How will we get there? Supporting our Workforce Plan Acknowledging that day-to-day Council operations are influenced by the highly politicised and regulated environment in which we work, changes are often beyond our control. In addition, local government in NSW faces contemporary challenges relating to its structure, ongoing financial sustainability and community relevance. Our workforce should be able to effectively respond to potential changes at a local and industry level. In response, additional social planning and strategy documents complement this Workforce Plan by incorporating identified community needs to address specific areas: • learning and development strategy • work health and safety strategy These strategies have been developed alongside community and staff consultation and feedback.
Learning and Development Strategy Our vision is to create a learning culture that supports our mission, vision and values. Since 2017, several iterations of an organisation wide learning and development program have been implemented reflecting changing priorities and learning needs. Learn Exceed Achieve Progress (LEAP) is a program that highlights the evolution of the organisation’s commitment to learning and establishes different streams of learning that staff can access throughout the trajectory of their careers at Georges River Council to achieve learning excellence. It is highly adaptive with defined core learning for all staff and takes into account identified needs of the organisation placing accountability on staff to also drive their development. This program structures capability development into four streams: 1. Corporate Excellence defines essential learning for new starters and mandating critical training that exposes Council and our staff to risks, whether they be related to governance, work health and safety or wellbeing. It also captures organisation wide initiatives that contribute to the achievement of our Vision, Mission and Values including the opportunities to learn from our staff engagement survey.
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Georges River Council // Workforce Management Plan 2021/22
2. Professional Excellence specifically addresses the learning demands that emerged from the performance review data. It encompasses the current processes that allow staff to apply for CPD or Business Critical Training which address more unique position-based requirements. On a wider scale it focuses on three thematic areas of learning that has been prioritised for the organisation over a two year period. 3. Leadership Excellence recognises the importance of investing in emerging and current leaders. The Australasian Management Challenge remains the core program for our emerging leaders, which gives the opportunity to five to six staff members across Council to participate in a national competition, learn from mentors, build leadership skills and challenge themselves in solving Local Government issues. For existing leaders, a program will be designed and customised to meet immediate leadership skill gaps. Our goal is to create a thriving organisation driven by leaders who inspire and lead staff and teams to achieve our operational and strategic goals that go to providing quality outcomes for our community. 4. Personal Excellence captures learning that is readily accessible to all staff and empowers them to undertake autonomous learning. This fosters a learning culture that is supportive not only just of professional ambitions, such as undertaking further tertiary studies, but also personal goals such as skills that can be applied at home. This is an opportunity for Council to create informal social learning events for staff to build cross-unit collaboration. Our goal is to create a culture of continuous learning through developing a dynamic workforce with the tools and capabilities required to respond to rapid change. The program also expands on learning beyond the traditional classroom by focusing: • 70% of learning towards on-the-job training • 20% of learning via coaching and mentoring relationships • 10% of learning by formal training courses, long term education programs, conferences and seminars. This approach relies on the support of leaders throughout the organisation to free up their talent to provide and share their skills with others. This will improve learning experiences and build deeper
