Council appoints 'Change Champion' to help strengthen digital culture

Noosa Shire Council is investing in its workforce, appointing its first ‘Change Champion’ to help strengthen its internal digital culture and drive adoption of modern capabilities across its 500-strong team.

The new initiative follows the Council’s recent implementation of TechnologyOne’s Field App, enabling its outdoor workforce to manage tasks from any device in any environment regardless of network connectivity. While the solution enhanced efficiencies among early adopters, many employees showed signs of resistance to the rapid digital changes.

In his new role as Change Champion, Mark Bentley has proven critical to the successful adoption of new initiatives starting with TechnologyOne’s Project Lifecycle Management (PLM). The software helps Council better identify, control, manage, track, report and analyse program, portfolio and project performance.

With PLM, the Council is now taking advantage of organisation-wide transparency that saves significant time and resources. Manual tasks have been automated, including project approvals based on the HR structure and real-time reports, while emails sent to or from project leads via the system create an auditable trail in one place.

“The biggest issue we face when bringing in a new solution is change management,” said Noosa Shire Council Coordinator Asset Systems Devon Wilson. “It doesn’t matter how intuitive the new technology is, doing something different will always be perceived as harder than sticking with the original process. This reluctance is not unique to our industry; digital transformation is inherently complex.

“Mark’s newly created role has been essential in securing workforce-wide acceptance of the PLM implementation, ensuring everyone feels supported in the creation and processing of projects. Partnering with TechnologyOne has long provided us with seamless technological rollouts and future-proof capabilities, but only by prioritising the digital culture among our team can the significant benefits available truly be realised.”

“Noosa’s Shire Council’s ability to respond to its workforce’s needs with an extra layer of guidance and support has paid dividends, reinforcing its commitment to delivering vital services as efficiently as possible,” said Loretta Libke, TechnologyOne. “Only by using solutions properly will councils be able to perform at their optimum level for the benefit of the whole community, and the team’s buy-in is critical to that success.”

Image caption: Noosa capital works project. Image: Supplied