited -
Change Management Methodology
Certificate IV in Training And Assessment -
Safecity
Enterprise Leadership Program -
Human Factors
ICAM Investigation Accredited -
Investigation Methodology
Continuous improvement and problem-solving methodology -
Toyota RTO
Skills
- People Leadership - often told ‘not like other leaders’ a vision is set, and people inspired to perform and align to the organisations purpose, mission and values This is achieved through an engaging, warm, supportive, and affiliative leadership style underpinned by genuine care for people resulting people feel truly valued Uplifts capability, motivates, engages and builds high performance, as evidenced by strong employee engagement scores, feedback from stakeholders and strong business results
- Strategic Leadership - through strong commercial acumen and strategic thinking, develops and executes strategic and business plans to achieve business objectives, ensuring efforts of the P&C team align with and meet current and future business needs
- Strong technical human resource skills and knowledge - across entire employee lifecycle, providing accurate strategic and operational support and advice to organisations, leaders and employees
- Strong Values and Behaviours - ‘What I do’ is equally as important as ‘how I go about it’ – quickly building rapport through warmth, relatability, and authenticity, I value honesty, openness, empathy and building connection with others to work harmoniously together to deliver results for organisations
Affiliations
- Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI)
- Change Management Institute (CMI)
Accomplishments
- Finalist in Leadership HQ’s Outstanding Leadership Award, 2022
- 67% to 92% employee engagement score over two years (P&C team)
- 63% to 82% employee engagement score over three years (whole organisation)
- 20% cost reduction of Toyota’s Global Mobility Program
- Developed 3-year People Strategy aligned to business strategy
Insights about me
- My purpose in life is to make a positive difference in the lives of others
- Growing up on a dairy farm with limited means, a strong sense of community, family values, and experiencing much adversity in life has shaped me into a resilient, strong, compassionate, and genuinely good person
- My leadership philosophy is like my parenting philosophy; it is my role to provide those around me with every opportunity to reach their full potential in life
- My lived experience with neurodivergence has resulted in me seeing what others don't see, a strong set of gifts and talents....
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Head of People and Culture
Bendigo Kangan Institute
11.2023 - Current
People and Culture Change Consultant (contract)
Box Hill Institute
05.2023 - 11.2023
Executive Director, People and Culture
Knox City Council
09.2022 - 06.2023
Business Partner, Manager, Executive Director
Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (Department of Health)
09.2016 - 06.2022
Business Partner, Employee Relations and Change Le
Toyota
08.2010 - 07.2016
People and Culture Advisor
Reflex Copy Paper
11.2009 - 08.2010
People and Culture Coordinator (contract)
Baw Baw Shire Council
11.2008 - 11.2009
Master of Human Resource Management -
Deakin University
Diploma of Business (Human Resource Management) -
Box Hill Institute of TAFE
PROSCI And PCI Accredited -
Change Management Methodology
Certificate IV in Training And Assessment -
Safecity
Enterprise Leadership Program -
Human Factors
ICAM Investigation Accredited -
Investigation Methodology
Continuous improvement and problem-solving methodology -
Toyota RTO
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