7586. That is how many years of experience and knowledge were in the room on Tuesday morning at Parliament House.
250 senior executives and sages from the NSW Public Sector met for the inaugural mature professionals breakfast convened by Department of Premiers and Cabinet, IPAA NSW and SageCo.
Opening the breakfast, Director General of DPC, Chris Eccles said;
You all possess knowledge that has influenced and will continue to influence how we will do things in the Sector going forward. Every day this rich knowledge is harnessed to deliver services. This knowledge is not in policy guidelines and manuals…it goes beyond the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ and the ‘why’…
The Director General went on to encourage a return to the Master and Apprentice model, adding;
When you share knowledge, the very act allows you to gain unique insights and develop new knowledge from others. Share it and it will multiply.
We also heard from Ken, a retiree with 43 years service in the Public Sector. A ‘master’ who, with a colleague, wrote a software system that is now sold in over 100 countries around the World. Ken has worked with his ‘apprentices’ to identify and share his unique knowledge since 2008.
Participants at the breakfast engaged in conversation, created new connections, and identified their areas of specialist ‘mastery‘ – a very tangible first step in igniting a knowledge sharing culture within the Sector.
Hats off to DPC for leading the way in tackling the very real risk of knowledge loss in NSW.