Tauranga City Council staff have won first place in the Local Government Management Association 2015 Australasian Management Challenge.

Team Blue Sky's win marks only the second time TCC bureaucrats have entered the 20-year-old competition.

Tauranga's Blue Sky team. Tracy Plane (strategy), Megan Davies (organisational services), Stuart Goodman (environmental services), Joanna Thomas and Amanda McFadden (community services) and Celia Bowles (infrastructure services). Photo: Supplied.

The team were victorious in the New Zealand round, and will now head to Melbourne in June to take on the Australians.

The TCC outfit was one of nine that competed from around the country, alongside teams from others councils including Hauraki, Queenstown, Hastings, Whakatane, Waipa and Rotorua.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council also competed.

The win represents two months of hard work for the multi-disciplinary team who, until the challenge, had never worked together.

The team had to deliver a paper, create a video and develop a supporting infographic on their employee value proposition as a pre-challenge task.

On the day they were assessed on the production of briefing papers/guidelines for council, dealing with personnel and interpersonal issues, liaising and co-operating with other teams, conduct of negotiations and analysing problems and developing concepts.

They were also evaluated on presenting ideas in a variety of formats and addressing current management issues.

The LGMA Australasian Management Challenge is recognised as a unique ‘talent' development opportunity for councils wanting to inspire and engage their emerging managers.

The major objective is to provide local government employees in Australia and New Zealand with a highly relevant learning experience in management and teamwork that readily translates back into their day-to-day workplace.

'This is a great personal and professional development opportunity for us and will continue to be offered as part of our organisation development programme,” says Tauranga City Council chief executive officer Garry Poole.