Althorp Village manager Claire Keen is the ultimate people person, happily chatting to residents while efficiently taking care of a myriad of projects, and on-call 24/7. Althorp, located in Pyes Pa, Tauranga, is like her second home; even her mum lives there! focus talks to Claire about how she found herself managing a retirement complex after a successful career in interior design and what she loves in her people-facing role.
Words: Millie Freeman
Images: Vanessa Laval-Glad
Hair & Makeup: Chloe Gray
Claire Keen has just finished her ‘what’s on for the week’ update to Village residents when I arrive for an interview on a Monday morning. The teacups are cleared and most residents have headed home or onto the host of indoor and outdoor activities on offer.
Some pass by reception and Claire doesn’t miss the opportunity for a cheery wave here, a joke with a gentleman there, a courteous follow-up and reassurance with another resident on some repair work, and a quick phone update with the on-site builder on a refurbishment – all in the first few minutes of our interview. It’s a busy place!
“Yes, and I love it!” says Claire. “I’m dealing with 10-20 things a day and my desk is always a mess but there’s something different happening all the time and I never tire of that. I think quickly on my feet and I have a fantastic team working with me.”
She’s also really good at multitasking and listening, and loves dealing with all sorts of personalities – an important skill set when there are 211 different properties and homeowners on-site and you’re overseeing more than 30 activities each week. Yes, there’s a lot going on but Village residents enjoy independent living and mostly organise their own groups and events, with support from Claire and her team of eight permanent staff.
“Our vision is to create an environment where our residents can find like-minded people and where they can be happy and enjoy their golden years, stress free and trouble free.”
With all the stuff on offer and the expansive park-like setting, it’s rather like a holiday resort, with architecturally designed homes, stunning gardens and well thought-out recreational facilities. And, as it turns out, Claire was mostly responsible for the look and style of Althorp before she even became employed there.
LEARNING BY DOING
Claire’s been Village manager since 2009, but her involvement with Althorp began in the late 90s when the Church and Munro families decided to transform their kiwifruit orchards into a retirement complex. At the time Claire was a busy and highly successful interior designer with a host of domestic and commercial projects to her name, including bars and restaurants along The Strand in Tauranga. She was recommended to the Althorp establishment team and worked on the interior design and fitout of the on-site private hospital, which opened in 2000 and is now operated by Radius. She then carried on with developments for the Village. When the project manager became ill, Claire took on the role on top of her design work, not knowing a thing about project management, earth works or construction.
“I literally learnt on the job – from the ground up – from the builders, electricians, surveyors and every other tradesperson on-site. I had no formal training, but I can tell you everything about Althorp, both above and below the ground.”
So when asked several years later if she wanted to take on the Village management position, it was really
a no-brainer. Besides, she’d already packed up her design business six months earlier and moved to Australia, intending to live there, but with her kids all independent and her friends in New Zealand, she decided to head home. As well as Village manager, Claire is also responsible for marketing and property sales – a mix of villas, townhouses, apartments and serviced apartments – refurbishments, garden planting, staffing and supervision of the gardening team.
SUPPORT WITHOUT INTRUSION
The Althorp Village philosophy promotes the idea of residents staying in their own homes for as long as possible and with as much help as required – it’s a happy balance between keeping a close eye on how everyone is doing without being intrusive.
Knowing what to do next as we age can be really daunting for families, she says, and the team can help facilitate the process, whether it’s making that significant move out of the family home, or transferring into the Althorp serviced apartments, or, at a later stage, into Radius Althorp Hospital.
“It’s all about looking after people and their welfare and it’s important for family members to know that we have a community of people who can provide support,” she says. “In fact, some of our residents don’t have any family but they have huge support from neighbours and friends and, of course, from the management team.”
Incredibly, her carefully fostered culture of support and neighbourliness soon turned tail and focused on Claire herself when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and went through two years of treatment. She is now a board member of Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga.
“Going through chemo was tough but I came to work every day because it’s such a lovely environment here, and my husband Tony as well as the residents and staff got me through, along with lots of iced coffees! I’d just lie on the couch when I needed to rest and everyone was fantastic. Thinking positively definitely helped too.”
EARLY RISK-TAKER
Her positivity and bubbly personality have certainly got her places – that and never being afraid to jump in head first and take a risk. From New Plymouth Girls High, she went straight into nursing training in Palmerston North, and, by the time she was 20, was living in LA and working as a nanny. She married an Iranian, had the first of four children, and then took on a nursing role in a Beverley Hills health clinic for male pattern hair loss and smoking cessation.
“All the who’s who of Beverley Hills came to the clinic, so it was a really interesting time of my life and I made lots of friends.” With one friend, she started a business – in her spare time – decorating Christmas trees for hotels and commercial premises, not realising this was to be the genesis of her hugely successful career in interior design, several years down the track.
When her 12-year marriage ended, she returned to New Zealand with four young children and began designing and making a range of children’s clothing called Spoiled Rotten. It was well received but, as a solo mum, money was tight, so when a friend asked for her help with design and layout for a new home design store in New Plymouth, Claire saw a route back into her love of interior design. She was soon in demand, helping a range of clients with interior fitouts and design, as well as training store staff in setting up displays, and teaching interior design at community evening classes.
“You never know where you can go unless you take a risk,” she says. “People worry about how it’s going to work out, but what is ‘failure’? If it doesn’t work out the way you planned, and you take a different direction, that’s success not failure.”
That’s what she tells her staff and also other retirement village managers she’s mentored: “You’ve got to look at everything from a different perspective – if you hit a wall, you can go around it. There’s always a way, you just have to keep looking for it and keep going. Attitude is everything!”
Collaboration is another key ingredient in her management toolkit, and indeed her recipe for life, and since taking on the Village manager’s role she’s actively recruited the local retirement village industry to work together so that everyone can benefit and grow.
“When I first started in this industry it was a closed book, and I couldn’t see the sense in that at all. My belief was that every village offers something different so why don’t we work together more.”
Now, local villages and retirement complexes openly share details of their service with each other and Claire attends all the industry meetings to network and co-operate. It means growth for everyone, she says, because there’s always someone who knows more than you or someone who has another idea.
“This industry is about people so why wouldn’t you want to embrace that?”
She’s right; people are often too quick to see the negative in something rather than the opportunities on offer. So, as Claire says, go for it, take a risk and see what new doors open. You might be surprised.
It’s lunchtime; Claire has another meeting and, on my way out, I spy some of those comfy couches she mentioned … hmmm, not today, but I’ll file that thought away into ‘retirement planning’ for future consideration!
althorpvillage.co.nz
Phone: 07 543 4008 – Free Phone: 0800 103 456
enquiries@althorpvillage.co.nz