Young IPWEA NSW 2019-2021 Action Plan Developing …...2019-2021 Action Plan Developing Leaders of Tomorrow Version 1.0 September 2018 ... Develop a succinct document that provides

Young IPWEA NSW

2019-2021 Action Plan

Developing Leaders of Tomorrow

Version 1.0

September 2018

Revision History

Date Reason For Change Version Authorised

September 2018 New Action Plan - Final 1.0 Megan Schlotjes

Young IPWEA NSW 2019-2021 Action Plan Version 1.0 September 2018

Executive Summary

The Young IPWEA NSW Action Plan 2019-2021 has been developed through collaboration across the Young IPWEA NSW Committee. The Young IPWEA NSW Committee consists of Young IPWEA members from each of the 12 regions across the State. The intention of this document is to:

1. Provide direction and guidance to the Committee on goals to achieve within the period 2. Detail measures for success of the Committee on reaching their goals 3. Align the work the Committee undertakes with that of the IPWEA NSW Board and Young

IPWEA Australasia. Taking the Young IPWEA vision and mission statement, the Committee has developed strategic objectives and actions to achieve during 2019-2021, which are outlined in this document.

Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ ii

Contents ......................................................................................................................................... ii

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1

What is Young IPWEA NSW all about ......................................................................................... 1

Young IPWEA NSW ........................................................................................................................ 2

Young IPWEA NSW Committee .................................................................................................. 2

Young IPWEA NSW Members .................................................................................................... 2

Young IPWEA NSW Action Plan 2016 ........................................................................................ 3

Young IPWEA Framework ........................................................................................................... 4

Young IPWEA Australasia ........................................................................................................... 4

Action Plan 2019-2021 .................................................................................................................... 5

Member Engagement .................................................................................................................. 5

Strategic Objectives .................................................................................................................... 5

Action Plan .................................................................................................................................. 6

Reference Documents .................................................................................................................. 10

Appendix One ............................................................................................................................... 11


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Introduction

In recent years, there has been widespread acknowledgement that the numbers of engineers leaving the workforce have far outstripped the numbers of new entrants. This issue has been further exacerbated within the local government context and the issue has received substantial attention at various levels from within the local government engineering community.

As the peak body representing the interests of the local government engineering sector, IPWEA has identified engaging with young engineers as an important means to sustain the local government engineering profession.

What is Young IPWEA NSW all about

To support IPWEA’s focus on engaging with younger engineers and public works officers, a group of young members has committed to establishing a network for peers to initially share experiences, tell their stories and most importantly understand who their peers are. Young IPWEA NSW helps to:

Build a network of younger engineers across NSW,

Share experiences and knowledge with the younger network of IPWEA members,

Inform IPWEA on perceived barriers to attracting young people into the industry, and

Assist in the delivery of strategies to hurdle these barriers.

Our vision is:

Developing tomorrow’s leaders to enhance the quality of life and liveability of our communities.

Our mission is:

To support, develop and advocate for young members of IPWEA enabling them to realise their full potential leading public works and services, infrastructure

planning, delivery and operations.


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Young IPWEA NSW

Young IPWEA NSW Committee

The Young IPWEA NSW Committee consists of Young IPWEA members from across the State. Each of these members volunteer their time to participate and serve on the Committee and often balance work, home, and life pressures to do so.

The Young IPWEA NSW Committee as the following members from each region:

Regional Group Name Organisation

Metro North / NSW Chair Megan Schlotjes Northern Beaches Council

Metro West / Deputy Chair Craig Hopfe Blacktown Council

South East Mark Cutting Eurobodalla Shire Council

Central West Ben Coultas Parkes Shire Council

Hunter Valley Ben Jenkins Port Stephens Council

Orana Stephen Howlett Dubbo Regional Council

Metro South Todd Clarke Randwick City Council

South West Justin Shortis RMS

Illawarra Kaitlin Christlo Wollongong Council

New England North West Dylan Reeves Walcha Council

Mid North Coast Joshua Roberts Coffs Harbour City Council

Far North Coast (North Coast) Matt Sorenson Kyogle Shire Council

In addition to the above members, the Young IPWEA NSW Ambassador and Young IPWEA Australasian Chair are invited to sit on the Committee meetings; however neither gets a voting right.

Position Name Organisation

YIPWEA Ambassador Cate Fennell Parkes Shire Council

YIPWEA Australasian Chair Nicola Daaboul Assetic

Young IPWEA NSW Members

As at July 2018, Young IPWEA NSW has 219 members. Of those members, 116 were fee-paying Under 35 members. The majority (63%) of Young IPWEA NSW members work in Local Government organisations.

The following graphs show a further breakdown of the demographics of our members:

21%

34% 26%

3% 16%

Age Distribution of the Young IPWEA NSW Members

20-25 yrs

26-30 yrs

31-35 yrs

Over 35 yrs

Unknown


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Young IPWEA NSW Action Plan 2016

The previous Young IPWEA NSW Action Plan 2016, which linked to the IPWEA NSW Division Strategic Plan, identified 13 actions for the Committee (at the time) to implement. Although the environment has shifted since this was prepared, a number of actions have been completed.

The Young IPWEA NSW Action Plan 2019-2021 continues to build on the previous actions.

Action Outcome

Action 1: YIPWEA to Target Growth in Membership and focus on attracting new under 35’s full fee paying memberships. Each Committee Representative to focus on getting at least 2 full fee paying YIPWEA members to sign up by June 17.

Ongoing.

Action 2: Encourage chairs to put a standing agenda item on the regional meetings for Young members to present their work / current projects. Target is to have a standing Agenda Item on all Regional Group meetings for YIPWEA item with either a presentation of recent works, or update on YIPWEA initiatives and events, committee update etc.

Not Achieved. Some Regional Group meetings included presentations from young engineers.

Action 3: Have a Regional YIPWEA Representative in all Regions on the Committee. NSW Chair to write to each dormant regional chair requesting nomination of YIPWEA representative and offering support for young members in their region.

Achieved. All 12 regions are represented on the Committee.

Action 4: Our Membership reflects our industry as a whole and works with other young membership networks i.e. RMS to build membership and provide an additional avenue for networking and sharing of knowledge, skills and ideas. YIPWEA to engage with other young professional networks i.e. Public Works, RMS, Transport for NSW, Infrastructure NSW, Crown Lands, Territory and Municipal Service, Water Authorities. Seek partnership between YIPWEA and Professionals Australia particularly around the area of the registration program

Ongoing. More engagement and collaboration on industry-wide issues is required.

Action 5: Facilitate a NSW YIPWEA Mentoring Program (supported by the NSW Board) and aim to have at least one participate from each region (12) undertake the program annually

Not Achieved. Young IPWEA Australasia has picked this up and is implementing a mentoring program

16 14

19

29 27

15

18 17

12

17

10

26

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Distribution of Young IPWEA NSW Members across the Regional Groups


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across Australasia.

Action 6: Influence the development of other Professional Development programs based on the NSW Survey feedback e.g. Pathways to Excellence. Have at least 4 targeted / key focused Development Programs provided in 2017

Ongoing.

Action 7: Embed a Young IPWEA event at each Division Conference and National Conferences. Grow our social media presence primarily through the use of LinkedIn, driving engagement, fostering discussion and highlighting achievements of Young IPWEA and its members. Focus on getting more Mainstream Media Releases out from YIPWEA Members.

Ongoing.

Action 8: Ensure at least two (2) YIPWEA committee members attend each regional forum. NSW Division to be lobbied for accommodation /travel costs where YIPWEA representatives travel outside of their own region.

Partially Achieved.

Action 9: Continue to Promote Pocket Sally – Increase number of Pocket Sally Sign Ups. To >200. Link Twitter Feed of Pocket Sally so that #PocketSally appears on the Pocket Sally Website.

Ongoing.

Action 10: Engage with NSW Councils to commence and support Cadetship Programs, and continue assisting the IPWEA NSW Board and CEO in advocating the benefits of Cadetships and provide assistance wherever possible

Ongoing. Best practice paper in draft.

Action 11 – Have a presence at every Engineering University in NSW. This entails preparing a standard presentation template for engaging with Engineering University that the YIPWEA could use as a resource to give presentations as a guest lecture (or similar) at engineering courses across the State. Engage with Engineering Universities to offer to give a guest industry presentation. Continue to support the CSU EngFest in Bathurst with a YIPWEA hosted networking and industry sharing event.

Ongoing. Engagement with CSU and UTS.

Action 12: Develop a Calendar of YIPWEA Events

Not Achieved.

Action 13: Communicate the value of membership Develop a succinct document that provides a snapshot of the ‘who, what, where, why and how’ of IPWEA NSW with particular focus on how it makes their working life better. Update the Young IPWEA brochure to reflect any changes.

Not Achieved.

Young IPWEA Framework

The framework of Young IPWEA NSW follows the Young IPWEA Australasia Framework (available at: https://www.ipwea.org/newsouthwales/nswjoinipwea/young-ipwea-nsw).

The Young IPWEA NSW Committee consists of representatives from each of the 12 regions across the State. The Committee will also nominate a Chair and Deputy Chair. These positions will be held for two years, or another time which the incumbent chooses to step down from the Committee. The incumbents will also be required to hold a regional representative position on the Committee.

Young IPWEA NSW reports to the Board of IPWEA NSW.

Young IPWEA Australasia

Young IPWEA Australasia Committee consists of eight members with each Young IPWEA Division Chair sitting on the Committee, along with the Chair of Young IPWEA Australasia.

Young IPWEA Australasia has prepared the 2018-2020 Action Plan to provide each of the Young IPWEA Australasian Chairs a uniform approach to achieve goals.


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Action Plan 2019-2021

Member Engagement

Pulse Survey:

Each year, Young IPWEA NSW sends out a Pulse Survey to its members encouraging feedback on the needs of the Young IPWEA NSW members.

The most recent Pulse Survey was sent out to members in November 2017. Unfortunately, the response rate from members was low. However, the key issues identified from this survey were:

More tailored YIPWEA events – networking , conference, regional forums,

Networking with State Governments and other engineering bodies,

Meet and greets with other YIPWEA members, and

Explore technology to ensure members from all regions can connect.

Regional Forums

In early 2018, Young IPWEA NSW held a session at each of the Regional Forums. During this session, a video focusing on big issues was played with members of the industry answering questions on the challenges faced by the industry. The feedback from this session indicated the following key themes:

Unanimous support and commendation for young engineers raising and talking frankly about the issues that are important to them.

Councils can do more to promote cadetships and provide opportunities for young engineers.

Target schools to promote engineering as a career.

Target all young engineers and encourage gender diversity as a whole, rather than focusing only on the women aspect.

Strategic Objectives

The Young IPWEA NSW Committee has defined three key focus areas:

1. Engaging, attracting, retaining and supporting Young IPWEA NSW members,

2. Supporting the industry develop its next generation of Public Works Engineers,

3. Raising the profile of Young IPWEA NSW Members within the industry.


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Action Plan

Based on the feedback obtained through the member engagement and other strategic plans (e.g. Young IPWEA Australasia Action Plan 2018-2020), Young IPWEA NSW have prepared an action plan providing direction to the Committee for the next two calendar years.

Objective One: Engaging, attracting, retaining and

supporting Young IPWEA NSW members

Investigate informal and formal opportunities for mentoring.

Promote joint collaboration with other public works engineering organisations for

young engineers

Propose four target areas for professional development courses/topics

Host two networking events for YIPWEA members

Improve communications and online presence of YIPWEA NSW

Objective Two: Supporting the industry develop its next

generation of Public Works Engineers

Cadetships

Implement a YIPWEA NSW Ambassador Program

Continue to promote Pocket Sally

Engage, build meaningful relationships with and have a presence at all universities

offering engineering courses across NSW

Objective Three: Raising the profile of Young IPWEA NSW

members within the industry

Promote a standing agenda item for presentation from 1 YIPWEA member on all

IPWEA NSW Regional Meetings

Promote a standing agenda item for presentation from 1 YIPWEA member on all

IPWEA NSW Regional Forums

Publish monthly news column in IPWEA NSW e-News


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Objective Action Outcome Success Measure Time Frame

Year 1 Year 2

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Investigate informal and formal opportunities for mentoring across the State.

List of mentoring opportunities for Young IPWEA to consider implementing formally and informally (i.e. through events).

Research into other mentoring programs run organisations, member bodies, Paper outlining informal and formal mentoring opportunities

X

X

Promote joint collaboration with other public works engineering organisations for young engineers

Engage with State bodies, including RMS, Transport for NSW, Department of Planning, Water Authorities and Engineers Australia to promote joint collaboration for young engineers.

Research and propose opportunities for networking events that can be attended by YIPWEA NSW members, State bodies, and other engineering bodies.

X

Propose four target areas for professional development courses/topics which YIPWEA members call for to the IPWEA NSW Board

Identify the top four target areas for professional development, through YIPWEA member pulse survey and other member engagement.

Present the top four target areas for professional development to the IPWEA NSW Board each year.

X

X

Host two networking events for YIPWEA members

2 networking events promoting knowledge sharing and relationship building for YIPWEA members:

- 1 in-person networking event tied to a conference

- 1 online networking event to encourage participation across the YIPWEA members

Hold 2 social networking events attended by YIPWEA members: - 1 event held at IPWEA NSW

State Conference. - 1 online networking event (i.e.

fantasy leagues, tipping competitions).

X

X

X

X

Improve communications and online presence of YIPWEA NSW

Develop promotional material to engage new members to be included at conferences and regional forums.

Develop a calendar of YIPWEA events for upcoming years.

Interact with social media, in line with

YIPWEA promotional material including Welcome Pack. Calendar of YIPWEA events. Publish 1 article on social media

X

X

X

X

X


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YIPWEA Australasia Engagement Framework/Strategy. Deliver monthly news column for IPWEA NSW e-News bulletin, sharing a range of:

- Upcoming YIPWEA events - Positive news stories of

members’ successes - Updates to YIPWEA - Pocket Sally and

Ambassador updates

every quarter that is relevant to young members. Publish 12 monthly news columns for IPWEA NSW e-News bulletin per year.

X

X

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Continue advocating for cadetships in the public work engineering industry

Promote cadetships across the industry.

Finalise the cadetships best practice paper and guidelines. Continue promoting cadetships with IPWEA members and NSW Councils. Explore opportunities for collaboration with LGEA and other engineering bodies.

X

X

X

X

X

Implement a YIPWEA NSW Ambassador Program

Have the Ambassador Program approved by the IPWEA Board and elect an Ambassador for YIPWEA NSW.

Ambassador to complete 1 program in Regional NSW promoting Public Works engineering to Regional Schools. Tool-kit for schools to promote engineering (utilise existing material in the industry)

X

X

Continue to promote Pocket Sally Pocket Sally is well known across IPWEA members, YIPWEA members, and the wider Public Works Engineering industry.

6 news stories featuring Pocket Sally per year. Revamp Pocket Sally website.

X

X


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Pocket Sally introduced to CEOs/GMs/Directors from 50 (out of 112) NSW Councils.

X

Engage, build meaningful relationships with and have a presence at all universities offering engineering courses across NSW

A strong relationship between YIPWEA and all universities offering engineering courses across NSW. Promote engineering students to attend and present at IPWEA NSW State Conference.

Attendance and/or presenting at career events or industry days at all universities offering engineering courses. Prepare a proposal for the IPWEA NSW Board to consider engineering student engagement, presence and participation at IPWEA NSW State Conference.

X

X

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Promote a standing agenda item for presentation from 1 YIPWEA member on all IPWEA NSW Group Meetings

Confirm with each Regional Chair and Secretary to include YIPWEA member presentations, with YIPWEA providing support to the member in presenting.

Standing agenda item for presentation from 1 YIPWEA member on all IPWEA NSW Group Meetings

X

X

Promote a standing agenda item for presentation from 1 YIPWEA member on all IPWEA NSW Regional Forums

Confirm with Regional Forum team to include YIPWEA member presentations, with YIPWEA providing support to the member in presenting.

Standing agenda item for presentation from 1 YIPWEA member on all IPWEA NSW Regional Forums

X

X

Publish news celebrating the success of our young members

Publish news stories promoting our members' successes using online media.

Bi-monthly news stories on website, social media, and e-News bulletins.

X X


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Reference Documents

Young IPWEA NSW Division Action Plan, November 2016

Young IPWEA Australasia 2018-2020 Action Plan, March 2018


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Appendix One

Opportunities and challenges for Young IPWEA NSW:

Source: Young IPWEA Australasia 2018-2020 Action Plan, March 2018