Transforming Organisational Culture at Goulburn Mulwaree

GPS COLLOQUIUM OUTCOMES AT CITY OF WYNDHAM

The Goulburn Mulwaree Council area is located in central New South Wales, about 200 kilometres south-west of the Sydney CBD, and 95 kilometres north-east of the Canberra CBD. It has over 250 employees and a yearly revenue in excess of $100m. Priorities include investment in infrastructure and providing efficient services.

The goal of Goulburn Mulwaree Council is “one team, one organisation”. In 2014 new CEO Warwick Bennett engaged GPS Learning to guide the organisation to more fully achieving that goal.

The leadership team needed a shared understanding of their direction and a more unified team. Guided by staff survey analysis, employees needed to fully commit and to see the greater contribution they could make to their community and colleagues. Everyone in the organisation had be to be willing to perform together.

Warwick Bennett shares what he has learned from the cultural transformation program at Goulburn Mulwaree, along with some advice for CEOs seeking to transform their own organisations.

Shared understanding of direction

Shared sense of empowerment

Team unity

+40%

+64%

+81%

Elise Jackson and Brad Edlington share their experiences from a people and culture specialist perceptive, with advice for their fellow professionals in human resources.

Warwick Bennett

CEO Goulburn Mulwaree Council

"I’ve been absolutely ecstatic with some of the results. The whole organisation is now committed. The whole organisation. That’s the important part."

Increased trust and more effective communication across the organisation, leading to cross-functional collaboration and better project management.
Employees have greater clarity about the contribution they make to the organisation and community.
A whole organisation that has committed to performing together.

Goulburn Mulwaree benefited from their GPS Colloquium experience through:

250 Goulburn Mulwaree employees engaged in a customised five-month process of collaborative exploration to create a transformed culture.

The program’s legacy is:

increased cross-functional working and less silos
clear expectations about values-based behaviours
employees producing results as one team.

The organisation is transformed. It’s a completely different organisation to the one I stepped into four years ago. The Colloquium managed to break down so many silos and barriers between all of the different business units.

Elise Jackson

HR Manager Goulburn Mulwaree Council