Learn how an Australian government organisation underwent a successful cultural transformation which enabled it to address Australia’s water challenges with flexibility
and innovative thinking.
Why culture is linked to great performance. So often earnings and the financial performance of companies take priority over the perceived soft issues in the organisation. Michael Cameron, GPT talks about this fundamental flaw in thinking, without the right culture you will never get the right performance.
For years this organisation has successfully provided some of the fundamental infrastructure services required by the community to go about its daily life. Because the organisation services the whole community, it continually has to juggle the potentially competing needs of different interest groups, as well as meet the political agenda demanded by the government ministers, and important issues of safety and long term planning which are often not immediately visible to users and the government.
Airservices was facing an unusually large number of challenges when it approached Walking the Talk. The organisation realised that it needed to do things differently in order to successfully meet those challenges, as the existing culture was either slowing down the change process or making it very hard. A broad culture transformation process was necessary.
This case study follows the cultural management process of SA Water Corporation, a public utility company in the Australian state of South Australia, for the decade 2000 to 2010. It is a journey that saw SA Water transform from a department of the public service to a strong and vibrant business focused on sustainability.
