- The City has a clear vision and strategies for the environment and a balance between environment and the vitality of the City of Perth.
- Innovation 2000 is a process that facilitates the consideration of ideas from individual employees by an evaluation panel and for approval by the Executive Management Team. Innovation Champions have been established in all Business Areas, the process is now linked to the Budget Process and is being expanded to include team recognition.
- The City has developed a good understanding of the business environment, the way it operates and how it can influence outcomes.
- The City of Perth has a clear, integrated, well documented planning process that links the Strategic Plan, Principal Activities Plan and Business Plans.
- Council uses a number of processes to gain input and innovative ideas to its strategic direction and positioning to align with its vision of being widely acclaimed as a City of regional and international significance.
These are just some of the significant strengths highlighted by the City of Perth as part of the Australian Business Excellence Awards process. Garry Hunt, Chief Executive Officer, and his staff, are very proud to be a recipient of Progress toward Business Excellence 2000.
This is a great honour as it is recognition of their efforts in continuous improvement by the Australian Quality Council. The AQC’s set of principles for business excellence has been proven, time and time again, to be the basis of sustained organisational success right around the world.
A strategy for business improvement and long term success
In 1995 the City of Perth underwent a dramatic transformation. The City was divided into a smaller City Council and three Town Councils. The new City of Perth was to operate with a substantially reduced budget and was to employ only 650 staff. Improvements in management techniques have since lead to the City employing approximately 450 staff and a dramatic decrease in expenditure which is appreciated by the City of Perth’s ratepayers.
The City has successfully introduced modern management systems, recognising the need for improved efficiency, to provide greater value for money for its customers and stakeholders.
In 1998, Council initiated the City of Perth’s Strategic Plan 1998-2002 which includes a set of strategic performance indicators that measure the extent to which the City is achieving its strategic goals.
The City uses the Australian Quality Council’s Business Excellence Framework as a tool to monitor and plan its progress towards achieving long term goals. Council has undertaken two self assessments and one organisational self assessment against the framework.
During its first year of using the framework, the City of Perth was awarded a Foundation in Business Excellence Award (1998). The feedback given by the evaluators was invaluable and action plans to develop the identified opportunities were initiated.
Garry Hunt said that of critical importance was ensuring that employees supported the initiatives and changes. He said the framework guided the City’s organisational development with action plans being developed and implemented as a result of the self assessment process.
“We recognise the challenge we face in attracting and keeping skilled staff and we have a commitment towards being an employer of preference,” he said. “As a result we’ve prepared a Human Resources strategy titled ‘Our People, Our Plan’ which gives direction for our people development over the coming years.”
Business Excellence Roadshows
The City continues to focus on organisational development, running Business Excellence Roadshows for all staff in the organisation.
The roadshows are designed to keep staff informed about the progress made by the organisation and help them understand how the Business Excellence Framework has been used to develop the City’s action plans. Staff feedback on these shows is paramount with all staff completing a survey to provide ideas and improvements for the future. All survey results are presented to the Executive Management Team for future improvements.
The City’s most recent roadshow was titled ‘Take a Bow’. Garry Hunt took the opportunity at this event to recognise the City’s most important assets – its staff. The four 45 minute sessions highlighted the many achievements and contributions of staff towards the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.
The presentations focused on a number of major achievements which would have been impossible without the committed team effort shown by all staff. It also focused on a number of ways staff can become more involved and informed on the major issues affecting the City.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking has become a major part of the City’s modern management program and is facilitated by the Process Improvement Taskforce. The program emphasises the value of comparison between service providers in both the public and private sectors.
All staff are involved in benchmarking opportunities and have the opportunity to improve services and efficiency levels through participation. The City has found that taskforces are a successful way to actively involve staff in discussion relating to new and innovative approaches.
Corporate learning and development
To support the organisation’s development, there is an active Corporate Learning and Development Program. Involving all staff, this has gained greater focus in the last two years. Some of the learning and development conducted during this time include Equal Employment Opportunity training, recruitment skills, contestability training, employee performance and development, disability awareness training and customer service training. All of these programs provide staff with a greater understanding of the organisation and allow them to provide more effective and efficient service to the City’s valued customers and stakeholders.
The 7 Keys
The City uses value statements known as The 7 Keys which summarise the Council’s key corporate values. They represent the foundation for change and the establishment of a strategic course aimed toward continued improvement and business excellence. The keys were developed with extensive employee consultation in late 1997 and were reviewed in 1998.
In 2000 a cross organisation working group translated The 7 Keys into behavioural statements. The 7 Keys will continue to play an important role in the development of strategies and policies within the organisation.
Celebrating achievements
Council’s achievements have been recognised by the Western Australian Municipal Association (WAMA) with the City of Perth receiving a Best Practice in Local Government Award in 1998, 1999 and again in 2000. Success in this award is attributed to the Local Government’s ability to meet all the criteria for the individual components of customer service, innovation, process management and performance measurement, as well as demonstrating a commitment to the intent of the Local Government Act.
The City of Perth was also awarded the Program Excellence Award for Innovations in Local Government by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) based in Washington DC, USA in September 2000.
The International City/Country Management Association recognises individuals and Local Governments for outstanding contributions to professional Local Government management.
