Greg Sam: “It is important to keep up with the pace of the sector.”

Gali Blacher March 23, 2016

3 min read

The Royal Flying Doctors Service is not your everyday charity.

The RFDS has been around for 88 years and was voted the number one charity of 2015.

CEO Greg Sam said it takes a certain type of personality and a unique style of leadership to run a charity of this size and stature.

Sam has worked in the rural health sector for many years and has a passion and dedication to providing the best medical care for rural communities.

Third Sector spoke to Sam to find out the secrets to successful leadership, what it takes to have a number one charity and his advice for those charities just starting out.

TS: How did you become the CEO of RFDS?

GS: My professional background is in public health, for the last 10-15 years I worked in rural health and development health both in Australia and overseas. The opportunity came up with the RFDS and the timing was right. I was given the wonderful opportunity to improve the lives of rural Australians.

TS: Did your time with Rural Health Workforce Australia influence your role as CEO of RFDS?

GS: Yes it did. It gave a perspective about how the availability of suitable health professionals [impacts on areas where quality services are traditionally very hard to sustain]. It was an opportunity to see the development from the bottom up. It is also very interesting to see the development of the technology now in remote areas.

TS: What do you think are the most important qualities a leader could possess?

GS: In a health context, it is having a perspective around the aim of your service. It is [also] having a good understanding how communities see the services you are actually trying to provide. In a NFP and charity context, that relationship is key. It is being able to understand large-scale national policy and reform that you are able to apply and implement locally.

TS: Why do you think RFDS was voted the number one charity in Australia?

GS: For almost three quarters of a century the service itself has a very closed local affiliation to the people that both use it and support it. We have managed to evolve and move so that we are seen to be very much part the sector. It is also important that the government sees [that] we fulfil a very important role. We have maintained a low profile in terms of organisational presence and a high profile in terms of our community relationship.

TS: What strategies are put in place that makes RFDS the number one charity?

GS: It is important to make sure that the organisation itself keeps up with the way that the service is being delivered and accepted in the community. It is important to transform in the way that the community want us to, but at the same time keep up with the pace of the sector. That means putting in external strategies to manage our funds. It is important to fit in and become integrated. On one hand we want to be very important and relevant locally, but increasingly we need to be able to operate and reform in both a regional state and national health system structure. We are a highly regulated sector and keeping pace with that, strikes the heart of the quality of our service.

TS: RFDS has three guiding values: dedication, integrity and innovation. Why are these values so important?

GS: Part of the proposition of our staff, and the value that our staff see in our organisation as a health service, is the relationship [they have with the] community. The communities have an expectation that all our staff exhibit a high degree of service. It reflects the fact that in rural health and remote health- the relationship requires a certain type of individual and reflects those values so that it maintains continuity.

TS: Do you think the government could do more to help the NFP sector?

GS: I think the government will always need the NFP sector. I think communities accept the vital role the NFP plays. I think NFPs are also accepting the fact that the way [the sector] is both managed and funded needs to continually evolve and improve.

TS: What advice would you give to a new charity?

GS: What you don’t want is to set up an organisation that needs to constantly refine its structures. You want to be able to enable a way of being a bit more dynamic than being restrictive. It is very much just a process of good governance and good strategic planning. The most important thing is you represent and demonstrate that value to communities and areas that you’re trying to provide a service to.

TS: What are your future hopes for RFDS?

GS: I think simply, we are an organisation that is now in its 88^th year; we need to continue to evolve our governance structures. The key is that we are, and continue to be, a voice for rural and remote Australians.

Greg Sam will be a speaker for the Third Sector conference in August, find out more details at https://thirdsectorexpo.com.

Gali Blacher

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