I have utilised the HR and business knowledge of Michael Minns for some twenty five years . This was during the time I held Director level positions with Global Healthcare and Consumer goods businesses.  Michael has broad expertise in a range of subjects but particularly during Aquistions and Mergers, Management Development, Training and Employee assessment and testing.

These strengths are obvious whether engaged locally or internationally.

Michael Minns has been known to me for some 30 plus years.

During this period I was for 6 years Queensland State Manager of Mad Barry’s Home Improvements with 25 retail outlets  being a mix of franchises and company owned stores .

This was followed by a State Managers role in St Vincent De Pauls(6 years) followed by a CEO and Directors role  at OZCare a NFP organisation with over 3000 employees. Whilst with these organisations Michael was engaged as a consultant many times to facilitate a host of HR projects which included Recruitment , Team Building , Culture Shaping  , Mergers and Aquisitions Restructuring and staff training .

I can recommend Michael for ability and knowledge as a senior manager /consulting.

During my work as a senior executive in construction materials and later in waste management I worked with Michael Minns and associates on numerous projects. This included management restructuring, team mergers and refocusing.

At all times I found Michael pragmatic and committed to the task in hand.

I have no hesitation in recommending him for similar projects.

Michael Minns and I have worked on a number of projects across Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. He has been my “go to” man for human resource advice and on the ground assistance.

I first worked with Michael at Camberwell Coal in the Hunter Valley in 1991. Camberwell was a start-up coal mine with a high strip ratio that created a very high operational cost base. We needed to think outside the square with our workforce to achieve exceptional productivities to stay in business. Michael was instrumental in assisting us to develop the “Camberwell Way”. Since then other mines have copied the term, which has now lost its shine, but we were the first in the coal industry to coin the phrase. Michael introduced us to “Targeted Selection” to ensure we employed the best people available. He coordinated weeklong inductions that exposed the new team members to the latest management practices and built a caring team environment. Camberwell became the safest mine in NSW , winning the Sentinels in Safety Award in the second year of operation, and became the lowest cost operator in the NSW Coal Industry from published Coal Board Statistics.

Michael then assisted me with leadership development at Eltin Contractors in Perth and Macmahon Contractors in Adelaide and Darwin.

In 1998 I was head of the Thiess Roche Lihir Joint Venture, the mining contractor, at Lihir Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea. Early in my tenure we encountered a three-week strike that included the striking workforce manning road blocks, the local school being shut down, evacuation plans being implemented and security on high alert. The workforce was eventually convinced to resume work to negotiate a new Workplace Agreement and Individual Contracts. Michael was contracted to lead the negotiations. He speaks fluent Tok Pisin, the country wide language, as well as Motu, the most used local dialect. Michael completed the Workplace Agreement,  all the Individual Agreements and found a new HR Manager for the project in two weeks. In the next twelve months productivity increased by 38 percent.

In 2000 Thiess took over the BHP Arutman Operations in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, which entailed Thiess taking on all the workforce, mining equipment and managing the mine facilities. I led the transition. Michael led the Workplace Agreement negotiations with the representatives of a workforce of close to 2,000 employees. It was negotiated and signed in 10 days. It took BHP 6 months to negotiate the previous agreement.

In 2004 Michael implemented Targeted Selection at Muswellbrook Coal for the employment of a new shift. He trained operators and tradesmen to enable the company to utilise a cross-sectional recruitment team.

Michael is unflappable, good under pressure, a delight to work with and has the ability to make all levels of a workforce feel at ease even under extenuating circumstances.