Staff Profile: Ms Betty Eria
This month we feature the lovely Ms. Betty Eria, who hails from the Central and Miline Bay provinces of Papua New Guinea.
Ms. Eria, is a familiar face when you visit, the Human Resource and Management and Information System Branch (HRMIS), on level 3 of the Department.
She is currently the Manager – HRMIS and has served the Department for the last sixteen-years .
The eight initial years of her public service career was spent working at the Port Moresby General Hospital.
In total Ms. Eria has over twenty years of experience in the public sector.
She said, being a team leader for her branch is sometimes challenging especially in terms of managing a group of people with different personalities and skill sets.
“It can be difficult to keep everyone on the same page and ensure that we are all working toward the same goal. To overcome these challenges, I try my best to establish clear expectations and goals right from the start. I hold 5-minute stand-up meetings every Monday morning to discuss the weekly priority tasks and projects and allocate them to each team member” says Ms. Eria.
“I encourage open communication and actively listened to each team member’s ideas and suggestions, making sure to integrate them into decision-making processes. We also set up a group email where we could quickly check in with each other and share updates.”
But despite, the challenges that comes with the job, Ms. Eria said serving the public and delivering services to the people are what we do, hence even if the services may seem small, they all make a difference when the clients are happy.
Betty is also currently furthering her studies by pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a focus on Human Resource Management (BBM-HRM),
A program which is affiliated with the University of Papua New Guinea and the Somare Institute of Leadership and Governance.
“Balancing work and studies can be challenging, but I learned about Work-Life Balance. It simply is the amount of time used doing your job versus, doing what’s important versus my study” she said.
She outlined, effective scheduling, time management, avoiding procrastination and seeking support as some effective strategies that has helped her manage her work and studies.
She encourages new officers in the department to step into challenging situations and make a positive impacts to be able to experience growth in what they are doing.
“Embrace the simplicity of working hard, treating others with kindness, and consistently following through on your promises as a public servant. Work harder than everyone under you or above you. Nothing commands respect more than good work ethic”.