Meet Vicky Worland - A lesson in leadership

Gotcha4Life’s Head of Program Management Vicky Worland has been preparing for this leadership role her whole life. She just didn’t know it.   

But the good folk at the Not-For-Profit Leadership Awards did. They honoured Vicky as one of three finalists for this year’s inaugural Outstanding Emerging Leader.

That recognition is well deserved, but it’s not why Vicky does the job. 

Her role is the culmination of a lifetime spent leading, volunteering, organising, finding solutions to problems, and taking care of others as she followed her dual passions for sport and working with kids.  

Her father recognised her leadership qualities when three-year-old Vicky took charge, looking after her new baby sister the minute she arrived home from the hospital.

Learning from teaching

More supporting and leading with empathy followed throughout Vicky’s adolescence and early adulthood. As a teenage gymnastics coach to primary school children. As a backstage volunteer on school productions. As the organiser of school sport teams and trips away. As a nanny and coach on working holidays. And as a teacher after graduating from university with a degree in sport and recreation.

Vicky combines those leadership qualities with advice picked up from others along the way. 

From her parents - who taught her to strive to be the best you can be, every day.

From her boss in a pub - a highly successful businessman who told her to never go into or out of the kitchen empty handed. He led by example, rolling up his sleeves to pick up plates or clean the floor, even when he was at the top of his game.

From the teacher - who showed new sports ed recruit Vicky around the school, introducing her to the ground staff, office staff and kitchen staff first, before she met the school’s leadership team.

“At the end of my first week, he told me why. He said ‘They are the important people in roles that will help you run the school.”

“I had this vision that CEOs sit in offices and know more than everyone else, but they’re just people too. It doesn’t matter what’s on your leadership badge.

“From a young age, it was understanding that everyone, whatever their role, is as important as everyone else, because if they didn’t have that role, the place wouldn’t run. I have always valued that.” 

Old skills, new beginnings

In 2017, Vicky and husband Gus set out on the daunting task of starting a foundation to end suicide from their kitchen table. They had to get to grips with governance, annual general meetings, financial management, brand guidelines and more.

When the ins and outs of running a not-for-profit came to light, the skills and knowledge Vicky had gained from a lifetime of volunteering and teaching came to the fore.

“I saw myself as a teacher. I thought I couldn’t take on a corporate role, so I just volunteered for any jobs that needed doing. As we were doing more and more, I found my voice and said, ‘I can do that’.”

“I had always helped run things and volunteered because someone had to do it - like attending association meetings after I joined the committee for my girls’ netball club as coaching convenor. 

“When we started the foundation, I thought ‘Oh, that’s the reason I did that’. It prepared me for this. Teaching and volunteering gave me an amazing array of skills that gave me the confidence to take on a leadership role.” 

Leading with impact

In the six years since starting Gotcha4Life with Gus, Vicky has helped grow the foundation into a staff of 12 with a team of expert facilitators and presenters that last year delivered more than 2,000 programs to over 120,000 mental fitness workshop participants.

Her colleagues value her leadership. 

“Vicky grounds us. She always brings us back to the relationships and connections that are at the heart of everything we do. She’s our moral compass, and the inspiration behind it. She leads with empathy, and has this way of building rapport so quickly, and with a sense of calm,” Gotcha4Life Marketing Director Lia Kostopoulos says.

For Vicky, the most satisfying part of her leadership journey isn’t the accolades - it’s the impact.

“I feel very honoured to do what I do. I’m proud that a group of people are working so hard to make an impact. I’m lucky enough to be able to work with Gus. Walking away from a workshop and seeing conversations that will change lives, seeing that change and knowing that is because of our passion to make it happen, it’s pretty magical.”

So is watching your leadership journey Vicky!