Excellence Award win for Council
 |
Lesley McTurk |
Christchurch City Council has reached a milestone in becoming world class by 2008 with its award in the local government sector of the New Zealand Performance Excellence Study Awards (PESA) for being one of the best performing organisations in the country.
The Council is the only local government applicant to receive a New Zealand Performance Excellence Study Award in 2006. Christchurch residents can have real confidence in the way the Council operates given the recognition in the evaluation of the Council's work in meeting its Local Government Act responsibilities. The Council was assessed along with other leading public and private sector organisations.
Business Excellence New Zealand spokesman Errol Slyfield says the City Council can be justifiably proud of its achievement of the past three years.
“It is unusual for an organisation to receive an award in its first year of entering the awards,” he says. “However the Council has earned the accolade. It is a highly competent, mature organisation with many strengths, including sophisticated leadership and a clear focus on customer interests.”
The awards recognise business achievement and performance against the international criteria developed by Malcolm Baldrige. The City Council participated in the awards to gain an external assessment of how well the organisation is managed.
“The development of organisation wide competencies, including advanced analysis, integration and learning and alignment, indicates organisational ability which is sought by higher performing organisations internationally,” Mr Slyfield says.
“The results reflect extremely well on both the skilled managers and their staff at the Council. It is an organisation in great heart, totally committed to best business practice.”
Council Chief Executive Lesley McTurk says that over the last three years a structured sequence
of change had been introduced at Council while the delivery of its services has been maintained. These new business frameworks and practices have improved the delivery of services and this award reflects the quality of changes undertaken.
“This is the first step in our goal to achieve world class status by 2008 and the external measurement of our performance is an early confirmation that we are on the right track,” she says.
Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore says that three years ago the Council recognised the need to change the staff organisation so that it was better positioned to meet the community’s expectations.
“We appointed a chief executive capable of leading the changes required. The Performance Excellence Study Award is a ringing endorsement of the new direction the Council put in place in 2003 with the appointment of Lesley McTurk,” Mr Moore says. “It further demonstrates that this city is well managed by an extremely competent staff organisation.”
“The award is an excellent result at all levels of the organisation. We are extremely proud of this achievement. Christchurch residents can have real confidence in the way the Council operates,” Mr Moore says. |
