Revelian CEO takes out coveted Australian Leadership Excellence Award

Brisbane: Revelian CEO Cherie Curtis has been recognised as the nation’s top Leader/Manager of the Year in the 2016 AIM Leadership Excellence Awards. Following three separate rounds of industry judging panels, Curtis was awarded the national title against a pool of nearly 100 of Australia’s top C-Suite leaders.

Speaking from Revelian’s Brisbane Head office, Curtis said, “It’s truly an honour to have received such prestigious recognition, particularly against such an inspiring group of finalists.  

As a CEO of a small business, my role is often more “hands-on” than that of my peers in larger organisations. I believe a good leader is able to hold attention to detail and flip to strategic thinking quickly and effectively, while being able to charter the unknown with confidence. Leaders don’t have to have all the answers but need to provide confidence that together we can figure it out and solve any problem.”

Commenting on the most rewarding aspect of holding a leadership position, she said:

“I am responsible for the wellbeing and engagement of our national team, as well as being personally accountable for driving the strategic and operational direction of our business. I consider it a privilege to be responsible for the individual development of our team, their organisational engagement and overall company culture.  To me, that’s what leadership is really about.”

Curtis aims to leverage her national recognition to provide advice support to aspiring leaders.  “I was fortunate to work with some inspirational leaders early in my career, who have really helped to shape my approach to leadership now,” she said.  “It’s important to recognise though, that working to become a great leader is a journey which never really ends; there are always new challenges to face and new techniques and strategies to learn.”

Her top tips for aspiring leaders are: 

1. Treat people like people.  The means being a “real person” yourself – demonstrating authenticity, warmth and being approachable, getting to know the team personally as well as professionally and balancing vulnerability while maintaining reliability.  

2. Hold unique relationships. This means understanding the individual needs of all stakeholders; their motivations, communication style and task preferences, and adapting your leadership approach accordingly to individuals.

3. Providing clear, consistent expectations.

4. Seek regular, frank feedback from stakeholders on your performance, and the performance of your team, and provide similar feedback to others in a way that add values without being confrontational.

5. Recognise the bigger picture. A process is only ever as good as the objective it is achieving, and everyone involved must understand and buy-in to that objective in order to feel confident in the process and want to follow it. 

6. Challenge the norm and insist on continuous improvement. 

7. Be clear on your focus and know when to engage others to deliver the parts of the process that are better performed by an external expert.  This also means resisting the temptation to try to be the best at everything.

ENDS

About Cherie Curtis

As CEO of Revelian, Cherie is responsible for the strategic and operational direction of the business, and delivers solutions that utilise advancements in both technology and psychology to provide best practice outcomes to a variety of customers globally. Cherie joined Revelian (then Onetest) in 2003 as an intern, progressing to Head of Psychology in 2005 and then CEO in 2015.

Cherie has been recognised as the nation’s top leader in the 2016 AIM Leadership Excellence Awards, and was a finalist in the 2015 Qld Telstra Businesswomen’s Awards. Cherie is a registered Organisational Psychologist and Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

About Revelian

Revelian is an innovation-driven Australian company at the forefront of providing unique psychometric tests, surveys, games and communications analytics. We deliver insights to inform people decisions that help organisations recruit the right people, develop employees, as well as enhance and align team culture and performance. Leading companies including some of the nation's biggest employers use Revelian to support their hiring and people management decisions with objective insights. www.Revelian.com