Episode 29: Taking the path less travelled with Sandy Pitcher
The benefit of hindsight is that you can see how things from your past have carefully placed the pieces together to create the path that you’re on. Our next trailblazer, Sandy Pitcher, Chief Executive at the Department of Human Services for the South Australian Government, joins us in our latest episode to talk about this as she reflects on her career. Sandy shares her experiences in growing up in a small country town, how having the desire to change the world led her to the public service, how she rises to the task of many challenges she has been given, and the important lessons she has learned along the way in knowing what your strengths are, using them, and letting others step up in using their strengths towards a shared vision and authorising environment.
The benefit of hindsight is that you can see how things from your past have carefully placed the pieces together to create the path that you’re on. Our next trailblazer, Sandy Pitcher, Chief Executive at the Department of Human Services for the South Australian Government, joins us in our latest episode to talk about this as she reflects on her career. Sandy shares her experiences in growing up in a small country town, how having the desire to change the world led her to the public service, how she rises to the task of many challenges she has been given, and the important lessons she has learned along the way in knowing what your strengths are, using them, and letting others step up in using their strengths towards a shared vision and authorising environment.
Listen to episode twenty-nine:
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
About this episode:
This episode offers an honest reflection on how our values and aspirations, even from an early age, can guide us throughout our careers. It also demonstrates that knowing your strengths and recognising strengths in others around you can help you all work towards a shared vision with the authorising environment to achieve great outcomes.
Sandy Pitcher has always been an activist. Even from an early age, she was passionate about gender equality, and she wanted to change the world by changing the laws. Soon, she realised that the best place to do that was in the public service.
In a career marked by many ‘firsts’, Sandy was the first woman to head the South Australian Department of Environment and Water Agency, led Victoria’s COVID response, and was also the inaugural Secretary of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in Victoria. Surprisingly, though, for many of these roles, Sandy didn’t put her hand up to take them on; instead, as she says, she was ‘unwillingly volunteered.’
Sandy reflects on these times and provides specific examples from throughout her career, crediting COVID as the hardest, most illustrative, and possibly the most rewarding challenge of her career to date, as well as the invaluable lessons she has learned along the way.
One of these is recognising her strength in the ability to think in systems – seeing how they need to be changed and the role that systems thinking must play in the public service to constantly learn and try ways of doing things better.
Sandy also shares how it’s important to recognise that when you run towards a common goal, you can do things fast and strong, but you will inevitably lose people and things along the way. You lose goodness. Sandy believes that the happy medium is working towards a shared vision and authorising environment and that by doing this, you can achieve great outcomes.
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
Sandy Pitcher
Chief Executive
Department of Human Services
Government of South Australia
Sandy is an accomplished public-sector leader, with experience leading agencies to make significant contributions to public policy and deliver outcomes that improve people’s lives.
As Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Human Services, Sandy is dedicated to promoting inclusion, independence, community support and modern services.
Prior to this role Sandy was Deputy Under Treasurer with the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance.
She was the inaugural Secretary of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in Victoria, an agency which includes child protection and women’s policy.
Throughout 2020 Sandy led the Victorian COVID-19 response, returning the state to COVID-19 zero.
Sandy has also held roles with the SA Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, the UK’s Commission for Racial Equality and the South Australian Office for Women.
In 2012, Sandy won the Telstra Businesswoman of the year ‘Community and Public Sector’ category, and in 2013 she was inducted as an IPAA National Fellow.
Educated at the University of Adelaide, Sandy has degrees in law and the humanities.
Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.
Series three – Solving the Capability Gap – episode three
Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Public Sector Commission for the Queensland Government, joins Andy in this latest episode to explain how organisations can create workforce agility. She shares her experiences and learned lessons from her direct involvement in the recently released Even Better Public Sector for Queensland Strategy for 2024-2028.
Listen in to hear Sandra explain how organisational agility is a change process and how, by putting people at the centre, you can achieve the agility you need to be fit for the future. Sandra also shares the three important ingredients for being purposeful and holistic in your approach to developing and embedding workforce agility in the way you work.
Over the past two episodes, we’ve discussed critical dimensions of capability building, including adopting continuous learning models and using skills-based approaches in your talent strategy. A resonating sentiment from both these episodes has been the concept of future readiness, equipping and preparing workforces to meet future challenges.
In today’s episode, we unpack this further, discussing the role that skills play in workforce agility and how leaders can be purposeful and holistic in their approach to achieving organisational agility.
So far in our series, we’ve spoken to two highly experienced trailblazers who have given their insights into critical success factors of creating high-performing teams. These have included the importance of becoming a learning organisation and the need to be comfortable in ambiguity.
Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Public Sector Commission for the Queensland Government, joins Andy in this latest episode to explain how organisations can create workforce agility. She shares her experiences and learned lessons from her direct involvement in the recently released Even Better Public Sector for Queensland Strategy for 2024-2028.
Listen in to hear Sandra explain how organisational agility is a change process and how, by putting people at the centre, you can achieve the agility you need to be fit for the future. Sandra also shares the three important ingredients for being purposeful and holistic in your approach to developing and embedding workforce agility in the way you work.
Listen to episode three:
Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
Download the full transcript of episode three:
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
Sandra Lerch is the Executive Director, Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission. In this role, she has responsibility for a suite of initiatives that help create a workforce that is agile, inclusive and fit for the future.
Sandra has worked in both the state and federal public sectors, in a wide variety of roles, spanning strategic policy, organisational performance, and service delivery. Much of her experience is in central agencies during periods of significant workforce change.
Sandra and her team played a major role in bringing the Even better public sector for Queensland strategy 2024-2028 to fruition. The strategy’s first two-year action plan sets out 18 actions that aim to inspire trust in government, build a workforce that is ready to meet any challenge, and create workplaces that support employees to serve their community.
Sandra holds a Masters degree in Public Policy and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has a long-standing interest in public sector reform, having contributed to a number of independent reviews in this area. Other areas of interest include employee engagement and how the Queensland public sector can position itself as an employer of choice.