Meet Supervisor, Brodie Tahi Tahi

Brodie has long since proved he is ready to face challenges head on.

He started at Monadelphous at the age of 18 as a track maintainer for our Karratha Rail operations. Now, just three years on, Brodie is the supervisor of a team of 12.

What were you doing before you started working for Monadelphous?

 When I was 16, I started working at the PCYC and Yaandina Community Services mentoring kids in the local Roebourne area. Raised in Roebourne myself, I used to frequent these places after school, so it was pretty fitting that my sister and I both ended up working there.

When did you move to Roebourne?

When I was 8, my family and I moved up to Roebourne from Perth because my dad wasn’t enjoying the FIFO life. 

Both of my parents work for the Brita Yirramagardu crew and used to do support work for Indigenous boys coming out of prison, helping them get trained up and gain work experience.

When did you start working at Monadelphous?

When I was 18, Matt Macfarlane came to Roebourne to do some interviews for jobs at Monadelphous. I was really nervous because I had never done anything like that before and I was by far the youngest person there, which was pretty intimidating. But once we started doing team activities, I really enjoyed it, and everyone was really friendly and supportive.

I went through three stages of interviews and was eventually offered a job, it sounded like a really great opportunity, so I accepted.

What was your first role?

In 2018 I started as a track maintainer, which was different to anything I had done before, but I was really excited to start. I had training for the first three weeks which made starting a lot easier and I loved it straight away. I wanted to learn how everything worked and was keen to get involved in every aspect. I think my supervisor recognised this at the time as he kept pushing me to do different things and challenge myself.

So how did you go from track maintainer to supervisor?

I kept upskilling and after a year I got my welding ticket and then started as a protection officer. Because of this new role, I moved to a different crew and became the lead mobile flash welder. After a few months, the leading hand of the team moved back to Perth, so I stepped up into that position.

Due to COVID changes, the then acting supervisor left and I stepped up to take on the role of acting supervisor and after 6 months or so, the superintendent asked if I was confident enough to take on the role of supervisor permanently.

I was really stoked that I was asked and felt like I had the right support around me to take on the role. So now, I am the supervisor of a team of 12.

Do you find it challenging being a supervisor at such a young age?

At the beginning I was worried about it, however it has not been an issue. We have all grown and trained together, so I have a lot of respect for my team, and they have respect for me. They know they can come to me if they don’t have the answer and I will help them find it.

What do you enjoy the most about your current role, and what’s the biggest challenge?

I really enjoy being able to push my team to reach their full potential, it’s cool to train someone and then see them training someone else.

People management is definitely the most challenging aspect. You have to know people’s personalities and know how to interact with everyone on their own level. The jobs are easy, but it’s understanding the people and how they work that’s the most challenging. 

Do you have any advice would you give someone starting out their apprenticeship?

Say yes to everything. When one door closes, another door opens, and you’ll never know unless you give it a go. I didn’t know anything about trains and here I am, any opportunity that comes my way I just give it a go.