Chris Young – nominated by People and Development Team
We are delighted to nominate Chris Young for the Collaborative Cultures section of the 2025 Spirit of Catholic Education Award. As Payroll Team Leader, Chris demonstrates on a daily basis the way in which deep collaboration enables effective planning, meaningful action and develop respectful and authentic relationships within CEB and DOBCEL schools. Chris’ collaborative approach to relationships with colleagues has built the strong and positive culture that the Payroll Team enjoys today.
Leading nine payroll officers—seven in Ballarat and two remotely—Chris is keenly aware of the isolation that can occur when working off-site. At times, CEB has been described as Ballarat-centric; however, Chris looks to enable collaboration between his central and remote team members, highlighting the strengths and supporting the challenges of each. He continues to build the confidence of each by role modelling what collaboration looks like in his day-to-day interactions. He demonstrates patience, understanding and generosity in his approach as a leader.
A current example of the deep collaboration Chris uses can be seen in way he has taken on the challenge of integrating and implementing Aurion as our new HR Core and Payroll platform. Chris has put in countless hours as he seeks to better understand the system and its restrictions, he offers suggestions for improvement for all users, and he proactively trouble shoots issues to ensure an efficient and effective roll out. Chris is currently collaborating with external stakeholders daily to build a system that ensure our staff within schools are at forefront of decisions.
Chris’ collaboration with other Team Leaders within CEB has opened dialogue and enabled others to better understand the payroll function and feel more confident in their interactions with the payroll team. The relationship that Chris has developed with the People and Development Team is particularly strong. He has dealt with many sensitive and potentially challenging situations that have been handled simply and confidentially. For example, a Family and Domestic Violence application for leave was received by a Team Leader via the People and Development Team recently. The way in which Chris collaborated with the P&D Team to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of this employee resulted in the Team Leader having confidence in seeking support and knowing that the advice received was best practice.
The P&D team have sought Chris’ input into the upcoming CEMEA negotiations, specifically asking for his experience and pain points with the current agreement, but also ideas on how it can be approved upon in the next agreement. Chris’ willingness to collaborate in this space will positively contribute to any improvements reached.
Chris’ approach to collaboration is to first seek to understand others by actively listening and patiently discerning the information he gathers. He then puts himself into the shoes of those who may be impacted and thinks about how to improve their experience. Chris then respectfully offers suggestions and remains objective by accepting the final outcome.
We believe that Chris exemplifies deep and professional collaboration within the spirit of Catholic Education.
