LET INTERCHANGE BE INTERCHANGE – EAT SAUSAGES!

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The NDIS is here and it’s a revolution in the way support to people with disabilities is provided.

Everything has changed from processes and systems to thinking like a business. Choice and control has been wrestled away from institutions and given to the individual. Welfare is over and everybody with a disability shall be a consumer in the marketplace where businesses battle for the consumer dollar. You no longer have to be stuck with one agency, you can go where you want to get your services. Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, IGA or your local butcher – you can choose where you get your sausages and they all cost the same … for now.

So you make you choice based on:

  • availability – yes we have sausages
  • quality – these are lamb & rosemary…
  • the extras – garnished with a sprig of parsley
  • advertising – shiny on paper … still sausages
  • friendliness – didn’t realise butchers flirting was a big thing
  • loyalty – they have always had sausages
  • Extra costs – distance

From an agency point of view we ‘have to’ transform our business. Become lean, targeted, focus on areas we can make money, be modular, outsource, and my personal favourite, think like a business.

Following through on these ideas would transform not only our business but also our soul. If we focused on returns there would be no sibling support, family camps, mums and dads activities … no camps at all. Volunteer support would go, other services ended and we would be like every other ACME Inc. organisation out there finding out the cheapest way to provide a service that will provide a financial return.

I’m often wandering around mumbling and talking to myself about what strategy levers IOE needs to pull to ensure our survival , sometimes I just get grumpy, and then a young but wise soul said to me:

“I don’t know what you are worried about, just let Interchange be Interchange, its good”.

So with a eye on fiscal responsibilities Interchange Outer East will continue to:

  • Provide services to the best of our ability
  • Be flexible and open to ideas
  • Start with a ‘can do’ attitude
  • Be transparent and honest in working with families
  • Be a friendly, welcoming and personable service
  • Find the best fit for your family in terms of service and people
  • Ensure fees are value for money and nobody misses out on service due to an inability to pay
  • Maximise fun, challenge and opportunity in all services

 

So you may have to wait, its not going to be exotic, definitely no parsley, but we will cook it, stick it in some bread, sauce it, serve it with a smile and you will have your sausage!