Community & Business
23 May, 2025
CEO flags changes during roadshow
TABLEANDS Regional Council is set for an organisational restructure to look at efficiencies and how similar functions and teams can work together, according to new chief executive officer Dr Nikola Stepanov.
Dr Stepanov flagged the restructure during her first Staff Roadshow to Ravenshoe but gave an assurance there would be no redundancies involved.
“There will be no redundancies so don’t think we’ll be offering any – we’re not doing that kind of a review,” she told staff.
“We’re just looking at getting the best out of the teams that we have and increasing staff numbers in particular areas if that is what is required.”
Dr Stepanov is also planning to survey staff and look at organisational culture, making it clear she would not tolerate any kind of bullying or other poor behaviour by staff.
“The staff culture here is pretty exceptional – I’ve worked in a lot of councils and organisations and it’s one of the things I don’t have to address here in great detail, although we have some small pockets where the culture doesn’t align with our values,” she told staff.
“My expectation is that we have zero tolerance for bullying, name calling, leaving rubbish in trucks, not respecting each other and abusing members of the public.
“This is our opportunity to make sure we have the culture we want.
“I don’t want anyone to fear coming to work, fear interactions with particular people, fear being targeted, fear not getting good jobs or any of those kinds of things.
“If you see something then please say something – escalate it to your supervisor or those above.
“You can consider that a directive from the CEO.”
Dr Stepanov said the annual staff survey would provide the organisation with information about what areas could be improved.
“The survey will be conducted by an external company on a confidential basis, which means when you respond to the survey, you can have every confidence that none of us will have access to your information or be able to identify you,” she told staff.
“We’re doing this so we can get an accurate understanding of what you think about working for us, whether you feel safe and valued in the workplace, whether you think supervisors and leaders do a good job, and that the things that we do align with our values.
“This will benchmark the Councillors’ and Leadership Team’s understanding of how well we are doing for you and areas you want us to improve in.”
Dr Stepanov also told staff that the organisation was doing well in meeting the community’s expectations.
“We actually have a really, really low complaints rate of less than 1%,” she said.
“We’ve had 13,000 customer requests so far this financial year so we’re putting in a huge effort and it’s really important we respond to our customers in a timely manner
“Sometimes it can be a bit difficult because you don’t want to commit to something you may not be able to deliver, and providing bad news can also be hard.
“It’s not easy to meet expectations from community but it’s really important to go back with the correct message, and accept that sometimes people aren’t happy with the responses we provide.”
She also promoted the use of “compliment postcards” that staff can write on and give to people to say thanks and recognise great work.
“These come in hard copy and electronic form and, for some people, the only compliment they may get is in the workplace,” she said.
“So if you see someone doing something good, and it could just be they turn up to work every day and are really committed, or it could be that they do something really exceptional that day, or it could be a team.
“Giving one of these cards could be the thing that make someone’s day, week, month or year because it might be the only positive feedback they get.
“It’s such a small thing to do and to make someone feel valued.”
Dr Stepanov says she will host roadshows four times a year at different locations so she can interact with as many staff as possible.
