Lived, practical experience is a must for effective management and leadership consultants and during her career, Sue has stepped out of consulting into operational leadership roles, honing her practical skills in (and her empathy for) the demands of operational management roles.  

 

She was Chief Human Resources Officer in Queensland Treasury, one of two central agencies in the Queensland Government , rom September 2019 to April 2021.  Key deliverables while in the role included:

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• Effective leadership of Treasury’s response to COVID-19 challenges:  Robust implementation of COVIDsafe WH&S protocols and tools and effective transition of workforce to full-time remote to ensure that the organisation was able to maintain productivity and work in a safe and supported environment.  Key elements to assure this included the Remote Workforce Principles (Supported, Enabled, Connected, Available, Outcomes-focussed and Accountable) which were rolled out in record time; supporting regular Virtual Town Halls by the Under-Treasurer (with relevant guest speakers and myself supporting re workforce questions), change management to achieve close to 100% employee take-up of the Treasury Wellbeing App and regular support to managers across Treasury.  A managers’ survey in May 2020 (134 responses) found that: 86% of our managers were feeling very confident or fairly confident in supporting team members who are struggling, and 49% of SES/SO leaders and 28% of A05 to A08 managers were providing increased guidance about priorities in the remote working environment.

 

• Improved workforce data and monitoring of key metrics.  When I commenced in the CHRO role in September 2019, workforce reporting was very limited.  It took time, and significant effort, but workforce reporting is now significantly improved with regularly refreshed dashboards on FTE, workforce profile, D&I and the latest dashboard to complete the suite – on R&R, wellbeing and culture. Another key achievement was the development of centralised data and ability to provide strategic oversight for all for non-Aurion workforce (note previously there was no centralised oversight of contractors or labour hire and the decentralised management approach of this significant workforce caused risks for the organisation).

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• Effective management of significant recruitment activity and considerations regarding FTE and limited life funding to resource two new programs – the Debt Recovery and Compliance Program (94 FTE) and the Homebuilder Program (35 FTE) – as well as on-going operational roles in Office of State Revenue (OSR).  During 2020/21, a large number of long-term acting arrangements at senior leadership level were also successfully resolved.

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• Effectively managing within the parameters of the Queensland Government’s Savings and Debt Plan including taking a disciplined approach to managing FTE to prevent unnecessary FTE growth in the public sector, managing attrition of Treasury SES positions and reducing utilisation of contractors and labour hire while ensuring that priority work programs are not compromised.  Additionally, where appropriate key programs- including the Executive Development Program – have been modified to ensure they are very cost effective.