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Executives & Professionals - Mentor of the Year
(Gold Winner)

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#TBA03981

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Paid

PO Created Date

2025-01-17 02:38:39

Paid Date

2025-01-17 02:39:13

Competition

2025

Season

Entry ID

TBE104159

Entry Submission Date

2024-12-18 04:31:05

Member's Name

Simon Smith

Member's Email

simon@southerncrosscoaching.com.au

Entry Level

Others

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EP25017 - Mentor of the Year

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Project Description

Simon Smith is the founder and CEO of Southern Cross Coaching & Development™, a leadership development firm he established in 2006 with a clear purpose: “To make the world a better place through better, neuroscience-based leadership.” With more than three decades of experience in brain-based leadership, coaching, and consulting, Simon has shaped the company’s services—from Executive Coaching and Leadership Training to Strategic Facilitation, Team Building, and Culture & People Development—around practical, results-driven methodologies rooted in how the brain functions in real-world environments.

His leadership philosophy was forged early during his time as an officer in the British Royal Air Force, where he witnessed firsthand both exemplary and deeply flawed leadership. These formative experiences continue to influence his training and mentoring approach today. After his military service, Simon’s career spanned a wide range of industries including recruitment, HR consulting, business development, and even underwater videography and marine research, before he eventually settled in Australia.

At Southern Cross Coaching & Development™, Simon leads a team of over 35 contract coaches, trainers, and consultants, as well as a full-time operations manager, Katrina Welch. He plays an active role in mentoring his team to ensure they uphold the company’s values, ethics, and professional standards. Many of his team members are former clients who chose to join the company—a testament to the culture and the impact of Simon’s leadership. Recognizing the shift in mindset required to move from being a client to delivering services, Simon provides tailored mentoring to support that transition.

His mentorship is deeply hands-on and inclusive, based on a simple principle: there are no stupid questions. He balances what his team wants with what they need, always working to help them grow personally and professionally. This approach has built exceptional loyalty—some team members have been with him since the company’s inception.

Simon’s commitment to fostering genuine leadership, mentoring with intent, and delivering measurable outcomes continues to shape Southern Cross Coaching & Development™ into a trusted partner for clients across government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors.

Project Description for Judges

Question 1 : Provide a brief description / background of your nominated organizational, departmental, team, or individual circumstance. (Your response to this question will be used for public display if your entry is awarded.)

I founded Southern Cross Coaching & Development in 2006 with a mission to “Make the world a better place through better, neuroscience-based leadership”. Each service I offer - including Executive Coaching, Leadership Training, Strategic Facilitation, Team Building, and Culture & People Development programs - is rooted in 35+ years’ experience in brain-based leadership, coaching and consulting.

Starting my career as an officer in the British Royal Air Force, I experienced the extremes of leadership styles, from an exceptional leader (who I still reference in my training and mentoring today) to some of the very worst. I then pursued a varied professional career that spanned recruitment, HR consulting, business development and even underwater videography and marine research.

Eventually settling in Australia, I started Southern Cross Coaching & Development (SCC&D) in 2006, applying a pragmatic, human-centred approach to leadership, coaching, and development that’s designed to deliver practical, measurable results.

With an innate mentality of looking after others, I find mentoring goes hand-in-hand with effective leadership. While this includes mentoring clients in my day-to-day work, I also mentor my team of 35+ contract coaches, trainers and consultants, as well as my full-time Operations Manager, Katrina Welch. My team is the face of SCC&D, so it’s imperative they’re ‘walking the talk’ of the ethics, values, quality, and professional standards of the company.

Many of SCC&D’s team are ex-clients who have asked to join us (a great testament to the quality of our services and culture), and subsequently, I have a deep responsibility to guide and support them as they transition from being the client into a client-facing position - very different perspectives and mindsets!

This investment is rewarded by fierce loyalty, with many coaches and trainers working with me for 10-15+ years. Three have been with me since founding the company in 2006.

When I mentor, there are literally ‘no stupid questions’. My team understands my mentoring is always a balance of want vs. need. I give them the support they NEED to be the best they can for the company and personally, as well as what they WANT - sometimes the two can be quite different!

Question 2 : Outline your nominated organizational, departmental, team, or individual achievements, dated 1-3 years prior, based on your selected categories.

1. In 2023, SCC&D won a $2.1 million contract with the Department of Defence to provide a coaching and mentoring-based leadership and emotional intelligence development program to middle and junior managers through to frontline staff, both uniformed and civilian people.

As I personally designed this program for Defence, I took a significant mentoring role for the 10 selected coaches (none of whom had previous experience with military organisations). Additionally, all-bar-one had to become proficient with a new personality assessment being used.

The result is an extremely successful, ongoing program. Of over 400 participants to date, 100% said they would recommend the program to others, and Defence stakeholders have renewed the program for the optional one-year extension after the initial contracted two years.

2. Last year, SCC&D won an additional $250,000+ Defence contract to provide coaching/mentoring-based leadership development for 40 NAVIGATE 2.0 program executive scientists who report directly to the Chief Defence Scientist in Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). Due to security and other constraints, only I was allowed access to meet the initial group of 40 participants. This meant I had a critical role mentoring my team in preparation for this extremely complex coaching/mentoring project and acting as an ‘intermediary’ between all parties.

The project was challenging because of the complex personalities (many of whom were towards the extremes of neurodiversity), high-security clearances, and participants who’d never worked in Defence and only academia. The program was so successful DSTG has recently hugely extended the scope of the current program, and additionally agreed to a new extended-scope contract for their 2025/2026 NAVIGATE 3.0 program.

3. In 2024, a Berkshire Hathaway senior executive (‘John’) was referred to me by one of my former clients and shared that he needed a strategy to save his job. Over nine months of 1:1 mentoring, I determined ‘John’s’ CEO was essentially threatened by ‘John’s’ people-engagement prowess. Through my mentoring, we transformed ‘John’s’ language, behaviour and upwards-management. From almost being fired, ‘John’ now regularly acts in the CEO’s position when the CEO is on leave.

Question 3 : Provide examples of the strategies / plans you have introduced, in order to attain your nominated organizational, departmental, team, or individual achievements. Explain why the highlighted achievements are significant / unique.

I take an extremely honed, nuanced, direct-but-respectful, and individualised approach to ensure complete psychological-safety when mentoring, as my mentees (both external clients and mentoring talent on my team) are often very senior people.

Recent additions to my team include the ex-Head of Talent Development from a top 100 ASX-listed company, the ex-Group Director from NSW Police (over 17,000 staff) and a former Secretary (Director General) from Queensland Government. The fact they continue working with me and consistently get fantastic feedback from our clients is a testament to the support I provide - and, of course, their deep expertise.

I also provide ongoing targeted mentoring to support my coaches’ professional development, e.g. mentoring the former Director of People and Culture at Transport for NSW Government to establish her own coaching business while integrating her into my contracting team.

A key mentoring strategy I implement is that a mentor wears many hats that seamlessly switch as necessary, including coach, advisor, sounding board, support person, teacher, facilitator, accountability person, ‘whip-cracker’, personal and professional champion/cheerleader, network integrator, and more.

My proprietary Coach/Coachee Matching Matrix™ is a first-of-its-kind ‘psychometric assessment’ coach/mentor profiling tool, effectively matching coaches/mentors to coachees/mentees with a 100% success rate since its inception in 2007. This matrix ensures clients receive the coach/mentor they need and seamlessly sets up both parties for success.

Expanding my reach and impact as a mentor, I’m a fellow at the International Association of Coaching and the Institute of Managers and Leaders and offer mentoring support as a national Board member of Arthritis Australia. Additionally, the Australian HR Institute has recently asked me to join as a mentor.

My achievements are unique because, in contrast to competitors, my mentoring approach is rooted in the latest and most practical neuroscience research. I know my work is significant because clients and coaches rave about the profound difference I’ve made in their work and lives, and I was recognised as a 2021 Professional Services Executive of the Year finalist by CEO Magazine and awarded Coach of the Year by the International Coaching Federation Australia.

Optional Context for Judges (Not for publication. This section is solely for judges' evaluation.)

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachingleadershipculture/	No	Hide
http://www.southerncrosscoaching.com.au/	No	Hide
https://www.linkedin.com/company/southern-cross-coaching-&-development/about/	No	Hide

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	Simon Smith

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File Link	File Size	File Link (System Resize)	File Size (System Resize)	Display(Winner Page)
upload/entry/files/TBE104159/28731736897120.pdf	504.81KB	upload/entry/files/TBE104159/28731736897120.pdf	504.81KB	Hide
upload/entry/files/TBE104159/29791736897120.pdf	167.19KB	upload/entry/files/TBE104159/29791736897120.pdf	167.19KB	Hide
upload/entry/files/TBE104159/28671737005947.pdf	1.40MB	upload/entry/files/TBE104159/28671737005947.pdf	1.40MB	Hide
upload/entry/files/TBE104159/1746770893file_9504.jpg	138.89KB	upload/entry/files/TBE104159/1746770893file_9504.jpg	138.89KB	Hide

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