Posted in Sustainable Development

Liberated Leaders: Leading Through Growth, Change and Disruption

Are you an ‘already’ successful business leader with a strong vision for the future, experiencing challenges in the current business environment, spurred on by growth, change and disruption?

If you want to build a future-ready workforce, Liberated Leaders would love to help. liberated leaders logo

Liberated Leaders is an applied Leadership Program with a special focus on skills, practices and capabilities to navigate change and disruption.

We offer leaders greater confidence and skills to lead through change and disruption, to foster an aligned and engaged team, ensure business relevance to secure customers (now and in the future), build capacity to engage in any conversation (in the right mood) and to experience a greater sense of wellbeing and resilience.

The Program is now open and offering just 30 places for the class of 2017-2018.

  • If you’re looking to confidently lead your organisation or business unit through change and profound disruption;
  • If you understand the imperative of continuing to develop new offers for customers to stay relevant;
  • If you have a strong vision for the future but are hampered by delayed deliverables, poor quality work and budget blowouts;
  • If you show up to work with the best of intentions, but recurrently find yourself frustrated, fatigued or disappointed with the motivation and productivity of your people;
  • If you face high stakes, stressful situations but find it difficult to engage in or facilitate the right conversations at the right time with the right people; and
  • If you’re hungry for the skills, tools and behaviours to influence results…

This is the perfect opportunity for you!  

Contact 1300 068 202 or email [email protected] to arrange a Leadership Review with one of the Program Leaders.

This blog was kindly provided by Liberated Leaders.

 

3D Modelling for Communicating Urban Revitalisation

3D Modelling for Communicating Urban Revitalisation – A Local Government Experience

Two years have now passed since City of Launceston finished constructing and began working with the 3D virtual model of Launceston running in Urban Engine software.  The final product has lived up to expectations as a tool for communicating urban revitalisation and more.  Since that time, the model has grown in detail with the addition of Aero3DPro building model data, street scape design concepts, building proposals, future development buildings and massing models.

Beyond the initial scope of supporting the Launceston City Heart project, the model has proven to be a practical tool for evaluating designs during planning meetings, allowing exploration of designs issues and scenarios in an iterative manner. It has been useful for exploring massing models of the proposed new University of Tasmania campus buildings, surrounding access roads and the impact on the landscape.   All this is often created on-the-fly in a short space of time, even during a meeting, and this is where the model really proves its worth in galvanising consensus and understanding in a short space of time, often solving perceived problems very quickly.

Alexander Crothers

It the coming weeks, the model will be transitioning from its current hardware platform – a high end gaming Laptop –  to a hosted cloud platform to enable greater access from any computer or meeting room with a good internet connection, thus improving access to the model and simplifying updates and maintenance.

The paper ‘3D Modelling for Communicating Urban Revitalisation – A Local Government Experience’ which was submitted for the 2016 Liveable Cities Conference sets out to clarify that project managing the creating a 3D model is not a simple matter and relies heavily on a small team of people with specialist skills and knowledge as well as coordinating specialist consultancies.

Additionally the ongoing maintenance and return on the considerable investment in the model relies on ongoing development and support by these skilled staff.  The author of the paper hopes to present enough detail to assist others, especially in local government, to understand the pitfalls and focus areas to build similar successful 3D model systems.

Article provided by Alexander Crothers, Spatial & Investigations Manager for the City of Launceston

A Study of Australian Brands Using Reforestation Projects

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017.

Mr Ray Wilson, CEO of Carbon Neutral.

Mr Ray Wilson, CEO of Carbon Neutral joins us to discuss ‘A Study of Australian Brands Using Reforestation Projects to Deliver Carbon Abatement and Sustainable Development Impacts’.

Case studies are presented of leading Australian brands that are championing support for biodiverse reforestation as carbon reduction projects with important sustainable development outcomes. Their business cases for carbon neutrality are explored, including offset purchasing decisions and how they use their environmental programme and carbon neutrality to engage stakeholders, including supply chains.

Early Bird registration closes this week on Wednesday 15 February, secure your discount registration today HERE!

For more information on the 2017 National Sustainability in Business Conference and to secure your spot today, please visit the conference website.

Sheep Cutting Solar Farm’s Maintenance Costs

University of Queensland is saving $50,000 a year in mowing costs at its Gatton campus solar farm by using sheep to keep the vegetation down.

In May last year,  the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) research facility in the southern hemisphere was switched on at Gatton. Comprising of more than 37,000 solar panels, the facility covers a fair bit of ground.

The ABC reports that to mow the grounds used to take 4 days – and cost a significant chunk of change.

Ten sheep were bsheep-solar-farmrought in to help cut mowing costs and seem to be enjoying their new digs; a 4.5 hectare section of the facility.

Given the success of the trial, a further 2.5 hectares will be opened up for the sheep.

It’s not uncommon for livestock to mingle with solar panels. We reported in May that goats and sheep will be used at a solar farm in Japan to help maintain electricity generation at the facility. That scenario goes beyond keeping the grass down – it seems vines growing on fences can throw shadows on some of that plant’s panels, reducing their efficiency.

Renewable energy and agriculture can often go hand-in-hand. Just last week, the Climate Council released a report regarding the renewable energy opportunities available to bush battlers through mixed grazing and electricity generation.

And it’s not just solar power stations where this can be done. At some wind farms across Australia, livestock can be seen contentedly chomping on grassy areas among the turbines, unperturbed by the gentle swooshing of the blades. We’re unaware of any reports of cows suffering from Wind Turbine Syndrome.

One things for sure though, there’s nary a cow to be seen grazing among the electricity generation turbines at the coal-fired Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria; nor sheep in the nearby Morwell open cut coal mine.

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UN Report Shows E-Government Boosts Sustainable Development

43581329 - united nations headquarters with flags of the members of the un

United Nations Headquarters

The 2016 UN E-Government Survey provides new evidence that e-government has the potential to help support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).  The Survey finds that e-government is an effective tool for facilitating integrated policies and public service by promoting accountable and transparent institutions through open data and e-participation and participatory decision-making as well as by advancing online services to bridge the digital divides.

The Survey found that United Kingdom has pursued continued development on e-government innovation, and its Government Digital Service has been replicated by other countries around the world. Australia and the Republic of Korea recently established robust telecommunications infrastructure, invested in developing their human resources, expanded usage of e-government facilities and extended service delivery.

World And Regional E-Government Leaders

Top E-government performers:
United Kingdom
Australia
Republic of Korea
Singapore
Finland
Sweden
Netherlands
New Zealand
Denmark
France

The rankings are based on the report’s E-Government Development Index (EGDI), which ranks countries by measuring their use of information and communications technologies to deliver public services. The Index captures three dimensions: scope and quality of online services, status of telecommunication infrastructure and existing human capacity.  A key theme is how information and communications technology (ICT) and e-government can best contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. Effective use of ICTs by governments can help people connect to the services they need, as well as to create a fair society that provides equal opportunities for everyone.

E-government has grown at a rapid pace over the past 15 years.  In the 2016 Survey, 29 countries score “very-high,” with EGDI values in the range of 0.75 to 1.00, as compared to only 10 countries in 2003. Since 2014, all 193 Member States of the UN have delivered some form of online presence.  This is in stark contrast to 2003, when 18 countries, or about 10 per cent of all countries, were without any online presence.  In 2016, 51 per cent of countries had “low-EGDI” or “medium EGDI” values, down from over 73 per cent of countries in 2003.

The UN E-Government Survey is produced every two years by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. It is the only global report that assesses the e-government development status of the 193 UN Member States. It aims to serve as a tool for countries to learn from each other, identify areas of strength and challenges in e-government and shape their policies and strategies in this area. It is also aimed at facilitating discussions of intergovernmental bodies, including the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, on issues related to e-government and development and to the critical role of ICT in development. 

Source: United Nations. 

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