Strengthening our capability
In 2007/08 the groups from which the Department was formed continued to evolve into a single, cohesive organisation. To fulfil our role, we are committed to building a capable, adaptive organisation with a culture of accountability, pride in our work and a willingness to work with others in the sector to build knowledge and understanding and to achieve results.
Internal change will continue as the Department adapts to changes in the sector and its operating context. Our intention is to create a flexible and responsive organisation that anticipates changing circumstances, is ‘fit for purpose' and adds value to the government, sector stakeholders and consumers alike.
Building capability and performance underpins all of our strategies and links to each of the intermediate outcomes.
We continued and will continue to develop leadership and management capability. Effective leadership through change is critical to the successful development of the Department and its people.
We continued to build people capability by enhancing skills and knowledge. A major priority is improving the engagement with staff. Our focus is on engaging staff through an ongoing process, not a single induction event that occurs when they join the Department.
Developing and enhancing core systems is also an important contributor to achieving our strategies and outcomes.
The Department has continued to build organisational capability based on the 2006/07 Development Goals for the State Services.
- Employer of Choice - ensure the State Services is an employer of choice attractive to high achievers with a commitment to service.
- Excellent State Servants - a strong culture of constant learning in the pursuit of excellence.
- Networked State Services - use technology to transform the provision of services for New Zealanders.
- Coordinated State Agencies - ensure the total contribution of government agencies is greater than the sum of its parts.
- Accessible State Services - enhance access, responsiveness and effectiveness, and improve New Zealanders' experience of State Services.
- Trusted State Services - strengthen trust in the State Services, and reinforce the spirit of service.
The Department's organisational development programme for the year 2007/08 and beyond is based around five priority areas.
- Defining and aligning roles to ensure every person in the Department is clear about what they are expected to do, what authority they have and what performance management systems are in place to support them
- Translating strategy into action through an improved planning system that aligns the Department's strategic, business and financial planning systems and progress reporting
- Developing and implementing an integrated system of internal service delivery
- Developing leadership capability throughout the Department
- Enhancing employee engagement from recruitment onward
The Department is committed to implementing systems that:
- enhance service delivery: our systems will directly improve the quality of our service, improve access for our clients and enable the Department to better connect with the communities we serve
- grow the sector knowledge-base: systems will support the development of professional skills and the dissemination of information to and across the sector, as well as gathering and collating information that will enable well-informed policy advice and operational decisions
- strengthen our relationship-building capability with the building and housing sector: the Department is committed to building its capability to work with the sector to implement reforms in the building sector and at local government level in a way that is practical and ‘do-able', and supportive of the changes required.
Summary of initiatives to strengthen our capability in 2007/08
The Department has:
- designed and implemented an employee engagement system, including induction and team leader development
- continued to build staffing capability through completing the recruitment process for second- and third-tier managers
- continued to develop leadership capability through specific programmes that focus on interpersonal, organisational and sectoral leadership - which has included the delivery of a leadership development programme to over 60 managers and key staff, and a team leader development programme to develop core management skills such as financial, human resource, business planning and communication skills to enable managers to be successful in their roles
- progressed specific business system developments, including:
- defining the requirements, gaining business case approval and commencing the procurement process for an investment in an integrated national, consolidated voice and data network. This will enable us to more effectively mobilise our tenancy services workforce supporting the extension of our services over a greater geographic area
- developing the project brief to commence work to upgrade our human resource and payroll systems to better help managers with more accurate and useful online data
- completing the selection of an Electronic Records and Document Management System which will be implemented in 2008/09
- developing a project brief for the upgrade or replacement of the financial management information system
- completing procurement for server replacement and upgrade and the laptop and PC replacement programme.
- completed a redevelopment of the people management policies and processes to support the employee engagement system which included:
- the development of our Charter which describes the outcomes and behaviours we expect to see from all staff in the Department to guide our work in supporting sector leadership
- developing a Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest policy and creating a register of conflicts of interest
- completing development of and implementing a comprehensive induction programme with role induction, departmental induction and day one induction all defined and now business as usual
- reviewing the appropriateness of the role descriptions and creating a new model of role description which defines not only expected work but also expected behaviours and results
- completing the review and documentation for the performance and development process and the remuneration process
- completing the review and documentation of policies and processes for the recruitment and selection of staff
- providing comprehensive training across the organisation to all staff on the performance and development processes
- bringing together and documenting all the Department's policies and processes to support staff learning and development along with the process to engage with the Leadership Development Centre
- continuing to build the capability of staff to engage with others to help develop systems and skills in territorial authorities
- completed and promulgated the new Financial and Accounting Policies with appropriate training
- improved the quality of financial reporting and monthly and quarterly reports to the Minister
- put in place the operating review part of the performance and assurance system
- completed and commenced implementation of new IT system development life cycle and IT project management methodologies.