Participants of the Local Government Professionals Australia, NSW Rural Management Challenge were given a rare opportunity to challenge the New South Wales Nationals leader and Deputy Premier, Troy Grant, and the Minister for Roads and Freight, Duncan Gay, when they dropped in on the final day of the training programme in Parkes.
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Starting from 9 October this year, 19 councils in NSW have participated in the Rural Management Challenge, with over 80 local government professionals competing to develop their skills in a wide range of areas from leadership to community engagement.
During their visit to Parkes, both Minister Grant and Minister Gay addressed the five teams, acknowledging the practitioners for their continued professional development in the sector and for being leaders in their respective councils.
Minister Grant, who attended the Rural Management Challenge earlier this year, stated that the challenge was a great training programme to prepare local government practitioners for the NSW Government’s Fit for the Future reforms.
“The Fit for the Future initiative is all about delivering services for the community, by increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of services councils provide,” Mr Grant said.
“It is great to see that such an innovative and practical training programme offered to professionals in the local government sector that will help councils perform more effectively and innovatively for their communities.”
The team who achieves the highest overall score from the Rural Management Challenge will be sponsored by LG Professionals, NSW to compete in the Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) Australasian Management Challenge in early 2015.
Five teams competed in the Local Government Challenge held in Parkes this week, a unique professional development opportunity for the next generation of local government leaders.
Parkes (two teams), Forbes and Bland Shire Councils and Queanbeyan City Council all took part.
The event has also been held in Ballina, Barham, Kiama and Tamworth over the last two months.
Over two days the teams, made up of staff from all areas within council, were challenged with group work based scenarios ranging from understanding the needs of the community, to managing the operational needs of a council, to staff development and policy development.
They were required to participate in role playing, inter-council discussions, and preparing a range of reports which will be assessed by Local Government Professionals Australia, NSW over the next few weeks.
Whilst they were put under pressure, dealing with issues and situations they would not normally face in their day to day working environment, all delegates demonstrated a genuine commitment to learning from the experience, understanding that as they progress through their careers, they will need to be prepared for the unexpected.
