As community expectations of Local Government increase, it is essential for each Council to continuously improve processes and services to communities they serve.The City of Rockingham in Western Australia has recently undertaken an organisational change process, focusing on improved productivity and customer service.
Council aimed to improve the quality, quantity, timeliness and cost of the services provided to residents and ratepayers. It has developed a performance reporting system based totally on meeting outputs measured against performance benchmarks.
Rockingham believes the best way to improve services to the community is through empowering its employees to control and manage service delivery using integrated ‘Best Practice Principles’.
Developing a team approach to the delivery of services and cultivating a flexible, responsive and highly motivated workforce are key objectives. Alongside adopting a customer focused and output based organisational culture, Council has put in place timely and effective training strategies, and an effective communication strategy.
“We now have a workforce that has clearly established outcomes and uses continuous improvement initiatives” said Rod Fielding, Executive Officer Business Development, Rockingham. “We have an organisation that is responsible and accountable, is fully aware of costs, recognises quality inputs, has clearly established business goals and uses quality management principles.”
Additionally, improvement tools have been provided to each team during the Continuous Improvement Process. In-house training programs such as ‘Problem Solving’ and ‘Cost Benefit Analysis’ have enabled each team to constructively and analytically improve productivity.
For further information please contact Rod Fielding, Executive Officer Business Development, City of Rockingham, telephone (08) 9528 0333.
