In May this year the City of Wodonga was selected as a finalist at the Australian Business Excellence Awards, in recognition of Council’s focus on delivering maximum value to their customers. Competing against some of Australia’s largest companies, Wodonga was the only Local Government winner. Previous winners include Kodak, BHP, Toyota, Honeywell and Ford.
As part of the Awards program, Wodonga was assessed by an independent team over four days and compared to the best business model in Australia. The organisation was assessed against seven criteria including; leadership and innovation; strategy and planning processes; data, information and knowledge; people; customer and market focus; processes, products and services; and business results. These criteria were then assessed under four dimensions of approach, deployment, results and improvement.
“The purpose of going for awards is not indeed to win the award, although this is a bonus,” said Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Marshall. “The real purpose, as far as Council is concerned, is the journey the organisation takes. The process of developing an application and the independent assessment provides excellent feedback to the organisation.
“This feedback allows us as an organisation to focus on our weakest performing areas and implement improvements.The enthusiasm generated by staff and the single focus to achieve, creates an amazing atmosphere among staff over the entire organisation.”
He also said that it has given staff empowerment to make decisions, give information and provide solutions.
“This enhances their own working lives as well as providing savings for the organisation in terms of freeing up management from answering routine enquiries,” Peter Marshall said.
