ATTERS DECEMBER // 2013
As this is the last Moo Matters for 2013 I would like to thank you all for your efforts throughout the year, and wish you and your loved ones a very happy Christmas and New Year. This has been a challenging year for local government with much speculation about amalgamations, new legislation such as the Cat Act adding to our workloads and our new Strategic Community Plan ‘Building Our Future Together’ and Corporate Business Plans, completed. In addition, during October we held local government elections and induction training for a number of new councillors. Leaders throughout the organization have also been taking part in the LOFT leadership program - ‘Leading Our Future Together’, and I am confident this will have great long-term benefits to the organization. The LOFT training is only one component of the broader change program. A key focus is to enable accountability through the clarification of roles. The Performance and Development Review Conversation process (previously the Performance Review process) has been reviewed and redesigned to support leaders in doing this. The new process which focuses on having conversations that very clearly set behavioural and business performance expectations for all team members was rolled out in July and completed over August and September. In 2013 the City has placed significant importance on improving Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and over the past 12 months some great work has been undertaken by Leaders and Team Members. A review of the high risk
work the City undertakes has been completed and we are now working on implementing the recommendations. OSH Reps and Leaders have been provided with the training and tools to proactively manage OSH and some great work has been undertaken in this area. With the work already completed the City is well on its way to be compliant with Australian Standards 4801. Over the coming 12 months, the City will be focussing on undertaking additional reviews on activities such as hot works, using powered tools and manual handling, with the recommendations of these reviews being completed in 2014. Additional tools will be developed to support the OSH cultural change and the newly adopted OSH Management Plan will be launched to all team members in early 2014. With the ongoing development of the OSH systems, there will also be a focus on Injury Prevention and engaging in employee wellbeing programs. If the good work that has been undertaken in 2013 continues in 2014, the City will be well placed to achieve our goal of zero harm to our team members. Thank you all for the efforts you have contributed to achieving this goal. I believe we have risen to meet all of these challenges and delivered great service to our customers and ratepayers. Most importantly, we have at the same, made our workplace safer for ourselves and our colleagues. I thank you all for your ongoing commitment to safety. Your efforts are very much appreciated. I look forward to seeing you at the Christmas function, and I hope you will enjoy your holiday period and return invigorated for the New Year.
Daniel
DAN’S DEBRIEF