Note to Staff

November 2009

You will remember that all areas developed Action Plans in March of this year, addressing issues raised by the Your Voice survey in May 2008. Interim reports have recently been submitted with final sign off in March 2010.

These interim reports give a timely opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved so far and what areas still need some work to achieve their desired outcomes. Reports are currently being collated. They give an interesting picture of the range of activities being carried out across the organisation.

Communication was one of the issues identified for improvement in our response to the survey results. It is heartening that a variety of initiatives have been designed and implemented to improve the flow and transparency of communication. Initiatives include regular staff meetings, the posting of minutes of management meetings on the school/area intranet, the adoption of “open door” policies, the use of wikis to share information, the establishment of electronic ‘suggestion boxes’, an increased number of social occasions, greater consultation with staff, more accommodation of the needs of non-Bentley campus staff. One area divided its communication initiatives into four objectives: Targeting, Timeliness, Closing the Loop and Openness: Thus addressing many of the areas of dissatisfaction identified in the open ended responses segment of the survey.

It is evident that there is a general movement towards greater involvement of staff in planning for their areas with the implementation of annual team planning days, representative committees, and more effective staff meetings. Some areas are engaging more actively in succession planning and conducting training needs analyses for their staff who aspire to management positions.

In all of the interim reports it is evident that the WPPRs are proving to be beneficial in both the areas of training and development and in career planning. In addition to reviewing and planning work, they are being used to assist staff identify their professional development needs. One area reports recording, collating and mapping all staff comments in WPPR sessions to ensure satisfactory follow-up. The WPPR sessions can clearly provide an excellent opportunity for both reflection and planning on a regular basis.

Many reports show an increase in support for researchers through the appointment of extra support staff in both a mentoring and administrative capacity, both centrally in the Office of Research and Development and within different disciplines. This increased support is very much in line with our commitment to innovation and excellence in teaching and research.

I commend all of you who are striving in all of these ways to make Curtin an excellent place to work and study.

Professor Jeanette Hacket
Vice-Chancellor
Curtin University of Technology