Listening exercise with members
One of the College’s priorities is to offer the best possible support and service to you, our members, so you can secure the best outcomes for people with mental illness, intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders.
To help us deliver on this objective, the Officers and the College’s interim Chief Executive Officer Sonia Walter hosted a membership listening exercise just before the Christmas break.
We invited members who had expressed their concerns about the direction of the College, including members formerly and currently holding College roles.
All of the guests made an effort to collect feedback from their colleagues in advance to ensure they could represent wider groups.
The workshop lasted from 9.30am until 3pm and was attended by 15 members who took the opportunity to provide candid and clear feedback to the College.
There were considerable differences of opinion among the members but there were some clear themes they all seemed to agree on:
- Communication from the College is excellent, but it is one-way and there aren’t many opportunities for listening.
- Lack of clarity about how decisions are made and the roles of the Board of Trustees, Council and our Senior Management Team.
- The College is neglecting its core business in favour of other activities.
- Members feel they don’t belong if they don’t agree with the College positions and there is no room for diversity of thought.
The College's Senior Management Team has been going through the detailed feedback from the day, and we will all work together to design a plan of action to ensure every member feels supported, valued and included.