WHITEHORSE CITY COUNCIL WHITEHORSE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TEAM

Continuous Improvement Program

Like many councils across Victoria, Whitehorse City Council is operating within a constrained financial environment to meet ever-increasing demand for services from a diverse, growing community. Whitehorse’s Continuous Improvement (CI) Program was implemented to respond to these challenges and drive a culture and practise of continuous improvement across the organisation.

The CI Program builds capability and capacity with a cohort of nominated staff to deliver business and service improvements with clear and quantifiable benefits back to the community. The program builds internal capacity and capability to drive optimisation, data-driven solutions, cross-functional collaboration, and customer satisfaction.

Candidates for the program are high performers with an aptitude for customer service, change management, systems, and statistics, coupled with a commitment for professional development. After four days of internal training and then further certification, the CI Champions are embedded in their respective departments where they fulfil their existing responsibilities while leveraging support from a Coordinator Continuous Improvement to create efficiencies.

To date, these champions have delivered over three million dollars in financial benefits across more than 100 improvement projects. The streamlined processes introduced on the back of the program have redirected nearly 60,000 staff hours to meet new and increased demands, improved customer response times to the tune of nearly 18,000 days, and have seen more than 120,000 self-service transactions processed online.

This is a new category and has been introduced to recognise the resource challenges faced by smaller rural councils. Nominations received from eligible councils in the existing categories (except for Young Achiever) were automatically entered into this new category and have been assessed based on a separate set of criteria by the judging panel.

• Demonstration of program/project objectives and measurable outcomes

• Demonstrated innovative approach

• Size and complexity of initiative relative to funding

• Impact of initiative on community/organisation, relative to resources and cost

• Transferability of initiative

• Hepburn Shire Council

Hepburn Shire Council Community Life Team

Aged Care and Disability Services Transition

• Yarriambiack Shire Council

Hopetoun Powerhouse Project

• Mount Alexander Shire Council

The Village Square