A sceptic with hope

*Names have been removed from this post to ensure anonymity as this post was for internal purposes only.

If you’ve ever met [job position] [name] you know he’s a hard worker, a good operator and he says what he means and means what he says.

This makes [name] the perfect person to be a Culture Champion for our business. After 18 years in our business he has a good grasp on the day to day of how our [business unit] teams work and on what we need to do to be better as a business, for ourselves, our customers and the community.

Recently [name] participated in the first of the culture workshops for the [business unit] group at our Mount Barker office. At the session, which was attended by [job position] [name] and [job position] [name], [name] and his teammates were given the chance with to understand what they think about their team culture, how culture affects the work they do, and what they need to do to continue to be better.

‘It was great that [name] and [name] rocked up, we got to talk about the real-world problems we’re facing on jobs,’ [name] said. ‘It was good to get their perspectives and an explanation of some of the challenges we have as an organisation, and how that plays into the challenges we have on our jobs every day - making those connections was really good.’ What was most interesting for [name] was getting some clarity about the whole culture process. ‘I guess you could say I was a little sceptical after the first Culture Champions meeting - it seemed a farfetched concept with a foreign direction to me,’ [name] continued. After the [business unit] session in Mount Barker, [name] found the culture work clearer, more transparent and understood exactly the vision for his team and the business. ‘This session was mostly made up of [business unit] workers and we all seemed to have similar ideas and faced the same kind of challenges, so the discussions were of a high standard and interesting,’ he said. ‘[name] and [name] attending also meant some of the harder questions were answered around challenges facing the business, like limitations of the regulatory cycle. ‘I think one of the biggest issues, or frustrations affecting culture is the inability to see something through completely, it’s a recurring problem that a four-year budget doesn’t seem to cover. ‘Repairing and building a new culture is a slow process that begins with identifying what is wrong, then finding the best modus operandi for a solution. ‘I am keen to see how all this pans out, and it is a step in the right direction.’ Next steps for the [business unit] groups is continuing their culture workshops to determine the gaps they need to focus on to deliver a better culture for their team and the actions they need to take to close the gaps, before they take it to their wider teams for discussion.

The Culture page has a heap of information to help you understand the culture work better including FAQs and a list of Culture Champions, who you can go to for help or an update on where your business group is up to in the journey.

[name] in the field converting a 'vertical drop inlet' on a sewer pump station, to a 'submersed inlet' to rectify odour issues in Craigburn Farm

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