Leadership, the essential ingredient in asset management

Abstract

Local government asset management has come of age in both Australia and New Zealand, and professional associations such as New Zealand Asset Management Support (Nams) and Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (Australasia) develop and deliver a variety of training programs and manuals to ensure asset management practitioners have access to what they need to know. Why then do some organisations fail to gain traction in their asset management (AM) efforts and officers complain they get no support from above? This paper posits that the missing AM ingredient in many organisations is leadership. It builds on previous work by the author on the key success factors in developing a strategic asset management framework and includes the results of a feedback survey undertaken during an Asset Management Study Tour of New Zealand in 2010. Rather than approach asset management as a technical issue, this paper will examine it from a number of ‘leadership’ perspectives, including change management, cultural change, process management and quality management. AM requires strong leadership to improve and maintain its position in local government integrated planning, and this paper will establish a case for improved leadership in AM.