“Good, better, best,
Never let it rest,
Until your good is better,
And your better, best”
This verse has stuck in my mind for decades – in fact ever since my father first showed it to me inscribed on the back of an old abandoned and rusting Furphy Tank, on our farm at Kellerberrin, many, many years ago.
I recounted it again this week during a NACC team retreat at the Western Flora Caravan and Tourist Park near Eneabba, where we’d gone to further build the “culture we want” within our organisation.
At NACC, we place a lot of emphasis on our “Culture” and “Values”, acknowledging just how important these things are to us being able to achieve our Mission, our goals, and objectives … and once a year we down tools, and find somewhere sufficiently secluded for a collective deep-dive into both elements.
Western Flora, just north of Eneabba, was the perfect venue: Located in the heart of our region, in the bush, quiet, secluded, hospitable … We had a great time there.
We also had an incredibly productive time, and learnt lots about each other, and our individual and collective abilities to translate our values into meaningful and effective natural resource management outcomes that will benefit the region.
For the record, NACC’s values are Accountability, Collaboration, Respect, Impartiality, Professionalism, Passion, Leadership, and Excellence. We’re confident that by pursuing continual improvement – by moving from “good” to “best” – with all of these values, that we can generate “the culture we want” and, in doing so, be in the best-possible position to deliver meaningful NRM in the Northern Agricultural Region.
We’re very cognizant that we won’t get the “the culture we want” just by sitting-back and waiting for it to miraculously appear around us. We have to pro-actively work-on all of the aspects that contribute to the desired outcome, and persevere at it
Our strategy must be working, ‘cos we’re currently in a great space, with a fantastic work environment.
I’d like to thank all members of the team who contributed to the retreat, and to our guest presenters who helped make it such a productive two days. We’re on a great journey creating and keeping “the culture we want” at NACC.
And, although “good” is good, we’re committed to making it “better” … “and our better, best”.
It’s a pleasure to work for such an excellent organisation.
Richard McLellan
CEO