A team from across the ditch has impressed judges at the Australasian Finals of the Local Government Managers Australia’s (LGMA) 2012 Management Challenge.
Fifty emerging local government managers went head-to-head on Friday 22 June to take on some of the biggest issues facing local government today, with Hastings District Council from the North Island of New Zealand taking out first place.
“The scores were very close, but what got Hastings over the line was their approach to task management, their good balance of team players, consistent understanding of the requirements and well thought-out responses,” said Chief Facilitator Sophi Bruce.
First runners-up were the City of Salisbury from South Australia, followed by Tablelands Regional Council from Queensland.
It’s a rigorous journey making it to the top of the Challenge. Participants set out in February on a pre-challenge task where they considered the role of local government in managing the carbon cycle. They then went on to the Regional Challenge rounds that were held in each state and in New Zealand in March, before meeting for the Australasian Finals.
“I think it would have been a tough choice for the judges. Hastings came out on top of a very high quality group of participants,” said LGMA National Chief Executive, John Ravlic.
Teams were given seven tasks to complete in less than six hours in the Finals, putting the young manager’s skills to the test.
“We really threw everything at them — long-term planning; managing strategically; working with other councils, workforce attraction and retention, debating performance based payouts, fair distribution of national funds, articulating social impact assessments, sharing council innovation, it was very challenging,” said John Ravlic.
National President Ray Burton and Civica’s Mike Preedy announced the winners during the Awards Dinner at the Sebel in Albert Park, Melbourne.
