LGAT Submission - General Manager Recruitment and Performance Management Best-Practice Guide
In collaboration with Tasmanian councils, we have submitted our feedback on the draft Best-practice guide for recruitment and performance management of general managers.
Councils have indicated to us that the guide is a useful document that will address many of the challenges they experience when recruiting and managing the performance of someone in this key role. However, they recognise that practice needs to continually improve, bringing in contemporary workforce research and trends, rather than be stuck with what has been defined as ‘best’ at a point in time.
We are recommending that the State Government provide examples of good practice that councils can apply to their specific circumstances, along with detailing the principles, objectives and good outcomes. Incorporating these recommendations will provide a clear foundation for elected representatives to meet legislative, governance and community expectations, and also provide space for councils to adapt in a competitive market.
We also recognised that the guide needs to support councils to attract and retain skilled, experienced executives. The recruitment plan is an important part of the process and requires more detail. Such as, what are the components that councillors should look for, why is it important and how the merit selection process is applied.
Regarding performance management, we’ve highlighted that pre-set key performance indicators (KPIs) ensure that the performance of a General Manager is aligned with the expectations of the council. We have suggested that an example set of good KPIs could be sourced from existing General Manager KPIs.
We also believe it is appropriate to provide General Managers with the right of reply to a draft performance review with the review panel. This would provide an opportunity for clarification prior to the review being finalised.