Section 5: Organisational Development Strategy
The Ministry's vision is of a vibrant, highly-skilled, integrated organisation that leads the Government's economic development agenda across the public sector. The organisational development strategy aims to make the vision real.
This section outlines initiatives to realise the Ministry's aspirations regarding leadership, building an integrated organisation and becoming an employer of choice.
It also describes the Ministry's approach to managing risks which could jeopardise achievement of its strategic priorities, business environment outcomes and operational services.
Our Vision for the Ministry of Economic Development
→ Long Description of "Our Vision for the Ministry of Economic Development"
Organisational Development Strategy
Three elements of the Ministry's vision will drive the organisational development agenda over the next three years. Our commitment to leadership, working together and being an employer of choice are crucial to achieving our strategic priorities and business environment outcomes.
We will commit resources and managerial effort to develop our people, process and system capability, so we can translate vision into reality. The organisational development strategy describes the focus of that effort, particularly in a whole-of-organisation sense.
Leadership: Strengthening Our Leadership Role
Our vision is to lead the economic development agenda across the public sector, drawing on our strong networks with business, consumers, local government and Māori. All of our strategic priorities require strong sectoral leadership.
As our Leadership Strategic Priority notes, we need to work with and influence other agencies by articulating the Government's economic development agenda and its implications for their work. We must deepen our capability to influence and assist other agencies to align their work with the Government's sustainable economic development agenda.
We also need to be good listeners, responsive to the needs of business, local communities and local government. We must be able to build and maintain effective on-going working relationships. We need to have a clear, shared understanding of the outcomes we are working towards, so we can articulate them to others.
Key Action Points
We will:
- Develop the ability of our staff to communicate the importance of economic development policy, in particular, the Growth and Innovation Framework and our contribution to it. Managers and staff need to converse confidently with external audiences, including state agencies, business and local government. This dialogue will be conducted through a targeted programme of speeches, conferences and briefings, in addition to our day-to-day external contacts. We will develop information packages and presentations to assist staff with this task;
- Build our capacity to develop and maintain strong relationships with key departments and Crown entities through effective day-to-day interactions, building on and working towards shared outcomes. Provision of effective context and linkages will be a hallmark of all our work. We will provide coaching and targeted training on the underlying skills which enable effective relationship management. In our key relationships we will give and seek feedback, as part of our commitment to effective dialogue;
- Grow our understanding of business and the needs of others working in economic development, through initiatives such as industry visits, secondments and regular engagement with business. During 2004/2005 the strategic leadership team undertook the Industry Insite programme, spending time with business and business-related organisations to better understand their issues and how government agencies can best interact with business. This programme, and similar activities, will be extended to a broader range of staff. This will enable us to "walk in the shoes" of key stakeholders and deepen our overall understanding of the external business environment; and
- Building on the work undertaken last year, establish a policy presence in Auckland to reflect the significance of the Auckland economy to New Zealand's overall economic performance. Reflecting the cross-government significance of this initiative, the team will be co-located with two other central government agencies working on economic development. This team will develop effective policy initiatives reflecting the economic development needs of business, local government and other Auckland stakeholders.
Working Together: Building an Integrated Organisation
Our vision is to harness expertise across the organisation to focus on key priorities that contribute most to advancing economic development and prosperity. We trust one another and everyone has the resources and guidance necessary to succeed. To achieve this we will be innovative and creative, thriving on open debate, challenge, analysis and disciplined review.
The Ministry works across nine portfolios to deliver on the Government's economic development agenda. To be effective we need to ensure all parts of our organisation work together to a common purpose. We will continue to align our internal structures, systems and processes with our strategic priorities and business environment outcomes.
We have made real progress in further focusing our strategy through deeper understanding of our strategic priorities. We will continue working across the Ministry to identify and implement medium-term work programmes which meet the strategic agenda set by those priorities. We will maintain our growing dialogue with a range of stakeholders on the formulation of our priorities. We will also continue to test our understanding of the economic development strategy through effective dialogue with our Ministers. To take leadership of the Government's economic development agenda requires our managers to be articulate and influential with others, both internally and in the wider community. Training and support will assist them to be effective in this role.
Key Action Points
We will:
- Continue to manage systems and processes which provide a shared understanding of the Ministry's strategy. This work focuses both on the formulation and execution of strategy. We will also undertake new and varied ways of communicating our strategy internally, and will monitor levels of staff understanding;
- Increase the emphasis on our research and development capability to ensure that we have a richer understanding of what will achieve sustainable growth. Our research and development programme will focus on deepening understanding of the factors that will underpin the success of our strategic priorities. To achieve this we will develop the research skills of our staff and create stronger linkages with external groups which can assist with this work;
- Ensure greater integration of our strategy, planning and performance review systems, so we focus effort across the Ministry on the things that matter most, and reward people for delivering these things. We will continue to refine planning and budget systems and processes, so we can prioritise and effectively manage risk. We will further develop processes for regular review of progress against our plans; and
- Continue with the knowledge management strategy and use it as a tool to promote internal knowledge sharing, co-operative learning and effective production of outputs. Integrating knowledge across the Ministry's various work units and Votes will lead to better integration of advice to Ministers, ensuring a consistent focus on the Government's economic development agenda.
Employer of Choice: Developing Our Skills and Expertise
Our vision is to be an employer of choice, with our culture of excellence, personal development, enthusiasm and mutual support attracting and retaining talent. By being leading edge we will also show initiative and constantly strive to provide better advice and services that add value.
The Ministry aims to recruit, retain and develop talented people with skills in economics, law, policy analysis, commerce, research, corporate support, economic development and other relevant disciplines. We need an organisation of experienced and capable individuals who understand economic development and the role government and business play in growing our economy. There is a nationwide shortage of people with these key skills. This means we need to be both attractive to new staff and able to make the most of the talents of our current staff.
To make the most of our existing skills base we need to offer targeted development which will enrich the individual in their role and assist us to deliver on our strategy and outcomes. Our approach to organising and managing work needs to allow for staff to build and utilise a portfolio of skills and experiences. In addition to professional development, we will offer targeted management development programmes to equip managers with the skills needed to build the capability of our staff.
Key Action Points
We will:
- Offer tailored leadership coaching and training to managers and senior staff, focused on improving their practical management skills and ability to lead and influence others;
- Build and develop policy development capability, to ensure that we are able to bring robust and deep analytics and research to that process. We will support the development of our managers and senior policy staff to ensure that there is effective coaching for staff undertaking the policy process;
- Offer specialised targeted development for staff in technical roles, relevant to their work responsibilities, which increases their skills and ability to produce effective outcomes for the Ministry and motivates them to continue to invest their knowledge and experience with us;
- Conduct on-going targeted recruitment of policy and specialist skills to ensure we have the technical knowledge and experience essential to deliver in a range of areas, e.g. electricity, business law, research and evaluation; and
- Build and efficiently manage internal systems which support managers to effectively manage the performance of the organisation. Our focus in the next three years will be our management information systems, IT infrastructure and "fit for purpose" accommodation and facilities.
Risks to Achieving the Ministry's Outcomes
Why Assess Risk?
Economic development encompasses a wide range of activities. While constantly aware of the bigger picture, the Ministry needs to focus clearly on areas where we have expertise and that relate to our core purpose and outcomes. This requires rigorous priority setting, and a well-developed understanding of economic development processes and strategies.
Given the spread of our activities we must identify and prioritise the critical things that will make the biggest contribution to improving growth in New Zealand. We need to continually refine the activities under our five strategic priorities and ensure that these are adequately resourced.
Therefore effective planning, prioritisation and review are all core parts of the Ministry's approach to managing risk. As goals and objectives are identified, so too are the risks to achieving them and the most effective treatment of these risks. Accordingly, we continue to work to ensure that planning processes incorporate risk profiling, and that the Ministry's structure and systems promote risk management at all levels.
The Ministry's Risk Framework
In our strategic and business planning process we have identified key risks to achieving our outcomes, and developed specific management responses. As part of our operating review processes we monitor those risks at both strategic and operational levels. While the Ministry is constantly seeking to anticipate risks, to avert them or to mitigate their effects as they arise, we also seek ways to encourage intelligent, calculated decision-making, where judgement is exercised and opportunities for innovative solutions are pursued. We do not want risk management to be a brake on innovation.
In our policy work, risks are identified and managed through excellence in analysis and understanding the main challenges facing the New Zealand economy. For our operational activities, the Ministry identifies and manages risk through project planning; operating review; and review of projects, audits and risk profiling.
Over the next 12 months we will strengthen our use of operating review systems, so we more efficiently and effectively monitor our performance and prioritise across the Ministry. We also intend to continue to broaden our audit programme to cover systemic, process and project risk.
The identification and management of risks is an iterative process. While the Ministry has considered its risk profile and is implementing a process of quarterly reviews, the majority of the Ministry's risks are managed through strong management systems - for example, knowledge sharing, performance management, and operating review. These systems build on the strategy and planning frameworks and provide a basis for refining strategic priorities and business plan activities at all business levels. This ensures alignment with strategic priorities and cascades down to the business plan level, so that well-informed decisions can be made. These systems focus on providing managers and staff with tools to better identify and manage their risks.
The way in which the branch risk profiles inform the Ministry-wide risk profile and therefore the strategic debate is illustrated in the following diagram.
→ Long Description of "Ministry-Wide Risk Profile" Diagram
The Ministry faces different types of risk, each requiring a different treatment.
Policy Advice
The following risks could threaten achievement of the Government's and Ministry's strategic objectives in relation to advice on policy options:
- risk of inadequate policy advice in areas that could lead to systemic failure of key economic development settings;
- risk of underachieving relative to the Government's expectations, because of a failure to achieve organisational focus on priorities for policy development; and
- shortage of capability in the employment market to meet the Ministry's needs.
The development of the core skills of our staff and managers will be critical to ensuring these risks are addressed. Building our policy development capability through recruitment and internal development will also ensure that comprehensive, timely and appropriate advice is offered to government.
Service Delivery
Operationally the Ministry must also manage significant risk potential, in areas such as:
- failure of technology systems in the delivery of on-line services;
- effectiveness of our internal management systems;
- failure of individuals to meet the standards of behaviour expected of public servants and Ministry employees; and
- failure to prepare for incidents outside the Ministry's control (e.g. natural disasters).
The Ministry manages these risks through clear expectations of behaviours that support the Public Service and the Ministry Codes of Conduct, an emphasis on the Ministry's values, business continuity planning, and well managed contracting with suppliers.
The Ministry will continue to refine its strategies to ensure we can provide efficient and effective services to Ministers and third party fee-payers, within the resources available to us. We will continue to strengthen our strategic and business planning processes to address risks through improved direction setting, accountabilities, capability building, and knowledge management strategies across the organisation.
A new position has been created to ensure that the Ministry optimises the alignment between its strategy, planning, operating review, and risk systems.
Good risk management also requires good management information. The Ministry is therefore looking to update its management information systems to ensure that managers have easy to access up-to-date financial and personnel data.
We will review and test our crisis management systems over the next 12 months.
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