The City of Burnside took out first place in this year’s Australasian Management Challenge, competing against 10 other South Australian councils.
The Challenge is a simulation-based, leadership and team building exercise which recreates real local government scenarios within a unique one-day ‘pressure cooker’ environment. Teams who enter the Challenge face the types of issues a senior management team in a council would likely face, and this provides a unique opportunity for the development of teamwork, leadership, collaboration, research, problem solving and many other skills.
The City of Burnside’s team faced many weeks of behind-the-scenes training from experienced mentors so that they were well equipped for the challenge day.
According to Burnside Co-captain Andrew Gurr, the Team consisted of six participants representing a diverse range of teams within Council.
“It was an amazing honour to win this year’s South Australian Management Challenge,” Andrew said.
“The many months of training and the challenge day itself were exceptionally hard work for all of us, but the skills and confidence we developed together has made every moment worth it.
“This challenge has been a wonderful professional development opportunity for us and I recommend anybody working within local government to give it a try. I’m so proud of my teammates and it has been a privilege to earn this win with them. This challenge has pushed us to achieve great things and I’m excited to see how much more we can learn together.”
