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Women in Industry

Profile - Alison Law

Alison Law has been Manager of H2O Xtream in Upper Hutt for 5 years, with 5 years at the facility prior to that in customer service, marketing and programme management.  She’s recently been appointed Recreation Services Manager for Upper Hutt City and spoke with Skills Active Chief Executive, Sue Fitzmaurice, recently about her career and her new appointment.

“A lot of pool managers have come into management via pool operations, so I’m kind of unusual in coming via the customer service and marketing route,” said Alison.  H2O is known for its exciting branding and marketing and Alison’s been heavily involved in this, and has spoken many times at key industry events on this long-term success.  “I guess building the pool’s profile in this way has been a plus in developing my career.”

“But you know, I get involved in everything that’s going on in the industry too – it’s so important – if I had to give my best advice to people in the industry wanting to develop their career, then it’s ‘get involved’ – get in and do things, both in your own facility and community as well as in the wider industry.  I never say no when I’m asked to help out with some project or initiative in our industry.” 

In September 2008, Alison won the New Zealand Recreation Association’s Paul Stuart Award, which recognises excellence and outstanding personal contribution to the wider facility management industry.  “During the 10 years Alison’s worked in the aquatics industry, she has achieved great results,” says NZRA Chief Executive Brendon Ward.  Alison is both a NZRA Poolsafe assessor and a Skills Active assessor, and currently chairs the Wellington regional aquatics managers’ forum, as well as the NZRA Wellington region.

Alison is committed to professional development and training.  She completed her Facilities Management Diploma in the first intake for this new Skills Active programme.  “It was very useful – I built a lot of new networks and it reinforced that what I was doing was the right stuff.  It made me more aware about what I’m doing, especially around community needs analysis and evaluation of programmes and events.” 

In terms of staff development, Alison acknowledges that most people that come into the industry don’t intend to stay.  “But if I can teach them some work skills, and life skills, and help them with the next steps in their work lives, then I see that as my role.” Alison sees the lack of a career path in the industry as a problem.  “People move up into roles mostly from within the industry, and that’s good, but from what I’ve observed it seems the path to management is mostly via operations, which is more a male domain.”

Alison’s a ‘people-person’ first off, she says.  “I’m an open-door manager, I’m good at motivating others, and I’m an ideas person.  And then I leave them to manage themselves – if that’s the way they work best.  But I’m pretty focussed on targets as well.” Something Alison would like to see happen in industry is staff swapping.  “Staff love the opportunity to visit somewhere else; they get to see new ways of doing things and they always bring back new ideas.”