The first session of the Convention that I attended was entitled, Better Governance, From Good to Great and was presented by Cr David Parsons from the UK and Prof Graham Sansom, Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.
I didn't take any notes during this presentation as it held little interest for me being not particularly relevant to small country shires. Aside from the fact that our little bags we received on registering at the convention held no pads or pens!!
The next session was far more interesting. This time I was able to take notes since I'd snaffled a pad and pen from the Census Booth at morning tea.
Richard Hill from the MindScience Institute discussed management approaches which can generate positive attitudes in the workplace. Though interesting, this session was predominantly for CEO's and Senior Staff. As a councillor, I have no input into how our office runs, how it is designed or how senior staff and administration staff work together.
The main topic of his talk was about change. His theory is that for good change and growth, people need to be creative, adaptive, flexible and engaged. Richard has a book out called "How the Real World is Driving us Crazy".
As I was taking notes, Cr Crosby wrote this word in my notepad:
Yes, I agreed with her
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr Linda Friedland from the Health and Media Institute who introduced us to a new health issue affecting working people in Japan. It's called Karoshi and means death from overwork!
Her presentation focussed on mental health and the ability to cope with stress.
She emphasized the need for resilience and the ability to adapt and change - there we go again, change.....meaning get yourselves ready for amalgamation, or am I just being paranoid?
The final session of the day held little of interest to us, but we enjoyed listening to three young migrants tell their stories of life in their adopted country. Then our Local Government Minister launched a new government initiative, "Implementing the Principles of Multiculturalism Locally."
Good to hear that Katanning had input into this initiative with the Senior Finance Officer, Carl Beck being on the working committee during the formation of the booklet.
All in all, not a huge amount gained on our first full day. We hope for a better outcome tomorrow.
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