Water Reform Program

The Water Reform Program involved the implementation of several programs for the Queensland State Government Water Reform invitiative, including: Change Management Program, Risk Assessment and Management Program; and Probity Audit Program. Kirsty was the Water Reform Program Manager responsible for the design and implementation of the whole program.

The Change Management Program involved workshopping the "As-Is" Environment, developing the "To-Be" Environment, Determining any gaps, managing the program, reporting the results of the assessment, and assisting in the implementation of the change. Over 3000 stakeholders were involved in the Change Management Process. Stakeholders ranged from shop floor blue collar workers to professional to managers, and included community members, government agencies, councillors, politicians, special interest groups (e.g. union) Mayors, CEO and Directors.

As part of the Change Management Program risks for the program were identified across the whole of the Gold Coast City Council for both the As-Is and To-Be Environment with strategies development to manage the risks. A risk and issues register was developed for all directorates by working in smaller workshops before bring all risks and issues together. This management strategies later became projects and task which were managed by the Reform Program team run by Kirsty.

One of the large risks associated with the water reform program was the identification and assessment of assets. This process involved bring in an external team to go through every building and asset register (where they existed) to develop a detailed asset list then evaluating each asset before negotiating a handover figure for the OLD governments.

Key Program Achievements:

• Water Reform Program was completed on time.
   
• Gold Coast City Council were able to maximize their asset worth by identifying every asset.
   
• Over 2,500 people participated in the Reform Program in some way.
   
• Effective Communication strategy meant that there were no surprises and everyone knew what was occurring.