EMPLOYEES LEADING TEAMS
for employees at the City Of Port Phillip
Situation
Solution
Result
The City of Port Phillip
organisation had gone through a
period of intense and significant
change and staff morale was
at an all time low. Once the new
executive management team had
settled in, it was time to address
the values and behaviours of
the organisation.
Working with Leading Teams,
People’s confidence in the
the City of Port Phillip implemented
organisation has been restored.
a program of the employees by
Real ownership and commitment
the employees, training 12 internal
has been built by generating
staff to facilitate values and
awareness and acceptance
behaviours workshops.
of the importance of building
68 workshops were held involving
great teams.
all staff across the organisation.
Leading Teams Case Study – City of Port Phillip 2012
1
EMPLOYEES LEADING TEAMS
for employees at the City Of Port Phillip
About the City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip was formed in 1994 and is an amalgamation
of the former cities of Port Melbourne, South Melbourne and St Kilda.
Seven councillors representing seven wards across the city make up
the Port Phillip Council.
Four divisions within council collectively administer the full range
of activities and services to the Port Phillip community. These four
divisions sit below the Chief Executive Officer.
The City of Port Phillip employs 936 people in full-time, part-time
and casual roles across numerous sites including town halls, libraries,
childcare centres and kindergartens.
Situation
The City of Port Phillip (CoPP) had
been through a period of significant
change in 2009-10. This was a nervous
organisation with a new council,
a new CEO and a new executive
management team (EMT). Previous
training consultants had negatively
impacted the organisation and staff
morale was at an all time low.
General Manager, Corporate Services,
Mark Brady, became aware of Leading
Teams Australia (LTA) when he saw
a presentation at a local government
workshop for emerging leaders.
“I was impressed by the
simplicity of the model and
I could see how it could apply
to Local Government, and our
team in particular,” said Mark.
Solution
“We were ready - the workshop was a
success, we had our leadership right
and we understood the Leading Teams
model. The next job was to work out
the best way to roll the program out,”
said Mark.
Given their history, CoPP didn’t want a
third party rolling out their program so
they decided to use the LTA principles
and their own people. LTA Facilitator
Craig Biddiscombe said,
“Port Phillip is a perfect example
of the flexibility of the Leading
Teams approach and how it can
be implemented based on the
needs of the customer and their
people. We work closely with the
City of Port Phillip to help them
leverage our tools.”
CoPP asked LTA to facilitate a values
workshop with the Execs and Managers,
and the team felt Craig Biddiscombe
and Jim Plunkett were a good fit for
the organisation.
Leading Teams Case Study – City of Port Phillip 2012
The EMT framed a simple three-phase
approach to roll out the program.
Stage one ‘aware’, stage two ‘accept’
and stage three ‘embed’.
An EOI was called from staff across
the organisation to take on a values
and behaviours training responsibility.
Twelve trainers were appointed
enabling CoPP to roll out their
program by employees, for employees.
The use of an internal leadership
group was extremely well received by
employees and provided a genuine and
solid foundation for real cultural change.
68 workshops were held with 936
employees to introduce the concept of
what makes a great team. Teams were
asked to consider the values and define
what behaviour was right for their team
to achieve the values.
“We didn’t mind what behaviour they
defined, as long the result was the team
living the values. This empowered our
people and allowed them to feel real
ownership,” said Mark.
2
EMPLOYEES LEADING TEAMS
for employees at the City Of Port Phillip
Result
Departments came together and were
empowered to openly discuss the
values, provide feedback and agree
on the behaviours and actions to
define, implement and follow through
their initial commitments. The crossfunctional, cross-hierarchical facilitation
team witnessed remarkable changes
as a result of the training.
CoPP leaders committed to going
the extra step with the EMT and
Managers working through feedback
sessions with LTA.
The LTA feedback approach is quite
different from standard feedback
methods such as performance
reviews. Peer-to-peer feedback
provides a platform for an organisation
to truly own their culture and be
held accountable for it.
“If you are going to be a great
team you need to be prepared to
take a risk. With Leading Teams
the experience was scary but felt
absolutely safe”, said Mark.
Craig and Jim created a supportive
environment and built rapport with
the team. “They have an open manner
when giving feedback, and you feel
fully supported. There is follow up
and the positive is reinforced,” said
Mark. Complementary coaching was
made available through LTA, other
external coaches and an internal
mentoring program.
“Every single member of the
EMT has made a conscious and
consistent effort to act on the
feedback they have received
through the program. It was clear
that that Exec team wanted to
be a great team, and they are
well on their way,”
said LTA Facilitator Jim Plunkett. “That
demonstrates buy-in, and if there is not
buy-in at that level, there won’t be any
through the organization,” added Craig.
Leading Teams Case Study – City of Port Phillip 2012
“I don’t think it could have gone any
better,” said Mark.
“We had minimal expectations;
we knew we had to restore
confidence by our people in
the organisation. But we have
gone so far beyond that. We
have built real ownership and
commitment. We have generated
awareness and acceptance of
the importance of building
great teams.”
The workshops delivered outstanding
results with ongoing departmental
activities; a noticeable shift in
behaviours and attitudes; greater
interdepartmental cohesion and
an overall tangible lift in morale.
Mark said that the breadth and scale
of the program was enormous.
3
EMPLOYEES LEADING TEAMS
for employees at the City Of Port Phillip
“It was ambitious, and our
key to success was that it was
driven by the organisation for
the organisation. The roll out
was measured and deliberate –
we took the time to share the
story and travel our journey
together. We conducted periodic
reviews and were diligent about
gathering feedback. LTA helped
us to achieve our goals. They
helped us bring our values to life
and link our performance to our
values. Craig and Jim’s personal
service delivered confidence.”
Craig said that EMTs willingness to
be brave stands out.
“They didn’t know where it would go
but were willing to get in the game.
From our perspective this has been
the key to their success.”
What’s next?
The organisation has now moved
into stage 3 ‘embed’. This involves
bringing the values to life inside the
organisation through recruitment,
training, performance management,
and reward and recognition programs.
Both anecdotal and direct feedback is being
gathered on an ongoing basis.However
one other key metric will be the result
of the next staff engagement survey.
CoPP is very proud of of its achievement,
and entered the initiative in the 2012
Local Government Professional Awards.
The Values and Behaviours workshop
initiative was selected as finalist for
the Innovative Management award.
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