October 27, 2024 • 23 mins
It’s interview time again!
In this episode, we spoke with Dr Belinda Chapman, Co-Founder and CEO of Quantal Bioscience and it was a great discussion.
Quantal Bioscience is a private research laboratory focussed on doing good big things with tiny microbes, across the food, agriculture and education sectors. Belinda herself has more than 25 years’ experience as a research microbiologist, and has led, managed, developed and inspired small teams of 5-20 research scientists for most of the past 20 years, and in a range of workplaces, from state and federal government institutes to industry, large and small.
Belinda opens up about her own journey of being a leader and comparing the difference between leading a team for a company you work for, and leading a team in your very own business. She also shares some great tips to improve engagement and retention in your workplace.
Follow Quantal Bioscience's LinkedIn page here
Follow Quantal Bioscience's Facebook page here
You can find the show notes for this episode here
Would you like to submit a question to the show? Let us know on our website or via LinkedIn.
Brought to you by Aster HR, the Work Wonders Podcast is hosted by Angela Gauci & Susan Rochester and is recorded at Launch Pad at Western Sydney University.
All information or advice included in this podcast is general, has been developed as a starting point for your business, and should be tailored to your specific requirements. It should not be considered legal advice. We have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and currency of this information at the time of recording. However, references to things like employment laws are subject to change. For specific advice relating to your business, please get in touch with us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you
by Asta HR, where we simplifythe human side of business.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Angela and I'm Susan, let's dive into today's
episode and find out what you'vebeen wondering about.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Today it's interview time again, and we are delighted
to welcome Dr Belinda Chapman,who is the co-founder and
director of Quantal Bioscience,to the room.
Her private research laboratoryfocuses on doing good, big
things with tiny microbes acrossthe food, agriculture and
educational sectors.
Belinda has more than 25 yearsof experience as a research.
(00:43):
Linda has more than 25 years ofexperience as a research
microbiologist and has led,managed and developed and
inspired small teams of around50 to 20 research scientists for
most of those years and in herrange of workplaces that she's
been in, from state to federalgovernment institutes.
They've been across a varietyof industries and size of
organisation and teams, largeand small.
(01:05):
The discussion was a great one.
We heard not only about thefascinating industry that she's
in and the work that they'redoing, but also how she's built
her team and her own personaljourney from being a leader
inside an organisation and anemployee herself to moving into
leading her own team.
She touched on engagement andretention, and we had a great
(01:26):
discussion around culture in aworkplace as well.
She had a lot to offer.
You're going to love this one,so let's get started.
This is the Work Wonders podcast.
Hi Susan, hi Angela.
So today we've got anotherinterview.
We always love our guestinterviews and we'd like to
welcome Belinda from QuantalBioscience here.
(01:46):
Welcome, belinda.
Thank you very much for havingme.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thanks for coming along and chatting with us today
, belinda.
We met at a function here atLaunchpad actually, didn't we?
Yeah, we did, and I wasfascinated by where you'd come
from and your work history andwhat you're doing now.
So can you expand for ourlisteners a bit more about your
career and your?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
business.
Yeah, so I am a microbiologist,I'm a research scientist and
I've spent about 25 years doingresearch across all different
kinds of industries so in thefood industry, agriculture, the
environment and I've also spenta lot of time working in
education, but not as a teacher,so as a lecturer at university
(02:32):
on occasion, but a lot of timealso spent working with high
school and primary schoolstudents and teaching them
science as well.
So my career kind of takes mefrom industry so places like
I've worked at Arnott's, I'veworked at Sanitarium, a number
of different food manufacturers,through to working at the CSIRO
(02:54):
, where I was there for 10 yearsas a research scientist and
then also out on a few differentinteresting diversions, working
at Westmead Hospital for awhile, working around Warragamba
Dam for a while and also atKPMG for a while as well.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So I've had quite an eclectic kind of career.
So they employ microbiologists.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
They do.
So there's a whole kind of areaof advanced science and
technology kind of work at KPMGand also around some things some
people might have heard of,like R&D tax incentive, this
particular scheme to encourageresearch in Australia in
industry, and so I've beeninvolved from that side of
(03:38):
things with KPMG as well.
But where I am now is I'veactually established my own
business, which is QuantalBioscience, and we are about
nine years old Actually, we'renine years old at the end of
this month.
Congratulations, thank you verymuch.
And so that's been a wholedifferent journey, but still as
a research microbiologist, butnow with a few extra hats on as
(04:00):
well.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, we all put those extra hats on once we get
into our own businesses.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Don't, we Can't help it when you're a business owner.
So science definitely, even infood production and agriculture,
as you said.
So yeah, I'm really curiouswhat sort of things would they
ask of you there and how doesthat fit into the production of
those sorts of items?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah.
So I guess when I first startedin my career, it was a little
less complicated in some waysthan it is now.
I guess when I first started itwas very much things like have
we got salmonella in, you know,for example, eggs or chickens or
somewhere where we don't wantthat kind of organism?
But now, with a whole lot ofnew technology coming in which
(04:44):
is what our company actuallyspecialises in, which is around
DNA sequencing the questions andthe opportunities have got a
lot bigger in food and inagriculture, and so one of the
key areas that we actually workin is fermentation.
So a lot of people would thinkabout fermentation like making
yogurt, making bread, makingbeer, that kind of thing.
(05:08):
We all like all the good stuffSalami, olives, just list goes
on.
So in fermentation there's alot of microbiology research
Right, and we can actually delveinto these really fascinating,
really complex fermentations nowusing DNA sequencing.
So really funky things like getwhole new microorganisms to
(05:32):
grow where they wouldn'tnormally grow, trying to get a
whole lot of new bioactive kindof molecules out of
microorganisms, that sort ofthing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, you talked about, you know, going from
different place to place andquite different sort of
industries or differentbusinesses before you had your
own.
I'm curious does the same sortof process apply no matter where
you are?
To some respect, you know, isit with that skill that you've
got and the knowledge thatyou've got, is it sort of able
to be taken away to any industry?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
It is so in terms of my technical skills.
So my technical skills areactually really transferable
across industries.
I had a good fortune of kind oflearning at a very theoretical
and fundamental kind of basethat then turned into something
that was applicable to lots ofdifferent areas.
So that's been really great.
And then my business skills andmy other kind of skills are
(06:28):
totally transferable across allof those as well, just like most
people would imagine.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So before you started .
Quantel, you were an employee,obviously.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yes, I was.
Yes, generally, I'm trying tothink back.
It's been a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You may have had another business before that.
No, Because what I was curiousto ask about was you know,
although you were managing staffin previous roles and you had
teams and all the rest of that,what's different for you now?
You know, doing it in your ownbusiness.
The stakes are a bit higher.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
For a start, yes, yes , I think so.
Obviously, if you don't keep inyour own business, if you don't
keep money coming in the door,then there's a lot bigger
consequences, a lot more soon, alot sooner.
I think that the key differencefor me is really focusing in on
how do I create a really highperforming team, and that has
(07:24):
always been a passion of mine.
But it does sort of hone it toa fine edge when you know that
you've got to make payroll thenext fortnight.
So and we have a small team.
It's a very dedicated team,it's a very specialised team.
In some ways it's also quite akind of niche sort of team and
(07:48):
in a lot of ways we're askingthe team to do things that
aren't often asked of them inother environments as well, in
other working situations.
So they're all learning newskills all the time in that
small business context, eventhough they're still obviously
employees.
Being employees in differentkind of contexts also does mean
(08:10):
that you're asking differentthings of your employees as well
, that's true.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So in your business, what would be an example?
Say someone had come from.
Csiro into your business?
What would they be doing thatthey wouldn't have got exposure
to?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So a couple of things like marketing.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yes so it's.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You know, a lot of our team is very practised at
working with different clients,obviously doing the research,
working with different clients.
But then there's a whole otheredge to it when you're talking
about things like marketing andspeaking to people more broadly
about what we do to try andengage people, rather than the
specifics of our kind ofresearch.
(08:51):
As scientists, we're all oftenguilty of slipping into our
specialist area and starting totalk too much in detail, in
technical detail, about whatwe're doing or what we're
interested in, but we engagewith kind of broader audiences
often.
So remembering, especially in amarketing kind of context, we
(09:11):
might have to come up to a sortof a higher level of being able
to be engaging with people.
And that can be challenging whenyou're head down in a specific
area for a lot of the day andthen you've got to kind of morph
into somebody who's doingmarketing or, in the case of our
team as well, a lot ofeducation work with students of
(09:31):
all ages as well.
So it's quite a different kindof mindset in there, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I'm sure listeners could really identify with that
as well because you know, youknow, you know your stuff, but
you still have to do other stuffas well, and it is that kind of
changing the hat, or yeah, andwhen you're a small team,
everyone has to pitch in, andsometimes it is about being
multidisciplinary and steppingin and doing bits and pieces to
make the ship go forward, Iguess.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It absolutely is in our team.
Yeah, everybody has to getinvolved in just about
everything at some point in time.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Do you enjoy listening to our interview
episodes?
As you can tell, Angela and Ireally enjoy making them, so
we're always on the lookout forinteresting people we can
interview.
If you or someone you knowwould make a great guest for us,
please get in touch.
You can contact us through ourwebsite at astrohrcomau or via
(10:28):
LinkedIn.
We're always happy to have achat about what we might be able
to discuss.
That can both inform ourlisteners and help you to reach
a wider audience.
Now let's get back to theepisode.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, belinda.
Well, you talked about beingquite specialised in what you do
with your clients.
So, no doubt is that whatattracts people to want to come
and join your team if they getto be able to work in that
technical space, in a veryniched area.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I think what particularly attracts people to
our team, and we have aninteresting kind of dynamic in
our team.
We've got a whole bunch ofpeople that I've actually been
working with for sometimes up toabout 20 years, and we've kind
of followed each other through.
A number of organisations kepttogether as a team.
But we've also got a youngercohort that's about half of our
(11:23):
age that we've managed toattract.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Why don't you employ 15 year olds?
We do, they're more likemid-20s, but we do actually
employ 15 year olds as well, sothat those younger kind of
generation.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It's an interesting kind of dynamic.
But I think what's reallyattracted those younger people
to our team is we are a reallyunique offering in the science
sort of space.
In Australia.
There aren't too manybusinesses like ours sort of
space in Australia there aren'ttoo many businesses like ours
and often getting into sciencesort of organisations is quite
(12:03):
challenging and we have a verypersonal kind of way of talking
and interviewing and recruitingour newer sort of graduates and
so on, which I think is quiterefreshing when you compare it
to often the major sort of jumpsand hoops that you have to go
(12:27):
through to get into largerorganisations.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, going to all the trouble of finding them.
I mean, you talked about otherpeople following you and your
journey and coming and joininginto the team, but keeping them
engaged and keeping themlong-term, I guess, is front of
mind for you.
Would that be right?
It is definitely.
What sort of strategies haveyou used or what have you done
over the time to keep peopleengaged in the work that they're
doing and the vision of yourbusiness and, yeah, keep them
(12:53):
around for the long term?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I mean, a key thing when you're working with
scientists is scientists love tolearn.
They love to learn constantly,and so making sure that you're
providing opportunities forlearning is probably one of the
key things.
And so with our youngerrecruits, we have implemented
(13:17):
very deliberate kind of training, including helping to sponsor
and take them through master'sprograms, PhD programs and so on
while they're working with us,which again is often challenging
if you're working for a largerorganisation.
So we're kind of providing aunique opportunity in that
(13:40):
regard and also, I think, by thenature of a small business.
When there is a lot going on inthere, there's a lot of
opportunity to learn a lot ofthings really quickly.
And because we have a veryexperienced older cohort of
scientists as well as youngerteam members, they're getting a
lot of experience kind of intotheir heads really quickly.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And in a really just close kind of way you know like
the team is very close and we'reall in together.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So, it's not like it's separated in multiple
levels of hierarchy or anythinglike that and I was thinking
also like as a scientist, bytraining myself, the whole
collaborative expectation of youknow scientists talk to each
other about their work and youknow what the developments are
and all that sort of thing.
So it's exciting to be in thatenvironment where you're
(14:32):
involved in those conversations.
It is yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
And I mean, I always think science is a team sport
yes, definitely, and so havingthat opportunity for
collaboration and learning fromyour peers is really important.
It's also really important,though, as well, to give
scientists space to get intodeep, independent kind of work.
(14:56):
Get into deep, independent kindof work, and so that's.
We do both at Quantal, which,again, is a really good thing,
because you need both of thosekind of elements as a scientist.
And do you structure that?
Yeah, we do so we have, eventhough, as I said, everyone kind
of jumps in and works together.
Everyone has their own bit ofspecialisation as well.
(15:19):
We try and give opportunity,wherever we can while still
juggling the demands of a smallbusiness for different people in
the team to specialise indifferent areas that they can
spend some quality time on andget really deep in their
knowledge.
So we want that combination ofI think I heard it referred to
(15:40):
as well in a few different waysin business but like a T-shaped
person you want to be reallydeep in some areas and very
broad across a lot of areas, andthat's true in science, it's
true in business.
Yeah, I agree, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, Belinda.
From your experience of being aleader of a team and more so
recently in your own businesswith your team, what practical
things have you done to maintaina really positive culture where
everyone is aligned to thepurpose of what you're doing?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
It is a practice that I've had right through my
career, but it's particularlyimportant now in a small
business where we have to alignto achieve things.
I think the key thing and I'mgetting better at it all the
time and I'm certainly puttingmuch more deliberate effort into
it is really sharing the wholeof the journey with the team as
(16:31):
much as I possibly can.
I have come from a bit of abackground where sometimes you
know you're talking aboutcertain things to management,
you're talking about othercertain things to your team, and
I have had that kind oftraining myself to hold
different things back fromdifferent audiences within the
business.
But I think in a small businesslike ours there's actually more
(16:55):
value in having everybodypretty much up to speed as much
as possible with all aspects ofthe business, and so that's
definitely a work in progress,something I'm really deliberate
about now and you know that'sbeen kind of something that I've
actually been receiving somebusiness coaching on as well
over the last 12 months and Ican see the difference that it's
(17:19):
making to the team and reallyagain taking a whole bunch of
people who are either neverreally worked in science before
and this is their first sciencejob, and then taking a whole
bunch of people who have workedlargely in an institutional kind
of setting for a long time.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Taking all of those people along on what is the
journey not just of our science,but what's the journey of our
business as well, is really,really important, and I'm hoping
it will all reap benefits as weslide into our 10th year, as we
all do yes, well, susan and Iare always rabbiting on about
communication, and I think,fundamentally, that's what
(17:56):
you're talking about theresharing information on a
practical point of you know,this is the decision we're
making, or this is the positionwe're going toward, or whatever
it may be.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I like what you're saying there, yeah, and I can
definitely see a benefit for youcoming, if not already, a lot
about how you do what you do andhow the organisation achieves
what it's achieving, but wehaven't really spoken to the
specifics of the services thatyou offer your clients.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Can you tell us a bit more about what?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Quantel does.
Where do you make your money?
How do you keep those peopleemployed?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Sure, we actually do four different things, and I
said four and I'm holding upfive fingers, so that anybody
can see me because there's kindof a fifth thing on the side so
we work with, we do our ownresearch internally.
We also do other people'sresearch as well for them.
(18:52):
So we have lots of clients, bigand small multinationals
through to one single personkind of businesses, and we do
research for those businesses.
We have also got a whole suiteof education products and
experiences that we do for highschool students, for primary
(19:14):
school students, high schoolstudents for primary school
students.
We also have out of theresearch that we have done over
the years we have commercialisedthat into some really specific
services which is around DNAsequencing and that is actually
applicable into the food area,into the agriculture area,
(19:36):
environmental area and healthareas as well.
So we do work in animal healthand agriculture and so on.
And then there is a fourth area,which is training.
So we offer training.
Again, we do quite specialisedtraining for large multinational
businesses who need veryspecialised training around
(19:56):
certain things, and we do veryfundamental kind of training for
people, especially in the foodindustry, who are maybe just
starting out with their owncompany, their own products,
learning how to make especiallyartisan foods for the first time
and how do they actually makesure that they're going to be
(20:17):
safe for their consumers to eatand also how do they know that
they're going to get the rightsort of shelf life as well.
So we offer that training kindof services as well.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Okay, belinda.
Well, we always like to end ourinterviews with the same
question and we'd love you toshare with our listeners maybe
one thing that they could takeaway that might help the
engagement and retention intheir own teams.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Okay, thank you for asking that question.
It's a great question and I didgive it a lot of thought.
So I think the key thing for mein keeping a team together and
retaining them into the longerterm is always being prepared to
do everything that you'reasking your team to do as well,
or flipping it over, I guess.
(21:03):
So don't ask your team to doanything that you wouldn't be
prepared to do yourself.
It doesn't mean that you haveto do everything, but you have
to be prepared to do the samethings that you're asking your
team to do.
And again, I think in smallbusinesses we can all
acknowledge sometimes you'redoing things that are outside
your comfort zone.
Things are outside my comfortzone as well, but if I think
(21:25):
well, I'll have a go at it.
I'm hoping that my team willhave a go at it as well, and
vice versa.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I love that.
Leading by example, yeah,sounds simple, but yeah, such an
important part.
Well, thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure talkingwith you today, belinda.
It's so interesting to listento your story and your business,
and certainly outside mycomfort zone, but I loved
hearing about it.
Thank you for sharing with usBefore you go.
(21:52):
If people would like to knowmore, or perhaps even doing some
educational training with you,how could?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
they do that.
Thanks for that as well.
So if you're interested at allin our training programs
especially if you're a smallfood business looking for some
expert advice, so the best thingis to go to our website, which
is wwwquantalbiosciencecom.
If you are interested in oureducation programs, we have a
(22:20):
Facebook page which is alsoQuantal Bioscience and that
tends to focus around oureducation programs.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Fantastic.
Well, we'll be sure to putthose links in the show notes
today so you can just click onthat.
And thanks again for being withus.
Thank you very much for havingme again.
Thank you very much for havingme again.
Thank you Thanks for listeningto the Work Wonders podcast
(22:48):
brought to you by Asta HR.
Hit the subscribe button now tonever miss an episode, and if
you'd like to continue theconversation with us, you can
find us over at astrhrcomau.
See you in the next episode.
Welcome to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you
by Asta HR, where we simplifythe human side of business.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Angela and I'm Susan, let's dive into today's
episode and find out what you'vebeen wondering about.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Today it's interview time again, and we are delighted
to welcome Dr Belinda Chapman,who is the co-founder and
director of Quantal Bioscience,to the room.
Her private research laboratoryfocuses on doing good, big
things with tiny microbes acrossthe food, agriculture and
educational sectors.
Belinda has more than 25 yearsof experience as a research.
(00:43):
Linda has more than 25 years ofexperience as a research
microbiologist and has led,managed and developed and
inspired small teams of around50 to 20 research scientists for
most of those years and in herrange of workplaces that she's
been in, from state to federalgovernment institutes.
They've been across a varietyof industries and size of
organisation and teams, largeand small.
(01:05):
The discussion was a great one.
We heard not only about thefascinating industry that she's
in and the work that they'redoing, but also how she's built
her team and her own personaljourney from being a leader
inside an organisation and anemployee herself to moving into
leading her own team.
She touched on engagement andretention, and we had a great
(01:26):
discussion around culture in aworkplace as well.
She had a lot to offer.
You're going to love this one,so let's get started.
This is the Work Wonders podcast.
Hi Susan, hi Angela.
So today we've got anotherinterview.
We always love our guestinterviews and we'd like to
welcome Belinda from QuantalBioscience here.
(01:46):
Welcome, belinda.
Thank you very much for havingme.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thanks for coming along and chatting with us today
, belinda.
We met at a function here atLaunchpad actually, didn't we?
Yeah, we did, and I wasfascinated by where you'd come
from and your work history andwhat you're doing now.
So can you expand for ourlisteners a bit more about your
career and your?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
business.
Yeah, so I am a microbiologist,I'm a research scientist and
I've spent about 25 years doingresearch across all different
kinds of industries so in thefood industry, agriculture, the
environment and I've also spenta lot of time working in
education, but not as a teacher,so as a lecturer at university
(02:32):
on occasion, but a lot of timealso spent working with high
school and primary schoolstudents and teaching them
science as well.
So my career kind of takes mefrom industry so places like
I've worked at Arnott's, I'veworked at Sanitarium, a number
of different food manufacturers,through to working at the CSIRO
(02:54):
, where I was there for 10 yearsas a research scientist and
then also out on a few differentinteresting diversions, working
at Westmead Hospital for awhile, working around Warragamba
Dam for a while and also atKPMG for a while as well.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So I've had quite an eclectic kind of career.
So they employ microbiologists.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
They do.
So there's a whole kind of areaof advanced science and
technology kind of work at KPMGand also around some things some
people might have heard of,like R&D tax incentive, this
particular scheme to encourageresearch in Australia in
industry, and so I've beeninvolved from that side of
(03:38):
things with KPMG as well.
But where I am now is I'veactually established my own
business, which is QuantalBioscience, and we are about
nine years old Actually, we'renine years old at the end of
this month.
Congratulations, thank you verymuch.
And so that's been a wholedifferent journey, but still as
a research microbiologist, butnow with a few extra hats on as
(04:00):
well.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, we all put those extra hats on once we get
into our own businesses.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Don't, we Can't help it when you're a business owner.
So science definitely, even infood production and agriculture,
as you said.
So yeah, I'm really curiouswhat sort of things would they
ask of you there and how doesthat fit into the production of
those sorts of items?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah.
So I guess when I first startedin my career, it was a little
less complicated in some waysthan it is now.
I guess when I first started itwas very much things like have
we got salmonella in, you know,for example, eggs or chickens or
somewhere where we don't wantthat kind of organism?
But now, with a whole lot ofnew technology coming in which
(04:44):
is what our company actuallyspecialises in, which is around
DNA sequencing the questions andthe opportunities have got a
lot bigger in food and inagriculture, and so one of the
key areas that we actually workin is fermentation.
So a lot of people would thinkabout fermentation like making
yogurt, making bread, makingbeer, that kind of thing.
(05:08):
We all like all the good stuffSalami, olives, just list goes
on.
So in fermentation there's alot of microbiology research
Right, and we can actually delveinto these really fascinating,
really complex fermentations nowusing DNA sequencing.
So really funky things like getwhole new microorganisms to
(05:32):
grow where they wouldn'tnormally grow, trying to get a
whole lot of new bioactive kindof molecules out of
microorganisms, that sort ofthing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, you talked about, you know, going from
different place to place andquite different sort of
industries or differentbusinesses before you had your
own.
I'm curious does the same sortof process apply no matter where
you are?
To some respect, you know, isit with that skill that you've
got and the knowledge thatyou've got, is it sort of able
to be taken away to any industry?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
It is so in terms of my technical skills.
So my technical skills areactually really transferable
across industries.
I had a good fortune of kind oflearning at a very theoretical
and fundamental kind of basethat then turned into something
that was applicable to lots ofdifferent areas.
So that's been really great.
And then my business skills andmy other kind of skills are
(06:28):
totally transferable across allof those as well, just like most
people would imagine.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So before you started .
Quantel, you were an employee,obviously.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yes, I was.
Yes, generally, I'm trying tothink back.
It's been a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You may have had another business before that.
No, Because what I was curiousto ask about was you know,
although you were managing staffin previous roles and you had
teams and all the rest of that,what's different for you now?
You know, doing it in your ownbusiness.
The stakes are a bit higher.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
For a start, yes, yes , I think so.
Obviously, if you don't keep inyour own business, if you don't
keep money coming in the door,then there's a lot bigger
consequences, a lot more soon, alot sooner.
I think that the key differencefor me is really focusing in on
how do I create a really highperforming team, and that has
(07:24):
always been a passion of mine.
But it does sort of hone it toa fine edge when you know that
you've got to make payroll thenext fortnight.
So and we have a small team.
It's a very dedicated team,it's a very specialised team.
In some ways it's also quite akind of niche sort of team and
(07:48):
in a lot of ways we're askingthe team to do things that
aren't often asked of them inother environments as well, in
other working situations.
So they're all learning newskills all the time in that
small business context, eventhough they're still obviously
employees.
Being employees in differentkind of contexts also does mean
(08:10):
that you're asking differentthings of your employees as well
, that's true.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So in your business, what would be an example?
Say someone had come from.
Csiro into your business?
What would they be doing thatthey wouldn't have got exposure
to?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So a couple of things like marketing.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yes so it's.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You know, a lot of our team is very practised at
working with different clients,obviously doing the research,
working with different clients.
But then there's a whole otheredge to it when you're talking
about things like marketing andspeaking to people more broadly
about what we do to try andengage people, rather than the
specifics of our kind ofresearch.
(08:51):
As scientists, we're all oftenguilty of slipping into our
specialist area and starting totalk too much in detail, in
technical detail, about whatwe're doing or what we're
interested in, but we engagewith kind of broader audiences
often.
So remembering, especially in amarketing kind of context, we
(09:11):
might have to come up to a sortof a higher level of being able
to be engaging with people.
And that can be challenging whenyou're head down in a specific
area for a lot of the day andthen you've got to kind of morph
into somebody who's doingmarketing or, in the case of our
team as well, a lot ofeducation work with students of
(09:31):
all ages as well.
So it's quite a different kindof mindset in there, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I'm sure listeners could really identify with that
as well because you know, youknow, you know your stuff, but
you still have to do other stuffas well, and it is that kind of
changing the hat, or yeah, andwhen you're a small team,
everyone has to pitch in, andsometimes it is about being
multidisciplinary and steppingin and doing bits and pieces to
make the ship go forward, Iguess.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It absolutely is in our team.
Yeah, everybody has to getinvolved in just about
everything at some point in time.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Do you enjoy listening to our interview
episodes?
As you can tell, Angela and Ireally enjoy making them, so
we're always on the lookout forinteresting people we can
interview.
If you or someone you knowwould make a great guest for us,
please get in touch.
You can contact us through ourwebsite at astrohrcomau or via
(10:28):
LinkedIn.
We're always happy to have achat about what we might be able
to discuss.
That can both inform ourlisteners and help you to reach
a wider audience.
Now let's get back to theepisode.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, belinda.
Well, you talked about beingquite specialised in what you do
with your clients.
So, no doubt is that whatattracts people to want to come
and join your team if they getto be able to work in that
technical space, in a veryniched area.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I think what particularly attracts people to
our team, and we have aninteresting kind of dynamic in
our team.
We've got a whole bunch ofpeople that I've actually been
working with for sometimes up toabout 20 years, and we've kind
of followed each other through.
A number of organisations kepttogether as a team.
But we've also got a youngercohort that's about half of our
(11:23):
age that we've managed toattract.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Why don't you employ 15 year olds?
We do, they're more likemid-20s, but we do actually
employ 15 year olds as well, sothat those younger kind of
generation.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It's an interesting kind of dynamic.
But I think what's reallyattracted those younger people
to our team is we are a reallyunique offering in the science
sort of space.
In Australia.
There aren't too manybusinesses like ours sort of
space in Australia there aren'ttoo many businesses like ours
and often getting into sciencesort of organisations is quite
(12:03):
challenging and we have a verypersonal kind of way of talking
and interviewing and recruitingour newer sort of graduates and
so on, which I think is quiterefreshing when you compare it
to often the major sort of jumpsand hoops that you have to go
(12:27):
through to get into largerorganisations.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, going to all the trouble of finding them.
I mean, you talked about otherpeople following you and your
journey and coming and joininginto the team, but keeping them
engaged and keeping themlong-term, I guess, is front of
mind for you.
Would that be right?
It is definitely.
What sort of strategies haveyou used or what have you done
over the time to keep peopleengaged in the work that they're
doing and the vision of yourbusiness and, yeah, keep them
(12:53):
around for the long term?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I mean, a key thing when you're working with
scientists is scientists love tolearn.
They love to learn constantly,and so making sure that you're
providing opportunities forlearning is probably one of the
key things.
And so with our youngerrecruits, we have implemented
(13:17):
very deliberate kind of training, including helping to sponsor
and take them through master'sprograms, PhD programs and so on
while they're working with us,which again is often challenging
if you're working for a largerorganisation.
So we're kind of providing aunique opportunity in that
(13:40):
regard and also, I think, by thenature of a small business.
When there is a lot going on inthere, there's a lot of
opportunity to learn a lot ofthings really quickly.
And because we have a veryexperienced older cohort of
scientists as well as youngerteam members, they're getting a
lot of experience kind of intotheir heads really quickly.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And in a really just close kind of way you know like
the team is very close and we'reall in together.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So, it's not like it's separated in multiple
levels of hierarchy or anythinglike that and I was thinking
also like as a scientist, bytraining myself, the whole
collaborative expectation of youknow scientists talk to each
other about their work and youknow what the developments are
and all that sort of thing.
So it's exciting to be in thatenvironment where you're
(14:32):
involved in those conversations.
It is yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
And I mean, I always think science is a team sport
yes, definitely, and so havingthat opportunity for
collaboration and learning fromyour peers is really important.
It's also really important,though, as well, to give
scientists space to get intodeep, independent kind of work.
(14:56):
Get into deep, independent kindof work, and so that's.
We do both at Quantal, which,again, is a really good thing,
because you need both of thosekind of elements as a scientist.
And do you structure that?
Yeah, we do so we have, eventhough, as I said, everyone kind
of jumps in and works together.
Everyone has their own bit ofspecialisation as well.
(15:19):
We try and give opportunity,wherever we can while still
juggling the demands of a smallbusiness for different people in
the team to specialise indifferent areas that they can
spend some quality time on andget really deep in their
knowledge.
So we want that combination ofI think I heard it referred to
(15:40):
as well in a few different waysin business but like a T-shaped
person you want to be reallydeep in some areas and very
broad across a lot of areas, andthat's true in science, it's
true in business.
Yeah, I agree, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, Belinda.
From your experience of being aleader of a team and more so
recently in your own businesswith your team, what practical
things have you done to maintaina really positive culture where
everyone is aligned to thepurpose of what you're doing?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
It is a practice that I've had right through my
career, but it's particularlyimportant now in a small
business where we have to alignto achieve things.
I think the key thing and I'mgetting better at it all the
time and I'm certainly puttingmuch more deliberate effort into
it is really sharing the wholeof the journey with the team as
(16:31):
much as I possibly can.
I have come from a bit of abackground where sometimes you
know you're talking aboutcertain things to management,
you're talking about othercertain things to your team, and
I have had that kind oftraining myself to hold
different things back fromdifferent audiences within the
business.
But I think in a small businesslike ours there's actually more
(16:55):
value in having everybodypretty much up to speed as much
as possible with all aspects ofthe business, and so that's
definitely a work in progress,something I'm really deliberate
about now and you know that'sbeen kind of something that I've
actually been receiving somebusiness coaching on as well
over the last 12 months and Ican see the difference that it's
(17:19):
making to the team and reallyagain taking a whole bunch of
people who are either neverreally worked in science before
and this is their first sciencejob, and then taking a whole
bunch of people who have workedlargely in an institutional kind
of setting for a long time.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Taking all of those people along on what is the
journey not just of our science,but what's the journey of our
business as well, is really,really important, and I'm hoping
it will all reap benefits as weslide into our 10th year, as we
all do yes, well, susan and Iare always rabbiting on about
communication, and I think,fundamentally, that's what
(17:56):
you're talking about theresharing information on a
practical point of you know,this is the decision we're
making, or this is the positionwe're going toward, or whatever
it may be.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I like what you're saying there, yeah, and I can
definitely see a benefit for youcoming, if not already, a lot
about how you do what you do andhow the organisation achieves
what it's achieving, but wehaven't really spoken to the
specifics of the services thatyou offer your clients.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Can you tell us a bit more about what?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Quantel does.
Where do you make your money?
How do you keep those peopleemployed?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Sure, we actually do four different things, and I
said four and I'm holding upfive fingers, so that anybody
can see me because there's kindof a fifth thing on the side so
we work with, we do our ownresearch internally.
We also do other people'sresearch as well for them.
(18:52):
So we have lots of clients, bigand small multinationals
through to one single personkind of businesses, and we do
research for those businesses.
We have also got a whole suiteof education products and
experiences that we do for highschool students, for primary
(19:14):
school students, high schoolstudents for primary school
students.
We also have out of theresearch that we have done over
the years we have commercialisedthat into some really specific
services which is around DNAsequencing and that is actually
applicable into the food area,into the agriculture area,
(19:36):
environmental area and healthareas as well.
So we do work in animal healthand agriculture and so on.
And then there is a fourth area,which is training.
So we offer training.
Again, we do quite specialisedtraining for large multinational
businesses who need veryspecialised training around
(19:56):
certain things, and we do veryfundamental kind of training for
people, especially in the foodindustry, who are maybe just
starting out with their owncompany, their own products,
learning how to make especiallyartisan foods for the first time
and how do they actually makesure that they're going to be
(20:17):
safe for their consumers to eatand also how do they know that
they're going to get the rightsort of shelf life as well.
So we offer that training kindof services as well.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Okay, belinda.
Well, we always like to end ourinterviews with the same
question and we'd love you toshare with our listeners maybe
one thing that they could takeaway that might help the
engagement and retention intheir own teams.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Okay, thank you for asking that question.
It's a great question and I didgive it a lot of thought.
So I think the key thing for mein keeping a team together and
retaining them into the longerterm is always being prepared to
do everything that you'reasking your team to do as well,
or flipping it over, I guess.
(21:03):
So don't ask your team to doanything that you wouldn't be
prepared to do yourself.
It doesn't mean that you haveto do everything, but you have
to be prepared to do the samethings that you're asking your
team to do.
And again, I think in smallbusinesses we can all
acknowledge sometimes you'redoing things that are outside
your comfort zone.
Things are outside my comfortzone as well, but if I think
(21:25):
well, I'll have a go at it.
I'm hoping that my team willhave a go at it as well, and
vice versa.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I love that.
Leading by example, yeah,sounds simple, but yeah, such an
important part.
Well, thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure talkingwith you today, belinda.
It's so interesting to listento your story and your business,
and certainly outside mycomfort zone, but I loved
hearing about it.
Thank you for sharing with usBefore you go.
(21:52):
If people would like to knowmore, or perhaps even doing some
educational training with you,how could?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
they do that.
Thanks for that as well.
So if you're interested at allin our training programs
especially if you're a smallfood business looking for some
expert advice, so the best thingis to go to our website, which
is wwwquantalbiosciencecom.
If you are interested in oureducation programs, we have a
(22:20):
Facebook page which is alsoQuantal Bioscience and that
tends to focus around oureducation programs.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Fantastic.
Well, we'll be sure to putthose links in the show notes
today so you can just click onthat.
And thanks again for being withus.
Thank you very much for havingme again.
Thank you very much for havingme again.
Thank you Thanks for listeningto the Work Wonders podcast
(22:48):
brought to you by Asta HR.
Hit the subscribe button now tonever miss an episode, and if
you'd like to continue theconversation with us, you can
find us over at astrhrcomau.
See you in the next episode.
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