Renee Fleming

3 July 2025

Welcome to Part 6 of our Survive & Thrive strategic leadership series for NDIS leaders who want to move beyond surface-level compliance and into transformational leadership.

Money Matters: Why Some Providers Are Thriving While Others Are Barely Surviving

In Part 5 we invited NDIS providers to examine the mindset of relying on feel-good mission statements (the “mantra”) to examining concrete, measurable indicators of service quality (the “microscope”). We promoted strategic leadership through practical, data-informed insights into what quality looks like in everyday service delivery.

In Part 6, we dive into the essential relationship between cost, value and price. The foundation that should be driving your budgeting approach, allowing you to maintain financial sustainability while delivering quality services. No doubt, the NDIS pricing model has its constraints, but it rewards providers who align spending with purpose, eliminate what no longer adds value, and embrace quality as a core leadership responsibility. This blog is designed to help you identify what’s driving real value in your organisation, what needs attention, and what’s consuming resources without meaningful return.

Is Your Organisation Thriving or Just Surviving?

Many readers will find this article hard to digest.

It challenges the dominant narrative in our sector. We keep hearing the same thing, the NDIS is broken, compliance is impossible, we’re all on the brink. And yes, the environment is undeniably hard. But here’s a harder truth: Survival isn’t guaranteed. Success, however, is still achievable.

And if we want to succeed, we must start asking better questions, especially these ones:

• Is our daily delivery aligned with participant goals and choice?
• Do staff feel proud, supported, and engaged?
• Are our resources supporting what we say we value?

This article is an invitation to do just that, to step back and critically assess what you’re doing well, what needs to improve, and what’s simply not worth your time or energy anymore.

A Hostile Operating Environment

It is undeniable that the NDIS can only be described as a hostile operating environment.

The challenges are undeniable:

• Workforce shortages
• Unclear policy
• Capped pricing
• Looming reform
• Increasing regulatory scrutiny from administrators who are trying to make an example of the ‘dodgy providers’.

But not all NDIS providers are struggling. In fact, some are growing stronger.

Our Data Set: A Sector Snapshot 

We analysed:

• 160 active NDIS providers
• 60 providers that went into liquidation
• 25 survey responses from for-profit and unregistered providers

We tracked over 21% of scheme spend in FY23/24.

Our independent review reveals stark variation in financial health, strategic readiness, and operational efficiency.

Let me be clear, Supporting Potential does not employ or contract any actuaries. This data and its analysis has come from publicly available information and has been used to try and find the ‘secret sauce’ for optimal operating. I couldn’t understand that in a sector where there has never been more money available, we have so many financial issues. The following has been referred to as my ‘ADHD hyperfocus’. I wanted to get as close as I could to a complete and honest representation of sector performance.

Data for 150 providers came from the audited financial statements of ACNC Registered Not for Profit organisations. Unfortunately, reporting consistency across ACNC financial statements is non-existent. Variations in formatting, categorisation, and disclosure make direct comparisons between providers challenging.

Key Focus Areas:

• Providers generating 75%+ revenue from the NDIS
• Operational revenue and costs (excluding philanthropy and one-offs)
• Liquidated providers (identified via ASIC cross-referencing)

We wanted to capture an accurate picture of the market which include providers no longer operating. Again, this data is very hard to pinpoint as ASIC does not differentiate NDIS Providers to others within the broader ‘health’ sector. Data for liquidated organisations came from cross-referencing NDIS payment data from the top 1,500 providers by value and the ASIC liquidated business database.

We conducted a survey to encourage for profit and non-registered providers to share their data anonymously. We had 25 responses but only 10 of those chose to share their FY 23/24 financial outcomes.

The Reality: Fragmentation and Financial Gaps

Some providers are using outdated, inefficient models. Others are:

• Increasing revenue and equity
• Operating with strong cost discipline

The data clearly shows the NDIS is financially fragmented. Some providers are clinging to outdated models or under-recovering the real cost of quality service delivery. Others, however, are thriving—quietly but confidently increasing both revenue and equity, year on year.

To put the remainder of this article into context, collectively this group is holding onto over $3.5 billion in equity.

There is too much variation in the data to claim this is just good fortune. The performance gap is real, and it comes down to leadership, clarity, and cost discipline.

Data is interesting, but it doesn’t tell us how to fix it. While I cannot definitively state the reasons for these variances and the reasons probably vary, there are some common foundations we should be striving for:

• Strategic alignment to real value
• Understanding and application of the Reasonable Cost Model
• Utilising your best strategic asset
• Smart workforce planning
• Proactive, not reactive, engagement with reform

Strategic Alignment to Value

Compliance ≠ Quality
190 of the organisations we have analysed are registered. Technically this means they have passed an external NDIS Practice Standards Audit and met the ‘required’ standard of quality. But registration is an indicator of compliance, not quality. This is supported by one of the most consistent common concerns being raised across the sector at the moment:
                                                                                                      “We want to deliver quality, but the pricing doesn’t let us.”

It’s a fair concern. In a system built on fixed pricing, capped margins, and escalating compliance demands, many providers feel trapped. They are expected to do more with less, while simultaneously being held to higher compliance standards.

While the NDIS Practice Standards emphasise dignity, human rights, choice, and inclusion, the financial architecture underneath them doesn’t always support the time, workforce investment, or systemic capability required to achieve those outcomes sustainably but blaming “insufficient pricing” for everything risks creating blind spots that prevents deeper self-reflection.

But the harder truth? There will NEVER be enough money.

Disability is getting 10 times the investment as it got 15 years ago, yet we still don’t have enough. As leaders, we shouldn’t be beating ourselves up over this. But we do need to be aware of it and try to counterbalance it in our strategic decisions.

                                                        “Human nature is rarely content; we stretch to the edge of what we have and still feel the need for more.”

Yes, the price limits can be tight. Yes, the margins (2–3% on average) are low. But as recent data shows, some providers are still managing to thrive, even within the same funding framework.

The problem is not just about pricing; it is how providers are using the pricing they have.

The Reasonable Cost Model: A Wake-Up Call

The NDIS’ Reasonable Cost Model is more than a pricing tool. It can be used to:

• Benchmark sustainability
• Expose inefficiencies
• Support cost realism

There are very few industries where you get a budget blue print. The NDIS claim the Reasonable Cost Model was developed to calculate the “true, sustainable cost of delivering NDIS services.” It uses ‘realistic’ assumptions about wages, overheads, supervision, workforce mix, utilisation, and leave entitlements.

Providers need to remember that whilst the Agency sets the price based on these assumptions, it doesn’t mandate how providers spend. Providers who acknowledge that the Reasonable Cost Model isn’t just a funding formula but can be a diagnostic tool and benchmark will be more likely to thrive in environments when price isn’t keeping up as well as we would like with cost.

The following table provides an overview of what a budget could look like, based on the Reasonable Cost Model for a service provider who delivers approx. $8,000,000 p/a.

Where organisations are very clear on their service models, there is additional margin to be made. For example, if a portion of your business in low risk, community access, you may be able to roster workers at the 2.1 level.

We urge providers to take a cold look at where they believe they are underfunded. Common pain points we discover in our NDIS Critical Systems audits are:

• Costs driven by legacy staffing models
• Inefficient yet expensive systems that require ‘workarounds’ and extra staff
• Administrative and Executive positions to create an illusion of mitigating a risk but add very little value
• Executive bloat without value
• “Quality initiatives” that are often not measurable and lack impact
• The mindset that quality is unaffordable by default

This leads to:

• Cutting training budgets
• Stripping support roles
• Rushing through onboarding
• Prioritising rostering ease over participant fit
• Higher compliance risk

Ironically, it is these issues that often drive more compliance breaches, more complaints, and more costs over time.

Reframe: Quality as a Strategic Asset

Rather than seeing quality as a cost to be justified, leading providers are beginning to treat it as:

• A strategic investment
• A risk management tool
• A growth enabler
• A competitive advantage

High-impact quality investments result in:

• Better staff matching reduces turnover and incident rates
• Strong onboarding decreases avoidable escalation
• Investing in reflective supervision protects workforce wellbeing
• Competency-based training, not just completion, drives real capability

These are not “nice-to-haves.” They are high-impact levers and the last things we should cut.

The reframe is that these investments are both value creation and value protection mechanisms. In high-pressure environments like the NDIS, it’s tempting to chase growth or cut back too far, but sustainable organisations understand that strong strategy and associated budgets don’t just fund new ideas or ‘business as usual’, they also defend the foundation the organisation is built on.

These organisations see that the cost of not investing in quality can be far greater than the cost of getting it right the first time.

Cost of Inaction

Consider this:

• Every staff turnover event costs an organisation between $8,000–$15,000k in recruitment, training, lost productivity, and onboarding. Take our $8 million modelling org. If their retention rate is the industry average of 35%, they would be burning $176,000 – $330,000 in unnecessary turnover expense. Just a 10% reduction in turnover could save them over $100,000.
• Every preventable incident or complaint consumes hours of leader time, damages your reputation, and risks regulatory scrutiny.
• A well-trained support worker may prevent dozens of minor incidents that would otherwise erode participant trust (and organisational equity)

Sustainable organisations find ways to deliver what the participants wants, in a way the NDIA is willing to fund, whilst safeguarding equity, reducing risk exposure, and strengthening the bottom line.

The Key Takeaways….

Yes, the pricing model has its limits. But it also has opportunities, especially for those willing to align their spending with purpose, prune what no longer adds value, and treat quality not as a luxury, but as a leadership responsibility.

Organisations need to understand the dynamics of this hostile environment.

Specifically:

• It is very likely that you can grow revenue while losing money. Growth without margin or control creates risk, not opportunity.
• One profitable year doesn’t guarantee viability. Similarly, one bad year doesn’t mean collapse.
• A single organisation can have as many service models as they do participants. They need to adjust the workforce mix, training impost and supervision ratios accordingly.
• Financial sustainability can’t be delegated to the finance team, it’s a whole-organisation responsibility. Financial literacy in all leadership positions is no longer optional.
• The difference between thriving and struggling is not luck. It’s hard decisions, discipline, and value-based direction.

The Value of a Critical Systems Audit

You don’t have to do all this alone. When you’re working inside the system every day, it’s easy to miss the slow drifts, silent risks, and legacy processes that no longer serve.

That’s where a NDIS Critical Systems Audit becomes invaluable and why outsourcing it makes strategic sense.

An Independent Critical Systems Audit brings more than just fresh eyes. It brings:

• Unbiased insight into whether your systems are truly aligned to the NDIS Practice Standards, not just on paper, but in quality practice.
• Early identification of red flags that could lead to non-compliance, service gaps, or reputational harm.
• Cross-sector benchmarking, helping you learn from high performers and avoid pitfalls others didn’t see coming.
• A clear, actionable roadmap to move from “barely surviving” to “really thriving.”

Outsourcing also preserves your internal capacity. Your leaders stay focused on delivery while specialists dig deep into the bones of your organisation. It looks at your:

• Service models
• Financial viability
• Incident response
• Documentation trails
• Governance, and
• Frontline systems of accountability

Ready to Thrive?

This isn’t about judgment. It’s about protection and progress because in today’s high-stakes NDIS environment, “good enough” is never safe enough and the gap between providers is widening. The next reform wave won’t treat everyone equally.

Book Your NDIS Critical Systems Audit Today!

Appendix

Join our webinar via the link below

Part 6 – Money Matters next Thursday, 10 July at 1pm.

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/17c59c54-7f1c-4e04-a45b-491f9d43490a@d8fe5969-e9bc-4d6b-ba5a-62e8825302c8

The next fortnightly instalment in our NDIS Survive & Thrive Series

Part 7 – Structuring Your Approach to Risk

This could be your new competitive advantage as well as your best approach to staying out of court, and out of the public eye for the wrong reasons. We review the different requirements of risk management from the Federal Court outcomes of Commissioner of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission v Valmar Support Services Ltd [2025] FCA 11 and Commissioner v LiveBetter Services Ltd [2024] FCA 374 (LiveBetter)

Outcome – a clearer picture of where your key risks likely lie and the development of core mitigation strategies.

Get Involved and Get Connected!

• We would love to know if you’ve tried any of the activities we’ve suggested or done something similar in the past – and what the outcomes were! You can reach out to us in the Get in Touch section at the bottom of this page.
• We also share practical tips, real life examples, and expert insights every week on LinkedIn. Follow along, join the conversation, and share these posts with your network.
• Join our mailing list here to receive notifications up upcoming instalments and webinars. We truly value the insights and experiences attendees are bringing to our webinars!

How We Can Help

In today’s climate of tight overhead margins and a competitive labour market, resourcing your transformation team entirely with internal staff may not be feasible. That’s where we come in. Our experienced project and change managers can provide the specialised support you need to keep your transformation on track.

We also offer skilled facilitation for transformation team meetings, maximising your time and ensuring meaningful, high-quality outcomes.

For broader strategic needs, we provide executive advisory and tailored support packages designed to empower NDIS businesses at every stage of growth and development.

Get in Touch

If you would like confidential assistance in looking at this differently, book in a time to have a no obligation chat via my  bookings calendar or email me at  angela@supportingpotential.com.au.

Let’s build a stronger, more adaptable NDIS community together.

Your partner in achieving compliance, growth and sustainability 

Angela Harvey

Managing Director of Supporting Potential

To read all our other blogs visit here

11 June 2025

Welcome to Part 5 of our Survive & Thrive strategic leadership series for NDIS leaders who want to move beyond surface-level compliance and into transformational leadership.

From Reflection to Measurement – Why NDIS leaders need “The Microscope not the Mantra”

In Part 4, we explored how focusing on minute details through a magnified lens can block us from seeing whether we are living our values, and the need as leaders to constantly reflect inwards to identify what we are projecting outwards.

In Part 5 we aim to shift the mindset of NDIS providers from relying on feel-good mission statements (the “mantra”) to examining concrete, measurable indicators of service quality (the “microscope”). We promote strategic leadership through practical, data-informed insights into what quality looks like in everyday service delivery.

Why the Microscope Matters More Than the Mantra

All service providers essentially want to deliver a service that is valued by the NDIS participants they serve and to provide an environment where people feel they belong. But as we know, the current media attention (rightly or wrongly) is presenting a contracted view of intent to impact that negatively reflects on providers.

We know that in the current environment, delivering exceptional support isn’t just about meeting compliance standards, it’s about fostering participant personal growth, retaining skilled employees, and ensuring your organisation remains financially viable.

But how often do we pause to take an honest, all-encompassing look at the quality of our service provision? 

Quality is Not Compliance

We need to be conscious of the fact that almost every requirement in the NDIS framework (incident management, risk assessments, progress notes, restrictive practices etc) exists because of:

• Past failures in care or abuse
• Government’s need to transfer liability
• A desire to demonstrate accountability to the public

The paperwork is trying to prove that something happened safely, ethically, and as planned. Not that it exceeded client expectations or allowed the person to do something they have never been able to do before.

The Risks of Undefined Quality

The mistaken belief that compliance equals quality results in quality being a tag line, not a trend line. The variable nature of quality (it is in the eye of the beholder) often gives us the excuse to go off sentiment and the (seemingly) absence of complaints and issues as a demonstration of ‘quality service’. But is that all we can truly aspire to?

The rule: what you can measure, you improve can on is a rule for a reason.

How Are You Measuring Quality?

So what are your tools for measuring and how are you using them? The answer can’t be audits or reportable incident numbers or complaints. How are you measuring tangible outcomes that demonstrate quality? How have you backwards engineered YOUR (not a generic NDIS Service) ability to deliver outcomes that delight and inspire every time?

Barriers to Measuring What Matters

How you are measuring quality can often be a hard question to answer as the devil is in the detail, yet most providers continue to be burdened by:

• Legacy systems designed for block funding
• Layered documentation with no clear owner
• Internal processes that duplicate effort (e.g. rostering > shift notes > daily logs > communication books)

These aren’t rules or barriers created by the government. So whilst the government seems content to keep beating providers down without offering support or guidance, we need to define for ourselves how we intend to show up.

How to Make Service Quality the Heart of Your Strategy (and the bloodline of your reporting)

Reframing Quality: It’s in the Experience

This part of our strategic analysis provides a practical approach to achieving meaningful insights and change with input from your transformation team members by focusing on the question – is your service genuinely participant-focused? 

The common business paradigm is that high-quality services lead to satisfied participants and their families, fostering loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. Poor quality, on the other hand, drives complaints, higher turnover of participants (and staff), and potential financial penalties. But can we stand by this assertion when we haven’t defined what great quality really is?

But what are the quality indicators? These should look different for every organisation, but some suggestions are:

What Does a Full Plate Look Like?

I’ll give you an analogy.

Growing up, my brother and I HATED lasagne. It was always on rotation at home, quick, convenient, and straight from the freezer to the oven. We developed elaborate exit strategies just to get away from the dinner table.

But then something unexpected happened. We took a bite, and it was delicious. That was our first lesson in quality variation: two very different experiences of the same dish.

So, how do you know whether your service is Nonna’s lasagne… or the version that makes people quietly push food around the plate?

In other words, are your participants genuinely satisfied—or just being polite?

You need to look for the “empty plates.” Who is coming back for more? Who is visibly growing, engaging, and trusting your service?

Ask yourself:

• What does genuine participant satisfaction look like in your service?
• How does your organisation deliver that experience consistently?
• Especially in SIL services—are you offering handcrafted, values-driven care, or something that just ticks the box?

The Four ‘Empty Plates’ of Quality

Empty Plate 1: An Employee Retention Rate of Less Than 10% 

Employees want to work for organisations where they feel supported, valued, and part of something meaningful. High turnover not only disrupts participant support but also drains financial and operational resources. The sector norm currently sits at 16% for full time and permanent part time and 24% for casuals according to the NDS Workforce Census Report 2024.

Did you know that each time you need to replace a staff member, you are adding approximately 25% to their salary for recruitment and onboarding expenses that get lost in your corporate overhead. 

But this, in itself, isn’t a solid indicator. Employees may also be shovelling it in with a smile on their faces.

Depending on your definition of quality, is the benefit of employee retention one of the following (or similar)?

• Clients benefit from stable, predictable relationships with support staff given that trust and rapport take time to build, or
• Retained staff accumulate detailed knowledge over time, enabling tailored, person-centred support, or
• Experienced staff are more confident in making complex, on-the-spot decisions that directly impact safety and care quality, or
• The team has stronger shared values, peer accountability, and continuous improvement practices.

Empty Plate 2: Higher Than Average Return On Investment for Training

In today’s environment, training can often feel like a cost without a clear return. But high-quality providers know exactly what outcomes they’re aiming for, and they track the impact through improvements in productivity, compliance, and participant results.

You’ve likely heard the argument:

“Why invest in training when staff just move on to the next organisation?”

But here’s the real question:

What happens when you don’t train them—and they stay?

A well-trained team doesn’t just meet standards, they set them. High performance breeds high performance. So instead of asking if you can afford to train people, ask:

How are you measuring your team’s increasing competency over time?

This shift in mindset turns training into a strategic lever, not a sunk cost.

Empty Plate 3: Profitability 

Profitability isn’t just about staying afloat—it’s about unlocking the ability to do more. It provides the financial stability and flexibility to improve quality, invest in your team, and drive better outcomes for participants.

Yet despite good intentions, many providers fall into the trap of focusing only on survival. So how can you ensure profitability is working for your quality goals?

Here are three basic prompts to guide your reflection:

1. Are your services financially sustainable and reinvestment-ready?

Check whether you’re consistently covering your costs and building financial buffers. A practical benchmark:

Do you have at least three months’ worth of expenses saved on your balance sheet?

2. Are hidden inefficiencies eating into your bottom line?

Unnecessary costs often come from operational friction e.g. high staff turnover, poorly utilised systems, or frequent changes caused by weak change management.

Where are the pain points, and are they costing more than you think?

3. Are you exploring smart external supports to optimise your operations?

Some organisations are already innovating in NDIS service delivery. For example, Resolv will review your SIL rosters for efficiency and alignment with funding rules, plan values and SCHADS optimisation. They even offer a Performance Guarantee, ensuring savings exceed the cost of the service. This seems like a no brainer to me to at least have a conversation. 

Are you leveraging these types of solutions—or trying to do everything in-house?

Empty Plate 4: Client Growth

Positive change only happens when an individual is ready and motivated to grow. So if your organisation claims to support independence and personal development, ask yourself:

How are you actively addressing motivation—and supporting progress through realistic, incremental steps?

Growth must be deeply personalised, but it should still align with your organisation’s broader definition of quality. One approach is to define a few universal, flexible domains of growth that can apply across your client base.

But here’s the key:

Measure progress relative to each individual’s baseline and personal goals, not against a generic benchmark.

This ensures your outcomes are meaningful, context-driven, and genuinely reflective of participant progress—not just compliance.

Shifting the Focus: Better Metrics for Real Impact

Focusing Your Microscope

So with these four areas, let look at some of the more subtle areas where we focus our microscope on the wrong parts:

Seeing Your Organisation Through a Different Lens

With a Disability-Led Audit

Sometimes, internal reflection isn’t enough. To truly understand how your services are experienced, you need insight from people with different perspectives and lived experience.

At Supporting Potential, we’re proud to offer a disability-led audit. It’s more than just an assessment, it’s a collaborative partnership designed to help you see your organisation through the eyes of those who understand the barriers, frustrations, and opportunities better than anyone else.

Our audits are led by individuals with lived experience of disability, people who receive similar services to those your organisation provides. This makes the process uniquely grounded, authentic, and impactful.

It includes:

1. Collaborative Review
We engage your team to understand your goals, challenges, and values so the audit is tailored, not generic.

2. Lived Experience Assessment
Auditors with disabilities conduct observations, interviews, document reviews and identify areas of strength and opportunities for growth. Their shared perspective helps participants feel more comfortable and confident to speak openly to someone who truly understands their challenges.

3. NDIS Registration Compliance Requirements
Our lived experience auditors work alongside NDIS-accredited quality auditors. We will systematically review your documentation and provide you with a percentage score of your compliance achievement.

4. Actionable Feedback
You receive practical, personalised recommendations that strengthen inclusivity, accessibility, and participant outcomes.

5. Ongoing Support
We don’t just leave you with a report, we help you implement changes and track the results over time.

From Insight to Action

This process delivers far more than just a box-ticking exercise. Our audits have:

• Illuminated Hidden Barriers
  Uncovered gaps in service delivery and policies that unintentionally disadvantage participants.
• Reinforced Participant-Centred Values
  Aligned services with the real needs, preferences, and dignity of those you support.
• Boosted Staff Confidence
  Equipped teams with insight and tools to improve support and communication.
• Elevated Organisational Reputation
  Demonstrated a visible, authentic commitment to inclusion—building trust with participants, families, and stakeholders.

The Key Takeaways….

Regardless, of your approach, the key leadership challenge is to remain committed to using the microscope to prove you meet your mantra. The strength of your leadership will be reflected not just in the success of your services but in the clarity and purpose of the micro behaviours that define the outcome. 

Join our webinar on Part 5 – The Mirror not the Microscope next Thursday, 19 June at 1pm.

Hear From Lived Experience: Robbie’s Story

In the companion webinar for this blog, you’ll hear directly from Robbie, our Lead Lived Experience Reviewer. He’ll share what receiving quality services has meant to him, and how he learned to navigate the NDIS as a commercial marketplace, using his power to choose providers that genuinely listen and adapt to his needs.

Register via the link below to join the webinar.

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/17c59c54-7f1c-4e04-a45b-491f9d43490a@d8fe5969-e9bc-4d6b-ba5a-62e8825302c8

The next fortnightly instalment in our NDIS Survive & Thrive Series

Part 6 – Money Matters

In human services, cost is mostly driven by our people. We will seek to understand the linkages between cost, value and price and how this should impact your budgeting approach, ensuring you maintain financial sustainability while delivering quality services. We will also dive into the likely impacts if IHACPA take over pricing to support you to mobilise quickly to the likely changes.

Outcome – the development of organisational strategies to optimise financial results in a price restricted environment.

Get Involved and Get Connected!

• We would love to know if you’ve tried any of the activities we’ve suggested or done something similar in the past – and what the outcomes were! You can reach out to us in the Get in Touch section at the bottom of this page.
• We also share practical tips, real life examples, and expert insights every week on LinkedIn. Follow along, join the conversation, and share these posts with your network.
• Join our mailing list here to receive notifications up upcoming instalments and webinars. We truly value the insights and experiences attendees are bringing to our webinars!

How We Can Help

In today’s climate of tight overhead margins and a competitive labour market, resourcing your transformation team entirely with internal staff may not be feasible. That’s where we come in. Our experienced project and change managers can provide the specialised support you need to keep your transformation on track.

We also offer skilled facilitation for transformation team meetings, maximising your time and ensuring meaningful, high-quality outcomes.

For broader strategic needs, we provide executive advisory and tailored support packages designed to empower NDIS businesses at every stage of growth and development.

Get in Touch

If you would like confidential assistance in looking at this differently, book in a time to have a no obligation chat via my  bookings calendar or email me at  angela@supportingpotential.com.au.

Let’s build a stronger, more adaptable NDIS community together.

Your partner in achieving compliance, growth and sustainability 

Angela Harvey

Managing Director of Supporting Potential

To read all our other blogs visit here

27 May 2025

Welcome to Part 4 of our Survive & Thrive strategic leadership series for NDIS providers

We invite you to find a quiet space, have a quick mental reset and settle in for 8 minutes reading time to discover:

Why NDIS Leaders need “The Mirror, Not the Microscope” – Defining and Embracing Organisational Purpose

In Part 3, we explored how to identify the key players in your organisation, who has a seat at your NDIS strategic table and, and how to implement a structured transformation approach to drive the survival of your organisation.

This week, we’re pressing pause on the audits, checklists, and compliance spreadsheets to ask something more personal: Are you truly living your purpose—or just performing it?

Suggested Activity: You may find it useful to note down the thoughts and beliefs that automatically come to mind immediately after reading this question and then ask yourself when you finish reading the article whether they are still the same as before.

Beyond Risk: Why Purpose Matters

In a sector where the pressure of risk can push us to over-analyse and focus on the tiniest details, often just to feel a sense of being in control or that we are at least doing something to mitigate risk in the unpredictable NDIS landscape, this article invites NDIS leaders to take a step back and pick up the mirror, not the microscope.

It’s a call to reconnect with what your organisation truly stands for, ensuring your purpose and values are lived out in daily practice, not just sitting in forgotten policies or feel-good blurbs on a website. We explore how thoughtful reflection, and strategic alignment can build clarity, confidence, and a balanced approach to risk and operational transformation even in the midst of chaos.

Zooming Out: Escaping the Risk Trap

Due to the frequent (and sometimes catastrophic) risk of harm to participants and workers, NDIS leaders are often tempted to scrutinise every detail under a microscope, focusing on the minutiae that can draw us away from the broader vision.

We keep zooming in on pricing inconsistencies, operational inefficiencies, and compliance gaps. We analyse, dissect, diagnose again and again. Over time, practice becomes transactional and impersonal. People are reduced to their diagnoses, behaviours, and risk profiles — potential liabilities to be managed rather than individuals to be supported.

In doing so, we risk losing sight of the values, care, and desire to change lives that drew us to this work in the first place. We become resigned to being cogs in a system we once hoped to transform. When was the last time you picked up the mirror? Because this sector doesn’t need another audit of what’s wrong. It needs a recommitment and reconnection to what is right.

And that begins with our earlier question: Are you really living your purpose or just performing it?

Purpose in Action: Strategic Alignment in Practice

This perspective challenges leaders to reflect on what they and their organisation stand for, reinforcing the core values and purpose that guide every action and decision. By reinforcing the ‘why’ behind your actions, you provide a lens through which your team can evaluate and respond to change. This shared understanding helps in negotiating chaos, as decisions are made not merely based on immediate outcomes but on whether they align with the core mission.

A clear organisational purpose also facilitates more effective engagement with stakeholders. When you articulate what you stand for in a way that resonates with the values and needs of your stakeholders, it becomes easier to identify common ground and establish connection. This is crucial for negotiating terms, collaborating on projects, and navigating challenges together. It shifts the focus from individual agendas to shared goals and mutual benefits.

Reconnecting with Why: Living Your Purpose

In the current political and financial climate, revisiting your core purpose might feel soft or not a key priority but being steadfast in your purpose and aligned with your values allows you to negotiate the chaos confidently because you are walking your talk, you are demonstrating commitment to enacting purposeful change, not performing lip service and box ticking. Now is not the time to be wedded to a service model that sends you broke because the focus is too narrowly focused on risk, compliance and cost reduction. Purpose isn’t achieved by preserving old formats.

You don’t have to change what you stand for, just how you stand for it.

NOW is the time to reaffirm what matters. Not with slogans, but with strategic choices that align with your purpose and still make sense on a balance sheet.

Understanding Your Organisational Identity

The mirror symbolises self-reflection, a critical exercise for any leader aiming to reinforce their organisation’s identity and purpose. Craft opportunities that allow you to interrogate the actions, decisions, and priorities that have previously been set. This isn’t about branding. It’s about alignment.

• • Are you walking your talk?
  • Do your values show up in rostering? In how you talk to staff? In the way you write your shift notes or develop partnerships?
  • If you stripped away your marketing, your compliance framework, and your executive reporting would your purpose still be recognisable?

This reflection helps clarify what your organisation truly stands for, beyond just the services you provide.

Practical Activity 1: Do Your Decisions Reflect Your Values?

An activity you may wish to consider with your transformation team is to review the last three big business decisions that were made. By big, I mean things that would affect more than 50% of your stakeholders or staff.

Without considering the actual outcome, encourage your transformation team to review the decision through the lens of your organisational values. Do all three decisions demonstrate clear alignment to your values and the decisions that were made?

If they did – fab! If not, consider:

1. Discussing the findings with your team and use them as a learning experience to be more conscious of your values in the decision-making process, and

2. Tabling a project to revisit the organisational values to be reflective of how you act and what your truly value (this may have been evident in the driving factors behind the three big decisions).

Practical Activity 2: Do Your Strategies Reflect Your Values?

Next, your transformation team should consider your current organisational priorities and your strategy for achieving them in the next 12 months. Do they:

• • Reflect your values?
  • Address the uncertain external operating environment?
  • Highlight an approach that prioritises flexibility?

The key to this part of the process is to interrogate buzzwords that lack clarity. Terms like:

• Accountability
• Empowerment
• Person-centred
• Choice and control
• Independence
• Efficiency
• Technology
• Innovation

To uncover their real meaning and impact, consider surveying staff and participants for real-life examples of how they understand and experience these broad conceptual terms and ask:

• • Do their interpretations match the organisation’s intended use and values?
  • Are the meanings consistent across different people and roles?

Understanding how people interpret these words helps you identify gaps and make meaningful changes.

If you do choose to use these terms, it’s essential to develop an agreed organisational glossary that defines what each term means in practice and what feelings, behaviours, or standards it should evoke.

A shared glossary ensures staff, providers, and stakeholders have a common understanding of key terms in the context of your organisation’s policies, procedures and practices.

Ban the Buzz: Define What You Really Mean

As humans, most of us adhere to a common psychological phenomenon where we judge ourselves based on our intentions while assessing others by their actions and the feelings those actions evoke for us. This understanding is crucial in strategic planning as it will encourage your transformation team to consider how to communicate intentions clearly, but also, to closely consider and manage how each action will be perceived.

The goal is to build strategies that are not just internally satisfying but are also externally effective, reducing misunderstandings and building trust. By aligning intended outcomes with the actual impact of actions, organisations can ensure that their strategic objectives are met in ways that positively resonate with all involved parties. Or, more simply – ban the buzz.

This may present an opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competitors who all have the same, but slightly varied mission statements.

Bringing Values to Life: Internal and External Alignment

So, take a moment to assess the ripple effects of your strategy on your stakeholders—clients, staff, and the wider community. A transformation program isn’t just about aligning internal operations with your values; it’s about ensuring those values resonate outwardly. Engaging your transformation team to map out how your organisational goals and actions are perceived beyond your walls is critical to your longevity.

Consider hosting focus groups or stakeholder forums to gather honest feedback about the alignment (or misalignment) between your stated priorities and the lived experiences of those you serve and employ. This kind of validation fosters trust and credibility, showing that your organisation, and you as a leader, are committed to listening and evolving in meaningful ways.

Embedding Purpose in Your Transformation Culture

Finally, remember that transformation isn’t a one-time event but a continuous journey. Establish how you will check and continuously measure the alignment between values, strategies, and outcomes.

The next critical step is to incorporate these reviews into your operational rhythm to ensure adaptability as the external environment continually shifts. By embedding transformation into your culture, you position your organisation as a leader in the sector—not just one that reacts to change but one that shapes the future of disability services. This proactive, reflective approach will ensure your strategic plans remain relevant, flexible, and impactful for years to come.

Many organisations may feel this step is unnecessary as they believe the stated values of the organisation are strongly embedded and commonly known. Hopefully that is the case, however the outcomes from undertaking the activities put forward this week may surprise you. It will also support you in building clarity and confidence with your transformation team on how to achieve your future vision. This confidence is not just about knowing what you stand for but prepares you for the next steps of ensuring that every part of your organisation is operating in alignment with this purpose. When leaders are clear and confident about their direction, it cascades down to every level of the organisation, creating a unified focus that is both empowering and stabilising.

We invite you to come back next fortnight to see how your organisations values are translating in service delivery.

The Key Takeaways….

1. Stop Over-Magnifying the Minutiae
NDIS leaders are often drawn to hyper-scrutiny to avoid risk but focusing only on what’s under the microscope can obscure the bigger picture. Strategic leadership requires reflection, not just reaction.

2. Use the Mirror: Reflect on Purpose and Identity
True leadership begins with knowing what your organisation really stands for. This means regularly reflecting on values, culture, and the impact your decisions have on stakeholders.

3. Purpose Guides Through Chaos
Revisiting your organisational purpose may feel non-essential in tough times, but it’s what allows you to navigate complexity with clarity. You don’t need to change what you stand for—just how you stand for it.

4. Test Strategic Alignment with Real Decisions
Have your transformation team review the last three big decisions. Did they align with your stated values? If not, do you need to adjust your processes or revisit what those values really mean?

5. Ban the Buzzwords – Define What You Really Mean
Words like “empowered,” “choice and control,” or “innovation” are useless unless you define and demonstrate what they mean in practice.

Join our webinar on Part 4 – The Mirror not the Microscope on Thursday, 5 June at 1pm.

Register via our mailing list here or LinkedIn

The next fortnightly instalment in our NDIS Survive & Thrive Series is Part 5 – The Microscope not the Mantra

All service providers essentially want to deliver a service that is valued by the NDIS participants and to provide an environment where people want to belong. But how is this translating to your daily service delivery?

Outcome – a gap analysis of what you do well, what you need to improve on and what is not worth your time or energy.

Get Involved and Get Connected!

• We would love to know if you’ve tried any of the activities we’ve suggested or done something similar in the past – and what the outcomes were! You can reach out to us in the Get in Touch section at the bottom of this page.
• We also share practical tips, real life examples, and expert insights every week on LinkedIn. Follow along, join the conversation, and share these posts with your network.
• Join our mailing list here to receive notifications up upcoming instalments and webinars. We truly value the insights and experiences attendees are bringing to our webinars!

How We Can Help

In today’s climate of tight overhead margins and a competitive labour market, resourcing your transformation team entirely with internal staff may not be feasible. That’s where we come in. Our experienced project and change managers can provide the specialised support you need to keep your transformation on track.

We also offer skilled facilitation for transformation team meetings, maximising your time and ensuring meaningful, high-quality outcomes.

For broader strategic needs, we provide executive advisory and tailored support packages designed to empower NDIS businesses at every stage of growth and development.

Get in Touch

If you would like confidential assistance in looking at this differently, book in a time to have a no obligation chat via my bookings calendar or email me at  angela@supportingpotential.com.au.

Let’s build a stronger, more adaptable NDIS community together.

Your partner in achieving compliance, growth and sustainability 

Angela Harvey

Managing Director of Supporting Potential

To read all our other blogs visit here

13 May 2025

Grab a coffee and set aside 9 minutes reading time to ask yourself honestly:

 “Does my organisation have the right expertise and experience to revitalise over the next 12 months, whilst we continue to respond to what is needed right now?”

This article explores how to identify the key players in your organisation, who has a seat at your NDIS strategic table and, and how to implement a structured transformation approach to drive the survival of your organisation.

In Part 2 of the Supporting Potential Survive and Thrive series, we addressed some of the critical drivers forcing change in the NDIS right now. NDIS Service Providers need to make a conscious decision if they want to be Blockbuster or Netflix.

If you’re still engaged in this series, were assuming that you want to be Netflix and that you understand that change is hard for everyone, but as the leader, you set the tone. In this fast paced and chaotic operating environment, you can’t do this on your own. You need to form a team that represents all facets of your organisation. By involving voices from frontline staff, operational leaders, and the people you serve, you create a collaborative environment where challenges are addressed holistically, and opportunities are seized with confidence.

When you empower your transformation team to challenge assumptions, identify blind spots, and co-create strategies that align with your vision while meeting the needs of those you serve, this collective effort fosters ownership, innovation, and a shared commitment to organisational growth.

A well-rounded transformation team brings diverse perspectives, ensuring that your strategic plans are not only comprehensive but also deeply relevant to the evolving NDIS landscape.

“Transformational success starts with the voices that drive impact. The time is NOW to engage the doers, the thinkers, and the changemakers.”

Optimising NDIS Service Success: Identifying Key Contributors and Structuring Effective Change Management to Transform for NDIS 2.0

The Step-by-Step Process

A study by IBM involving over 1,500 change management executives revealed that nearly 60% of projects aimed at achieving business change missed at least one objective or failed entirely. Without a clear and structured process, transformation efforts often lose momentum, suffer from misalignment, or fail to deliver sustainable outcomes.

Formalising your approach ensures that everyone, from the boardroom to the frontline, understands the direction, the reasons behind each change, and their role in making it happen.

It transforms change from a reactive scramble into a proactive, measurable journey. In the context of NDIS 2.0, where expectations, compliance, and participant outcomes are rapidly evolving, a step-by-step approach helps you navigate complexity, track progress, manage risk, maintain exit routes and build trust across your organisation.

Step 1: Attributes members of the transformation team ideally should have

Who you select to be on this team can significantly enhance the success of your NDIS 2.0 organisation. You need a team that not only navigates change effectively but strongly aligns with the values and goals organisation. Ideally you want people passionate about ensuring your organisation will emerge stronger and more capable.

Really challenge yourself during this step to think “Who in my organisation quietly demonstrates these skills?”

Beware the trap of relying too heavily on formal roles instead of actual influence.

Consider each of these attributes in your team members:

1. Adaptability: Members should be flexible and open to change, capable of adjusting to new processes, technologies, and ideas as they emerge throughout the transformation.
2. Visionary Thinking: Look for individuals who can see the bigger picture and have a strategic mindset. They should be able to envision the future state of the organisation and understand how different elements will interact within that future state.
3. Resilience: Transformation projects can be challenging and fraught with setbacks. Members need to be resilient, able to cope with obstacles and continue moving forward even when things don’t go as planned.
4. Collaborative Spirit: Effective team members should excel at working with others, sharing ideas, and building consensus. Collaboration is essential in transformation teams as it involves various departments and levels of an organisation.
5. Communication Skills: Strong verbal and written communication skills are crucial. Team members must be able to articulate ideas clearly, listen effectively, and persuade others to embrace change.
6. Problem-Solving Skills: Look for people who are not just problem identifiers but also problem solvers. They should be analytical and creative in finding solutions to complex issues that the transformation might entail.
7. Leadership and Influence: Even if not all members hold formal leadership positions, the ability to influence and lead others is important. They should inspire and motivate their colleagues, fostering a positive atmosphere and driving the team towards its goals.
8. Commitment to Learning: Transformation requires continual learning and adaptation. Members should be proactive learners, eager to update their knowledge and skills and to apply new understandings in their work.
9. Integrity and Accountability: Trustworthiness and a strong sense of duty are vital. Team members should hold themselves and others accountable for the project’s success, ensuring transparency and ethical behaviour in all activities.

In a perfect world, every team member would excel in all of these skills and attributes. But perfection is the enemy of progress, so as the leader, your role is to ensure balance and understand where each members strengths and weaknesses lie.

Step 2: Determine the composition of your transformation team  

McKinsey research shows that 7 percent of employees need to be involved in initiatives or milestones for the transformation to generate positive returns.

So, who is part of your 7%?

• You! (Obviously). Your vulnerability and bravery will ultimately be what supports your team to succeed. Depending on the size of your organisation, you may need to include additional members of your executive team, but senior leaders should not be any more than 2% of your 7% team. You can ensure you continue to have full leadership buy-in by appointing a transformation team member to report to the executive.
• Participants: If you were trying to design a new smartphone to take market share from Apple, would you have a transformation team that have never used smart devices? This may feel like a challenging undertaking, but by explaining what it is you want to achieve it and asking for help from the people receiving your services, you will not only be able to innovate faster, but you will support a more palatable transition for your participants. They will know they were integral to designing the services that they need and will get the most benefit from.
• Frontline Workers: They are directly involved with the people you serve and understand their needs intimately. Their insights are invaluable in shaping services that are both responsive and effective. Organisations that actively listen and act on recommendations from frontline employees are 80 percent more likely than their peers to implement new and better ways of doing things.
• Frontline Leaders: This group is the connection between the organisational vision and the daily outputs that work to achieve it. They will be able to support the vision with workable solutions that are more readily accepted by the broader staffing cohorts.
• Management Team: This group strategizes and steers the direction of the organisation, ensuring that the structures and systems that support operations align with long-term goals.
• Support Staff: Often overlooked, these contributors handle everything from administrative tasks to client communications, and their efficiency directly impacts service delivery.
• Stakeholders: This includes family members of clients, community partners, and funding bodies. Their engagement and feedback is crucial for adapting and improving services.
• A Project Manager: Someone who will break the work down into manageable tasks and monitor completion and impact.

Step 3: Rationalise and adjust your transformation team based on position

If you are an organisation of 200 people, you will have 14 people on the broader transformation team:

You and one other senior executive

2 participants with different support needs but representative of your broader cohort

2 influential frontline workers

2 frontline leaders

2 management team members with different business focuses

2 administrative support team representatives with different business focuses to the management team

1 stakeholder representative

1 project manager

Step 4: Allocating roles to members of the transformation team

In this step, each person on your transformation team gets a personalised “role card”.  You may be tempted to skip this step, thinking that everyone should have ‘equal’ roles or conform to their job title. DON’T.

Ensuring people have clarity about the expectations of their involvement will:

• • create ownership, focus, and accountability
  • prevent confusion and duplication
  • provide the confidence to contribute, even if it means disagreeing with a senior leader
  • making change feel relevant, not abstract as people understand their unique contribution is moving the vision forward
  • prevents groupthink and limits assumptions that “someone else” will handle the hard stuff

You can do this as an icebreaking activity within the team, but the following goals have to be determined:

• • the role’s purpose in the transformation
  • strengths they bring to the team
  • perspective to drive
  • a list of tasks to be completed
  • a checklist of what is needed for the role’s success. For instance, the KPIs assigned could be to gather input from 30% of peers about a proposal.

Step 5: Make adjustments to balance workload and avoid burnout

To make a transformation team effective, it’s not enough to clarify roles within the change process, you also need to acknowledge and adjust people’s day-to-day responsibilities. Transformation work requires time, energy, and focus. If team members are expected to contribute meaningfully while still carrying the full weight of their regular duties, progress will stall, or burnout will set in so leaders must proactively create space. This might mean reallocating tasks, arranging backfill, or temporarily shifting priorities. If you find this difficult, ask each member of your transformation team to identify the lowest value tasks that they complete each week. Risk assess the impact of those things not getting done.

By recognising the workload realities and planning for them upfront, you demonstrate that transformation is a serious, supported effort, not just an add-on to already stretched roles.

“When the waters rise, you need more than ‘quality’. You need people working together, minds thinking differently and using every skill and tool, regardless of its traditional use.  That’s what turns urgency + diversity into the innovative mindset that will set you apart.”

Structuring Your Change Management Approach

Once you have established the transformation team, the next step is to structure your change management approach. Effective change management in the NDIS context should be proactive, inclusive, and adaptive.

Your key role in this process is to not have all the solutions but to empower the team to identify and enable significant change based on strategic planning and active involvement.

You need to consider and prioritise:

• Structuring effective meetings and workshops is crucial. The goal should be open communication, creative problem-solving, and decisive action.
• Clear agendas with specific outcomes to be achieved. Not all team members need to be in every workshop or meeting, but if they are there, you need a strategy to ensure every team member is engaged in the discussion.
• Tracking progress against clearly defined indicators of success. These indicators might include client satisfaction scores, service delivery efficiencies, or compliance with NDIS guidelines.
• Interactive workshops designed to harness the collective expertise of the team, using techniques like brainstorming, role-playing, or scenario planning to explore new ideas. Post it notes are a very effective way of getting people to crystallise their ideas and share without being in the spotlight.
• Empowerment and recognising and nurturing the leadership potential within the team, allowing individuals to take ownership of projects and decisions. This not only enhances their skills but also drives their commitment to the transformation agenda.

Remember, your key role as the transformation leader isn’t to provide all the answers, but to foster the kind of dialogue that brings out the best thinking from the team.

Depending on your skill set and the previous operating models you have used, you may be able to do this best by taking one of the two following roles:

Facilitator – this means you don’t contribute to the problem identification or ideas generation,

OR

Transformation team member – You hire an external facilitator to guide the conversation, allowing you to participate in the discussion as an equal.

And as always, remember:

• You are a big screen TV. Employees notice when their bosses don’t change their own behaviours to adapt to the goals of transformation.
• Focus on making work more meaningful and expressing your appreciation to inspire and motivate employees.
• Continually evaluate whether your transformation efforts are delivering measurable value.

The Key Takeaways….

Who you choose and how you support them will shape your future

Transforming for NDIS 2.0 isn’t just about responding to regulatory shifts. You need to be deliberately shaping who you are as an organisation within the new landscape. The people at your strategic table will either unlock your next chapter or hold it back. By choosing the right mix of voices, clarifying their roles, and giving them the time and support they need, you’re not just forming a committee, you’re building a movement within your organisation.

Structured change is hard, but aimless change is fatal. So, formalise your approach, centre it around collaboration, and stay focused on creating value that’s real, measurable, and felt by the people you support.

The future is already here. The question is, are you building for it, or reacting to it?

How we can help

In today’s climate of tight overhead margins and a competitive labour market, resourcing your transformation team entirely with internal staff may not be feasible.

That’s where we come in. Our experienced project and change managers can provide the specialised support you need to keep your transformation on track.

We also offer skilled facilitation for transformation team meetings, maximising your time and ensuring meaningful, high-quality outcomes.

For broader strategic needs, we provide executive advisory and tailored support packages designed to empower NDIS businesses at every stage of growth and development.

Join us next fortnight for Part 4 of our NDIS Survive & Thrive Series – The Mirror not the Microscope

Revisiting what you as the leader and the broader organisation stand for. Is it intrinsically understood and evidenced? Simply put, are you walking your talk?

Outcome – to build or reaffirm confidence, clarity and consistency about your purpose to assist the organisation and its stakeholders  identify common ground and negotiate the continued chaos.

Get in touch

If you’d like confidential support to explore a fresh perspective, feel free to book a no-obligation chat via my bookings calendar or email me at angela@supportingpotential.com.au.

Get involved…

We’ll be sharing practical tips, real life examples, and expert insights every week on LinkedIn and we’ve love to hear your thoughts!

Follow along, join the conversation, and share these posts with your network. Let’s build a stronger, more adaptable NDIS community together.

Your partner in achieving compliance, growth and sustainability 

Angela Harvey

Managing Director of Supporting Potential

To read all our other blogs visit here