policy
Wicked Problems
DR KATRENA STEPHENSON, POLICY DIRECTOR
Local Government Association of Tasmania
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
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LGAT News September 2011
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:
• Campbell F (ed) (2011), The Social Determinants of Health and
the Role of Local Government, IdEA, UK
• Aked J, Michaleson J, Steuer N (2011), The Role of Local
Government in Promoting Wellbeing, Local Government
Improvement and Development and the National Mental Health
Development Unit, UK
• Commonwealth of Australia (2007), Tackling Wicked Problems:
A Public Policy Perspective, Australian Public Service
Commission, Canberra.
policy
Think Big. Work Local
SCOTT BLACKLOW, CAREERS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Local Government Association of Tasmania
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.
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.
Continued Page 38
▲
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.
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.
07-1824
To book please call (03) 6224 9555 or visit aimtasmania.com.au
September 2011 LGAT News
37
policy
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, and in January to February 2011. While visitors
came 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
on this work. For the 26 councils with websites
built using Unity software, if jobs are entered on the
correct page of your website then the vacancies post
automatically to www.thinkbigworklocal.com.au.
Please check to see that it is working for you. For
Hobart 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 143 016 586
59 Harrington Street Hobart, TAS 7001 Telephone +61 3 6210 0000 Facsimile +61 3 6210 0099
A member of the m+k lawyers group
38
LGAT News September 2011
policy
Integrated Asset Management:
not sexy but necessary
SUE GRAU, PROJECT MANAGER
Local Government Association of Tasmania
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-oflife 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.
These sentiments are reflected in the management of
the Commonwealth funded Local Government Financial
and Asset Reform Project here at LGAT. The project
is a partnership between Federal, State and Local
Government 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:
• Development of a Tasmanian Local Government
Asset Management Policy (to be released later this
year by the Minister for Local Government);
• A draft framework for long-term financial plans; and
• Newsletters to update financial and asset staff within
councils.
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].
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. For long-term financial sustainability, it is
vital to integrate long-term financial planning and
asset management while balancing community
expectations.
September 2011 LGAT News
39