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City Reviews

City reviews point to a bright future

By Latrobe City Council - 14th March 2002 - Back to News

Management and staff of Latrobe City Council have recently completed a number of reviews about the organisation following the introduction of a review process by Latrobe’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Hancock on his commencement in August of last year.

Mr Hancock said the reviews were based on assessing operations, systems and processes against a management framework that included performance management, organisation development, customer service, information technology and financial management.

"The really pleasing aspect of the reviews was confirmation that the organisation is sound and has enormous potential for the future. This position has been positively commented on by a range of external people that were used to help do the reviews," Mr Hancock said.

"One of the reviews was a workforce survey that involved some 430 staff. I felt that it was extremely important that as many staff as possible had the opportunity to have input into developing a clear understanding of the current position of the organisation, and the improvement opportunities for the future.

"While the information in the survey is obviously for our internal use only, I fully expect that the community will see the benefits of it in the future as we improve our operations, systems and processes in a number of areas and work more effectively with Councillors based on the findings of the survey," Mr Hancock said.

"The enormous changes experienced by local government following the amalgamations of the former cities and shires, with significant accompanying changes to Councillor representation and organisational administration, created a whole new structure for municipal management. These reviews bring together much of the affect of that change upon the organisation, and the relationship between Councillors and staff, and identifies a clear way forward.

"The other great thing about the survey is that we will be able to measure our improvement as an organisation in the future."

"Project teams of staff throughout the organisation have now been formed to develop strategies and actions to address many of the improvement opportunities identified. This recognises that staff at all levels have a valuable contribution to make in determining how the organisation should operate in the future for the benefit of the community," Mr Hancock added.

"Some of the immediate improvements have included the development of a customer service program that has been introduced throughout the organisation to improve the level and consistency of service provided to citizens. This will include things like enhancements to the after hours telephone service and the issue of acknowledgement letters with contact details for appropriate incoming correspondence.

"The combined affect of these reviews is a really excellent understanding of what we can do to improve in the future," Mr Hancock concluded.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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