COVID-19 and the changing retail and consumer landscape have presented both sudden and gradual disruptions to Vicinity’s ways of working or operating model. Additionally, these disruptions are underpinning a shift in the role shopping centres play within our communities and forcing us to quickly respond with innovative ways to protect our existing business by building new revenue streams. Equipping our leaders with the skills to respond to these changes has been a critical and ongoing focus in FY21. This evolving external context also presents a significant opportunity for Vicinity to evolve and strengthen. By adapting our ways of working, leveraging our assets and capabilities differently and embracing the changing retail landscape we will be better positioned to address current business challenges and deliver long-term, sustainable performance and growth.
In FY21, we embarked on a systemic change program designed to deliver an enhanced operating model. Titled The Vicinity Way, this multi-year program is intended to drive cultural change, enhance capability of our people, increase execution velocity and deliver increased commercial performance over time. More specifically, The Vicinity Way embeds adaptive ways of thinking and growth mindsets while also driving cohesion across the business. These new ways of working augment our existing organisational strength in retail property management. The Vicinity Way has strong engagement with Vicinity’s Executive and Senior Leadership teams.
Critical to developing and sustaining a culture of high performance is having the leadership capability and discipline to consciously listen and build authentic, two-way communication. This two-way communication must also foster trust and psychological safety.