Sue McCarrey

In her own words

I was in education prior to transport and appointed Principal of a school on the outskirts of Perth, relatively young. It’s a complex leadership role being a school Principal. You are responsible for people, education, building and property, and in a small town, like I was in, you are the most senior government person on the ground and get approached to talk about just about everything. Good teachers have very good interpersonal skills. The experience certainly helps you moving into other leadership roles because leadership is also about teaching.

I was seeking another government opportunity outside of education and one came up in WA railways. The then Commissioner of WA Government Railways needed someone with a general policy, strategic planning and legal background and he reached out. I never woke up and said I wanted to work in transport. It was an opportunity, and it was one of the best things I ever did because I just love it. You can see the outcomes of your work because it’s a real thing.

In my role at the ONRSR the biggest challenge, and a career highlight, was when we became fully national as an organisation. It was a major reform project. Previously all the states had state-based regulators and needed to pass legislation to enable the setup of a national rail safety regulator. It took an extensive period of time and transitioning of staff. Achieving this was fantastic.

Seizing the challenge

Teams aren’t great when they are all men or all women. It is not good to have either occur. You need to work with existing managers because they almost subconsciously have the habit of attracting and promoting people like themselves. You must open their eyes about the benefits of working with people who are different to them. It will challenge leaders because you don’t get a whole lot of yes people. But it is incredibly important in any team.

Whenever there is a role available, particularly a promotion, I will go out of my way to approach people and say, ‘you should throw your hat in the ring for this - you would be really good.’ I am not handpicking the person. I might approach two to three men and women but particularly women because often they need greater encouragement to see the benefits of the role and their own skills. The more we can do that the better.

I always say to people if the opportunity is there and the work interests you - even if it is an acting role - take it, so people can see what you are capable of. I assess opportunities based on the challenge it presents. I never wrote a career plan. For me once I achieved what I could in a particular role I started looking for the next challenge.

Another piece of advice is when you get the knocks (and you always do) don’t take them to heart or stay angry. It is often not your problem. Instead keep going, continue to work hard, prove you are good at what you do and enjoy your success.

Leading the way

It is the responsibility of our senior leaders in transport to bring young people on and with that making sure they are bringing more women along as part of that journey. It’s about helping people on the outside looking in and saying ‘actually this is a good industry to work’ as opposed to what they probably see as a pretty blokey environment. The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) is doing a great job profiling women in the industry.

We are making progress. Quite often now I am in meetings and there are only women. Who would have thought that possible 15-20 years ago?