Author: Holly

Originally posted on Lets Lake Mac

A Lake Macquarie prototyping lab is playing host to cutting-edge work in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emergency hospital ventilators designed and built in Lake Macquarie will be ready for clinical testing as soon as next month.

Electrical engineering company Ampcontrol was selected by the NSW Government to produce ventilator prototypes when the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Australia earlier this year.

The company is a partner in The Melt at Dashworks Makespace Warners Bay, a collaborative hub for start-ups and corporates to access funding, expertise, equipment and pathways to rapidly commercialise their products.

Parts vital to Ampcontrol’s ventilator prototype were designed and 3D printed at the Melt site, while the company’s electronics division at Cameron Park has been responsible for the research and development, electronics and production.

CEO Rod Henderson says NSW Health had requested 10 prototype units for clinical testing.

“If successful, full production could be mobilised quickly if the need arises during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Henderson says.

“If we go to full production of the ventilators, we could see a whole new industry here in Lake Macquarie and the Hunter supporting the local economy and jobs.”

“The ventilators could also be of benefit overseas, including in developing countries.”

The expected June delivery date of the 10 prototypes is a remarkable result considering Ampcontrol previously specialised in resources, infrastructure and energy – not medical equipment.

“What the team has achieved is nothing short of outstanding, and a testament to the engineering excellence and ingenuity in our region,” Henderson says.

Hunter New England Health, The University of Newcastle and Hunter-based electrical engineering companies Safearth and NewieVentures assisted in the prototype’s design, demonstrating the benefits of local collaboration.

“Together, we were able to design and deliver a fully functional emergency ventilator prototype to the John Hunter Hospital for clinical testing in just 18 days,” Henderson says.

Head of the Ampcontrol Warners Bay engineering team Pierre Gouhier says The Melt provided an ideal base due to its facilities and proximity to other manufacturing sites across the region.

“This environment is fitting for our research and development engineering team, who are continually working with innovators at The Melt to generate new ideas and solve issues through advanced manufacturing and rapid prototyping,” he says.

Mr Henderson says he is “immensely proud” of his company’s role in the fight against COVID-19.

“We have such a highly advanced manufacturing capability and engineering excellence in our region, which has come to the forefront in the past few weeks with so many local businesses answering the call to arms from the Government,” he says.

“With such a renewed focus on the importance of Australian manufacturing, we need to remain working together so that we can continue to produce innovative solutions and products here in Lake Macquarie and the rest of the Hunter Region.”

Dashworks Makespace is an initiative of Dantia.

A business is only as good as its team. If you want your business to succeed, you need employees who work efficiently, productively and harmoniously together. With so many different skillsets, work styles and personality types to balance, this can often be trickier than it sounds. So, what’s the best way to put together a high-performing team?

To find out, we sat down with Ian Edwards, Managing Director of Planalife and Business On Purpose, to chat about the importance of team dynamics and the simple steps you can take to build a team that works.

Team dynamics: why is it so important to get them right?

No matter how good your business plan, products or services may be, they won’t succeed without the right people in place to help them do so. As Ian says: “The greatest resource we have in our business is our people.”

But it’s not just a matter of sourcing the right individuals. It’s about the way they all fit together. It’s about ensuring that our team at large, as well as the smaller teams-within-the-team, can perform at a high level. And that’s where team dynamics comes in. “Understanding team management, team dynamics and behavioural analytics helps us to build powerful teams, and even little partnerships inside your team, so you have the right people joined together with the right skill base and the right behaviour base to bring out the best in each other,” Ian explains.

So what happens when your team dynamics are off? Well, it will be a costly mistake. “There’s an enormous amount of negative outcomes that can come from not understanding behavioural analytics and trying to put square pegs through round holes,” Ian explains. Chief among these is lost time due to a lapse in efficiency and productivity – and as every business owner knows, time is money.

Thoughtfully and strategically planning team dynamics will be the best thing you ever do for your business. By putting in the effort to ensure your team is dynamic, you’ll be setting up your business in the best possible position to fulfil its true potential.

Steps for building a high-performing team

We asked Ian about his formula for building a harmonious, high-performing team. Here are the steps he recommends…

1. Understand your team

First things first: you’ve got to know who you’re working with. And that means investigating and understanding the behaviour of each person in your team. “Behavioural analytics are absolutely essential to running effective teams,” Ian says.

At Business On Purpose, Ian’s approach is to use multiple questionnaires to understand employees at a deeper level. These include DiSC profiles, asset analyses, emotional intelligence questionnaires, and investigations into stress management, conflict resolution and learning styles. “With these questionnaires, we can quickly see a well-rounded understanding of the person – what they might be suited to, where their attributes will grow, where their struggles will be, and what’s significant about bringing that person into certain roles within the company,” Ian explains.

2. Research the dynamics of your team

As well as understanding your individual employees, it’s vital to explore the ways they work together as a team. “It’s about identifying where problems exist, potential can be explored and profit can be increased – forming effective partnerships within your team and allowing them to get the best out of each other,” Ian explains.

Smaller groups and partnerships within your team function as smaller cogs in the overall machine. It’s vital to be able to predict how each of these cogs will operate and effect each other; if you don’t, you risk jamming the machine and hindering the overall progress of the business. “You can have two people who are pretty good individually, but when you join them into a team, all of a sudden their efficiency rate drops off,” Ian says. “A lot of the time that’s because of not understanding the dynamics of what putting those two people together will mean.”

3. Consider the structure of the workplace

The physical structure of your workplace can be just as important as the structure of your team itself. Creating an environment where each team member has the space they need to work to their particular strengths is vital.

As well as considering whether people are being matched to the right tasks for their behavioural styles and motivations, Ian recommends considering things like “whether people should be in private rooms, whether they should be in open workspace, whether they should face people or face away from people”, and so on.

4. Be ready to change

The bottom line: none of the above steps will work if you and your employees aren’t ready to change. Sometimes a floor-to-ceiling shakeup is needed to ensure your team is performing to the highest possible standard. While this might sound daunting, it’s important to be flexible as your business grows and changes – and when you understand your team members thoroughly, this becomes a whole lot easier.

“None of employment is static. Even though you give people a role, that role will develop over time,” Ian reminds us. “And when we can see inside a person a little bit more and have more predictable behavioural patterns, we can understand proactively what we might need to do to be able to get the best result out of that employee.”

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Ian Edwards provides a range of coaching services and short courses to help people “plan a life they want to live in” and “have a business on purpose”. With 36 years of experience in a variety of business types, Ian takes a holistic approach with clients, aiming to create fulfilling life plans and thriving, successful businesses and teams.

If you’re looking for a space to house your team, why not give Dashworks a try? Join over 120 other professionals and entrepreneurs – book your free 5-day trial here.