Q&A with Sonya Miller

I recently caught up with Sonya Miller, Founding Director of Armitage Jones and Non-Executive Director at Development Victoria. When I met Sonya (and the team at AJs), I immediately felt like I was in the company of good friends. Her honesty and humility are admirable and appear to blend seamlessly into the rest of her team.

Q: Coffee order

Sonya: Always flat white, regular milk, nothing complicated.

Q: Favourite lunch spot in Melbourne

Sonya: There are so many good spots around this area! We often go to Punch Lane, which is directly below us, otherwise Hochi Mama is probably my favourite. There is Rice Paper Scissors too, which is really nice!

Q: What inspired you to start your own company?

Sonya: It’s funny, I never set out with this big dream that I was going to set up a business, it was more a combination of different things that coincided at the right time. Most people probably never attempt it because the reality of starting from nothing on day one is a pretty tough way to start.

I had come back from maternity leave and the role I was coming back to was one that I was promoted to prior to going on leave. Coming back, the role wasn’t what I thought it would be and the project I was on at the time was undergoing a bit of change. I suddenly had the opportunity to sort of take over and continue managing it, but rather than under my previous employers, set up my own business to do it.

Timing and like a lot of things I was lucky, in the sense that I got a running start, because I had a project, a team (that came across with me) and shareholders that basically had the cash flow to set up the entire project.

I look back and think, what a position to be in, because I think one of the most daunting things when you start up, is uncertainty of cash flow, and how you get used to that when you’re used to a regular sort of income, so I had a bit of a soft transition from that perspective.

I brought on my business partner about a year later, because I never really wanted to run a business on my own. We had worked together previously, kept in touch and then again timing was perfect, and she was keen to come on board.

Sonya Miller and Olivia Christie, Directors at Armitage Jones

Q: Where you nervous at the time?

Sonya: Yeah, definitely. I remember catching up with a graphic designer to work on a logo and I remember saying to her ‘doesn't the uncertainty of cash flow bother you?’, and she said, ‘I don’t think about it twice’. I remember finding that quite confronting, thinking, how do you get to that position that you don't?

Early days we would be looking at the six-month cash flow and think where is it sitting? And then you do, you just get used to it and you get comfortable with knowing; knowing how far ahead you need to have things locked in, when you don't, and the signs of when to start worrying. Also knowing enough that things will come up and it will work itself out.

It’s daunting, but you get more and more comfortable with running a business. If someone asked me now, not dissimilar to the graphic designer, I’d say ‘Oh yeah, I don't think about the uncertainty of cash flow.’

That's not saying I don't, I am just used to it, and I know when and where the signs are.

Q: Would you say one of the key skills of a Project Manager is managing relationships?

Sonya: Yeah absolutely! When we interview people, we look for people who are a great cultural fit, people who have emotional intelligence and know how to deal with others and when to take a firm approach.

Ultimately, you really have to know how to bring out the best in your team. Over the last couple of years when everyone was online and people were feeling flat, I’d often say to the team that it’s our role to really try and bring everyone else back up again. If there’s any negativity in the team, it really filters through, so if you can be a facilitator of the team, keep everyone up, upbeat and going, then it makes for a much better, more enjoyable outcome.

Sonya Miller, Fraser Gregson, and David Bellio.

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Sonya: It’s not specially advice, but it was a learning from some of the people I worked with at Multiplex, learning from the way they managed people - It was very much that collaborative team culture.

I remember one time we went into a project review meeting at the head office, and we had to report on a project. I prepared the monthly report and I had stuffed up the financials… and some of the directors started questioning what was happening, and my manager defended me. Afterwards we caught up for coffee and he said, ‘Sonya, I saw you stuffed up on a few things there’.

It really taught me the strength of backing your team and putting together a united front, at all costs.

And so, to this day, I would never, ever throw anyone on under the bus because it's just not helpful for anyone. And I guess that's the part of working as a team, you celebrate as a team, but you also take any sort of criticisms as a team.

That’s definitely the thing that stuck with me, which is how you carry out your work and that you really support your team. If you have a culture where people are too scared to say anything in fear that they'll fail, then you're never going to develop them. You want to have a culture where people know it's okay to make a silly comment or things like that because that's how you learn.

Q: What advice would you give your younger self.

Sonya: I think it's all about finding your style and being true to yourself. Working out who you are as a person and then really playing to those strengths. I think too many people try to work out what their boss or someone else wants them to be and tries to emulate that.

Someone gave me some really good advice years ago about how everyone talks about working on their weaknesses… be aware of your weaknesses, but work on your strengths, and work out what gives you confidence, because I think a lot of career success is your own confidence.

And when you've got confidence in who you are, your moral code, having self-respect, and just knowing what your true style is, the sooner you can reach that point and be your authentic self.

I think that's when people resonate with you the best, when you actually know who you are, what you stand for and also when you know what you're not.

The Common Thread:

The common thread for me is awareness of your strengths; knowing what you're good at and equally, what you enjoy. When I shifted the focus from improving my weakness to honing in on my strengths, that's when I started to feel like my authentic self in everything I do and every interaction I have. I recommend reflecting on or identifying what your strengths are, and considering what would happen if you mastered that skill, imagine where you would be?