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Each council across Australia differs in size and agenda to meet the needs of their local jurisdiction. Councils operate independently of one another, although we’ve noted a common theme in workplace training challenges and wish to explore this further with you in this blog.
Over time we have gleaned insight on training challenges local government councils are faced with, as well as individual learner needs and expectations. We can’t ignore the commonality and so to this end, we took a deeper dive to understand more to help councils not only meet their learning obligations, yet also kick organisational goals and save time and budget in the process!
Making best practice, common practice
Our courses will help you drive the behavioural change you seek, meeting your council’s compliance and completion needs effortlessly, while empowering your team members in their specific roles. Learn more about how to upskill your staff online and have a measurable impact on the ground in your council and tackle key pain points like the ongoing quest to engage your learners, overcoming technology hurdles and spending your budget more wisely.
Our approach for testing common training challenges in councils
A series of interviews were undertaken with L&D leaders at councils that work with Kineo Courses and utilise the of the shelf learning library for their training requirements. We wanted to gauge what is at the heart of their training challenges to understand how we may take these common themes and model a solution that benefits all local government councils as a training roadmap for ease and efficiency (and based on what we know has worked well with existing council customers).
Below is a summary of some of these key findings from a range of councils in Australia that span city, shires, and rural locations.
Do these findings resonate with you in your council?
The highest priority learning needs in councils
Firstly, there is a need to meet compliance (the likes of Occupational Health and Safety and Equal Employment Opportunity) and report on training completion data. Secondly, to create a culture of safety and overcome attitudes of grudge learning. Leadership training is also a priority and to develop middle management skills, such as ‘Managing a Team.’
A common thread was L&D’s desire to be able to explain to their staff the purpose and value in the training, the why and not just the what.
Legislation and risk
The main drivers behind the training and reporting needs in councils are unquestionably to meet legislation and mitigate risk.
One council commented:
“Safety / legislation training is most important as their outside workers are often working with machinery in extreme weather conditions.”
However, contrary to the theme a rural council stressed that for them learning and development needs are currently more important than compliance and risk.
Kineo’s partner Peak Services, a consolidated business with an operating structure across five consulting bodies of the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) added:
“Having records internally at the councils makes it easy to access when audits take place. The reporting in the learning delivery platform is great for this as it’s easy to use and fast at producing the results.”
Business Development Manager - Training at Peak Services (LGAQ)
Across the board compliance training is tied directly to staff’s performance reviews which helps drives completion, yet there is still a way to go in successfully creating a learning culture.
The key training titles currently missing in your council
Beyond key council courses we’ve found the training titles you’d most like to see in your online learning library include:
- specialised machinery training for the outdoor workers
- more leadership training requested from managers for personal development,
- basic finance training,
- cultural competency,
- diversity & inclusion,
- ATSI appreciation/understanding,
- cyber security, and
- gender equality legislation
Bullying and Harassment for Employees is the most popular workplace learning course in the top 10 council courses. This title has been rated 5 out of 5 for user experience by a learner from Macedon Ranges Shire Council who commented:
“Very easy to understand and informative. Kept me engaged.”
Manual Tasks for Workers sits at number 4 in our top 10 with 5 out of 5-star rating from City of Salisbury with learner feedback:
“Really good. Clearly communicated the most important aspects.”
