Dynamic Duos: ‘I’m like the Shrek to her Donkey’

In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.

Kauri Ballard:

Jo and I met back in 2016 shortly after I moved to Australia. She had come to the office for a coffee catch-up with Paul and I was up in Sydney for meetings and randomly heading to a physio appointment. She was saying she should probably go to a physio for some injury she had from doing triathlons and I enthusiastically recommended she do so (semi-bold/bossy for a first meeting).

We have worked together for over seven years, but in different offices and on different accounts. Some of the people that work on my projects are in Sydney and some of the people that work on Jo’s projects are in Melbourne. We share resourcing and staff across projects so it’s key that we keep in contact to keep things flowing and how everyone in the team is developing and performing.

Our relationship is built on respect and teamwork. While our work is pretty independent from each other we try to help each other out, whether that is making sure a project stays on time so that it does not have a flow effect onto another project or sharing resources.

One of the nice things that helps our relationship is that we have different styles (mine being more on the endearing side of authoritative), vs. Jo commands authority and respect while also having a good balance of humour and fun.

I think that works well for us as a duo and as a company. It means the rest of the team can see different approaches and adapt their own ways to work and lead. I know I definitely benefit from learning how Jo works myself. I can only aim to have her level of boss energy.

Jo-Ann Foo:

I had popped into the Analytic Partners’ Sydney office one morning to catch up over coffee with our now boss, Paul Sinkinson (who I knew from a previous role). Kauri happened to be up in Sydney that day, having recently moved to Melbourne with AP from the US.

She was about to go to a physio appointment, and we swapped injury stories (as you do). I then caught up with Kauri in Melbourne over a coffee about a year later when I was thinking about moving agencies to AP. She did a good sell in as I clearly took the role, and now we work alongside each other.

We work in different locations and manage different client portfolios so we don’t have a lot of crossover in terms of day-to-day work, but we deal with the same shared pains (and said boss, who’s of course, not a shared pain but always a delight to work for), which bonds us together.

We both don’t take life too seriously and get distracted easily, which means conversations can go all over the shop, and we both like a good wine or gin, so that keeps things fun.

Our working style, and the way we approach problems is quite different (I think I’m a little more chaotic, Kauri always seems more organised with proper lists – she was showing me some new Microsoft app for time management just the other day which made me feel old and “not tech”).

Plus, Kauri is a lot nicer than I am, which means we bring different perspectives, strengths (and weaknesses) to the table. I think our relationship is built on mutual trust and confidence in each other’s abilities. We have different perspectives, but we never really clash because we both respect each other, which makes troubleshooting any issues a breeze.

Kauri on Jo-Ann:

Most memorable moment with Jo-Ann: We had a coffee together in Melbourne which was our first solo meeting. Jo was in Melbourne for a client trip and had reached out for a casual chat. I had not even realised at the time that she had been thinking about coming to work with us.

It was memorable because we got along so well that she already kind of felt like a team member. Pretty soon after that coffee she came to work at AP. She just seemed like an APer from the start, she slotted in so easily and has been instrumental in the growth in the Australia team.

Best word to describe her: An absolute boss.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour she has: Jo talks out loud and to herself while she is thinking. Sometimes when people sit by her they think, “Is she talking to me?”, but it is an external manifestation of her internal dialogue.

Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, it is mostly soft and indiscernible. I am sure it would be very interesting. While it is “annoying”, it seems to be a very effective tool. She gets a lot done so maybe it should really be branded as a superpower.

Jo-Ann on Kauri:

Most memorable moment with Kauri: We once managed to time our client meetings in Auckland to coincide (not sure why we don’t do it more often,) but that gave us the opportunity to spend some time out of work at a gin bar. I can’t remember what it was called but it had lots of gins, which was the main thing, and followed by dinner at Fed Deli.

Best word to describe her: Loveable.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour she has: Kauri’s most annoying habit is (in truth) an endearing trait. She’s immediately lovable. She’s approachable, positive, people naturally gravitate towards her, and she always somehow manages to bring some goofiness (those would be her words) to a situation.

I find it excessively annoying as I’m cynical, have been referred to as “scary” and will probably get cancelled one of these days. I’m like the Shrek to her Donkey.

(And there you go – if not cancelled, defriended. And this is why Kauri is the lovable one, she doesn’t go round inadvertently calling people asses. If they publish this, I’m sorry Kauri, no offence intended!)

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