LOCAL GOVERNMENT
based activity’, staff will be able to concentrate
on more creative work that will challenge them
and provide greater job satisfaction. At the
same time, the disruptive market means job
descriptions become increasingly fluid – in other
words, employees should recognise that the job
they are doing now may not be the one they are
doing in 12 months’ time.
Talent needs to be thought of as ‘serving a
strategy’, not simply part of a transaction. You
need to question why someone was doing a
certain role in the first place, and whether that still
works when considering future goals, or if their
role needs to evolve. But by freeing up time from
routine tasks to focus on innovation, your people
may well be creating the jobs of the future.
This brings challenge for councils in how to
attract and develop these ‘new’ skills and how
to cater for changing and agile roles within
existing workplace requirements and structures.
For example, in most councils, the role of ‘Data
Scientist’ has never existed or been provided
for within the existing levels, pay structures and
role descriptions. These creative and specialist
technical skills are in high demand and are
often priced outside the existing levels within
the organisation. That means a need for some
out of the box thinking and flexible approaches
for working out how things can be approached
differently, how the structure might be flexed
to support new and different roles, and what
recruitment mechanisms might be explored to
attract different skills and backgrounds.
This adaptability mentality can also be
fostered by an agile work environment. The
physical lay-out of an office which promotes
open discussion, breaks down hierarchies
and encourages interaction and collaboration
between staff members will also create a
culture of positive change. The ability to
make changes to the workplace, even without
expensive office redevelopment, can bring many
benefits for councils in breaking down the silos
GOVLINK » ISSUE 2 2018
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