During this insight interview, long-standing public servant, Kym Bills shared insights about his career journey, challenges and lessons learned in the public service. Kym also explains what initially attracted him to working with public policy and some of the pivotal moments that shaped his career.
With over 42 years of working experience to reflect on letâs get straight to Kymâs responses to our questions….
Kymâs career in public service started in 1977 while he was still studying at university. After passing the clerical exams Kym started his first role in the Australian Taxation Office in Adelaide. However, his passion for international relations quickly led to a period working in Foreign Affairs in Canberra and overseas. With his academic background, Kym then entered full time academia as an economics lecturer at Deakin University. His passion for hands-on-policy though, soon demanded that he get back into public service in Canberra, first at the Office of National Assessments, then in immigration and refugee policy, finance and a long period in transport. Along the way he took time out to work for several political leaders in Canberra and Adelaide.
Kym shares that the variety of roles, opportunities for learning and development, networking and making connections, and contributing to the public good have all helped him maintain his passion for public service over the years.
âYou just shouldn’t underestimate the values in the service and the importance of Public Service – I mean it’s incredibly important, itâs a huge bedrock for everyone. Â And secondly whatever role you’re in I think it’s really important to try and make the most of itâ. â Kym Bills
Kym explains that he was faced with several very challenging ethical situations in his career. There were three key ways to respond in these situations. Kym shared:
Kym feels that itâs essential to uphold strong ethical standards and make decisions aligned with the best interests of the public.
Kym reflects that one of the most exciting opportunities he had in the service came when he was 35 years old. He was appointed to head a delegation to the International Maritime Organisation in London to argue for a new regime under the UN Law of the Sea involving âarchipelagic sealanesâ. At the time this was a momentous decision to enable ships and aircraft, both commercial and defence, to transit designated lanes in archipelagos unhindered. The intense negotiation involved the US, Indonesia and a number of other countries and as Kym noted, was incredibly challenging â but the payoff for our long-term national interest was incredibly valuable. For Kym, setting up the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and leading it for the decade to 2009 was always exciting and a great privilege.
Kym shares some essential advice for people new to the public service. Kym emphasises the importance of prioritising continuous learning and seeking opportunities to develop new skills. Secondly, to build a strong professional network both within and outside your department to gain diverse perspectives and support. Lastly, being adaptable to changing situations, stay open to new challenges, and demonstrate your problem-solving abilities. He reminds us that just as he saw in his own career the public sector offers a huge variety of experiences.
Leading on from this Kym also highlighted some important takeaways for more experienced public servants. He emphasised how vital it is to reach out to others for support as a manager and that giving back to the profession is something everyone should consider once they reach a certain career stage, for him âthe opportunity to Mentor other people is preciousâ.
Reflecting on this Kym explains that he can see enormous benefit in putting the skills, experience and values of retired public servants into supporting volunteer roles. âThe skills you learn in the public service are really adaptable to other thingsâ Kym shares, speaking from personal experience that many public servants are looking for ways to continue serving society beyond the workplace.
On behalf of the IPAA SA Divisional Council, we would like to thank Kym for sharing his insights with the IPAA SA Community and for his many positive contributions and commitment to making a difference. If you would like to be involved in a future IPAA SA Insight Article, you can nominate or suggest a topic here.
Looking back to 2020 and the onset of COVID-19, we could not have anticipated the challenges that our public sector would face. However, we also had no idea how it would transform the value of the public sector in the eyes of citizens, reigniting trust â and for some public servants such as Catherine Turnbull, Chief Child Protection Officer, South Australia Health â proving the positive value of her many years of public service.
In this Insight Article, we sat down with long-standing public servant and IPAA SA Personal Member Catherine Turnbull to explore the lessons and challenges she has faced over 32 years of service.
âI feel that working in the public sector provides me the opportunity to give to the communityâ.
With these highlights in mind, letâs jump straight into Catherineâs answers…
When Catherine finished her studies, she was faced with a choice â whether to go into the private sector or explore the opportunities in the public sector. Her choice was obvious after her exposure to work in the public sector through several placements during university.
âI really enjoyed the passion, the enthusiasm, and the commitment of those working in the public sector. They just were so focused on helping others and improving situations, health, whatever it might be, for other people – it’s such a wonderful kind of sentiment.â
Working across jurisdictions, Catherine highlighted that gaining this experience was important for maintaining her perspective and looking at new and different ways of doing things. She encourages people who have only ever worked in one jurisdiction to try and spend some time in another. She emphasises that this is particularly vital when looking at reform, change and improvement â so we can learn from the successes and mistakes of others. Catherine reflected that one of the key examples of this was the Patel case in Queensland. This was said to be a historic day in Australian health workforce governance as the verdict was reached on Jayant Patel, former Head of Surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, being sentenced to seven years gaol on a verdict of three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm. The circumstances of this case and its deliberation is noted to have been a strong force for examining the way health practitioners were regulated and governed. As a culmination of this, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency was formed to constitute a new approach to health workforce governance. Catherine shared that this case highlighted to other jurisdictions the importance of the accuracy of credentials for healthcare workers and hugely changed policy in this area.
Catherine sees opportunity for sharing between jurisdictions and agencies as vital and, at the time of her being Chief Allied Health Officer for South Australia, there was no network existing to bring together leaders in these roles. She took an active role in changing this, working with colleagues to build an inaugural Australian Allied Health Leadership Forum, which gave a voice to Allied Health at the Commonwealth Level. This led to the resulting creation of the role of Chief Allied Health Officer for Australia. As Catherine shared, âThere had not been one of those roles before, so it was really the bringing together of the jurisdictions.â  She also highlighted that her current role as Chief Child Protection Officer seems to have brought this circumstance 360, âInterestingly, the role I’m now in as Chief Child Protection Officer, there is no other equivalent in health in the other jurisdictions [âŠ] so I think South Australia Health has been really Innovative in [developing] an appointment of this role and it is something that I would like to see other health jurisdictions copyâ.
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Catherine reflects that she could see huge value in other states and territories adopting similar roles â and the potential for a national committee of these leaders.
âI think it would really strengthen Health’s response to vulnerable children and families in having a group that focuses on that for health focused environmentsâ.
Catherine shares that we are faced with challenges at all levels â but no matter the challenge, itâs important to go into it with a creative mindset and not a linear approach. She highlights that, âYou never know when opportunities will arise, and therefore you have to be ready for the opportunity.â For Catherine, this means being clear about what you are aiming for. She suggests writing down your aims in a one or two-page document so that you can come back to reflect on these. Being clear on her aims has been invaluable to her, and she highlights that as those opportunities have arisen to speak at various committees or make decisions, she has been able to come back to these core aims and make a positive difference to the community.
âI think the best lessons are in when things don’t quite work to plan.â
As it should be for everyone, Catherine explains that maintaining her work-life balance is really important â but in some of the roles she has been in, it has been very challenging to achieve this. She reflects that it is so important for our continued wellbeing to take time for ourselves (even if we are busy at work). For her, this means taking a holiday when needed and encouraging her staff to do the same. Catherine remarks that public servants particularly seem to struggle with this, as there is a tendency to place so much value on the work being done, and a fear of losing momentum. She shares that this isnât the case â you will be able to get the momentum back again, especially if you have a great team around you.
âI say to everybody you are replaceable at work but you’re not replaceable with your familyâ.
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Whether coming straight from university or from the private sector, Catherine has some key advice for newcomers.
â” do I want to go and do this course or be involved in this research teamâ ect.”
âI was so impressed with the way the public sector came together for COVID and particularly the initial COVID response. I was involved with Erma Ranieri’s Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in finding staff to come into Department for Health and Wellbeing, to help with the work behind all the identification of cases and need for quarantining. [The] way that people put their hand up from across the public sector! They met me in the foyer of the building and I then took them upstairs to all the different levels and allocated them into teams. It didn’t matter what your classification was, nobody was precious, everybody was focused on the task in hand, and it was extremely impressive to watch. I don’t know that the community truly understands the way the public sector pulled together like that and the way that people from within their community stepped up and made a huge differenceâ.
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Catherine also wants to applaud the people who remained in their current teams at the time, as even with far fewer people, âservice did not stop.â For Catherine, the COVID-19 experience was a demonstration of the value and capability of the public service that she has always known.
Summing up this interview, and again drawing back to her passion for public service, Catherine enthused us about her ongoing work in partnering with all government agencies to deliver better outcomes for vulnerable children and families. She shares that her department and many others are working together to share information so they can make better decisions and make a difference for children and families in our state.
On behalf of the IPAA SA Divisional Council, we would like to thank Catherine for sharing her insights with the IPAA SA Community and for her many positive contributions and commitment to making a difference. If you would like to be involved in a future IPAA SA Insight Article, you can nominate or suggest a topic here.
This July, IPAA SA Members had the opportunity to hear from Damien Walker, Chief Executive, Department of the Premier and Cabinet as he joined us for An Hour in the Room. The word that resonates post-event is CURIOSITY, with the ambition of the public sector being a driving force for future achievement and growth in South Australia.
Every public servant has a role to play in fostering a spirit of innovation, problem-solving and continuous improvement.
So, what are some of the things public sector professionals and leaders can focus on to embrace curiosity?
Valuing continuous learning and development encourages public sector staff at all levels to explore new ideas and grow the capabilities needed to make these a reality. As the world continues to rapidly change, we need to focus on developing leaders who can quickly pivot to emerging areas of staff development and embed the value of learning into organisational culture.
If you lead a team, you can focus on making resources and opportunities for learning available for your team and building a positive team culture around it. For team members, try and take an active role in your development and seek out opportunities that could add to your capabilities (and, by extension, your organisation).
Some tips on building a positive learning culture:
As highlighted by Damien, we should seek to create a safe space for public servants at all levels to experiment with their ideas. He explains that we need to develop leaders to allow their people the opportunity to take risks and experiment. In many circumstances, where cost and risk are manageable, there is a need to remove the red-tape to innovative ideas.
Damien also particularly stresses the need for âlocal innovationâ, where we can see new ideas being tried at smaller scales â supporting a wide-scale positive shift over time. As he notes, everyone in the public sector should be an innovator and he seeks to give them a licence to innovate and be curious about what could be done better and differently.
For team leaders, you can focus on understanding the factors behind your risk appetite and that of your organisation and having clarity around their communication. Team members can benefit from learning about risk from the management perspective and honing their communication skills, so that when you have that great idea, you can get the support you need.
âGoodâ innovation does not always mean success, and often we learn the most important lessons through our failures along the way. Damien shares that we need to âshine the lightâ on examples of innovation done right â where we celebrate success and are open and unafraid to explore and learn from ideas that are âless successfulâ.
The markers of âgoodâ innovation are not always straight-forward; however, the following can collectively help us decide on its effectiveness and value.
If you are a team leader, you can support this by creating psychologically safe spaces and putting systems for reflection and recognition in place. As a team member, you can focus on calling out good ideas, supporting your colleagues and building resilience, to make the most of every challenge and opportunity.
Damien shares that rigid frameworks can inhibit our ability to act on our curiosity and instead highlights a few key considerations that leaders and public sector staff can use to guide their thinking.
Learn more and watch the recording of An Hour in the Room with Damien Walker here.
Departments are often under-resourced with Risk/Internal Audit teams being smaller but having a huge responsibility across changing and emerging risks. This session introduces key risk management topics and aligns the teaching with specific risk thoughts within your Department. The session is designed to complement the current risk management practices of the state government and promotes the current risk management team.
Engagement and performance are both buzzwords for managers, but what can you do practically as a leader and manager to improve these across your team? From our two newest courses to the program (which you can find below), we share 3 helpful insights on these topics.
1. Aligning your team to goals and objectives
Set your ‘flag on top of the hill’ to provide a clear and strategic outlook on organisational priorities, and be prepared to communicate these goals frequently and in different ways. Creating buy-in at all levels will help your team members feel empowered and engaged in the process. Secondly, set performance measures that are clearly relevant to the overall strategy and vision of your department or organisation – which also have real meaning and benefit to team members.
2. Provide regular feedback to your team
We all enjoy being celebrated for our work and contributions – and your team members are no different. Dedicating time to providing feedback that is specific, timely and constructive will make your team feel more engaged and valued. Providing (and receiving) feedback doesn’t always have to be done in a formal setting; sitting down for a coffee with a team member, or recognising their success in an upcoming meeting, helps lay the foundation for a resilient organisational culture that celebrates wins (of all sizes).
3. Create space for collaboration
In a world on the cusp of an AI revolution, valuing the human aspect of our organisations is all the more important. Open up the space across your team for people to work together, share ideas and collaborate on projects. A collaborative workspace helps team members feel increasingly connected to the organisation and more engaged with their work. You might like to consider what small changes you can make to make collaboration part of your team’s culture.
Explore more insights and resources on engagement and performance here:
