policy wicked problems - lgat · there are no right and wrong solutions to wicked problems. rather,...

LGAT News September 201136

policy

Wicked ProblemsDR KATRENA STEPHENSON, POLICY DIRECTORLocal Government Association of Tasmania

policy

By the pricking of my thumbs,Something wicked this way comes. (Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1)

In a discussion paper written for the recent Australian Local Government Association’s National General Assembly, there is reference to “wicked problems”i. If this term is not familiar to all in the Local Government sector, the problems certainly are.

Wicked problems are those complex and intractable issues which demand new approaches. They are often “difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognise. Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems”ii.

Characteristics of wicked problems include a difficulty in defining the problem, no simple solution which can be tested, unique attributes and a requirement to change behaviour(s). Wicked problems are also symptoms of other problems and require significant effort and resource to address. There are no right and wrong solutions to wicked problems. Rather, solutions applied can make things better or worse (with consequences difficult to foresee). There are many wicked problems familiar to Local Government such as environmental sustainability, health inequalities and social exclusion.

Prof Nancy Robertsiii identified three possible strategies for tackling wicked problems. These are:

1) Authoritative: giving the problem to a group (or an individual) who take responsibility for solving the problem on the premise that others agree to abide by the solution they formulate. This reduces the risks related to the competing views of multiple stakeholders and is perceived as timely and efficient. The risk to this approach is that there is not sufficient knowledge and understanding by the ‘authority’ to truly address the problem at hand and commitment to the solution may be weak.

2) Competitive: pitting opposing views and different solutions and choosing the best one. This allows for the creation of new ideas and innovation, but has the risk of conflict and stalemates.

3) Collaborative: engaging all the stakeholders when pursuing a solution which best meets all needs. This approach is generally preferred and produces high stakeholder commitment and more comprehensive and effective solutions but, can dramatically extend the time taken to develop a solution and where collaboration is ineffective, lead to conflict and stalemates.

In addition to most analysts suggesting that a collaborative strategy is required to address wicked problems, it is also widely agreed that the traditional

linear approach to problem solving does not work. Rather, holistic thinking is required. There is a need to get past traditional silos and be flexible and innovative. Learnings need to be widely shared. Solutions needs to be informed by on-the-ground intelligence. There needs to be a willingness to think and work in new ways. Solutions need to be appropriately budgeted for.

Given their complexity, how can Local Government tackle wicked problems? In the first instance it is important to recognise that wicked problem can’t be tackled alone. They go beyond the capacity of any one organisation to understand and respond to them. They generally require partnerships across the spheres of government and across geographical boundaries. However, Local Government’s closeness to local communities provides a valuable tool when developing solutions to wicked problems.

Additional core skills are required to tackle wicked problems; in particular, communication, big-picture thinking and influencing skills and the ability to work cooperatively. Michael Hess and David Adamsiv suggest that with an emergence of locality-based approaches to wicked problems, there is an increasing focus on Local Government as “the steward of the community resilience and local knowledge required to address the pressing issues” but that in order to maximise the potential of Local Government, there are a number of management challenges which need to be addressed with the ability to be: “Stewards of assets; brokers of complexities; facilitators of networks; advocates for place; shapers of place; social entrepreneurs; and innovators”.

There are no quick fixes to wicked problems and this is often not well understood by the broader community. There will always be some uncertainty around the solutions to wicked problems and advances will be made gradually, step-by-step. The first steps are already underwayv.

i Australian Local Government Association (ALGA)(2011), 2011 National General Assembly of Local Government: Discussion Paper: Growing with Our Community – Place, Position and Partnership, www.alga.asn.au

ii Wikipedia, (7 July 2011), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem

iii Roberts, N (2000), Coping with Wicked Problems, Working Paper, Department of Strategic Management, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

iv Hess, M and Adams, D (2007), Training the Next General of Local Government Managers, Paper at 21st ANZAM Conference: Managing Our Intellectual Capital, Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd, Sydney.

v These articles may also be of interest: • CampbellF(ed)(2011), The Social Determinants of Health and

the Role of Local Government, IdEA, UK • AkedJ,MichalesonJ,SteuerN(2011), The Role of Local

Government in Promoting Wellbeing, Local Government Improvement and Development and the National Mental Health Development Unit, UK

• CommonwealthofAustralia(2007),Tackling Wicked Problems: A Public Policy Perspective, Australian Public Service Commission, Canberra.


37September 2011 LGAT News

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The Think Big. Work Local project has just passed the half-way point. Councils funded LGAT to take specific actions to combat skills shortages in the areas of advertising, training and data. In this article, I want to focus on presenting some data to stimulate your thoughts, questions and suggestions about advertising, to maximise the benefits from the project for your Council.

Each Saturday morning, I study the positions vacant by manually compiling job advertisements placed by councils in the major newspapers and on a series of websites, including individual council websites and the project’s website at www.thinkbigworklocal.com.au. This is the only way, at present, to thoroughly capture vacancies. The graph below shows that councils advertised fewer vacancies from July to December 2010, more vacancies from January to June 2011, and none over the Christmas/New Year period.

What do these 12 months of results suggest to you? Do you think this period was typical? Do you think staff organise a career change over the summer break and resign throughout the first half of the calendar year? Is

the peak in May significant and what might have caused that? Perhaps HR officers administering the recruiting have some ideas or figures to help.

Advertising consultants say that television is still the most effective method of promotion. LGAT’s advertising consultants work across many forms of advertising and they do not own a TV channel. It is estimated we reached 347,000 people in our March and April 2010 screenings - that is 91.8% of Tasmanians 18 or more years old.

We may be able to use the data in the graph above to decide when to screen the Think Big. Work Local TV commercial. Again I am interested in your thoughts. Should we only show the commercial in the peak jobs season from January to June? Should we also trickle some advertising throughout the year as well? Although there are no vacancies advertised around Christmas and New Year, should we still be advertising to raise awareness of council careers among job seekers to prepare for the busy period which may follow? Others might say VET and UTAS graduates should be targeted through the period when the school year ends and the holiday begins. These are the things that keep me up at night and I’d appreciate your ideas.

The Think Big. Work Local website is only one part of our advertising activities. After all you can’t describe every career in Local Government in a 30-second commercial. If you have yet to look at the website, please do. It will help you explain to job seekers what we do and what jobs are available in the sector.

Think Big. Work LocalSCOTT BLACKLOW, CAREERS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

Local Government Association of Tasmania

Continued Page 38

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Are your staff ready to be promoted?Have you promoted a high performing staff member to a management role without helping them understand its new set of demands and the skills required.

AIM’s The New Supervisor course is designed specifically for newly appointed team leaders or supervisors, who need to understand how to manage people and implement operational plans. Commences on 24 October in Hobart.

To book please call (03) 6224 9555 or visit aimtasmania.com.au

07-1

824


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Google Analytics tell us that from March 2010, when the site was launched, to July 2011, there were 20,236 visits to the site made by 12,533 people. The graph below shows the number of hits to the site per month.

The majority of visitors were interested in the jobs vacant page, which is exactly what we want. The graph shows two peaks in visits, which coincide with our TV commercial screening in late March to early May 2010,andinJanuarytoFebruary2011.Whilevisitorscame from 90 countries, the majority were Australian, then English, American, Philippine, Canadian and New Zealanders. If you cannot find a person to fill a vacancy, why not seek foreign applications? Contact me for help on using the skilled migration pathway.

The website obviously has tremendous reach and, when coupled with the effect of our TV advertising in Tasmania, it provides detail to our target audience. If councils don’t use the site, they are missing out onthiswork.Forthe26councilswithwebsitesbuilt using Unity software, if jobs are entered on the correct page of your website then the vacancies post automatically to www.thinkbigworklocal.com.au. Pleasechecktoseethatitisworkingforyou.ForHobart and Launceston councils who don’t use Unity software, we have just created a new tool to help place vacancies manually. I will be contacting people at these councils to show them how to use it.

If you have any questions, suggestions or requests in relation to the ideas raised in this article about advertising, or about areas training, training funding and workforce data, please email [email protected], or call 6233 5967. I’d like to hear from you.

Dobson Mitchell & Allport (DMA) is a full service commercial legal practice that provides advice to many local councils in Tasmania. We are aware of the range of legal issues that councils face and have a large team of experienced lawyers to deal with them. We have recently been reappointed to the MAV legal panel.

We work with planning officers during assessment of DA’s, and any appeals in RMPAT or enforcement action that may follow from a council decision. More broadly we assist with new schemes, scheme amendments and section 43A applications, in the Tasmanian Planning Commission.

Our large team of litigation lawyers can deal with liability, workers compensation and D&O issues that can arise.

On the governance front, early advice on rating resolutions, committee procedure and the sale or acquisition of council property can prevent problems further down the track. We can also advise on those often awkward industrial relations and professional conduct issues.

We advise many councils on contracts, from building contracts to commercial leases, and from executive employment to joint ventures. We have also developed a rates recovery package that has been used by a number of councils in the south and has proved very successful. In a number of areas DMA has expertise that is not widely available in Tasmania. One of our principals is a very experienced intellectual property lawyer. We have one of the few accredited adjudicators in Tasmania for security of payment legislation concerning building work, and we have the largest migration practice in Tasmania.

Dobson Mitchell & Allport is part of the M+K Lawyers Group which services clients across the eastern states and is part of the Multilaw international association of law practices. While remaining a local Tasmanian practice, we have access to the national and international legal services markets.

For enquiries, contact Managing Director, Andrew Walker on (03) 6210 0000

dobson mitchell & allport pty ltd ACN 143 016 58659 Harrington Street Hobart, TAS 7001 Telephone +61 3 6210 0000 Facsimile +61 3 6210 0099

A member of the m+k lawyers group


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It’s not often that the words “asset management” are on the national news so it was surprising to hear them a couple of months ago! The occasion was the release of the Rizzo Review by Australian Defence, initiated when some of the Navy’s vessels were not available to assist in the Queensland disasters. The findings indicated systemic failures directly related to asset management.

While the scale and type of asset management in the Australian Navy is obviously unique in some respects, there are relevant comparisons to Local Government. The report emphasised the importance of whole-of-life asset management, taking into account ongoing maintenance and renewal costs rather than a continued focus on the acquisition of new assets. Interestingly, the priority recommendations included formalising asset management methodology and initiating closer working arrangements between decision-makers who acquire assets and engineers who maintain them.

A recent presentation at the Municipal Association of Victoria’s (MAV) National Asset Management Conference illustrates the need for Local Government to integrate asset management with community expectations and financial planning.

Strathbogie Council in Victoria is a small rural council which had become financially unsustainable due to the significant cost of its infrastructure renewal and maintenance backlog. About this time last year, it took the unprecedented step of calling community meetings to ask ratepayers which services and activities it should cut from the budget to tackle this backlog. The Chief Executive Officer offered a 1% saving in a proposed 15% rate rise for every $100,000 cut from council services.

Although there was a predictably angry reaction from the community, one ex councillor acknowledged that the problems arose because previous councils did not address asset management adequately. One year on, and Strathbogie Council has lost three bridges due to closure, imposed a significant rate rise and replaced its Chief Executive Officer. As he observed at these meetings “asset management is not sexy...”.

The drastic situation at Strathbogie Council certainly emphasises the importance of integrated management in terms of the services or activities councils offer and the “hard” assets they build and manage.Forlong-termfinancialsustainability,itisvital to integrate long-term financial planning and asset management while balancing community expectations.

These sentiments are reflected in the management of theCommonwealthfundedLocalGovernmentFinancialand Asset Reform Project here at LGAT. The project isapartnershipbetweenFederal,StateandLocalGovernment and aims to effectively bring together financial and asset management operations for reporting and management purposes. Working closely with councils, the project will implement integrated and long-term asset management and financial planning in all Tasmanian councils.

Some of the major achievements of the project to date include:

• DevelopmentofaTasmanianLocalGovernmentAsset Management Policy (to be released later this year by the Minister for Local Government);

• Adraftframeworkforlong-termfinancialplans;and

• Newsletterstoupdatefinancialandassetstaffwithincouncils.

The next immediate stage is to prepare tools and resources to allow councils to prepare asset management plans for major asset groups by the end of March 2012.

A factsheet for the Local Government Financial and Asset Reform Project can be found online at www.lgat.tas.gov.au under ‘Quick Links’. The Project Manager, Sue Grau, can be contacted at [email protected].

Integrated Asset Management: not sexy but necessary

SUE GRAU, PROJECT MANAGERLocal Government Association of Tasmania

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