eKourier July 2017

Kennards Kourier

July 2017

20 Culture Surveys Why 1998 Was A Game-Changer For Me And For KSS

‘ We did our first OCI in 1998 and the results were very bad. I took it person- ally, that the OCI was a reflection of me. I owned it. The email had many insights that woke me up. [After recovering from SARAA - the Shock, Anger, Resentment and finally finding Awareness and Acceptance]. attempt to cut through. It explained the problems as she saw them and who was to blame. It was the Leadership Team, it was then also of course; me. Her perception was not entirely accurate and correct, but it didn’t matter. I have learnt since that perceptions matter greatly. Ultimately, the email hit me hard. In her desperation it was an attack on the leader- ship, and me. I felt betrayed by Georgie. (She also expected to lose her job, she didn’t). Later I realised that our company was behaving in all the ways that was not my natural way. My personal development had included learning much from my dad. Many great qualities, insights and lessons. He had many great leadership insights and ways but for some reason I found myself deferring to his sometimes authoritarian style - and I did this quite a lot. My Team seemed to also adopt this and then transmit it throughout the business.

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N = 201

2017 OCI Result

I n 1997, just 3 years after my dad stood aside and elevated me to Managing Director; the company was showing significant signs of internal disquiet and even levels of conflict. With the benefit of reflection, I was able to clearly see the damage from politics, destructive rumours and tension between Team Members. There was also a lack of cooperation, high degrees of win/lose competitive behaviour; and our staff turnover was very high.

problems but did not honestly recognise the cause. In fact, my Leadership Team and I deflected responsibility and blamed others. We rationalised staff turnover as ‘bad fit’, or blamed their poor people skills. We ignored the alerts that people gave us believing that our great business couldn’t be the problem. Then one day in early 1998, one of our key long-term and well-liked support people (we’ll call her “Georgie”) wrote a very forceful and compelling email to “ALL KSS” and hit “SEND”. This message was her last

After much soul searching and reflection, I decided to embark on the

At the time, I could see a few symptoms of

Cont’ Page 4

1 Kennards Kourier July 2017

WHO’S WHO

Team Member Profiles

In this issue 20 Culture Surveys...

Mark Bland NSW TSM

1

Team Member Profiles

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Career background: Spent five years working for NIKE Australia before becoming a Warehouse Supervisor for Repco Group. Marital status: Single. Any children? No children Hobbies/interests: I enjoy going to the Footy with my mates to watch Sydney Roosters play.

10 Questions With...

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20 Culture Surveys... cont’ 4 Don’t Become A Victim, Get Cyber Smart... 5 Customer Feedback 5 Adding Value To Kennards Properties 6 All Hands On Deck 7 What’s In A Location 8/9 Customer Feedback 9 Change Is Good, Sharpen The Saw 10 Just A Phone Call Away 11 Customer Feedback 11 It’s Time To Huddle 12 Big Orange Beacon Of Freedom 13 Customer Feedback 13 Sleep Under The Stars 14 To MOOC Or Not To MOOC 15 Construction Pipeline 16 Spotlight On... 17 It’s True, Kindness Is Catching 18 A Little Goes A Long Way 18 Nev’s Notes 19 Kennards Community 20 Next issue Deadline: September 15th, 2017 Editor: Sharon Dux Email: sharon@kss.com.au Distribution: October 13th, 2017 Upcoming events 12/8 - Achievement Dinner 14/8 - Royal QLD Show - Logan City/Moreton Bay (Browns Plains & North Lakes Centres Only) (QLD) - PH Hours 16/8 - Royal QLD Show (Brisbane City Centres only) (QLD) - PH Hours 1/9 - Gold Coast Show Day - Burleigh Jct only (QLD) - PH Hours 24/9 - Daylight Savings Starts (NZ) 1/10 - Daylight Savings Starts (NSW/VIC/ACT/SA) 2/10 - Labour Day (NSW/ACT/SA) - PH Hours 2/10 - Queens Birthday - QLD Only (QLD) - PH Hours

Do you play any sport or have any special talents? Jui Jitsu. Favourite book/s: Heavier Than Heaven - Kurt Cobain Biography. Favourite movie: Don’t watch a great deal of movies... Favourite restaurant/food: Japanese. Where did you grow up? Western Sydney with my two Brothers and Sister. Any pets? One Aussie Bulldog. Favourite holiday destinations: I have only been to Fiji but would love to go to Japan in the near future.

Ross Clarke Centre Manager - Wellington NZ

Career background: My career started as a Trainee Chef in Hamilton NZ, found it wasn’t for me and moved on to spray painting Aircraft. I then entered a banking role for the next 20 years as a Senior Banker. I then worked in the TAFE industry for 10 years in a Business Develpoment role with the NZ Open Polytechnic. Marital status: Married. Any children? Two children - Jason and Kirtsy. Jason is an IT Specialist and lead Guitarist in his own band. Kirsty is a great mother to her son, Tsuch.

Hobbies/interests: Motorcycling; riding is number one! Do you play any sport or have any special talents? I used to play Tennis and have performed well in Motorcycle Time Trials. I am also trained in the Martial Art of Kung Fu Mantis. Favourite book/s: Harley Davidson - The Beginning. Favourite movie: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Favourite restaurant/ food: Thailand Whole Fish (sweet and sour), Schnapper and Bluff Oysters. Where did you grow up? In Waikato Region. It was beautiful. Any pets? One cat called Roy. Favourite holiday destinations: Canada, Vancouver.

2 Kennards Kourier July 2017

WHO’S WHO

10 Questions... With Neil Pardoe - Manager, Rydalmere

Neil (Right) with his son Dylan, ready to cruise the South Pacific

I love travelling. I love Cruise Ships – Cruises are the ultimate holiday, just unpack and relax. My other favourite destinations are Phuket and London. What challenges and changes have you seen over the years with KSS? Our customers seem to turn up when I am working on my own. Multitasking is essential working with Kennards and can be very challenging. As for changes over the years, I haven’t seen too many in the way we do things. It’s more IT. We have lots of different programs we now use. I am looking forward to seeing how the new Intranet streamlines this. Do you have any long term goals for yourself that you would like to share? I would like to see myself having the opportunity long term to spend more time out of the centre visiting other centres, mentoring new Team Members. I have done some of this over the past year with new Team Members. I would like to become more involved in the trials/roll outs of all things new.

Training rewarding, with our new Team Members leaving my centre with the knowledge and values to succeed on their journey with KSS. How do you find the new Rent Now and training up the Team on this? ‘I LOVE RENT NOW’! My centre has been part of the trial of Rent Now for the past few months. It has been great to be involved in this from day one. Jeff and his Team have been great in tweaking Rent Now by the feedback the trial centres are providing. I find that the more the centre promotes Rent Now during the enquiry and reservation process, the more successful Rent Now will be. Tell us a bit about your family, are you originally from Sydney? I am originally from Sydney. I have lived in several country towns during my retail career with Kmart and Best & Less as Manager. I have enjoyed the quiet life of Griffith, Mudgee, Dubbo, Armidale and Tamworth. I have a son Dylan who is 15 who has been working at McDonald’s for the past year. It has been interesting watching him grow in personality since starting work.

You have been with KSS some time now, tell us what centre you originally started at? I started with Kennards as a Sydney TSM. Six months later I took on the role of Centre Manager at Chatswood. How many centres have you taken care of since then? After three years at Chatswood, I did a centre swap with Steve Jansen and was centre Manager at Castle Hill. I am now centre Manager at Rydalmere. How many years have you been part of the Kennards Team? I’ve been with KSS for six and a half years now. When did you become a Hub Manager and what does that entail for you? I have been Hub Training for the past two and a half years. Hub Training is a Team effort with both Manager and Assistant Managers. We create the first impressions for Kennards. It is essential for my Team to provide a welcoming environment and show our new Team Members ‘Best Practice’. I find Hub

To sum up KSS in one word?

Teamwork.

We hear you are an avid traveller?

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FEATURES

20 Culture Surveys Why 1998 Was A Game-Changer For Me And For KSS

business was embraced and even encour- aged. It is invigorating to be challenged to improve. We remain committed to nurturing KSS as being a great place to work. We were definitely early adopters, having started to consider and develop culture many years before it emerged in the media and major businesses. 20 years on there have been some challenges. We have gripped opportunities, grown and spread our network. We have taken some big leaps such as acquiring Millers in 2004, then the NZ growth in 2007. We have changed the way we do things in many ways. Importantly the reputation of the business continues to rise. KSS has indeed been held in high regard by consumers, which is almost entirely due to the high level of engagement and care of the entire Team. This is about culture. The 2017 OCI Survey result reveals some retreats in our blue styles, and extensions of red and green. While still a good result, there are areas for us to improve - there always is. The feedback is awesome and receiving considered thought and action.

and expectations, both explicit and implicit.

measurement of our culture. I hoped for a reasonable result but the decision to survey came from a deep commitment to learn and to change. We did our first OCI in 1998 and the results were very bad. I took it very personally, that the OCI was a reflection of me. I owned it. I realised that it was not my natural style. Not the way I behave with my friends and family. The OCI result was not one I could be proud of, and I have always been proud of the business and people who try so hard to make a difference. And so the journey began. I made some big changes early and committed to hire for culture and develop leadership. We reflected on the lessons from the OCI and started to examine the entire business. There was no ‘User Manual’ to fix culture. Every business is different, with different people and circumstances. What works for one business cannot be imported to another business. We made it up as went along. We looked in to all the business systems, asking - What is this saying? What is this encouraging?

Personally, I candidly and authentically explained the learning, my failings and the way forward. We toured the country and held workshops explaining the lessons and the plan for change. Unsurprisingly, there were disbelievers. Gradually and eventually over time, we made changes that took effect. There was change in the leadership, including personnel; change in our practices, rewards systems and customer-facing business rules. It was the journey that made us challenge the old pricing practices of imposing Administration Fees, Deposits and retaining surplus customer rent if they moved out early or without notice. There was a clear disconnect between the business rules and our values. We thought; if we are going to be this tough on customers, what are our Teams going to think about our values? So, we chose to surrender revenue in favour of our values and culture. We made many changes in the way we do things. The vibe in the business improved noticeably, turnover went down and our OCI results improved. Change in the

Sam Kennard Managing Director

We looked at practices, business rules

oogle Review

Customer Service at it’s finest.... I’ve been using Kennards Self Storage for my business over the past four months and I have found it to be an excellent option for new or small businesses requiring storage. A brilliant initiative, the concierge service allows me to receive and dispatch freight with ease, particularly when receiving or dispatching pallets. The staff (Emma, Shaun and Alex) are outstanding. They are very knowledgeable about their facility and are always more than willing to help wherever possible. It is always a pleasure to visit the facility and be greeted by the friendly staff, who make the experience feel more like a partnership than a paid service. With their friendly demeanour, I always find myself leaving with a smile. I cannot speak highly enough about the level of service I have received from Emma and her Team who are an absolute credit to the Kennards business. While the staff are a shining light for the facility, it ticks all of the other boxes too, including reasonable pricing, a very high standard of storage lockers, fantastic security and 24 hour access. I truly consider Kennards Self Storage Hoxton Park to be my logistics partner and an outstanding one at that. Regards, Julian

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FEATURES

Don’t Become A Victim, Get CYBER Street Smart…

Customer Feedback “Friendly helpful service at the Moore Park units! Also the fact you refund if you move out early, never seen that and it’s fantastic, thanks!” “Daniel at Ivanhoe is wonderful. So attentive and communicates very well. I am a return customer and it was lovely to be remembered along with previous needs or preferences.” “My second time at Kennards Huntingdale and still very happy with this place. The quality of service is second to none. Professional and very helpful staff (Dane); nice, clean and tidy environment at Huntingdale.” “Great phone, email and face to face communication at Hastings. Above all you were flexible and always felt like I was dealing with real people rather than a faceless company.” “We were delighted with our Kennards experience at Fyshwick. We appreci- ated the service and the facility as well as the contractual arrangements. Darryl and Colin are fantastic Brand ambassadors for Kennards.” “Very good. I used the Camperdown site and the staff were very helpful and friendly. The whole process was very easy and straight forward. I only needed it for five days to store a motorcycle that over the time I needed to come and go at odd hours and the arrangement suited those needs perfectly.” “Patricia at Burleigh was excellent throughout the entire process and was always available to help with any questions I had. Great service!” “Front Desk very well organised. Details of availability very clear. Tour around Belmont was excellent. Explanation of Terms and options very good. Cleanliness very good. Nice that you refund if we leave early” “Very good. Very helpful staff made it easy for me to choose the right unit at Brookvale. Very secure too.”

N ow days, it’s easier, more convenient and just a whole lot more practical for criminals to make a crust using cyber and social engineering techniques. After all, the smart money is on probability. If I’m a criminal and have half a brain, why would I bother breaking into a home, robing a bank or raiding an ATM, when instead, from the comfort of my lounge while watching the Friday night footy, I could craft an email, buy a big list of email addresses for about the price of fish and chips, dress it up like Australia Post, Microsoft … (take your pick), stick some bait in it enticing you to give up sensitive information and send it off to thousands. Now I can sit back and wait, it’s still only half time… The dumb criminal is catching on, and the smart ones are just getting a whole lot more sophisticated. It’s a numbers game through and through, where skills are at the ready and the odds are on the smart money. It doesn’t end with trick email techniques, though they are a popular tool of choice for both novice and organised cyber syndicates, simply because they are extremely effective and require little effort with minimal barriers to entry. These techniques and exploits are commonly known as social engineering , a term you should become familiar with. By definition: social engineering goes like this: the use of deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal informa- tion that may be used for fraudulent purposes . You know someone that knows someone… right? The reality is we live in a rapidly growing digital world with an electronic economy, invest- ments are being made on both sides - good and evil . The context stands on its own, it doesn’t require numbers or statistics, it is what it is and yet needs to be told over and over and over again…

Financial losses, identity fraud, infected computers are just the beginning, the damage doesn’t stop there and when the narrative becomes business, well that’s a whole new ball game, think customer data and brand reputation… The dumb criminal is catching on and the smart ones are just getting a whole lot more sophisticated. While there are no guarantees that malicious actors won’t get to your information, memorise and practise these 3 tips: • Use complicated, unique and difficult to crack passwords. • Don’t simply click on any link, instead, go to the website directly and log in from there. • Be suspicious about the senders of any unexpected message you receive via email or social media. Back to the footy. You deleted the email right? After all you weren’t expecting an update from FedEx, and you certainly didn’t buy into the story someone chose you to leave their fortunes to, and you certainly didn’t fall for Microsoft deciding you were customer of the month and called you directly… Well, the ref just blew his whistle to signal full time, and we have ourselves a mixed bag; some passwords, some back accounts, some credit card details and we still have the whole weekend or should I say online world ahead of us… Jeff Xanthos Chief Information Officer ‘

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5 Kennards Kourier July 2017

FEATURES Adding Value To Kennards Properties

W hy are Kennards properties valued? Each year one third of Kennards properties are valued by Independent Valuers. The reason Kennards properties are valued is to allow the banks to have an independent property value which is used as security for funds that are loaned to Kennards.

So simply put, every day what we do impacts the value of the centre.

Storage can access and at lower rates. The access to debt allows Kennards to grow through acquisitions and expansions. Factors that cause the value of a property to change include:

A rough calculation of the value of a property can be made by taking the profit and multiplying it by 10. So if the annual profit is $1 million, the value of the centre will be approximately $10 million. Therefore each $100k the profits increase at a centre, the value of the centre will increase approximately $1 Million. Team Members can impact the profita- bility in several ways – either increasing Revenue or reducing costs. We all impact these two levers every single day at our centres. If a new customer moves in at $500 per month, this is $6k over the year. This one customer would grow the value of the centre by $60k. If we multiply this across all of our centres – we see a significant lift in value of the portfolio. This is only from one new customer at each centre. Anthony Rous Chief Financial Officer

• Increased occupancy or pricing.

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• Government rezoning or other; govern- ment legislation.

The value of the properties gives Lenders more confidence when making decisions about dealing with Kennards

• Competitors coming or going.

• New roads, railways or transport networks.

• Costs at a centre changing such as labour, electricity, advertising, repairs and maintenance.

How we can impact the value of our properties?

The value of the properties gives lenders more confidence when making decisions about dealing with Kennards. When banks have better security they are able to lend money at lower rates. So the higher the value of Kennards properties the more funds Kennards Self ‘

• Increase occupancy • Adjust rates customers pay • Expenses at the centre • Profitability • Appearance of the centre

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FEATURES

All hands on Deck

and ownership taking on the responsi- bility of contacting the seven customers who were directly affected by the fire. Karen handled what is an incredibly emotional experience for the customer with dignity, respect and a deep appreci- ation for the customer’s loss. I cannot speak highly enough about Karen and the rest of the Team for that matter.

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It’s wonderful to watch our Team step up, putting their families and personal time aside to assist the customers...

( L to R) Akash Banerjee (Assist Mgr Camperdown), Michael Macheledt (Dev & Const Mgr), Tony Vuong (NSW Ops Mgr) Katerina Lousi (Assist Mgr Camperdown), Carolyn Coates (NSW Ops Mgr), Darren Marshall (General Mgr)

‘ Everybody played their part, helping with the cleanup, contacting customers, showing customers to their units and dealing with the emotions as customers opened their units, for some their whole lives are stored in that unit. By Monday all customers had been contacted, and their storage units inspected. A fantastic effort by everyone under the circumstances! It’s important to recognise the additional help and support from WRS, providing boxes quickly on the day. Michael Fotiadis our Electrician and Allan Huriwai and his Team from Restoration Projects, who were all quick to respond and help on the day and the days following. Total Construction was also on site working on the centre expansion at the time, they also dropped everything to assist and help customers, and the return of business Operations. The Customer Care Centre was also running on Sunday to help with the volume of calls from concerned customers. The cause of the fire is being investi- gated as part of standard procedure for insurance purposes. Regardless of the cause which is yet to be determined everyone was focused on helping mitigate the damage to our custom- er’s goods and returning business operations back to normal.

O n Saturday 27th May at approximately 8.50am a Fire Alarm sounded from the panel at our Camper- down facility. Fire Services responded and were on site ready to act within minutes. Unbeknown to the Team and customers a fire had started on level “two let’s say” in the far south-west back corner of the building. The fire had taken hold producing huge amounts of smoke in a confined area, and the fire once out continued to reignite when disturbed hampering efforts to extinguish the fire. Electricity was isolated and turned off while fire hoses were required to extinguish the fire completely. Access was not allowed as the thick smoke continued to linger throughout the building and no lighting made the area unsafe. It took five fire units to control and extinguish the fire and make the building safe to access. Large fans were positioned around the area to help disperse the smoke and make the area safe. At approxi- mately 3.30pm the power was returned “not to the fire affected area”, and the building was handed back to us by Fire Services.

In that time, members of the Operations Team were contacted along with Construction and the Centre Manager, all responding by attending site and commencing disaster recovery as quickly as possible. It’s wonderful to watch our Team step up putting their families and personal time aside to assist the customers, fellow Team Members and the business through what is a very emotional and difficult circumstance. Seven storage units were directly affected by the fire, and approximately 130 units were identified as having some kind of damage either by smoke or water from Fire Services. Our experience tells us that notifying the customers at the earliest opportunity is better received by customers than waiting. With power restored and the area open for inspection we were able to assess the extent of the damage and the affected units. An email communication went out to approximately five hundred plus customers alerting them to the fire and asking the customers to attend site to inspect their goods as a precaution, 130 customers who we believed had been impacted directly were called personally by the Team. Karen Bell, the Manager of the Camper- down facility, showed tremendous courage

Darren Marshall General Manager

7 Kennards Kourier July 2017

FEATURES What’s In A Location

A catchcry of the real estate industry is ‘location, location, location’, and at Kennards we are no different. When deciding on a future investment and especially in property for either business or personal use, there are certain location aspects to consider before making a decision to buy. Many businesses such as Kennards choose a location that gives them direct exposure to customers in a region. • Proximity - to our suppliers and customer base. • Image - is the area consistent with the image of our Brand. • Growth - we think about whether we’ll need extra space in the future if storage business grows. • Brand exposure - to passing road traffic such as main arterial corners. • Property size - to house a minimum 6000 sqm of development space. • Neighbours - you can smell a McDonalds, Hungry Jacks, Red Rooster. • Close proximity - to large retail outlets such as Bunnings, IKEA, Harvey Norman. • Site zoned - to incorporate a minimum building height 12 metres. Any ideal new storage facility needs to consider:-

who has the same qualified services with more convenient parking. For those storage facilities with internal driveway access, it’s important to manage a customer’s time spent on site. Parking availability outside the perimeter building is therefore of paramount importance. Service and Sales Business services and sales opportuni- ties can be greatly affected by storage centre locations. Selecting a site location should centre on targeted customers (an even split between domestic and commercial areas is ideal), and a prospective storage site should be able to generate walk-in traffic. Foot Traffic For most retail businesses, foot traffic is extremely important. You don’t want to be tucked away in a back-block of an estate where potential storer’s are likely to bypass you. Accessibility Considering how accessible the facility will be for everyone who’ll be using the storage facility - customers, employees, and suppliers. If located on a busy street, how easy is it for customer vehicles’ and removalist vans to get in and out of the parking or storage areas. What sort of deliveries are you likely to receive and will your suppliers be able to easily and efficiently get materials to your business? Trucking companies need adequate roads and loading docks if receiving freight on pallets etc.

public transport or by Toll, Highways or Freeways? • Are complementary businesses nearby i.e. Universities, industry, Shopping Centres? Local communi- ties play an important role in locating a business. • Does the community have a stable economic base that will provide a healthy environment for the business. Being cautious when considering communities that are largely dependent on a particular industry, for their economy may lead to a downturn and be bad for future business growth. • Is the surrounding area ‘run-down’ with empty premises, or is it a thriving hotbed of commercial activity? • Thinking about the workforce availa- bility in the area is also important. What skills does a Storage Team need to operate the business, and are people with those talents available in any projected storage area. Customer Convenience If the business draws customers to a store location, the site must be conven- ient to the customer. The location must be easily accessible and provide the customer with a feeling of security. Parking Ample parking is important for customers and employees. If customers are unable to find suitable parking, they might choose to visit a competitor

• Is there convenient and affordable parking?

• Is the location easily accessible by

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FEATURES

Building infrastructure (with an existing building) Many older buildings don’t have the necessary infrastructure to support the high-tech needs of contemporary operations and storage floor loads. The appointment of an independent engineer to report on these aspects and also whether a building has adequate electrical, air conditioning and telecom- munications services, to meet present and future needs is conducted to ensure an objective evaluation. Finding out more about the area with any future or planned development or Zoning changes which may affect future site development. Utilities and other costs. Rent, Land taxes, building maintenance, labour and electricity costs compose the major portion of any new property’s ongoing facility expenses. Therefore, developing a feasibility study which considers all these operating expenses is completed prior to any site purchase. Currently Australia and New Zealand’s largest domestic and business growth corridor opportunities evolve around central locations. Expanding residential corridor areas such as South Morang, Werribee, Craigieburn and Truganina in Melbourne; North Lakes and Mango Hill in Brisbane; Waterloo, Beacons- ville, Cobbitty and Leppington in Sydney; Central Wellington, Auckland and Hobsonville in NZ and the Perth suburbs of Baldivis and Forrestdale. These regions are classic examples of popula- tion growth and future development. Ironically, KSS is developing new and existing storage facilities in these regions. ‘ ‘

Find out about other businesses in the area. Other local businesses that might complement your storage business such as local pharmaceutical companies, shopping complexes and schools. Research Competitors. Finding out where competitors are located in proximity to a prospective property and the type of premises and services they provide, i.e. 24 hour PIN access is considered but not paramount to any purchase. However, completing a CPA is practical given achieving yields and growth for a new centre assists with new growth in the early years of operation. Contact local Councils. Finding out more about the area with any future or planned development or Zoning changes which may affect future site development. Yields, Council Rates and business activity in the region is helpful in deciding on a property. Consider the current and future needs of your business. Ensuring we have a projected up-to- date marketing plan and that any chosen location is in line with Kennards business goals and objectives. Before ‘shopping’ for property in any given location, have a clear picture of future expansion possibilities, it’s essential to give this the attention it deserves. While many ‘startup’ mistakes can be corrected later, a poor choice of location is sometimes impossible to repair. Image and history of the site. What does this address say about Kennards? Particularly if we’re targeting a local market, we need to ensure any location accurately reflects the image we want to project. It’s always a good idea to check out the history of any prospective storage site. Considering how it’s evolved over the years, asking about previous tenants or if several types of businesses have been in the area and failed. Ordinances. Finding out if any ordinances or Zoning restrictions could affect the business in any way. Height restriction, land use or neighbouring property may highlight encumbrances, easements etc.

“Very good. Helpful seamless and welcoming at Artarmon - took half the time I anticipated. Took up free offer to use Kennard trailer - very much appreciated. Experience for this move was great.” “Great service by all at Kennards Brookvale, from the time I turned up looking for storage the whole process was so easy and clear to me. The Brookvale location is brilliant as only five mins from my house and the back entrance is so easy to use and get easy access, I could not have been more impressed with the Kennards site. Also I love the fact that you don’t have to lock into time contracts as with storage you don’t really know how long you need to have it, also getting $ back when I moved out just again confirms that Kennards are a great company to work with.” “Delightful service from all the staff at Chatswood. Facilities are great. I have been storing now with Kennards for the past 10 years and will continue to do so when required. I have recommended Kennards to my friends who continue to store with you.” “Secure, clean, easy access, available 24/7. Wide roller door instead of a swinging door. Free use of trailer for one day was perfect. Amenities, toilets, coffee, meeting room was exceptional and was over and above the level of service I expected. Thanks Ivanhoe.” “Open everyday. Close to home. Awesome storage locker. Moving trolleys available. Safe and secure. Awesome phone and in person customer service team. So cheap. Excellent experience.” Customer Feedback “Adrian, Sam and Anthony at Marrick- ville were just FANTASTIC. I was highly impressed with their kind helpful ways. Nothing was too much to ask.” “Very good. All of the staff from the customer service through to the staff at the new premises on Saturday at Murarrie and today have been very professional.”

So what’s in a location – Kennards of course!

Wayne Birch Operations Manager VIC

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FEATURES

Change Is Good - “Sharpen The Saw”

Jayne Kiddell (Casual TSM) and Craig Welch (Manager Three Kings)

T hey say, nothing stays the same forever and that is the case with a number of NZ Team Member changes that have come into play now. Quite often Team Members enjoy working at the same centre and getting to know regular customers by name and watch the excitement of families moving into storage when they sell their home and then see the excite- ment of the same family moving out to a new home as the cycle of storage customers occurs. However there comes a time when a new challenge is needed or as Stephen Covey mentions in Seven Habits of Highly Successful People – “time to sharpen the saw” . This is where the benefit of centre swaps can help. At our Auckland sites, we have swapped the Centre Mangers to give Mark Montgomery yet another site to work at (from Mt Eden to Three Kings). I am sure Mark must have or be close to the record by now, having worked at so many sites over his time with KSS. While Craig Welch moves back from Three Kings to Mt Eden as Manager. Craig started as an Assistant Manager at Mt Eden so he is no stranger here. In the Hawkes Bay Region, we have the benefit of three sites located within reasonable distances of each other and with the recent departure of Jayne Kiddell, we have been able to swap some of the Team around as well. Joshua Johnston has achieved consist-

ently high results at the Hastings site which has been maintained at high performance level for the last twelve months and is one of the Training Hubs – his new challenge will now be Managing the larger Napier site (which then also becomes a Training Hub) that also runs the satellite Onekawa site. In turn Kelly Lang has now moved from her role as Assistant Manager in the Hawkes Bay, floating between all three sites to being the new Centre Manager at Hastings. This is Kelly’s first manage- ment role so this makes it a special change for her. It just goes to show, once you work at KSS, your blood really does turn orange and you keep coming back! And finally, it seems that some Team Members cannot leave us completely. We now have four recent Team Members who left their full time roles for study or partner relocation etc to now come back as casual TSMs throughout the country. Jayne Kiddell has left the Hawkes Bay to be closer to her parents in Auckland and is currently a casual TSM for Mt Eden ‘

and Three Kings. Calvin Weston left our Tauranga site to continue his aviation studies, however he also appears as a TSM when needed at Tauranga. As we go to press, Hayley Marsh ex Palmerston North who relocated due to her Husband’s new SAR role with the police will be back for some casual TSM cover in both Wellington and Palmerston in the coming weeks. And like a gift that keeps on giving, Beverley Brooking ( B2) will fill in as a TSM in Tauranga for July, while Duncan takes four weeks annual leave to visit his wife’s family in Germany. Bev had kept in touch with me since her retire- ment and jumped at the chance to come back to KSS for the short term. I was on site the day she started and it was a fun moment at morning tea - besides her home made sausage rolls, when she said “I have only been back two hours and yet I feel like I never left the place – everything I need to do just comes back to mind naturally” . It just goes to show, once you work at KSS, your blood really does turn orange and you keep coming back! Maybe after reading this article, it might inspire you to think about your own circumstances and journey within KSS to date and perhaps you might want to put your hand up for the next centre swap? You never know, you might just look back and wonder why you didn’t think of doing this earlier! Andrew Kirkham Operations Manager NZ

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FEATURES

Just A Phone Call Away...

“Excellent service by Matt when making initial inquiries at Wollongong and then by both Matt and Belinda when we signed up. Couldn’t be more helpful. Matt provided a range of options and ensured we got what was most suitable for us.” “Every person I dealt with at Kennard’s was more than professional and helpful. I had a VERY bad experi- ence with my removalist and your guy helped me unpack the storage and repack it. After such a stressful move it was so relieving your staff went above and beyond for me to ensure I walked away happy. Which I walked away incredibly happy. I will recommend Kennards Waterloo to anyone and everyone! Thank you so much for everything.” “The staff were very attentive and had all the answers. My items were transported out of storage by a removalist without a hitch. Very happy with Kennards service at Thebarton.” “Amazing customer service at the front desk at Tauranga. Helpful and accommodating, trying to ensure we had just what we needed and offering different alternatives.” “The customer service was fantastic. Azam at the North Melbourne centre was extremely friendly and helpful. I was very impressed and will definitely use Kennards again.” “Always very professional service and very friendly. Special note to the staff member who was on at Mt Eden Sun 21 May. When we were moving everything out I went to see if you had a vending machine for a cold drink (knew it was unlikely but was desperate) she offered me a glass of water from the kitchen and also offered tea or coffee! Above and beyond service. Also I do really appreciate that you don’t have to give notice and I received a refund for the remaining days of the month. And that this was done so quickly - the next day! We will be back for sure.” Customer Feedback

A s a Team Member in customers find the right unit, taking payments and other queries that can help assist centres. Recently we’ve been helping customers who have phoned multiple centres in search of a space. Specifically customers who have called a centre and that centre doesn’t have the space they are looking for. As a result the customer is referred to another centre. If that centre cannot assist the cycle repeats. When this happens it is time consuming and frustrating. Having access to Multiview, Customer Care knows every single rented, reserved and available unit on offer, and we can get our hands on it within seconds. Call us directly or through the 1800 number if you don’t have the right size or space available. This will save customers the frustration and time in Christine Tambouras, Customer Care Team Customer Care we work passionately to provide outstanding service, helping

calling multiple centres and repeating their story, plus if it’s a current or previous customer we can speed up the process with the information we have on hand. Let us help maximise the customers experience with Kennards and increase communication between centres and the Customer Care Team. Not only can we speed up the process but we can help centres find customers that may otherwise turn to store with a competitor or be left without a storage solution. Over the past 12 months we’ve contrib- uted to more than 2,800 move ins. Next time you are left unitless with a customer, pick up the phone or email us, we are here to help centres as much as we are here to help customers. Amir Asgari Customer Care Team

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FEATURES It’s Time To Huddle

L to R: Aaron Basil-Jones (TSM), Maria Katselas (Mgr Moore Park), Fritz Holt (Assist Mgr Moore Park), Kemal Sermen (Assist Mgr Waterloo), Daniel Kaminsky (TSM), Brianna Burns ( TSM), Antone Boustani (TSM), Phil Howe (Mgr Waterloo), Jai Gudhka (TSM), Johnny Tov (Assist Mgr Moore Park), Nigel Boundy (TSM), Luke Vandenbosch (TSM), James Suh (TSM) Tony Vuong (NSW Ops Mgr), Anthony Sharpe (TSM), Simon Bowtell (Assist Mgr Waterloo), Ramesh Ramesh (TSM), Karl Lagman (Assist Mgr Artarmon2), Ray Adams (Mgr Miranda)

O n the 1st June Tony Vuong’s (NSW Operations Manager) Sydney centres and the TSM’s had a huddle at the Moore Park Centre (pictured above). The night was filled with laughs and stories about storage. Everyone brought in their own dishes, the Team enjoyed Buffalo Wings, barbequed Kebab Sticks, a variety of salads, Doughnuts and much more. It was great to see everyone there, great food, a bit of wine and of course fantastic company.

T he Southern Sydney Team enjoyed a lovely night out at our Wine and Cheese evening at KSS Miranda on the 16th June. The night featured an assortment of Antipasto and exotic cheeses with Red and White Wines to match. Following this the Team took a tour of Miranda’s new Wine Cellars.

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FEATURES

Big Orange Beacon of Freedom Now In Murarrie QLD

through to Wynnum.

Our new self storage centre is a real statement standing five levels high over 11,000 square metres, a true Orange Beacon of Freedom (as we like to call them). The centre has over 600 storage spaces in various sizes, meeting the storage needs for both personal and business storage customers. Our Murarrie centre boasts all the latest features around security and access and the usual benefits our customers have come to enjoy across all our locations. Darren Marshall General Manager

W e are excited to announce the opening of our 85th Kennards location, expanding our footprint into busy South East Brisbane. Located at 801 Lytton Road, Murarrie, this busy road is the main arterial travel- ling east to west, south side of Brisbane River. The location is highly visible and very convenient for customers in the surrounding areas of Cannon Hill, Hemmant, Tingalpa, from East Brisbane

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FEATURES

T hank you to everyone who The money raised for the event by all partic- ipants was enough to support eight young people for a whole year who were homeless or at risk. Across three houses Stepping Stone look after 40 young people. They receive a roof over their head, ongoing support, counsel- ling and an education. They are taught valuable life skills to look after themselves, get off welfare, complete school and successfully get into the work force. Pictured left is a photo of an amazing young woman who officially graduated from Stepping Stone House earlier this year. She was a live in resident for 18 months. In that time she has made amazing progress including: * A Completed TAFE qualification in Events Management. sponsored last year’s Stepping Stone House Sleep Under the Stars Event. * Active participation in adventure education programs, including summiting Mt Kosciusko, camping in zero degrees celsius, swimming in waterfalls and learning to ski. * Setting up her own Events Management company and has her first event is coming up. * Addressing the emotional challenges she had prior to coming to SSH. * Learning over 100 life skills and moving into private rental accommodation. Kennards are once again Gold Sponsors for the Sleep Out this year and will also be participating on the 27th October. If you would like to join the Team and Sleep Out Under The Stars and help raise funds for Stepping Stone House please contact myself or Sharon Dux. Alternatively you can also donate to the Team. Think for one minute what it might be like for those 3,632 homeless kids in NSW, and that’s just the kids under 12 years of age... Fiona Harding Business Development Manager * Passing her driving test thanks to the ‘Drive to Freedom’ program.

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TRAINING

To MOOC Or Not To MOOC

W hat’s a MOOC I hear you ask? A MOOC is an acronym for Massive Online Open Courses which are an opportunity for one to take responsibility and seek to educate ones self. Imagine going to Harvard for free! Being in control of getting your own results, providing others with the feedback on courses you have enjoyed and maybe achieving more or better structures for yourself.

topic and learn. They are developed by credible institutions including Harvard, MIT, Curtin University and TAFE among many others. The subject range is varied. “OPEN 2 STUDY” or ex.org is another that shows a diverse offering ranging from Strategic Management, Negotiation and Conflict Management for a competitive edge and Human resources to Concepts in Game Development, Astronomy: discovering the Universe plus much more.

you to measure your understanding on your way to achieving completion. Typical enrolment sizes appear to be about 25,000 with completion rates now appearing around 17% which is steadily increasing each year. Likely reasons for a relatively low completion rate would include interest only in a specific element or topic of the course and time commitment, students might do this next to their regular job or educational programme. With the internet contributing to the way we learn every day (who hasn’t looked up a recipe, searched a map, read reviews of service providers, watched a YouTube clip to learn a task etc) this is an opportunity for those that like education, without the formalities, to continue to learn. Think about trying one, you have nothing to lose. You could share your success with others on Yammer. There is no pressure except for what you place on yourself. Why not go and get yourself MOOC’ed. Bill McClean Training & Development Manager

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They are not new, they have been around for seven to eight years and enrolments are growing, i.e. popularity is steadily increasing. Best of all if you take some time looking around the site you can find some courses for free. These courses will not leave you with a qualification however they do provide the opportunity to prove interest in a ‘ These courses will not leave you with a qualifi- cation however they do provide the opportunity to prove interest in a topic and learn. It’s important to remember this is just one provider, but the great opportunity here is there are many providers with great reputations and so easy to access on the net. The courses mentioned above are video sessions which include quizzes providing feedback for yourself enabling

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PROPERTY

From The Ground Up!

Chullora NSW

Croydon Park South Australia

roof and generally preparing the existing level to build the new floor. Thomastown VIC - Project out to Tender We finally received VCAT approval and now have the project out to Tender. Croydon Park S.A - Demolition underway The old roof has gone with 50% of the new roof and gutters installed. The self storage fit our will closely follow behind the new roof install. Adelaide Airport SA - Out to Tender As we finalise the lease we have put this new centre out to Tender. Castle Hill NSW - Council Approval received We have received Council Approval and we are now working through the Stage one scope. For regular updates follow Michael on Yammer and Twitter. Michael Macheledt & Craig Henery Development & Construction Team

Warrawong NSW - Civil works 60% complete The overall civil works are 60% complete with the concrete ground floor slabs for Building A and B complete. Petersham NSW - Building three is 90% complete We’re edging closer and closer to completion. Building three is 90% complete with just the driveway and gates to finish then we can move in the new office. Hawthorn VIC - Opening end of July Again we are very close to opening with the office due mid-July and 100% completion due end of July. Murarrie QLD - Open for business Murarrie is now open for business Chullora NSW - two floors now built The major stormwater channel works are 75% complete and two floors of the new four storey building have been built. Camperdown NSW - The new roof is on The new roof is on and now the Builder is stripping away the old

Hawthorn Wine Cellar VIC. Total Construction with Wayne Birch (Operations Manager VIC) and Sam Kennard (Managing Director)

Camperdown NSW

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Kennards Kourier July 2017

PROPERTY

Spotlight on St Marys

Kim Simpson, Assistant Manager with Steve Fone, Centre Manager for St Marys

T he township of St Marys was first known as South Creek. The suburb is named after the parish church of St Mary Magdalene, built between 1837 and 1840 and situated between the Great Western Highway and King Street. It is one of the oldest churches in New South Wales that still has regular services. The area was first called South Creek because European settlement was originally centred along the banks of the creek. The name St Marys was first used when the St Mary’s Post Office was opened on 1st October 1840. The township formed part of a grant to Mary Putland (later married Sir Maurice O’Connell), the daughter of Governor William Bligh. KSS St Marys is located in the Southern Precinct of the Dunheved Business Park, this Business Park is one of the major employment precincts in the Penrith City local government area and plays a strategic role for business and employment growth in the City. The Dunheved Business Park was part of the original ADI (Australian Defence Industries) site and is surrounded by residential and industrial development. The St Marys centre was an old springs manufacturing site and was subdivided in to two lots, with one lot being developed into a Service Station and

is both positive and negative. On the positive side it is one of the busiest streets in the district so a lot of drop-in rentals and box purchases. On the negative side you can be stuck trying to get out for 10 minutes even turning left. Since we opened on the 25th November 2016 we have had exceptional growth to the point we are now at 75% occupancy by sqm, but more interestingly 84% by number of units. We have predominately personal storers (85%) even when it comes to our enterprise size units. It appears that the sole traders don’t care if the unit is in the private name or the company name. Kim Simpson the part time Assistant Manager has only been with KSS for three months. I have been a Centre Manager for four years now, having run Campbelltown1, Hoxton Park and Prospect before taking on St Marys when it opened. Our biggest challenge here is a really good one, there’s not enough units to rent. Going from 0% to 75% occupancy in just seven months with the only units we have for rent either 2.3UP or 22.5DR with nothing in between. Hurry up stage two! Steve Fone Kennards Self Storage St Marys NSW

the other becoming us.

The initial stage had six buildings built, four completely from scratch. One utilised the existing concrete slab and the other used the existing slab and frame. The stage two will be an additional multi-storey building similar to the three already built. For the present we use this open space for boat/car storage. Since we opened on the 25th November 2016 we have had exceptional growth to the point we are now at 75% occupancy by sqm, but more interestingly 84% by number of units. This gave us a total of 450 units with a total area of 6,479 sqm. The centre is a managed site being owned by the Baudinet family who also own the Cardiff and Mayfield sites. ‘

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Our location on 63-73 Christie Street

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