Marianne

Senior Project Officer

Office for the Public Sector, Department of the Premier and Cabinet

How did you get to where you are today?

Until earlier this year I had worked at Revenue SA within the Department of Treasury and Finance for over 30 years. I’ve held many different roles over the years and I possess a Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management.

Most recently, I managed the team of people who are responsible for the collection of outstanding taxes and duties to support South Australia’s revenue system.

Earlier this year an opportunity for a temporary secondment to the Office for the Public Sector came my way. I had expressed an interest in developing and leading strategic change as a way of furthering my career. I felt that this type of experience would help me bridge the skills gap from being an operational manager to that of an emerging executive.

What does an average day look like?

Every day I’m working with experts on a range of strategic change programs as well as working autonomously on aspects of those programs. I’m learning about:

• different strategies that agencies can use to improve their capability to deliver services
• the importance of workplace wellbeing and the impact on organisations if their systems are not robust enough to support an environment where employees can thrive
• how to improve the leadership capabilities of existing and emerging leaders in the sector.

Despite being very much in a learning capacity, I find I can also contribute a great deal to these programs because of my extensive operational experience in managing people. I have a good sense of what works and what doesn’t.

What do you love about your job?

What I love about my job is knowing that I am part of a bigger team which is working to improve the lives of all South Australians. To me, that’s really important and I’m very passionate about it.

What I have found most exciting working in the Office for the Public Sector is seeing the exceptional work being undertaken across the sector by really hardworking people. It is very motivating.

Why do you do what you do?

Throughout my career, I’ve wanted to make a difference.

Working in RevenueSA makes a difference because the money collected helps ensure that the basic services that people in the community expect e.g. police, teachers, nurses etc., can be paid for in a fair way.

Working in the Office for the Public Sector I feel I can make a difference because I can help influence how the capability of individuals and teams and overall agency performance can be improved. Any advance in these areas ultimately benefits South Australians by more efficient and cost effective service delivery.

What do you see are some of the benefits of working in the public sector?

One of the key benefits of working in the public sector for me is having the opportunity to be seconded somewhere else to gain more experience and skills to further my career pathway.

Mobility across agencies is a great example of the measures that are available and it will go a long way to make the sector an employer of choice.