The video captures a multi‑speaker testimonial from staff at Orange City Council reflecting on a recent leadership and cultural‑change training program facilitated by Jess and her partner. Participants describe how the council previously placed people in leadership roles without any formal preparation, focusing only on technical work. The training introduced structured leadership development, emotional support, and tools such as the Reach profile, which helped individuals recognize their natural coaching style, pushiness, or task‑orientation. Attendees highlighted several concrete outcomes: breaking down departmental silos through mixed‑group sessions, preventing professional burnout via the "Future Focus" layers, adopting the Upstander movement to intervene against bullying or bad behaviour, and translating learning into mentorship of apprentices and value‑transmission to the next generation. The speakers also note a shift in personal behaviour—greater vulnerability, more inclusive staff discussions, and a conscious effort to avoid false consensus (the HIPPO effect). Overall, the program is portrayed as a catalyst for a more supportive, collaborative, and ethically aware council culture.
Chapters
It always occurred to me at Orange City Council in the last decade as I watched things unfold that we didn't really talk about leadership, we didn't talk about culture. We just went to work and we did our work and we were really technical. We did our work well and that's all we ever talked about. We put people in leadership positions with no training at all. That's unfair. We put people in leadership positions in a very, let's say it, a boring way. You might do a Cert IV certificate in leadership but we never really talked about it. So what I wanted to do was change things so that we empowered our staff. If we were going to make you a leader, for example, um, talking about leadership, then you would get some training, you would get help, you— but not just structural help, you would get emotional help in, in doing that role. And that is a cultural change, and I'm hearing that from staff that it's become quite a valuable thing. Hey, I'm not just getting thrust into stuff, I can talk, I can break down barriers with people. It's okay to be slightly vulnerable about these things. It's okay to say, "Hey, I'm new to this, can I get a bit of help please?" I found the training very interesting and it was more interesting when everyone got involved.
I learnt that the way I do things, where I came out in the Reach profile, I came out as a coach and it's probably the way I do things across when I do my job and the way I speak I speak to the people that work for me. Yeah, I'm coaching probably all the time. Instead of telling them, I'm letting them find their feet and make the suggestions. And then, okay, we may just look at that suggestion and say, "Oh, why don't we do it this way?" But let them have the lead.
Initially, with our workload, I was not excited to be going. We had a lot on. It felt like it was just something else that we needed to go and attend to. But yeah, I did find it very rewarding. I had a bit going on and we were probably headed down a path to a bit of professional burnout. And working with the team in the Future Focus layers, I was able to put some things in place to look after myself and bring my best self to work.
The biggest benefit I got out of it was actually hearing, meeting, and gaining perspectives of other departments and other people in the organisation and other— because we do intersect on a whole lot of projects and we all come at it from a different perspective, and I think there's lots to be gained from understanding those various perspectives.
I guess I learnt from a Reach profile how pushy I can be, and, you know, I get things done. I'm pushy in that way, and I guess I learnt the effect it can have on people. Also learnt So I've looked inside, inside, I looked at the mirror, but I've also been enabled to look inside other people and how they behave, learn.
Well, it surprised me how useful it was. Yes, being at the sort of tail end of my career, I kind of view management training with a bit of cynicism, but I think the really impressive thing was that it's actually it's actually changed my behaviour in a couple of areas. So the whole HIPPO idea that there can be false consensus was something that I hadn't thought on previously, and it has actually changed the way that I've organised staff discussions to make sure that I don't actually start with the answer.
Yes, I'm going to try and focus on training a new apprentice and, you know, instilling my values You know, they're being reflected in what we've learnt through the course, you know, the things that I believe in are in the best interest of the council and, you know, trying to instil those values in the next generation coming through.
Because we're mixed groups from right across council, so it breaks that silos down and it brings in what other people do. You don't realise how diverse council is until you sit in a room with people from different parts of council.
I've started to make some changes, I've started to make a few adjustments on that side of it because I thought I was a reasonably people-focused person, and on my profile from people to tasks, I was right down here on tasks, completely on tasks. I went, there you go, I didn't get that. And my introverted personality shone through in its own little way, and I thought, hmm, I have to do more to engage with my people. I have to show more interest in my people because I just get on with the job and think that's what we're all here to do and they should be focused on that too. But now I realise that sometimes you need to actually just walk in their shoes a bit and encourage them and bring them along and everyone needs a different way of doing that.
Another part of it I really enjoyed was the upstander movement. And made me realise that a lot of things that I see day to day that probably I let go, I shouldn't let go, that, you know, they go full circle and come back as a bigger problem later on, or you just end up dealing with the problem in the future, so you're not actually saving anything by not dealing with it there and then.
Well, if I see something wrong, someone being bullied, step in and say, "No, stop, that's not the right way of doing things." I've called out bad behaviour since, and I think you need to have that courage to be able to do it.
It's easier for somebody to call out call out bad behaviour when they have support. It takes bravery to call it out when you're standing by yourself.
I was really impressed with how Jess and her partner interacted with the group. The sessions had variety and, you know, there were different forms of interacting. We weren't always left with the same group, we were mixed around. Even the presentation style changed. I think all of that helped involve people.
I definitely got a lot more out of it than most courses we go to. It's good just to come to these things regularly to bring your professional development back into the front of your mind rather than getting bogged down in the day-to-day. You know, you're thinking about what you're doing and how you're going to approach things rather than— especially myself, very task-focused and, yeah, charge in and try and get things done and keep trying to get things done even when they're workload gets a bit over the top.
