Leaders Connect

A word from the CEO

Happy end of April!

A huge thank you to the 700 of you who recently completed our Annual Survey - we are so appreciative of you taking the time to provide your feedback and insights which will be used to inform the future of our offerings to you. Whilst the survey is now closed, please feel encouraged to reach out to me at any time. I am always available to discuss how your Association can support you, no matter what stage of your professional development journey. We look forward to sharing some of the key themes of this feedback with you in the next edition of Leaders Connect.

As we make progress towards our core strategic priorities, we continue to call out for interested members to put their name forward to support the future of our sector. Thank you to those who volunteered - to come together to explore how we can increase Field Offerings to ensure specific and tailored opportunities for Field Employees; we are excited to meet with this group in early May. Please see below for an EOI to support our Gender Equality in Local Government Project, and also an exciting new initiative for General Managers and Directors, and CEOs, the Local Government Champions for Gender Equity Group.

Membership renewal information will be sent to all Councils and Subsidiaries with terms expiring soon. We look forward to continuing to support the development and connections of local government professionals across the state. As your membership association, we are so grateful for your ongoing support, and investment in your teams.

On 15 April we welcomed the newest member of the
LG Professionals SA team, Melissa Davis-Bishop. Melissa is our new Manager – Professional Networks Engagement. I look forward to seeing the Networks grow under her support and leadership as we continue to offer even greater value to members through our Networks, which remain a key benefit of membership of
LG Professionals SA.

Congratulations to the 14 teams who took part in the 2024 Management Challenge on Wednesday 10 April, and to our 2024 Executive Leaders Program cohort who graduated on Friday 12 April – what a wonderful week of member engagement and celebration of hard work this was.

This will be our last newsletter before the winners of our 23rd Annual Leadership Excellence Awards are announced. I have loved celebrating the finalists of each category as they are announced – if you have missed these please head over to our LinkedIn to view category finalists released so far. Finalists for all remaining categories will be released in the lead-up to the dinner. I encourage you to reach out to those shortlisted. As a sector, local government deliver so much for communities and these achievements should be celebrated amongst peers. We are so looking forward to celebrating the amazing achievements of local government professionals on Friday 10 May.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Best wishes
Rhiannon

April 2024
Edition 151

SHOWCASE THE SECTOR

A MESSAGE FROM OUR EMERALD PARTNER

Our finalists will be celebrated, and winners announced at our 23rd Annual Leadership Excellence Awards Gala Dinner on Friday 10 May 2024.

JOIN US AS WE CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SECTOR

Did you miss out on registering for the 23rd Annual Leadership Excellence Awards Gala Dinner? If you'd still like to attend please contact Megan Hay on 08 8224 2087 or email mhay@lgprofessionalssa.org.au

Date: Friday 10 May 2024
Time: 6:45pm - late
Location: Adelaide Convention Centre

WORKFORCE AND GENDER EQUALITY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROJECT

In previous Leaders Connect Newsletters we introduced the Workforce and Gender Equality in Local Government Project. This is a twelve-month project funded by the LGA Research and Development fund which aims to identify and address key gender equality issues for local government in South Australia.

To provide support to Project Lead Leeanne McEwan, we are seeking Expressions of Interest from members who would like to be part of a stakeholder group.

The role of the stakeholder group includes:

Provide expertise, insights, feedback, perspective
Provide advice on engagement, evaluation and promotion
Promote the project to councils and key stakeholders

Ideally the stakeholder group will have a mix of genders and people from metro and regional councils. Meetings are planned to be held in May, June, August, October 2024 and can be held face to face or virtually.

To express your interest in being part of the Workforce and Gender Equality Project Stakeholder Group, please apply here.

CHAMPIONS FOR GENDER EQUITY

Are you a CEO, General Manager / Director or equivalent who is passionate about leading change and advancing gender equity in South Australian local government workplaces? We need Champions.

The LG Professionals SA Local Government Champions for Gender Equity Group is being established by LG Professionals SA as part of the its Strategic Plan 2022-2024, with the aim of the Working Group being to demonstrate leadership in making active and sustainable change in the local government sector to improve Gender Equity.

Purpose of the Working Group:

Be champions for social, cultural and workplace change in the local government sector
To demonstrate courage and leadership in advancing gender equity
To advocate for, promote and inspire gender equity progress
To identify and advance gender equity principles and actions in local government
To identify and provide opportunities for learning and development in gender equity principles
To ensure that local government leverages the gender equality strategic directions of the United Nations, and Federal and State government

For further information relating to the Working Group Function, Criteria for Appointment of Successful Working Group Members and the Election Process, please click here to view the Working Group Terms of Reference.

To apply, please complete this form by 5pm Wednesday 8 May 2024. All applicants will be advised of the outcome by Friday 31 May 2024.

Should you have any questions please contact Rhiannon Clarke, Chief Executive Officer on 0448 490 027 or rhiannon@lgprofessionalssa.org.au.

DOES YOUR COUNCIL OFFER A GRADUATE PROGRAM? WE SEEK YOUR SUPPORT!

A key Strategic Priority of LG Professionals SA is the exploration of opportunities related to graduate programs for the sector. To support us in this initiative, we seek to understand which Councils are currently delivering a Graduate Program targeted towards University Graduates. We’d like to bring together representatives from these Councils to explore how these programs are delivered, and how learning and development efforts might be collectively coordinated by LG Professionals SA. If you are unable to be involved but are happy to share how your Graduate Program works, we would be so appreciative of this also.

If your Council runs a Graduate Program, and you would be happy to be involved, please complete this short form and we will be in touch soon.

Thank you so much in advance for your support – your input is so important to the success of this initiative.

EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST IN THE MENTOR MENTEE
CONNECTION PILOT

The LG Professionals SA Women’s Network Committee are excited to be developing a Mentor/Mentee Connection Pilot opportunity for Women’s Network Members, to be launched soon. If you are a female leader in South Australian local government and have capacity to mentor, we would love to have you! Likewise, if you would like a mentor, we encourage you to put your name forward.

Recognising the value of mentor and mentee connections could provide across our various Networks, pilot outcomes will be reviewed to determine future broader Network offerings.

Expressions of interest for the first intake are closing soon.

Express your interest to be a Mentor or Mentee.

SAVE THE DATE

Please save the date for the following LG Professionals SA events for 2024/2025. If you are planning a local government event, we invite you to contact us to avoid date clashes.

Friday 5 July 2024 - LG Professionals SA People and Culture Network Conference

Friday 1 November 2024 - LG Professionals SA Women's Network Conference

Thursday 7 November 2024 - LG Professionals SA Annual General Meeting

Friday 8 November 2024 - LG Professionals SA Economic Development Conference

Friday 21 March 2025 - LG Professionals SA Annual State Conference

MEET THE TEAM

Meet Melissa Davis-Bishop

The newest member of our team, Melissa joined LG Professionals SA in April 2024 to manage our Professional Networks Engagement. With more than 15 years’ experience supporting non-profit members and volunteers, as well as an extensive background in event and program management, she is excited to work with our Network committees and working groups to continue to deliver value to our membership through strategic engagement initiatives. Read more...

REFLECTIONS FROM THE 2024 AUSTRALASIAN MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE
Wednesday 10 April 2024

At the beginning of April, 14 teams gathered with great excitement to participate in the Australasian Management Challenge. The Challenge has been at the forefront of professional development in local government in Australia and New Zealand for more than 30 years and provides an excellent professional development opportunity to become more effective in leading, thinking, communicating, negotiating, decision-making, analysing and engaging. The LG Professionals SA team loves seeing participants delve out of their comfort zones and thrive.

We reached out to a some participants to hear about their experience.

Tom Richardson, City of Marion - Mentor of the CoM-LYMPIANS 2024
"Mentoring the City of Marion Management Challenge team, ‘CoM-LYMPIANS 2024’, was an inspiring journey. It was amazing to see a group of individuals from vastly different work areas across council come together to create a high-performing, capable team. As I participated in the Challenge last year, it was great to be able to pass on my learnings and prepare the team for the big day. I'm excited to see the ripple effects of their achievements in their respective roles and beyond."

Olivia Selfridge, Alexandrina Council - Participant in the Alex in Wonderland Team
"Challenge Day - What a Day!

Our team set off at 5:30 AM to calm nerves before we turned into superhuman leadership pros!

When we arrived, it was game faces on. We had a space that each team was able to decorate with quotes and themes they aligned with.

The introductions were very momentum building as you sit in your seat wondering whose team will they call up next? All the teams performed their introductions, which was quite courageous of us all to get up there and an awesome test to be thrown into first thing in the morning.

Each of the tasks are so carefully thought out with such detail to help you SUCCEED and push you outside your comfort zone. The tasks are stimulation based and very real scenarios that your leadership team deal with every day.

Lunch time came around so fast, ‘didn’t I just have breakfast?' I asked myself as they brought out the delicious food to fuel all the busy brains.

No way! We were already up to the last task of the day; each team presented their pre-challenge task ‘Viable Alternate Sources of Funding’ – how interesting it was hearing about all the differentiating sources each council team came to present!

Last but certainly not least (and the part I think everyone was most looking forward to) networking to celebrate everyone’s hard work."

RelianSys® is trusted by over 150 Councils across Australia to manage their risk and regulatory compliance management and is proudly ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2022 certified.

RelianSys® Risk Management Is one powerful module from the Governance Suite that streamlines and integrates all risk requirements and empowers people to manage risk effectively.

Using intuitive workflows that are completely customisable to your risk approach, the software delivers a clear line of sight to your deployed risk management with:

In-built ISO 31000 risk management processes - enables integration and automation with your internal systems
Better management capability - built-in alerts for risk appetite, target risk, risk review and our unique risk intensity algorithm delivering deeper insight
Process coverage – identification, assessment, control, treatment
Comprehensive reporting - colour-coded highlighting risk status at any time by level, consequence, department or site

To find out more, contact 1300 793 905 or contact@reliansys.com.au, or book an online demo.

LEVEL UP YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN 2024

We offer a range of short courses that have been curated to equip the sector’s staff with the skills essential to deliver on efficiency, performance and continuous improvement - take a look below.

Please contact Eve Jackson, Training Support Officer at eve@lgprofessionalssa.org.au for more information on any of our short courses or how we can bring them in house to your council or subsidiary.

Find out more

UPCOMING SHORT COURSES

PERFORMANCE COACHING
Wednesday 15 May 2024

This course enables participants to develop skills and confidence in holding performance coaching conversations in an easy and comfortable environment. Participants are provided opportunities to engage with their direct reports in a new and contemporary approach. They will prepare for effective performance conversations in their workplace.

Suitable for: Coordinators, Team Leaders, Managers and Executives

Facilitated by Debra Sarre
With a Bachelor of Psychology and 20 years corporate experience Debra brings current knowledge and practices from the fields of Organisational Psychology and contemporary leadership and management. Debra delivers our Performance Coaching short course and has also been a key facilitator for our Emerging Leaders Program.

This program is SOLD OUT! Please join the waitlist.

Join the waitlist

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Wednesday 26 June 2024

Beyond providing you with essential knowledge and skills to plan, manage and execute projects on time and on budget, this program takes a deeper dive into project management theory and looks at both operational and strategic elements of project management.

Suitable for: Staff who have experience with managing projects and wish to extend their knowledge

Facilitated by Lisa Twyford
Lisa is a highly motivated professional with extensive business improvement and project management experience. Her passion for these areas equips her with the expertise to deliver both the Introduction to Project Management and Advanced Project Management short courses. These courses sell out very quickly and feedback received is always excellent.

Only 4 places remaining.

INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Thursday 27 June 2024

Learn the basic principles required for managing successful projects that drive real results.

Suitable for Officers, Coordinators and Team Leaders

Only 5 places remaining.

NORMAN WATERHOUSE - WALKING THE TALK
Friday 17 May 2024

Walking the Talk, South Australia’s pre-eminent Employment Law Conference.

Register to engage with Norman Waterhouse’s Employment and Industrial Relations Team at their annual ‘Walking the Talk’ conference on Friday 17 May 2024, at Sanctuary – Adelaide Zoo. This event promises invaluable learning experience for all Chief Executive Officers, Team Leaders, Senior Managers and Human Resource Professionals.

Find out more

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

It's nearly membership renewal time! We look forward to continuing to support all staff in local government on their leadership journey in 2024-25 and beyond, and will be in touch soon to provide information to those due for renewal on the process. If you are the contact person for your organisation please keep an eye on your emails for more information – coming soon. As your membership association, we are so grateful for your ongoing support, and investment in your teams.

YOUR NEEDS, YOUR MEMBERSHIP

1. CONNECT WITH THE BEST

Our members are the leaders of today and tomorrow. You will make crucial connections to people and ideas to take your career to the next level.

Learn more about what LG Professionals SA Membership offers you.

Find out more

NEW MEMBERS

Welcome to our 36 new members! Click here to see the list.

We look forward to providing support and professional development and networking opportunities through every stage of your local government career.

Member Profile -
Proudly sponsored by

Lucas Trevisan
This month we spoke with Lucas Trevisan - City Planning Coordinator, Whyalla City Council, about his role, professional development and what's next for him.

How long have you been in local government and what is your role?

My journey in local government began four years ago, when I started at Port Augusta City Council. For the first two years, I honed my skills as a Planning Officer, gaining valuable experience in the intricacies of the planning process. Read more...

NETWORK NEWS

LG Professionals SA Members are invited to join one of our many Networks.

Networks are groups of professionals who share a common interest or experience. We run a comprehensive range of Network meetings and forums throughout the year, offering staff the opportunity to learn and develop whilst sharing and networking with peers from their own and other councils and subsidiaries, across the state.

Our Networks include:

Women's Network

People and Culture Network

Community Managers Network

Business Performance and Improvement Network

General Managers and Directors Network

CEO Network

Join a Network today

If you would like to know more about our Network offerings, or have a suggestion for a new Network, please contact Melissa Davis-Bishop, Manager - Professional Networks Engagement at melissa@lgprofessionalssa.org.au.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE PEOPLE AND CULTURE NETWORK FORUM: A DEEP DIVE INTO ENTERPRISE BARGAINING
Thursday 4 April 2024

In our recent forum, we were honoured to have insightful speakers share their expertise on Enterprise Bargaining (EB) and its significance in fostering trust and collaboration within organisations. Here's a recap of the key highlights from our speakers:

Jordan Littlefair, Chair of the People and Culture Network Committee, opened the forum, which was emceed by committee member Ritu Datta. Jordan was the first speaker who emphasised the pivotal role of EB in shaping employee trust and highlighted the essential elements of planning, communication, collaboration, and listening.

Angie-Marie Ross, People and Culture Advisor, Adelaide Plains Council, illuminated the benefits of engaging external providers for EB facilitation, streamlining processes, and creating Terms of Reference and guidelines for future bargaining endeavours. She stressed the importance of EB training for management and employee representatives.

Leisha Bond, General Manager of Corporate Services, City of Tea Tree Gully, underscored the need for a contemporary approach to EB, emphasising transparency, timely communication, and early intervention to address unacceptable behaviours. She reminded us that EB results from productivity improvement, leading to better pay and conditions.

Sue King, Manager People and Culture, City of Whyalla, discussed the impact of the cost of living on staff negotiations. She emphasised the importance of a running table of items for clarity and alignment and highlighted the significance of owning the messaging around EB and conducting a 'health check' with community expectations. Sue elaborated on the essential documentation required for EBAs to gain approval in SAET, emphasising the need for comprehensive consultation with staff, focusing on ensuring their understanding of the impending changes. She recommended utilising tools such as SharePoint, email, and updates at staff meetings to outline these changes and their implications for employees effectively.

Lauren Green
LG Professionals SA
People and Culture Network
Committee Member

NETWORK OFFERINGS