SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

SOLGM Overseas Manager Exchange 2004 – Debbie Dawson Exchange partner Sue Savage, Assistant Manager Community & Cultural Services, City Council, NSW, .

I want to begin my report by thanking the sponsors of my exchange – Jardin Lloyd Thompson.

Arthur Duckworth of Jardin Lloyd Thompson presenting Debbie with the award on 11 May 2004

This was a wonderful experience for me, both professionally and personally. Professionally it was time out to experience the workings of another Council and reflect on the changes in our organisation, and how I can best add value in my current role of Business Development Manager at Christchurch City Libraries. Personally it was a bonus to be matched up with Sue Savage and her husband Kevin, and to develop not only a professional connection but a warm and on-going personal friendship that also included my partner Ian McKenzie.

Scope of visit As it turned out I ended up spending over a month in Australia. On arrival in Australia we had one night in Wollongong with our hosts Sue and Kevin, before departing for a local government conference in Batemans Bay sponsored by the Local Government Managers’ Association of . Shortly after this I travelled to the Gold Coast for the next week where I presented a conference paper on learning and development best practice in libraries, and another paper presented in Brisbane at the Queensland Institute of Technology. This was followed by a week of holiday with my Australian based sister and our four teenage children who had flown over for the week. This was a most enjoyable and relaxing interlude, to prime me for my return to Wollongong for the main part of the management exchange. My time in Wollongong was in two bites – 5-6 October and 11-13 October 2004. I managed to fit in a short trip to Canberra from 7-10 October where I visited a number of public libraries, and met with a management taskforce from the National Library.

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 1 SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

Sue’s visit to Christchurch City Council 1-3 September 2004 Sue and Kevin arrived in Christchurch on 31 August 2004 after several days in the North Island. Sue’s interests are around services to youth, and Council support for business initiatives. During the three working days Sue was in Christchurch, she visited a number of colleagues at the Christchurch City Council. Unfortunately during the period of Sue’s visit there was uncertainty about re-structuring and two business units of Council, the Secretariat and Community and Recreation Units in particular, were affected at the time of her visit. Despite the pending dis-establishment of their positions these Council colleagues were gracious and generously gave their time willingly to Sue. Sue was particularly impressed with the work in the youth area, and was welcomed during her time here by Shailer Hart, Cathy Bruce and Marcella Herrera. During her stay Sue also visited Martin Maguire and Denise Galloway at the Sockburn Service Centre.

During this time Sue and I also met up with Liz Henderson who is coordinating a local task force called Prosperous Christchurch sponsored by the Mayor, Garry Moore. It was interesting for Sue to learn about this project where the Council is in partnership with other community agencies and organisations. Sue also spent time with Stephen McArthur, General Manager, Community Services for the Christchurch City Council which enabled her to draw some comparisons between the delivery and focus of community services of two large metropolitan city councils. Sue was also able to meet up with colleagues who work in Canterbury Development Corporation which is the economic development and employment services arm of the Christchurch City Council.

Sue and Kevin’s time in New Zealand finished with an enjoyable few days at the SOLGM conference in Dunedin.

Sue & Debbie at SOLGM reception in Dunedin Art Gallery 5 September 2004

Debbie’s learning goals for the exchange In my role as Business Development Manager for the Libraries and Information Unit I am responsible for strengthening our business function by providing support through planning, policy, process improvement, financial systems and analysis, learning and development.

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 2 SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

I was impressed by the planning processes in place in Wollongong. I had the benefit of spending time with Richard Douse, Wollongong City Council’s Manager of Corporate Development. As a result of the time I spent with Sue, I aware of the planning processes that each business unit are required to meet. I was impressed not just by the degree of planning, but the degree to which it seemed to inform daily practice and management projects. I was particularly impressed by the ability of managers to resist last minute, worthy, community projects, and to say ‘no’ if they are not part of the plan, or not to adopt new projects without first putting them through a reprioritising exercise.

Inevitably I ended up visiting a lot of libraries while I was away. Although this was not the prime focus of my visit, once people know you work in a library, they are all keen to show you theirs. Overall my impression is that in New Zealand, public libraries are better funded than in Australia although the relationship with State libraries means that the role is different than in New Zealand.

Conference at Batemans Bay LGMA NSW I want to acknowledge how well I was treated by my Australian local government hosts at their NSW regional conference. There were several things that made me feel very welcome, and are good ideas for SOLGM organisers if these have not already been implemented. The first was an opportunity to make a presentation at a members’ forum about local government issues in New Zealand. Despite being a little nerve wracking to start with, I had the opportunity to show a PowerPoint presentation and this was a valuable opportunity to mix with the other international guests early on in the conference. The presentation also provided points of connection for conference attendees to approach me throughout the conference and follow up on items I had briefly covered in the presentation.

There was also a special ‘International’ cocktail hour on the first evening for international guests, the LGMA NSW executive, and the partners of manager exchangees. This was made much more special by the presentation of a gift box containing Aussie memorabilia – toy koala, boomerang, Minties, an assortment of Arnott’s biscuits, and a tube of Vegemite!

The main auditorium used for the conference also displayed the national flags of each international guest, and there were numerous verbal acknowledgements of the international guests throughout the conference. My partner, Ian McKenzie, was also made very welcome by the provision of his own name tag, his inclusion in a number of the social and recreational events, and the opportunity to attend a number of conference sessions that I knew he would be interested in.

The conference themes were familiar – managing change, leadership development, the variety of size and capability of Council entities that exist in Australia, as well as the large number of local authorities in Australia. They were interested in the degree of local body amalgamation that we have achieved here in New Zealand. There were a number of really engaging speakers. One of these, Keith Suter, excellently facilitated a panel discussion at the end of the conference, on the future of local

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 3 SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

government. This was a most inspiring session which included comment from Rhys Francis the Director for High Performance Scientific Computing for CSIRO, and Dr Simon Kelly, who is a Principal Research Fellow in the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra. A most challenging and invigorating discussion on the future of local government, the advances in technology, societal changes, and what these will mean for local governments in the future.

Wollongong City Council Sue had arranged time for me with Susie Roberts the library manager for Wollongong City Council. Susie and I exchanged a lot of useful experiences and ideas and information, and she kindly took me and my partner Ian on a tour of some of the Wollongong libraries. Ian is a project manager for the Christchurch City Council and has managed a number of library building projects here in Christchurch, so he benefited hugely by this part of the exchange – and took lots of photos. Of interest to us was their most recent new library, Ribbonwood/Dapto, situated in a large new purpose built community centre. A different focus to Christchurch where public libraries are likely to be the main tenant with community agencies as sub-tenants. In Wollongong, the libraries are planned as a much a smaller part of the larger entity which is focused on providing general spaces for the community to meet. In this case the library was situated upstairs, with little visibility and signage, and limited room to expand.

Another library site of interest, was visiting the one at Warrawong which is situated in a shopping mall. Libraries are often faced with the decision of whether to use a stand alone facility, or to locate within a shopping centre. There can be advantages in being in a shopping centre while it is booming and provided the library is well-placed within the mall. The downside is that the fate of the library is linked with that of the mall, and in this case the mall was run-down and in need of a make-over which was also impacting the library business.

The rest of my time in Wollongong was divided between Sue and Richard Dowse. This provided a useful balance. Sue is a senior manager in one of the bigger units (Community and Cultural Services Division), and Richard has a corporate development role. The libraries are also a separate business unit so I had the opportunity to view the Council operation from the perspective of two business units, and also with the overview of a corporate planning role.

Community Services Wollongong City Council is strong on the provision of social services. In particular I noticed the focus on supporting the elderly in the community. In fact, I decided that Wollongong would be a good place to grow old! Some of the younger focused social services, such as early childhood, had been transferred to other community and private agencies some time ago. Perhaps the history of steel and mining and strong unionised environment also explains the willingness of the Council to provide extended social services to its community.

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 4 SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

I was impressed by the Wollongong Social Community Plan prepared by Sue’s division, the Community and Cultural Services Division. The plan was developed and informed through consultation with the community, service providers, government and non- government departments. This is the second plan of its type and covers 2003 to 2006. These plans are based on extensive community surveys, and focused on eight target groups in the community. The multidimensional surveys are a good model of community engagement.

Sue and Debbie outside the Wollongong City Council offices October 2004

Corporate Development I was also fortunate to spend time with Richard Dowse, the Manager, Corporate Development for Wollongong City Council. The Wollongong City Council area was created in 1947 when four local government areas - the Shire of Bulli, Shire of Central , Municipality of Wollongong, and the Municipality of Northern Illawarra - amalgamated to form the City of Greater Wollongong, which today is simply known as the city of Wollongong.

Since the city’s incorporation in 1947, Wollongong City Council has grown into one of the largest local government authorities in Australia employing around 1000 staff with an annual budget expenditure of approximately $150 million, and serving a population of around 185,000. The city is about one hour’s drive from the southern suburbs of Sydney, so there are increasing numbers of Sydney commuters settling on the Wollongong coastline.

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 5 SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

One of the outcomes I wanted to achieve from the exchange was to examine another Council’s planning processes. Richard leads a small team of staff in the Corporate Development team who provide strategic advice, as well as implementation support, to senior and executive management in the areas of business excellence, strategic, corporate and business planning. At the moment this team is implementing a new performance management system across the Council. It was interesting to compare notes as Wollongong is a highly unionised environment. My time with Richard was very useful, and he has since kindly shared a range of written documentation which will be valuable.

Visit to Canberra A short trip to Canberra was funded by Christchurch City Libraries, and provided a useful contrast for me to visit a another group of Australian public libraries there. Of particular interest were a number of library operations there that are co-located with secondary schools. As Christchurch City Libraries is currently building a co-located and combined public library and school library facility on the grounds of Riccarton High School, it was very valuable to be able to visit and see how the shared spaces can work, and also to discuss the management issues with library colleagues who have already been down this path.

While in Canberra I was also fortunate to visit the National Library. I was invited to present my conference paper (presented a few weeks earlier at the Australian Library Association conference on the Gold Coast) to a workforce development task group. This was a great opportunity to share ideas, promote what is happening in New Zealand, and discuss common issues.

Value of the exchange I have really appreciated the opportunity to visit another Council. And while there are cultural differences between Australia and New Zealand many of the issues are the same. Sue and I have both agreed that there has been plenty of learning for both of us. She was impressed by our services to youth, and similarly I was impressed by their services to the elderly. The library environments are also different so it was useful to be able to include some visits during my exchange.

Of most value was the opportunity to reflect. There has been enormous change in the Christchurch City Council – both elected members and staff, and it was really valuable to have some time away to consider the changes and prepare for new approaches and directions.

I really appreciated having my partner with me for the exchange, and there was a also a lot of professional value in it for him. The library building projects, combined library/school projects, and the community renewal projects in Wollongong at Bellambi are similar to the community renewal project he has been managing for the Christchurch City Council in the suburb of Aranui in partnership with Housing New Zealand.

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 6 SOLGM Overseas Management Exchange Programme 2004

My personal thanks to Sue and Kevin for making Ian and me so welcome in their home, and to Sue for preparing a schedule of activities she knew would interest us both. I have already mentioned the hospitality shown by the LGMA at the conference at Batemans Bay. We were made very welcome in Wollongong and treated to a number of good coffees and the opportunity to sample some excellent local cuisine. I also had the opportunity to meet the Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Alex Darling, through my attendance at a community event with Sue.

Thank you again to the sponsors, Jardin, Lloyd Thompson, for their generous sponsorship, and to the Society of Local Government Managers in New Zealand for providing this opportunity to members. It has been a very worthwhile experience which I can recommend to others.

Debbie Dawson Business Development Manager Christchurch City Libraries December 2004

Debbie Dawson, Christchurch City Council 7