When the City of Salisbury was announced the winner of the Management Challenge at the LG Professionals Awards Night - there was a deafening roar of screaming,
whooping, and even some crying. And that was just from the other teams!
Seriously though the Salisbury team were very excited to win the award - so we were keen to chat to one of the team to see how the win would benefit the team members - and the council in general.
We caught up with Ebony Krumins for a chat.
Hi Ebony - What's your current role at Salisbury?
Learning and Development Support Officer
Your team won the State Management Challenge this year - how did you feel about that?
Incredibly grateful. We never went into the challenge with the sole focus or expectation being on winning. We were so proud of the journey, achievements and the way we performed - winning was just the cherry on top.
Why do you think you were successful?
I personally believe it was the attitude we went in with on the day. We backed the development we had been through, we were organised, we knew the way our team worked best and we entered the day with a ‘let’s rock this challenge but really enjoy the day’ type of attitude.
Was there any part on the day of the challenge that was especially memorable for you? Why does it stick in your mind?
It was the friendliness, humour and openness of information/knowledge sharing from all of the councils. It absolutely made the day that everyone wasn’t so caught up in the ‘competition’ that they couldn’t share a smile or laugh. A few tasks required collaborative work across a few teams and the way everyone shared information without hesitation or purposeful restriction of knowledge due to fear and ‘competition’ is one memorable component of the day that has stuck with me.
How do you think you will benefit, personally, from participating in the challenge? Has it changed your career aspirations?
The personal and professional development has been significant. I have an improved confidence in my professional ability and have now shifted what I considered my development areas (public speaking etc.) into an area that I don’t dislike as much!
The relationships and networks built across my own organisation and within the local government sector is something I’m grateful for as a result of the challenge and see being very beneficial.
It hasn’t changed my career aspirations per se, but has identified that there is still a lot of room for development should I wish to pursue a leadership role. Exciting journey ahead!
How do you think the City of Salisbury benefits from having staff participate in the challenge?
There are numerous benefits for the organisation.
• The cross organisational sharing/transfer of knowledge (corporate knowledge and other learnings). We had many staff members deliver training sessions on their areas of expertise.
• By having staff participate from all areas of the organisation, the challenge assists in the breaking down those natural ‘silos’ we all work within.
• The challenge touches on actual issues that the local government sector is facing, creating a broader understanding of what’s happening.
• Enables staff to build a relationship with executive.
Have you seen a change in the team members since the challenge?
We are hungry for further development and opportunities and excited for the next challenge.
What advice would you have for a Council considering putting in a team for next year's challenge?
Do it. 100%. Take the challenge. Encourage your staff to strive and do something that challenges and excites them. Use it to engage challenge members and other staff to share learnings!
It is one of the most terrifying, challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had in my career so far and would strongly recommend it to everyone.