Learning in government

1. What was the objective?

Sutherland Shire Council engaged Thinka to deliver a series of workshops to upskill their team in a collection of core skills. The aim was to deliver workshops that employees at any level of the business could opt in to.

2. How did we do it?

Thinka delivered workshops on four key skills; Master Communication, Enhance Collaboration, Generate Influence and Build Resilience. The deliveries were a mixture of three- and four-hour in persons and two-hour virtuals. The more in-demand skills were delivered multiple times, to give more employees an opportunity to join.

The workshops were promoted internally, and were opt-in, to allow participants to choose the workshops best suited to their availability and capability needs.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

Each workshop included a range of experiential activities to embed contemporary models and learnings. Discussions and deep exploration of the skills supported the application of these skills, and there was strong feedback that the workshops had a great impact on the participants.

1. What was the objective?

Darebin City Council are a forward-thinking metropolitan council in North Melbourne. Having worked with them on previous engagements, they requested a three hour in-person workshop for their 85 leaders. The focus of the workshop was on embracing and leading through change. This was identified as a core skill for all their leaders to meet the future needs of the council and its constituents.

2. How did we do it?

We designed an in-person workshop focused on understanding the intrinsic human behaviour and barriers that apply to change. The workshop focused on building self-awareness while providing practical leadership strategies to expedite organisational change adoption.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The workshop was delivered in person across a half-day delivery modal. This included all leaders across the organisation, providing a common language for navigating change in practical terms. Peer-reviewed resources were given to participants to further develop their learning and continue to build the skill of dealing with change. Feedback from participants demonstrated that the creation of a safe space to explore the topics and share their experiences supported enhanced collaboration and communication across the leadership team.

1. What was the objective?

The purpose of this workshop was to work with the senior and wider leadership team to increase cross departmental collaboration. The aim was for the team to elevate their accountability mindset and build skills in identifying and solving problems. It was important that the group could leave the session with tools that helped them to move from knowing a problem to applying a solution.

2. How did we do it?

We developed an in-person workshop for 85 leaders which was designed to help them focus on problem solving rather than ‘problem fixating’ whilst ensuring a need for action bias.

Step 1: We explored how to identify a real problem by applying critical thinking skills using the ‘Double Diamond’ method and divergent and convergent thinking activities.

Step 2: We unpacked the importance of understanding the root cause of a problem, so we focused on the ‘real’ problem, for this we used the ‘Five Whys’ technique.

Step 3: Once we were certain we had discovered the right problem, the groups started to work through their proposed solutions to their problem and prioritised some ‘quick wins’ to action. The tool we used here was the Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete matrix.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

This workshop was part of a wider program of work with the senior leadership team, developed to build capability across a variety of human skills including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and embracing and driving change.

1. What was the objective?

Landcom wanted to refresh and modernise their existing Modern Slavery eLearning module, at the same time as updating new policies and requirements within. This module was not originally branded as Landcom so as part of the re-fresh they wanted an on brand solution to provide their mandatory learning in a way that was easy to digest and navigate.

2. How did we do it?

We used Articulate Storyline and carefully followed the Landcom brand guidelines. This was a very quick turn-around, so it was important that we handed over a finished product at first review stage.

During the design process, we produced still slides showcasing the design concept. During the eLearning build, we included many interactive elements to engage employees and help land key pieces of important information.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The program is currently housed on Landcom’s LMS, allowing people to complete the learning and Landcom to record any required reporting. The feedback so far has been increasingly positive.

1. What was the objective?

The purpose of the Digital Content Library was to support the implementation of the Leadership Academy’s signature programs for their band 1, 2 and 3 leaders in 2022. The library would engage leaders by providing additional resources to support their learning in the form of animations, articles, podcasts, infographics and one-page summaries.

2. How did we do it?

We started by completing a comprehensive mapping activity of current content from other learning resources to the intensive topics, with a view to provide the most relevant and modern resources from which to draw from in the Digital Content Library. Pieces were carefully curated and arranged based on the intensive topics and subtopics.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The digital content pages were well received by the participants as they utilised them during their signature programs and were able to reflect and consolidate their learning.

1. What was the objective?

To work with the senior leaders and P&C team to focus on the shifting culture at Darebin. To lift awareness and find a way to help leaders in all departments understand when the values are and aren’t in action, moving the culture and eradicating behaviour that was no longer aligned to the Darebin values.

2. How did we do it?

In a 2-hour virtual session, we used activity-based learning to build a safe space for open dialogue to allow exploration of both conscious and unconscious bias, agreeing on culture standards and the behaviours that need to shift and change. In the month-long gap before the final workshop, conversations were had between leaders and teams to reflect on the behaviours and to build department commitments to the change.

In a final 4 hour in-person workshop, we used experiential activities to explore the desirable and less desirable behaviours they had observed in their teams. We discussed the challenges they had faced trying to embed these behaviours, and finally, ‘the gold’; what they had implemented as leaders to create an environment that supported their team members to show up well. Real-life scenario activities were designed around some of the less desired behaviours, and leaders practised through role-plays utilising feedback and coaching to drive high performance.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The program was designed to work across all departments at Darebin Council as part of a broader strategy to build ‘Values in action’ into their leadership capability offer. The two departments who took part (City Works and Parks, and Age and Disability) both continue to use their department charter (developed during the program) to continually guide their actions and conversations around values in action and cultural change.

1. What was the objective?

An existing eLearning module that was a simple tick-box self-reflection exercise needed to be technically upgraded, to allow for data capture and generation of a results report. Rather than being used only for a self-reflection, the module needed to analyse the data that was input and summarise this in an easy-to-understand report that the learner can download and take away. The module also needed to track results for data analysis, but this needed to be a universal solution that could work across various Learning Management Systems.

2. How did we do it?

Using Javascript we were able to build the capability for the module to calculate the learner’s score. We then utilised an online Javascript library to populate a PDF report that summarised this score, which could then be downloaded through the eLearning module for the learner to keep and reflect on. For data tracking, to allow for use across any LMS we developed a solution that avoided reliance on the hosting platform. This solution used another Javascript library and a SMTP account to trigger an email with the results to a nominated email address, where the results were collated and analysed.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

We worked with the client to help them test and upload the module to their platform. We provided upskilling and instructions for them for future use and so they had the ability to self-solve potential updates, such as updating the nominated email address for the results to send to. The final module was much more sophisticated than the original self-reflection, providing more value to the learners and a downloadable take-away that they can compare to in the future.

1. What was the objective?

Ministry of Health worked with us to create a video that showcased the diverse and inclusive culture that they represent. The video needed to show a range of different diversities – ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, gender, age etc.

2. How did we do it?

We had a full day video shoot where we filmed a range of different people from diverse backgrounds. The footage was then edited with accompanying voice over that had each person explain what it does and doesn’t mean to have a diverse work culture. The editing was well thought out and impactful, to evoke emotion and meaning to the important subject, whilst letting the different perspectives speak for themselves.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The final video was powerful and truly showcased the Ministry of Health culture. It will be launched internally to the Ministry of Health, to continue the message of inclusivity as a team. It lands an important message to all employees that they are valued and equal.

1. What was the objective?

This program was designed to support the Leadership Team at Darebin during the early months of 2020. Taking into account the large amount of change happening with the onset of COVID-19, the Executive Team at Darebin saw a need to support the Leadership Team in new ways of working.

2. How did we do it?

Using a 45 minute masterclass formula, we designed three sessions that supported leaders with additional tools and leadership techniques to use during the time of change. The sessions were themed around ‘how to connect with teams over physical distance’, ‘how to get the support you need to lead’ and ‘questions to support change’. Each session was very practical, bringing together life stories and examples on how to support the broader team through uncertain times.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The integration of the learning from these sessions was immediate, as they were designed specifically to help the team through the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were shown in real-life stories of application and in the resilience the Darebin leadership team demonstrated throughout this time.

1. What was the objective?

In collaboration with Tricky Jigsaw and the NSW Department of Education, we developed a tone of voice and website content for ‘The Code’. This website is about building positive online presence and supports parents, teachers and students.

2. How did we do it?

Tricky Jigsaw, who were engaged by the NSW Department of Education undertook rigorous, human-centred research around online safety. They then engaged us to help with developing a content framework and to author the website’s content. Once the content framework was established, we worked on tone of voice and language samples, incorporating WCAG 2.0 guidelines to ensure accessibility.

After approval, we then wrote various pieces of website content; from simple checklists and tips through to conversation starters featuring interesting case studies and articles based on current trends. The content was thoroughly researched and included thought leadership from academics, police, online safety experts, teachers and parenting organisations.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

The NSW Department of Education has now published the website and its resources are providing parents, teachers and students with proactive measures to support online safety.