Kiwi Business Story: Kathy Shailer at Hyspecs

Kathy Shailer is the Branch Manager at Hyspecs in Christchurch and an Owner Manager Programme and Leadership Development Programme alumni. 

This Kiwi Business Story is based on a podcast from 23 February 2023, and all figures quoted are from that time. You can enjoy the complete podcast here. 



Tell us about your Hyspecs journey. 

I started in September of 2000. At the time, the company I worked for was looking to make me redundant. A client’s husband worked at Hyspecs and their administrator said, ‘Oh, we've got an opening, would you be interested?’ 

I had an offer from another company, but Hyspecs just felt like a good work family, and I decided to take the role. Then it just grew from there. In 2005 I had my twin boys, so I had a wee break and then went back – still at that stage doing administration work, but doing a bit more looking after the teams around the other branches. 

In 2011, I was brought on as a shareholder. Then, in 2015, we moved premises, which was an enormous job, but well worth it. Around 2017 I moved into the Branch Manager role for the South Island and was appointed as a director. I’ve worked with an amazing bunch of people, and I've been here 22 years now!

What is your leadership style?  

Collaborative, would be one way of putting it. I'm very much that way. Culture is hugely important to me because I know from experience that a great culture produces great results. It's a no-brainer. So… very people-orientated, and very collaborative. 

How did you hear about The Icehouse?

Richard [Krebs] is our CEO. He was on the first-ever OMP, so it’s in our blood! He was the one that got me onto the Leadership Development Programme in 2012. I learnt a lot, and I learnt a lot about myself, and on OMP as well in 2018.

Were there any hesitations around doing LDP and OMP?

I had a little more hesitation around OMP, but LDP was just about confidence. I've spoken to other people who have felt this way around the whole, ‘I don't want to show myself up’ thing. You know you might be good at what you do, but you still have this feeling of, ‘I'm not going to make it’ and ‘I'm not going to be good enough’. That’s definitely a Kiwi thing. 

What were the major learnings from LDP and OMP?

One of the [key takeaways] would have been around self – myself in the business, and looking after myself. 

You have to make sure that you are at your best, so you can be the best for the business, because it's so easy to get pulled into the business and not look after yourself.

It’s also about making sure that you have your routines and put those things in place so that you can be the best that you can be. So, a lot of things around that. The resilience learning was very valuable and certainly a worthwhile part of both programmes. 

I also learnt so much from the people on the programmes, and the support that's ongoing since then, for each other. There's quite a number of us that have kept in touch and we kept in touch through the Covid lockdowns as well. We would just have a bit of an online get-together with a wine in hand and just share our experiences and reassure each other… and it was great! 

What is the current challenge that you're looking to overcome in 2023?

I know that we all sometimes go on these programmes, and we get all fired up. But then sometimes we slip back into old habits or we go through a bit of a tough patch. So the beginning of this year for me was a reset and to re-establish some of those routines I set post-OMP. 

A lot is happening in our industry in terms of technology change; automation, electronic controls, and customers who are trying to head down more of a sustainability path as well. That impacts their systems and what they're doing, so they're coming to us asking for help with changing this or converting that. So that's very cool and exciting.

Whatever we do, I'm doing it with some awesome people. And no matter what happens, even if we have some strong headwinds or whatever, we have a great team, and we are still going to grow and thrive.