Organisation: Family and Community Services
Job Title: District Director – Relief Register (Internal only)
Word Limit: 2 pages max
Location: Various
Customer focus – Throughout my professional career, I have worked in roles dedicated to the provision of a responsive, flexible service that is aligned to the changing needs of a diverse range of clients. My experience within the community services sector includes involvement across both strategic and operational roles. This has given me a unique insight into understanding client needs, as well as the capabilities to structure and deliver service to meet those needs. Within the Attorney General’s Department, I led the establishment of inter-agency partnerships to address domestic and family violence within the Dubbo region. This collaborative approach (involving Health, Police, Community Services, Education, Office for Women, Housing and Attorney General) ensured an integrated, whole of community response to this issue. It focussed on the needs of clients, rather than the delivery of a service response built around separate departmental boundaries. Similarly, as the Manager of Regional Strategy, Families and Community Services (FACS), the focus of my role was to build partnerships between public, private and not-for-profit agencies to improve community service outcomes in relation to the whole-of-sector strategies (Families First, Aboriginal Child, Youth and Family and Better Futures). I delivered a range of projects structured to respond to both current and emerging needs in Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal and marginalised Australian families. In this position, I also had a pivotal role in progressing interagency components of the Murdi Paaki (MP) Regional Partnership Agreement. I contributed to the development and delivery of key strategies, including the MP Health Project, the MP Youth Services Toolkit, the MP Young Leaders Project and the MP Strong Women’s Project. Many of these projects delivered outcomes that made substantial differences in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in the Murdi Paaki and several were nominated for Premier’s Awards. I also have the commitment needed to manage projects and strategies through to closure, ensuring that they comply with any set of standards or targets during the implementation phase. For example, within my region, I successfully delivered on a government commitment regarding the provision of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) in the community. This was achieved through reaching the targets set for regional training, accreditation and the development of practitioner support networks. Western Region recorded the highest number of trained practitioners across the State. I also have significant programme management experience, am able to determine the service requirements of a broad client base, and have the skills to focus the effort of the organisation to align with those needs. I currently hold the position of Director, Business Innovation and Reform, Western NSW District, where I have strategic and operational oversight of three service streams within FACS, delivering a range of district and cross-district functions. My responsibilities include oversight of approximately forty staff, most of who work directly with clients, supporting them to develop plans and funding packages to enable them to live fully and independently in the community. In both my project and programme management roles, I have a people first approach, along with a commitment to working closely with the community to provide an adaptive service.
Strategic thinking and action – Across a range of roles, I have consistently demonstrated expertise in developing and driving strategy that aligns to organisational priorities and is responsive to the needs of the community. In many positions, I have translated sector-wide or departmental strategy into practical, frontline deliverables. I also have the energy and drive to manage strategies into and through my region, building a shared sense of purpose and commitment to engage all stakeholders and ensure completion. For example, a government commitment to Universal Health Home Visiting aimed to actively engage and support families that didn’t traditionally access maternity and early childhood health service. Within FACS, this incorporated a commitment that Child and Family Health Nurses would visit the parents of all new babies. My region was one of the few in the State to successfully undertake the restructure of existing work practices to enable it to deliver on this service. I also have a strong commitment to thinking creatively about strategic implementation and harnessing non-traditional partners and opportunities to deliver results. I led a partnership with Country Rugby League (CRL) focussed on developing and implementing a programme for children under five across sixteen Aboriginal communities. The program required that both the child and the father participate and offered a fun and engaging way of supporting men in the parenting role. The programme also provided an innovative way of disseminating public health messages, including a range of information and support related to the well-being of children in the community as part of its content. The collaboration was beneficial to the CRL as it provided them with an opportunity to increase its membership in the western region, ensuring its ongoing viability in the area and encouraging many parents to become volunteers to support the Leagues’ activities. I managed another creative collaboration with the Royal Flying Doctor Service to deliver Triple P Parenting education and advice to remote communities in Western NSW. Once again, this was about leveraging existing services in an innovative way to help build parenting capabilities within communities. Both these partnerships strongly align with the whole-of-sector direction of community capacity building, strengthening and supporting local skills and expertise, and forging effective links with non-government-organisations (NGOs) and service providers.
Planning for outcomes – As the Senior Program Manager, I developed the proposal for the formation of the South Western Sydney district for FACS. Its development was part of the departmental decision to create fifteen new districts to enable more localised decision-making and to develop stronger relationships between senior service delivery management and frontline staff. The new district brought together the current local Ageing, Disability and Home Care, Community Services and Housing NSW client services and operations. My role was to lead the development of the organisational plan for the South Western Sydney District, the second largest district in New South Wales with over 1200 staff. The plan incorporated organisational design, the governance and management structure for the new district, as well as a human resource management and a risk management plan. My responsibilities included leading the transition and supporting the change management processes developed to underpin the move to a district structure. To successfully achieve this structural change, I had to have an excellent understanding of the various operational streams, the diverse internal cultures and business imperatives, the influence of the external community and the political environment that was driving this change. I also had to develop excellent relationships with all the key stakeholders and to actively engage them in the process of change. I translated a range of complex issues into clear goals and deliverables and clarified roles and responsibilities within the new structure. I completed this project successfully, meeting all deadlines and facilitating strong buy-in from management and staff from across the district.
People (leadership) – Throughout my professional career, I have always demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and have a proven record in engaging and motivating staff to deliver excellent service and mentoring, coaching and engaging staff in a process of continuous learning and development. In my current role, I manage three operational streams that deliver a range of functions and services. This includes leading around forty staff, many with frontline responsibilities within the community. In this role, I focus on building a workplace culture that sustains a high level of performance and innovation. This incorporates ensuring the currency and diversity of my knowledge and that of my staff in relation to those service streams and the community in which we operate. In my current role, I am responsible for ensuring that departmental services are aligned to both departmental and government priorities, and that the team I manage is positioned and resourced to deliver on those priorities. I have both operational and strategic leadership skills, including exceptional ability in marshalling and harnessing the capabilities and expertise of individuals and teams to deliver quality service outcomes. As mentioned previously, I have led significant projects, including the coordination of substantial staffing resources to deliver outcomes. As part of the state government’s participation in the MP Regional Partnership Agreement, I led large, cross-jurisdictional project teams. I chaired the Health, Families, Young People and Law and Justice Groups, and supported the Education, Training and Economic Development Group to deliver key strategies within the Agreement. I also have a passionate commitment to diversity and inclusion, and to creating a workplace environment where every employee has the opportunity to achieve their potential. Within the public sector, I have had a key role in fostering this environment with my staff. To provide excellent service, FACS must be reflective of the community it serves. This enables the organisation to better understand and respond effectively to the needs of its clients and local communities. I embrace diverse views and perspectives, and value and utilise those differences for the benefit of the organisation. During my academic career, I provided targeted support to mature students and international students, and as a tutor with the Aboriginal Education Unit (Ooralla) I also supported Aboriginal students to excel in their chosen fields.
Negotiation and Influence – I am a trained mediator with excellent negotiation, consultation and conflict resolution skills. I am a strong proponent of interest based negotiation and always strive to ensure that the focus of discussions is the end result. One example is the provision of expanded service or support to children within the community. I have managed significant consultation and communication processes as integral phases of programme and project implementation, developing and sustaining productive working relationships and facilitating collaborative partnerships across all levels of the government, community and NGO sectors. During these processes I have negotiated and balanced service delivery imperatives with political sensitivities and community priorities. An example that demonstrates these skills was my involvement in the “Closing the Gap” initiative of establishing Aboriginal Integrated Child and Family Centres in Brewarrina and Lightning Ridge (as part of the Indigenous Early Childhood Development National Partnership Agreement). The process required exceptional mediation and influencing skills to both support the Partnership participants and to carefully negotiate in favour of government and departmental interests. The volatile political environment in remote NSW had to be considered and managed, while issues concerning service delivery were ironed out. I used my communication and influencing skills to build stakeholder support across various points of discussion, and strove to anticipate points of conflict in advance. As mentioned, the key strategy was to continually refocus negotiations on the end result to ensure that discussions did not stall or become bogged down in process or structure issues. I have a proven record in exceptional stakeholder management, with strong personal credibility based in part on my previous professional experience within the NGO sector. Participants acknowledge and respect my diverse experience across the government, community and NGO sectors and trust my dedication to excellence in service provision and enhanced community outcomes. A final example relates to my role in convincing staff within the NSW Police Force to deliver the Staying Home Leaving Violence Programme in my district. The Programme, through the provision of a range of practical services and supports, helps women and children escaping domestic violence to remain safely in their homes. Police oversight of the project has allowed operational officers to develop unique capabilities that are both sustainable and transferable to their standard duties. It took significant negotiation and mediation skills to persuade them to deliver this program, but once again, I used my strong influencing skills to sell the benefi
