Kate Coburn is an HR Specialist with a passion for the region! A regular member at DPARTMNT, Kate has started her own exciting business venture, Thrive People & Culture. 

Starting operations in January 2021, Thrive is transforming the workspace, developing bespoke people solutions to proactively achieve goals while retaining a business’s biggest asset - their people. 

Kate works with small to medium-sized businesses in the professional services area who seek support in the development of their organisation’s leaders. By working alongside businesses, Kate strives to create a culture of accountability through training and upskilling leadership teams. Her goal as an outsourced HR specialist is to support her clients to build their internal Management and HR function to enable them to do it themselves. 

Kate loves building capability in individuals and teams to see them grasp concepts and implement them, which ultimately provides job fulfilment and supports people to love what they do. Her services include onboarding, leadership development and coaching, strategy work and culture development. 

Kate is a Tamworth local. Having left the area to spend time living in Paris and completing her studies at the University of Newcastle, she has since been back for 10 years. Kate loves Tamworth and is passionate about growth in our region. She is committed to helping people find and retain employment here through creating awareness of the opportunity to grow careers in our region. 

Kate’s first exposure to DPARTMNT was while visiting her accountant, Andy Chambers at Wolf Tax - another valued member in our space. Kate says the space was nice and inviting and she saw an opportunity to utilise the hot desks once Thrive had kicked off. Currently, Kate works at DPARTMNT one day a week, dedicating some days at home to working on her business. Regular visits to DPARTMNT provide a really good way to network in a fantastic space with minimal distractions. 

DPARTMNT enables Kate to give her business a professional edge that cannot be achieved at home. For client meetings, Kate will book out one of the meeting rooms we have available, which provide a nice professional space for her clients to experience her services in. She also makes regular use of the ‘pop-in room’ to take phone calls, particularly when others are sharing the space. 

Location is a major bonus of working at DPARTMNT for Kate. Sitting right in the middle of town, there’s plenty of cafes close by for coffee or taking clients out, and when she needs a little break the shops are right there for a browse. 

Since joining DPARTMNT, Kate has seen increased opportunity for generating referrals and leads within her network. “It can be hard to get your name out there but through building relationships with people in the space,  particularly those working in professional services, you become front of mind for them to refer to their clients who have a problem your expertise may be able to help with.” 

Proven productivity keeps Kate coming back to DPARTMNT. The space allows her a place to stay focused on getting things done, allowing for thinking time and the development of her services as well. Though there is time spent interacting with others in the space, there is a level of respect for others that sees a good balance between productivity and socialising. 

For those considering coming to DPARTMNT, Kate says

“absolutely make the booking! You will create some really good networking opportunities and all the facilities you need are here.”