Kempsey Shire Council is now ready for the expected exodus of retiring senior managers after six employees recently gained university post-graduate qualifications in management.
A four-year-long collaborative learning program between TAFE NSW and Charles Sturt University has helped fulfil the Council’s succession planning objectives.
Kempsey Shire Council supported the program by paying the course fees and scheduling study time for the employees. General Manager Allan Burgess said the intention was not only to recognise and support the capabilities and potential of staff, but also to provide professional development to meet the future leadership needs of the growing shire of Kempsey.
‘The outcomes have been outstanding both in terms of the learning experience and professional development – many employees have been encouraged to use their new skills to develop improvements in our organisational processes,’ Mr Burgess said.
Q: |
Planning for the future of your business? |
|---|---|
A: |
Consider a post-graduate pathway delivered by TAFE NSW. |
Garry Macdonald, Head Teacher, Business Services, North Coast Institute, said the assessments were deliberately workplace-based, providing students with a better understanding of how senior management operates and why certain decisions are made.
‘The students were able to mix theoretical and practical requirements by researching a workplace issue – and often coming up with solutions – while completing the required TAFE NSW and University assessment tasks,’ Mr Macdonald said.
Elizabeth McGregor, Institute Director, said North Coast Institute had signed an agreement with Council to deliver the program of management education over two stages.
‘The first stage was the TAFE NSW Diploma of Business Management, which the employees completed part-time over three years,’ said Ms McGregor. ‘They’ve now completed stage two, the Graduate Certificate of Management (Professional Practice) which is delivered by the Australian Graduate Management Consortium, a collaboration of TAFE NSW with Charles Sturt University.’
Kempsey Shire Council employee Toni Shannon said the graduates were very grateful to Council for being 100 percent behind them and were proud to be part of the organisation. ‘We showed immediate return on their investment because we were already making improvements to work practices as we learnt,’ Ms Shannon said.
She said the TAFE NSW presenters were fantastic and Charles Sturt University provided excellent support in distance education, particularly in providing comprehensive and extensive learning resources.
‘There must have been a massive amount of work put into getting this project off the ground and the TAFE NSW presenters were excellent and just perfect for this project.’
