Organisation: Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia
Job Title: Manager, Management Services
Word Limit: 3 Page Max for all 5 KSC questions
Location: Bunbury Office
Managing, facilitating and brokering people leadership; management matters with a range of stakeholders in
a diverse and complex environment.
In my role as Manager, Management Services (MMS) Southern Region for the Department of Agriculture and
Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), providing support, direction, guidance, advice, training and coaching to the
People Leadership team of 30 throughout the southern region is an essential aspect of building individual
capability and therefore their capacity to deliver on strategic goals.
Over the past 14 months, following the introduction of a strategic plan for DAFWA to focus on becoming an
economic development agency, organisational efficiencies were announced through restructure, redundancy
and redeployment, recognising that this would be an enormous challenge, I worked closely with the people
leadership team to achieve theses critical goals. I utilised my exceptional professional relationships with the
other region MMS to share cross regional strategies and ideas and met with project managers, senior
management and the people leader team leaders to discuss how the restructure would be achieved. I undertook
a thorough assessment of what needed to be achieved and the skills set they would require to assist the
business through this significant change, before planning and scheduling a structured approach. As a
coordinated team, we were able to identify specific weaknesses that needed addressing. I provided the
leadership throughout the process and personally designed and delivered training workshops covering change
management and the new redundancy and redeployment rules. In addition to one to one coaching and ongoing
technical advice and administrative support, these workshops solidified the people leader’s confidence and
capacity to implement the restructure strategy and deal with difficult scenarios. Additionally I was on hand on
numerous occasions to attend particularly difficult redundancy meetings and clearly demonstrated to the entire
team that I was committed to achieving negotiated outcomes for everyone affected across the region.
Ultimately my ability to provide the tools and support required to facilitate amicable results within a complex
environment, whilst adhering to legislative, procedural and compliance requirements, enabled the ongoing
restructure, redundancy and redeployment scheme to been handled professionally and with the empathy all
staff deserve.
Providing a high level of understanding of government procedures and administrative matters and
demonstrated ability to provide advice to clients pertaining to legislation and compliance.
When I first started with DAFWA as Manager, Management Services (MMS) Southern Region, I inherited a
number of country offices and locations, and after undertaking a review of each office I immediately recognised
that the majority of the country offices were not adhering to the correct government procedures and policies in
terms of filing systems, corporate records, archiving, document storage, data storage, privacy issues,
confidentiality and office hours. I understood that this was a result of each office not receiving the proper
guidance and support they required, which was directly related to the distances the country offices were from
the regional head office. My MMS style is more proactive than my predecessors and I set about rectifying all
country office procedures and practices. Prior to project managing this business change, I began to develop
trusting, collaborative relationships with each office and implemented a routine of six weekly visits. This enabled
me to develop a rapport with all staff and explain why the changes were necessary, As a result of my ability to
manage change effectively, whilst minimizing the effect on the business, ensured that within six months all
offices were following the same government procedures and administrative matters. As a byproduct of my
proactive approach, I have positively affected the work culture of each country office. On every visit I ensured
that a constructive message of teamwork and regional collaboration was delivered. I explained to each staff
member that their input was important and that country offices had a role to play in the strategic direction of
the region. Now each office has a buzz about their work, each worker has pride in what they do and their
combined contribution to the region had been immense.
Prior to new redeployment and redundancy arrangements being introduced for the Western Australian state
public sector, I took responsibility for explaining the business rule that Human Resources had developed for use
throughout DAFWA. All project manager, senior managers and people leaders would be intrinsically involved in
applying the business rules, which provided the compliance and governance for the Public Sector Management
(Redeployment and Redundancy Regulations 2014) made under the Public Sector Management Act 1994 and as
a result they were highly complex and required explaining to the business. I have a skill for quickly absorbing
complex information and, in collaboration with the Regional Director, developed a regional business rule
presentation for all project or business managers and people leaders. The presentation was highly detailed and
clearly demonstrated the procedures and processes required to implement the changes. This was followed by an
in depth question and answer session, where I clearly demonstrated my capacity to interpret technicalities,
legislation and compliance issues to a wide audience.
You will have a track record of managing relationships with business partners to support the achievement of
strategic corporate objectives.
In my role as MMS for DAFWA Southern Regional, I have a personal goal to proactively engage with the entire
region, drive networking, liaise extensively with stakeholders, build collaborative rapports, improve
communication lines, create transparency, build capacity, deliver on strategic objectives, encourage continual
improvement and develop a positive work culture. I ensure that all my actions are inline with the organisation’s
strategic direction, therefore when DAFWA announced their vision to double the value of the agricultural food
sector by 2025 by becoming an economic development agency, I understood how I could support and advance
this strategy and align with MMS outcomes.
Sharing of offices and facilities with agricultural clients and stakeholders throughout the southern region of
DAFWA was already a reality, however I believed much more synergy could be achieved. The Bunbury office had
previously been flagged as a main centre for agriculture and shared a small number of it’s facilities with
agricultural business, however there were clearly many more shared service and offices that could be utilised to
further the capacity of agricultural business, indeed, I also recognised that this commercial synergy should not
just be limited to Bunbury, but could be rolled out throughout the region. This would significant improve the
collaborations that DAFWA have with the agricultural industry, as well as providing the opportunity for many
business to utilise the facilities and expertise of DAFWA, and in turn the commercial entities would in theory be
able to contribute to doubling the value of the industry. This would require significant change to the
organisational structure of each office and therefore needed to be handled professionally, with diplomacy and
empathy. People do not like change and in the current environment of restructuring, regional staff were more
suspicious of my intentions.
I conducted an analysis of what each location had to offer for potential business partners, including physical
changes that could be undertaken to maximize what DAFWA had to offer. I also concurrently began to use my
excellent professional relationships throughout the region to introduce the concept of sharing facilities with
agriculture industry partners. I ensured that I allowed the staff to become engaged in the decision-making
process and as a result the idea of change inspired a positive rather than negative reaction. Once I had assessed
the capacity of each location to assist industry partners, and having secured the cooperation of each office that
would be affected I began to use my extensive industry network to identify potential partners. Within a short
space of time, and with the critical assistance of DAFWA project and business managers a number of partners
were selected. I played an important role as ambassador for DAFWA to positively manage the relationships with
numerous business partners such as the Margaret River Truffle Company, Kaylx, South West Catchments Council
and Forest Foods. Ultimately I was able to contribute to the DAFWA strategic plan by creating important
business synergies through careful employee and business partner relationship management, which in turn
supported the Southern regional goal to maximise office use and create internal efficiencies.
You will possess high level workplace communications skills (including but not restricted to well developed
negotiation, advocacy, and conciliation skills, the ability to engage, build and sustain relationships, the ability
to manage competing stakeholder interests and priorities, conflict management and resolution skills, oral and
written communication skills, teamwork and interpersonal skills, influencing and persuasion skills).
When the new redeployment and redundancy arrangements were introduced for the Western Australian state
public sector, as MMS Southern Region, I inherited a plan to reduce staff numbers, however following an
analysing of capability skill set and future capacity, I altered that plan, which resulted in losing four Level 1 staff
and recruiting two Level 2 administration staff. This would enable the southern region to achieve their strategic
goals and produce a saving of $277,000. Unfortunately the byproduct of this business decision is dealing with
the voluntary severance offer (VSO) of four valued staff. I understand the business rules for dealing with such a
situation and over a series of extensive and delicate meetings, I offered the four staff voluntary severance. Using
my influencing, persuasive and negotiation skills, two of the staff members immediately accepted the offer,
however one of the remaining employees, a long-term mature employee, became very upset. I possess
exceptional communication and conciliation skills, which enabled me to regain control of the situation and
leveraging my previously excellent working relationship, was able to explain in detail their options if the VSO was
not accepted. The staff member would be in danger of losing the excellent offer and would have to go through
the holding process with the hope that another position becomes available. Despite explaining the business
rules with clarity, the individual asked if they could apply for the higher position. I already knew that the
individual did not have the skill set for the opportunity, but following due process and in line with HR legislation,
I explained that they could indeed apply for the role, but that they would forgo the VSO. I also diplomatically
demonstrated that in my opinion their experience and knowledge fell short of the required standard, that the
competition in this environment of redundancy would be fierce and that the decision making process was out of
my hands.
Throughout this process I liaised extensively with HR to assure them of my progress and to comply with the
administrative process, which required transparency and clear reasons to back up all of my decisions. I was
under pressure to get an outcome as soon as possible and it was a delicate balance between pushing for an
answer and ruining the relationship, indeed these staff members still had an important role to play for a further
three months, despite their VSO decision. Ultimately following due procedure, by adhering to legislation and
administrative processes and using my enhanced communications sills all four employees accepted the VSO and
I was able to complete my initial staffing strategy.
You will also have demonstrated leadership ability, highly developed analytical, conceptual and problem
solving skills with the ability to conceptualise how contemporary trends and developments in strategic people
management and leadership can be applied. Comprehensive knowledge of relevant legislation and the
application of public sector policies, practices and standards is preferable.
In my role as MMS for DAFWA, following the strategic decision to restructure staffing levels to achieve
budgetary savings, I undertook an extensive analysis of my team’s functions, strategic goals, capabilities, skill
sets and future requirements. I created an innovative solution that required losing four Level 1 staff to be
replaced by two Level 2 staff, achieving a budget saving of $277,000, however it was the phasing out of three
very important contractors that caused the greatest difficulty. I needed to conceptualise the structure of the
region prior to phasing out the contractors and cross referenced the capacity of each branch with the capability
of individual staff members to ascertain whether the majority of responsibilities could be absorbed. In addition
to this I critically assessed the contractors’ goals and aligned them with the new strategic plan, which enabled
me to cut out many of their current responsibilities. Throughout this process I liaised extensively with HR to
ensure my plans and proposed actions complied with employment legislation and the business plans that had
been devised to manage the new restructure. As a result of my actions, I immediately phased out many of the
contractors requirements and began transferring responsibilities to other staff members. This process
highlighted that a particular staff member had the capability and capacity to take on extra responsibility and I
created an acting role, whilst providing extra coaching and support. This individual has since excelled in her
duties and continues to grow within the organisation. In addition to this I implemented a plan to up skill staff to
create workforce flexibility, which has created a robust and capable region.
I also look after the maintenance budget for facilities management of all the locations and buildings throughout
the southern region. The budget must balance and reconcile each year, as this is an important tool in developing
the following year’s finances necessary to achieve strategic goals. When I became aware of a variance of
$86,000, I immediately investigated the root cause and discovered that some annual contractors supplying
important services such as termite spraying, fire alarm checks and asbestos register reviews were not delivering
their service on time, and therefore were not raising the expected invoices. If this went unchecked, unspent
money on the budget would not be reallocated the following year. I created a detailed spreadsheet of all the
contractors and undertook a comparison analysis to identify the culprits. I delegated the task of dealing with the
contactors to my staff and informed them of the strategic importance of monitoring service delivery. I also
explained that we have a legislative duty of care as facilities managers to ensure that the buildings are
maintained and that the employees have a safe environment to work in. Additionally I reminded them that each
year we have an audit, which assesses the asset register and if something like the asbestos register had not been
completed we would be required to explain this failure to adhere to legislative compliance by the Auditor
Generals Office.
I successfully utilised my accounting knowledge, contract management expertise, understanding of OHS, duty of
care and legislative compliance to recognise, investigate and resolve a critical issue that ultimately secured
budgetary financing for the following year.
