Far North District Council is the winner of The Capability Group Award for Excellence in Organisation and People Development for its 'Great Workplaces' initiative.
The Capability Group Award for Excellence in Organisation and People Development recognises approaches that build an exceptional organisational culture or capability through the application of transformational leadership.
Far North District Council's winning initiative emerged from a staff survey taken during the first 2020 COVID-19 lockdown where 83 per cent of staff reported their productivity was the same or better while working at home. 'Great Workplaces' was launched with the initial objective to retain remote working productivity and wellbeing gains. It quickly became an initiative about providing its people with workplace choice.
The Judges said "While most organisations have had to adapt to remote working during the pandemic, we were impressed by the meticulous process that Far North District Council has taken to make remote working business as usual. Far North’s attention to documenting the actual costs and benefits of the approach also captured our attention. All rural and regional councils could learn from this pragmatic programme for overcoming distance and a multiplicity of locations."
Entries in this category might be multi-year programmes or one-off projects but they will involve organisational redesign, human resource management, leadership development or other means of building organisational or staff capability. The approach must be capable of transfer to other local authorities. Last year's winner was Whangārei District Council for its Organisational Strategy.
Capability Group is a provider of professional development opportunities that transform individuals and workplace cultures. Capability Group partners with Taituarā to develop leadership capabilities within the local government sector. This is the fifth year that Capability Group has sponsored the Excellence in Organisation and People Development category.
For further information, please see the 2022 Awards Media Pack.