 Good afternoon or it looks like we're playing to a full venue So it's great to see so many of you turning up to to ask us questions Hopefully or explore the issues around culture that we're going to be talking about today It is a real journey the journey we just started but one we're all very proud to be pushing along very strongly Can I introduce our fellow panelists? Fran Boyd who's the executive director of? people and culture You and Ferguson takes no real introduction at all really as the chief officer and myself as the CEO and We've got a commitment not only to One another Across the ELT but also to the senior leadership team for us to drive and support the delivery of a new culture a Better culture across CFA because that'll make it a better CFA and better outcomes for communities I'm I'm going to read from some notes I've made plenty of changes to them, but I just want to put some points up at the front end as we start Want to recap where we are in the in the culture and change journey so far What we're here for is very important We've got a very strong mission at CFA to protect lives and property in Delivering that mission through the everyday services that all of our brigades and others bring together We add public value. Yeah So it adds a lot of value across the whole community Whoever we provide those services to but it adds a bigger value than that in that many people feel safer for the existence of a CFA that's active and provides those services And we need the sum of all the parts of CFA to come together to do that effectively Not parts of the sum So we have to be unified if we're going to get the outcomes that the community needs most desperately And often when they are dealing with us, they are in desperate straits. So we need to be very united And we need to have all our people on board with our mission and I know that that's almost Asking for something that people have already committed too many times over The other thing people want to do is they want to come to a place That's positive and engaging and supportive when they work. Yeah, that's not only safe Which is something we take for granted, but it is positive It is empowered and people are equipped to do their role to the maximum extent that they can We don't want biases and other types of activities that take away from their performance Organizational culture is really the shared values that we have and Values and beliefs and they guide us very much in the way we conduct ourselves and they can be Improved here at CFA to give us a better culture. Yeah, so often we talk about culture being the way we do it around here Yeah, you'll hear that phrase often enough the way we do it around here And that's one way of encapsulating encapsulating culture But we've probably all had experiences where the way we do it around here could be better Yeah, we might trust people more. We might delegate more. Yeah, we might support better and Therefore the way we do it around here will be better and that's where we're going That's where we want to go through but that's a leader's responsibility That's why you and and Fran and I are here today It's our responsibility to ensure that not only do we lead better But our senior leadership team who are fully engaged on this journey as well For them it's a different journey Than what they've done before but they've willingly come on board and we're committed to supporting them to help Us deliver the best culture we can for CFA as an ELT executive leadership team We've got a few things that we've committed to drive and to be responsible for strategic direction for the organization organizational performance Culture and The protection and management of our brand as CFA We understand and accept the role that ELT has in leading cultural change And we're starting to model The behaviors that we need to model to be better leaders and to change the way we do it around here It's challenging work and it's not simple And it's not a quick fix We have to put invest time resources and energy into getting there Why are we doing this? We know that a strong culture Plus good strategy will make us a high-performing team and High performance is where we want CFA to be To better understand the culture we have today We've asked all of you and many others to give us some feedback on where you see we're at Fran's going to take a little while to walk through the results of that feedback But I think it's illustrative of the journey. We're on the challenges We have and also I hope the purpose that we've got to deliver a better and changed culture So I'll hand over to Fran Thanks, Mick Thanks, Mick. I'm going to walk everyone through some of the high-level results from the culture survey You may recall that we began our culture journey about two years ago when we conducted the first of our culture surveys We've conducted another one this year and this time we did two separate surveys We did a survey for staff and a survey for volunteers I'm just going to walk through the staff survey results first For staff we use the organizational culture inventory This highlights three different styles The green is passive defensive style It indicates those who tend to go along with others to not rock the boat What to please those in positions of authority or wait for others to act first The red is the aggressive defensive styles and indicates those who tend to oppose new idea new ideas play politics to gain influence compete rather than cooperate or appear competent and independent Blue is where we want to be blue is the constructive styles those who pursue a standard of excellence Maintaining high levels of personal integrity being supportive of others and co-operating with others In 2012 we asked you which culture you would prefer to work in Unanimously this is the result you gave us you told us you want to work place where people encourage and support others Help others to grow and develop work to achieve self-directed goals So that's our preferred culture Now I'm going to show you how we experience the culture today As you can see there's a strong influence of passive defensive and aggressive defensive styles This is where people feel they're expected to push decisions upwards Make popular rather than necessary decisions Conform and use the authority of their position. We know there's lots of areas in which we can improve I'll just give you a highlight now of the volunteer survey We we we use a different survey tool for volunteers because we had strong feedback from our volunteers that the OCI Wasn't relevant to them This survey tool has been designed to measure the level of engagement volunteers have with CFA So what we see in the red quadrant is the disengagement cycle people in this area are Openly negative pessimistic and disengaged from the organization's future Green is the engagement cycle people in this area usually openly positive optimistic and ready for change Blue is what we call the swinging voters people who are sitting on the fence Then either openly negative or positive They just inclined to want to come to work and do their job This is where we are now in 2014 Almost 50% of our volunteers falling to the engagement cycle Another 40% are sitting on the fence and 11% are disengaged with the organization This survey highlights a number of strengths and weaknesses for CFA the top four statements our volunteers most strongly agreed with is CFA is a truly great place to volunteer 71% of people agreed with that statement In my brigade most of the members get the job done 85% of people agreed with that statement I've formed a specific intention to leave CFA only 4% of our volunteers intend to leave CFA And people are proud of the successes and achievements of CFA 73% of people agree with that statement But we also know there's some areas for improvement The top four statements our volunteers most disagreed with included Volunteers feel they have a say in how CFA is run CFA consults with volunteers when making decisions CFA acts quickly to stop small problems becoming large problems And there's high trust in senior management This is a brief summary of the results We'll be exploring each of these in greater detail over coming weeks The results are broken down into regions and districts and directorates And we'll explore those in more depth with you I'm going to pass over to you and he's going to ask some questions Thanks Fran and Mick Thanks everyone for being here today And also for those who are listening in electronically Because it's really important that this isn't just the CEO or the executive team Out here, speaking on by ourselves We really generally want this to be a journey that we're all involved in And that's why we're doing this We're sharing the story with you And we want to involve you in affecting some changes So what does all this mean from what Mick And particularly what Fran has just outlined I guess the first thing is There were some quite good positives out of the volunteer survey And we're reasonably comfortable with that But the executive team were, I'd have to say quite frankly, shocked At the results of the staff survey What our people, what you are saying to us Is that you're seeing, you're experiencing Too many of the bad cultural indicators of an organisation And not enough of the really positive and reinforcing cultural attributes So we've spent a lot of time discussing this as an executive group We've also had a discussion with our senior leadership team And I'd have to say that the shock has been so great That we're now saying this is something that we want to take A collective and team accountability to change So it's not Mick, it's not Claire, it's Chair of the Board It's not you and its Chief Officer Or as Fran, as Executive Director of People and Culture It's the executive team are going to work together To effect a change So we're really committed to doing that We understand that a major influence On the culture of an organisation Is the culture which is illustrated And directed and exemplified by the leadership So what we're saying is we're your leaders And we're going to drive this And we're going to drive it from a personal point of view From a team point of view And also with you as part of the team We talk about this, or have spoken about this Just about every week for the past six weeks Since we've been aware of the results So we're going to be working really, really hard In this DVD, this video Is part of our commitment to you That we're going to get better on it We do want to see positive change The OCI that Fran went through In the initial couple of slides there Is a well recognised technique That many organisations Particularly public sector organisations But not only public sector organisations Use to illustrate where they're at But more importantly to illustrate where we want to be So we're using that as a primary driver In leading the conversation We're a unique organisation We're a cause driven organisation But we recognise the importance of A strong set of values A set of values which are appropriate To us as CFA And one of the first bits of work That you'll see is under mixed leadership A small team has got together And they will be driving conversations About what our values and behaviours should be Now obviously there'll be some suggestions From leadership But there will be a conversation Which will be going on over the next couple of months To engage with you To discuss what are the right behaviours And values for you And what are the right behaviours And what are the right behaviours For CFA And what are those distinctive things about CFA Which make those values and behaviours Really important So that's a major piece of work Which is just initiated And whilst the people in the room here today Are probably predominantly from The headquarters environment The assistant chief officers Will be a critical part of that team In leading that discussion Out into the field The second area that we've identified That we really want to shape some change Is accountability for decision making As Fran said You are telling us That we shy away from making hard decisions Often we'll make easy decisions Which aren't the best decisions Often we will Hesitate from making a decision at all So we've taken that on board And as an executive team Want to change that around Me by way of example See Mick sharing the results Of our executive leadership team Decision making So you can see what we're discussing Each time we meet every week So work has already started We are committed To progressing along this journey I've just outlined Developing a new set of values And behaviours And looking at how we Established greater accountability For decision making They're the two first areas That we want to do some work on And once we feel we've made some progress In those areas We'll go back to the OCI results And we'll start working on Some more priorities for us We are committed To driving A high performing Values based organisation Some of you will be aware Of the mission command style of management And in particular In how we deliver our operations Having a strong values base And having strong behaviours Which support Those positive attributes Of culture Is a really essential part Of mission command So don't just think That this is for part of the organisation This is for the whole organisation To be part of The role to hold us accountable For upholding the values And behaviours for the organisation And in particular When we re-establish The new values and behaviours For the organisation To make sure that you tell us When we're not exhibiting Those values and behaviours But more importantly When we commit to those As a new set of values and behaviours That you hold each other accountable To hear pressure And the discussions that occur In your workplace Are going to be really important For driving that through the organisation This isn't going to be easy For some it will be quite challenging And for some Clearly from the OCI results It means that we're going to have To change the way in which we go About our business And I guess I'll conclude by saying That we as an executive team Are working together To support each other To drive and to demonstrate Those values and behaviours And as I said The executive team has set aside Specific periods of time We had another one yesterday Where we talk about what we can do To be a better executive To be a better team And to be better individuals So I think that wraps up about Everything I want to say I think Mick you're going to make A couple of concluding comments Or do you want me to take questions first? We'll do questions Now was I on script there? Was that okay? I'm not used to going on scripts So I know There are people out there In the cyber world They like to ask a question I'm told there have been instructions Issued about how to do that So follow those instructions But we also have a group In the room with us here And I guess if You could ask the question I'll repeat the question And then either Mick Or Fran or myself Will endeavor to give an answer To the question So over to you Yes Will we Consider doing another survey So that we can measure What the change has been between now And when we do the next survey I might flick that to Mick Happy to take that one Ewan It's one we've talked about actually When we look at that gap Between 2012-2014 And as Ewan said We got quite a shock That was you telling us What we've got to change We won't be leaving it Two years to do the survey again We'll do it annually If this is a key plank If this is a key strategy If this is something that makes CFA better Why would we leave it two years That's a question we've asked ourselves a bit We can't find the answer to that one What we can find the answer to Is what we're going to do going forward Which is every year We're going to continue As all of those and the staff There are different settings And we want to understand What's best in both of those And I guess a final sort of comment You know we see that Culture is something we've got to live And breathe every day And if you see behaviors That don't reflect our values Or don't reflect the culture That we want to aspire to Then you also should feel Impoured to talk to your manager Talk to those in your team About how you might affect that change Because at the end of the day Whilst the leadership is really important Defining and modelling those behaviors We also want all you people out there To keep us true to those values So the question was Will the current OCI results Be circulated internally And Fran would you like to take that one I'm happy to answer that Yes they will be We have a roll out plan Where we will speak to work teams And that includes regions And that includes districts As you would understand Quite a big operation To take these results out to everyone And I think it's often better To have someone explain the results Than just send the results out cold I think it provides a lot of opportunity For discussion About what that means For a particular work group So we hope to get to everybody In the next couple of months Perhaps if I could add to that The OCI's got a lot of data in it So we can actually look at work group By work group, directorate by directorate Area by district by district Region by region Whatever you want to do You can cut, dice and slice What we find when we do that And we put it back up into a circumplex It looks the same It looks the same whichever way you cut it So the impacts we've got Are uniform Rather uniform across the organisation That means we've got Perhaps a bigger job at the front end To make those changes in culture To move towards the blue But nonetheless we'll get there So I have a question which has come in From the SMS How can staff Be involved In turning our culture around I might just broaden this out Because I think the response will be For all staff and volunteers And I might make a start And then ask Fran and Mick To add to it I guess the first thing is Fran's talked about a road show I know it's a really busy time Of year But what you'll see Over the next four to six weeks The executive will get out in pairs And they'll take the ACO results And stimulate the conversation About what the ACO means And what the volunteer survey results mean So the first thing is That we'll be initiating that conversation And we're a big organisation We've got 34 integrated stations Where they're career staff We're not going to be able to get to everyone But through the ACOs And the operations managers That as many staff work centres As is possible Have a briefing on what the results are And then The work that we've started On the values and behaviours As I said before That also includes the assistant chief Officers in the team Who's developing that And we'll be endeavouring to Get people on board through that And of course These have things like email And articles like this one online Where people can respond to Fran, do you want to add to that? I've got the question too So Some of the things we know About organisational culture Is that leadership Is a great influencer on culture So we as leaders And the next level of leadership In our organisation Is the responsibility For Making changes That will impact on our culture positively So that's Behaving in particular ways In those constructive styles That you've told us you want to see But we also know that everybody else In the organisation Can contribute to culture as well So we know that A willingness to behave In ways that are constructive By everyone in the organisation That people get involved It's very much about understanding Your work group The values, the behaviours The important things that are happening In your work group And how you contribute positively To creating the right culture Look We've talked a fair bit about The values that are being developed And we hope that they'll be there For a Christmas present They'll turn up around about December And we've asked the board What they'll have is a series of behaviours Next to them So there might be four or five values I'm not pre-empting But something like that Against those they'll have some behavioural statements I'll act honestly I'll be accountable for what I do Those types of things That means that we've got something To hold one another accountable for In a positive way And in a decent way And what I'd hope Is that people will feel comfortable enough Regardless of who it is In the business they feel Might be just missing a little bit On that value Or on that behaviour to say Mark, notice you're doing this the other day Do you think that might be the best way To do it? Or could you have done something Could you have expressed it another way I'm sure Mark would take that on board And if he noticed me doing something He would likewise say to me Step over here for a minute, wave a yarn That's the sort of process we want to see An open accountability To performing And living The behavioural traits that underpin The values that we'll bring to bear So stick with us till Christmas And if you do have a Christmas break And I hope you'll do When you come back You can open the present And deliver it for us Thanks Fran and Mick There's a question come in on line Or SMS And it says What commitment is the executive making To follow through on behaviour change How can we give feedback on this And again I'll ask Mick and Fran To, I might ask Mick to kick off On this And then move to Fran And then I might close If there's anything else to add Mick Thanks Ewan Some of what we do as an executive leadership team Is pretty invisible They lock the doors on this room Every Monday for a couple of hours And we do secret DLT business And really that's one of the One of the areas where we've failed Because what the decisions we make The items we consider You should know about them There's no reason why you shouldn't And if we were telling you about them Then perhaps our decision making Would be less questioned than it is So one of the commitments we've made Is that each week after the DLT meet Within the next day or so We'll bring together some dot points Out of that meeting The things we determined The things we discussed And we're sending that out Through the senior leadership team And we're asking them to distribute it down further So one of the pieces of feedback we got Thanks Liz Was perhaps that if we set on the email We'd go further So that's what we'll do So that's a small example But it's one that we think Will help build some confidence Amongst the teams That the business we are doing We are doing relatively effectively So some of it's perception But as we all know Perception can be reality If it's around long enough So that's one of those activities That we'll be doing The other one is To ask them whatever Ask them what's going on They'll take the time to tell you Importantly too We're working on how well we work as a team So the executive leadership team As Ewan said before Has started a journey To become a better team We realise the organisation Operates in silos And some of that has been coming from us And so we've spent some time Looking at what we're mutually accountable for And collectively Deliver on those responsibilities We have for the organisation And that's a journey We will continue Over many months And I guess my final contribution On giving us feedback Talk to us Send us an email Knock on our door As much as anything Want to create conversations around this And it may well be You might just pause and say Well, how are people feeling? In fact, there's a sorts of conversations We're increasingly having At the executive team Where we can be confident enough In each other That we can be a bit self-critical And self-analytical And I think the final comment I'd make And Mick's really covered it But what really jolted us Here was comparing The most recent staff culture survey To one of about two years ago We'll be revisiting that In about 12 months time So you'll have an opportunity To give us some formal feedback In 12 months And hopefully over the years We'll see some improvement If we don't Then you better tell us why And what's not working But it is important If you see things That you think are good And are working Tell us Because sometimes it's kind of hard For us to know Do people walk away with a genuine smile On their face Or were they a bit grumply about it Now I'm just wondering Yes, a question in the room Fran, did you want to start Or Mick, maybe first At the front end There are two different methodologies So they're not measuring What are the critical issues And drivers for volunteers And what are the critical issues And drivers for those That we applied the OCI to So you're right to say There is a fair sort of gap Between them But one of the things That seemed to me to be quite powerful Was as we looked down through The BPA as we'll call it The one that focused on the volunteers They seem to have a lot more Community support By doing the job for the community It was amazing how strong that was Now we all know that that's there But the measurement of it Was much stronger than it is With other volunteering groups The second thing we saw Is that they really lived For the collegiality Within the brigade And within the near setting Of the brigade And they seem to be the two big drivers That enjoyed amongst other things They enjoyed the development processes Through training So their world For me Their world seemed to be more brigade Maybe up to district Or up to group anyway Whereas the staff When they're looking out They're looking at the broader, wider Career based CFA So couple of reasons in that But couldn't unpick it Just with that alone The two drivers for volunteers And why they're with CFA Compared to staff So the motivations underpinning What they do are different So we are going to get different responses From the two groups And it really was the feedback From volunteers about the OCI survey That said it's not the right survey For us It's all about employment We're not employees They were very very clear about that And that's why we worked Because it is a different relationship They have with the organisation So in answer to the question Why are the results so different I think some of it's about The different relationship The two groups have with the organisation Can I just You and if I apologise for cutting in But I just have to make the statement And to be clear That the differences between 2012 and 2014 Are in the people you're looking at Yeah We can't Pretend that there's a nicer part Of a circumplex Or a nicer part of something else We took our eye off the job Yeah So if you look at my KPIs That the board managed me by Or the KPIs that That I hold my executives to account They're all got KPIs around culture Yeah So that we don't forget We don't take our eye off the ball So I think the critical thing Is that the executive team Are taking ownership We are responsible for leading The change to our culture Our values and our behaviours We've started that journey That journey will involve you And we want you to tell us How we're going during the journey And there'll be a more formal Opportunity in 12 months time Look I might just hand over to Mick To close off and round up I just want to say Thank you for being here And thank you for those who are listening in You know we do Really important work And Mick touched on this We're going into a busy season Busy not just for the operational people But for all those people who support Operations And people who pay the bills And it's really important That we recognise as an executive The importance of having A workforce who is Focused on our mission But at the same time Content and comfortable With the work environment That they have And the team who are around them We want you to be confident Happy And have a Progressive and positive attitude Which is reflected in Some of the green stuff in that Circumplex But I might just hand over to Mick To close off So the start of a conversation Isn't it for us Together The conversation It's going to bring through some CFA values In the next couple of months Processes these ELT on the road From around about the next Monday Through Catching up with work teams And districts wherever they can To have this same sort of discussion That we're having here today And to take The feedback that people can Provide to us in that same way Is a critical part of What's going to make CFA a high performing team We had that little bit at the start That said if you've got a really good culture And you've got a really good strategy Then you've got a really good opportunity To be a high performing organisation CFA does perform very well But we want it to perform even better We have to keep driving The change in culture That's what will get us there The strategies are pretty sound And they're there for you to look at At any point in time So again The next many people will see us As we're out around the state in pairs From the 10th of December onwards Catching up with work groups And districts and whoever else we can Whilst not trying to get too much In the way of the activity That people are gearing Purposely for Can I thank you for your contributions today If you've got any other questions Email me Send them through to you and Fran Or anyone else and we'll answer them We're each committed to the process But we're also committed at the ELT level as a team To the process we've got to go through So thanks again for your time And perseverance today We appreciate the contribution you make And we'll be back for a further discussion Not too far down the track