Leadership & New Venture Success

Austin began her career in healthcare at the age of 14 when she became a lifeguard at the community pool. At age 16 she became a first responder, and then at 18 she an EMT-Basic. She became a paramedic at 21. Throughout the years she taught numerous healthcare courses in her home state.

Throughout her time teaching classes, Austin remained active providing patient care as an EMT-paramedic, and later as a critical care paramedic. While she enjoyed providing patient care and teaching classes, she realized that she also enjoyed the challenge of setting up and running new programs. With her clinical background and her experience teaching, Austin soon recognized that she could provide the unique niche of being able to teach classroom materials while applying actual field applications. She complemented her "textbook" material with a variety of skills and scenarios that were obtained from her experience in the prehospital care environment. As Austin continued to work in EMS, both as a clinician and educator, she realized that her passion was shifting from clinical interests to operations management and administration.

During one of her classes Austin learned that a local EMS training center was looking for a manager to oversee operations. In addition to ensuring that the courses were coordinated and that quality education was delivered, the manager would be responsible for taking the training center "to the next level". The current facility had traditional educational tools, including mannequins and medical supplies. However, the board of directors felt that the program could potentially benefit from the addition of technology and enhanced practice stations.

Austin was approached by a board member and was asked to consider applying for the position. The new position would be full time and would allow for the successful candidate to develop a contemporary program that was otherwise not available in the region. After talking with several board members and a friend, Austin decided to apply for the position.

Austin interviewed for the position and a month later accepted the position and began her new career path. Within 6 months of accepting her new role, Austin made significant progress. She was able to determine where the current programs were at, what equipment would be needed for the future, and participated in strategic planning with the senior management team.

Austin was also successful representing the program at a variety of venues throughout the region. Within 12 months other training centers were visiting Austin's facility to observe and learn about the best practices. Within 24 months Austin's department was receiving requests for education from throughout the region. In addition, Austin's department implemented new channels for delivering education including classroom and distance learning sessions.

The senior management team at Austin's company was pleased with the progress that had been attained in such a short time. They continued to encourage Austin to explore new course offerings, increased her budget, and allowed her to hire new staff as the growth demanded additional personnel to support her programs.

The current staff welcomed the addition of new team members. During one class's break a veteran instructor and a newly hired instructor were discussing the progress of the training center's accomplishments. The newly hired instructor asked the other instructors, "What is it that helped to propel this program to its current level?" One of the original instructors replied, "In my opinion, leadership played a huge role". He then began to outline the leadership traits that Austin continually brought to the training center -- and had maintained for the past 3 years.