RSLQ 2021 Annual Report

11 Continued on next page Robert Skoda Chief Executive Officer, RSL Queensland / CEO’S REPORT RSL Queensland Annual Report | 2021 Year In Review CEO's Report 2 021 was a year of challenge and change for our organisation, but also one of growth and progress. What remained steadfast throughout the year was the commitment of thousands of RSL members across our state who continued to dedicate their time and energy to improving the lives of others. I was honoured to step into the position of Interim CEO during the year, to lead an organisation that I believe in and have worked for to better the lives of veterans and their families for five years. I’m extremely proud to be with RSL Queensland today in the permanent role. As we move forward, our culture across our great organisation is paramount. We’re an organisation that is willing to work collaboratively with others. But while we’re leading the way in providing support for veterans, we must lead with humility and not lose sight of our true purpose. We’re an organisation that recognises the importance of its brand and its heritage, but also recognises that, through and across our whole network of Sub Branches, camaraderie, care, and commemoration are at the forefront of everything that we do. While we are a proud organisation, we realise the vast majority of those we are here to serve aren’t engaging with us. Being led by strong integrity and humility, we must work to reinvigorate this institution to be a crucial part of the lives of veterans and their families as we move into the future. Waiting for Defence members to transition from the ADF is too late for our organisation to be relevant; we need to be relevant before our members are transitioning and offer support all the way through their lives. Many of our mates who are at their lowest are in a gap where they have left Defence but have not yet found their tribe post-service. Our RSL tribe, if we engage whilst in service, can be that camaraderie and purpose through these life transition points, helping our mates flourish post-service, and can be a central part of their support base and community. You will see in the ‘Advocating for Veterans’ section of this report, our commitment to engaging earlier in life continues to grow. This year, we took great strides to increase engagement with Sub Branches and Districts, and improve communication with members. Programs like the managed IT roll out and the Sub Branch Discovery Project were vehicles for this increased engagement, with the benefit of this work evidenced by stronger collaboration across District, Sub Branch, and State Branch. This increased engagement is largely credited to the teams who are working together to evolve our support to the Sub Branches. The teams should be proud of the progress we’ve made as we see the development of initiatives such as the grant support and training, soon to be complemented by additional initiatives.