13 January 2020 - Message from the Secretary

Hi everyone,

As I said in my message last week, the continued bushfire crisis has made for a challenging start to the year for us, and for communities across the state and nation. After another difficult day last Friday, I’m pleased that the conditions have again started to ease. The State of Emergency has also now ended. Unfortunately, the need to respond continues and the period of recovery will be even longer. This creates the challenge of supporting the bushfire recovery, including major repairs to roads such as the Gwydir, Oxley, Princes, Snowy Mountains and Kings Highways and the rail line between Mt Victoria and Lithgow, while continuing our focus on how we can create better outcomes for customers and communities across NSW for the longer term.

Over the last several weeks, I have seen firsthand how the early stages of our integrated operating model helped us during the bushfire crises. Despite our structure not yet fully aligning with the new model, teams under pressure and in the thick of the bushfire response came together, got in and got it done. I know that a crisis can help people to come together and make things happen, regardless of titles and structures. But what I saw went beyond this. We had people working together with a deeper understanding of their colleagues and other parts of the Transport network than would have been the case even six months ago. Our response during the bushfires is a good example that ways of working can get us a long way. The fully developed operating model will get us even further. During 2020 we will continue to design our organisation to ensure everyone experiences the benefits of the integrated operating model.

Update on Deputy Secretary roles and the Transport leadership team

Since last year, I’ve been focused on recruiting to three Deputy Secretary roles. I’m pleased to announce the people who will be leading these divisions:

Tara McCarthy will join us on 3 February as Deputy Secretary, Safety, Environment and Regulation – Tara has worked across government, not for profit and commercial sectors, and is not new to Transport. Tara was formerly Executive Director in Point to Point Transport, successfully leading the establishment of the new regulator. More recently, she was Chief Executive of Local Government NSW where she brought together all local government, supporting and advocating for them so they could continue to meet the needs of local communities. She has extensive operational and strategic leadership experience, from leading programs totalling billions in Transport to being the Deputy Commissioner of the NSW SES.

Carol-Anne Nelson will join us on 2 March as Deputy Secretary, Regional and Outer Metropolitan – Carol-Anne is an experienced leader in operational management and strategic planning, with a great track record in delivering outstanding outcomes and leading business transformation. She has worked in both the public and private sector in rail, energy and infrastructure. She was with Queensland Rail for over 5 years. As Chief Operating Officer for V/Line in Victoria, she oversaw 45% growth in patronage, three timetable changes and significant cultural change, with operational responsibility for all rail and coach operations in regional Victoria. Carol-Anne has more recently worked in the private sector as General Manager at GFG Alliance, with focus on mining, energy generation, metals and engineering.

I am equally excited to have appointed a strong candidate as Deputy Secretary Customer Strategy and Technology and will be in a position to announce further details once the appropriate communications have been completed with their current employer. I expect to be able to announce specifics at the end of January, along with more information about Tara and Carol-Anne as we get closer to their start dates.

While I’m very excited to welcome these new leaders into Transport, I did not expect all three roles to come from outside the organisation. These roles attracted a lot of interest from people in both the public and private sectors across the country. Feedback shows us that leaders think Transport is doing really innovative things in new ways and there is very positive sentiment for our new operating model and Future Transport strategy, especially our more prominent focus on regional NSW, safety, innovation and technology, and how we want to build on our customer and community focus.

I’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Steve Jones, Rachel Wheeler and Matt Fuller for doing a great job leading these three divisions during a challenging time of change for the organisation and as leaders. I very much appreciate their dedication and contribution to the organisation, especially throughout 2019, and I’m very pleased to share that they have agreed to remain acting deputy secretaries until the new leaders start.

I am also pleased to share that all three have now been appointed to roles within Transport. Steve will take on the role of the Executive Director, Safety in Safety, Environment and Regulation, Rachel will join Greater Sydney in the Executive Director, Community and Place role and Matt is stepping into the Executive Director, Commercial and Strategic Projects role in Corporate Services.

In a further update regarding the executive leadership team, with RMS and TfNSW officially becoming one organisation last December, Fiona Trussell is no longer acting Chief Executive of RMS, but continues as acting Chief Transformation Officer, working closely with me on the evolution of our organisation and our move to the new operating model. I have also asked Fiona to lead the Office of the Secretary in the interim while Alison Cunningham takes on an acting Executive Director role in the Safety, Environment and Regulation division.

Bringing our new operating model to life

Before I move into Evolving Transport updates in more detail, here’s a quick refresh on where we’re up to. The Evolving Transport program has a number of workstreams to help bring our operating model to life. More information on these and how you can get involved will be communicated soon. One of these workstreams is focused on organisation design and structure and I’d like to share an update on this today.

Recruiting to branch leader roles:

In December, we finalised the divisional structures and functions of the Transport cluster based on your feedback and input. On 10 December we released job ads for leadership roles heading up some of the new branches. More will be released today, with the final four to be advertised in the week commencing 27 January.

Our new branch arrangements will come into effect on 3 February and where we’re unable to finalise recruitment to leadership roles before this date, we are putting in place acting arrangements. This means we’ll have leaders in place who can begin establishing the new branches as soon as possible. These acting arrangements are outlined here and will also be effective from 3 February. There is a small number of acting arrangements that will be confirmed during the last weeks of January.

Thank you to these leaders for taking on this opportunity. I have asked that the people taking on acting roles approach their task with the full delegation to lead their functions as required, especially during this time of change. I would also like everyone to understand that their selection is not indication of a recruitment outcome.

Designing our new branches:

From February, we will begin the design of our new branches in three stages across the year, and we now have a schedule for how this will happen. With an organisation as diverse as Transport, it’s important we do this carefully and we consider each branch’s requirements, whether straightforward or complex in both their size and how they interrelate with other teams and functions across the Transport cluster.

In deciding on the sequencing and timing, we have taken into consideration a number of things such as operational and safety considerations, the size and complexity of teams, interdependencies between teams, work happening across the other Evolving Transport workstreams and the Future Workplace office moves happening this year.

We are doing the design of our organisation in a different, more systematic way to keep our focus on interdependencies across divisions. We are being careful to not compromise the integrity of the process but it does mean it will take time. It’s important to get this right so we can set ourselves up to deliver even better outcomes in the future.

The following are some key points about the process. You will hear more about what this means for you from your Divisional leader this week.

Detailed design of branches will be in 3 stages with the first stage starting in February, second stage in May and third stage in August.

The design process for each branch is expected to take between four and twelve weeks, depending on the complexities of the teams and functions.

We’ve grouped together or ‘bundled’ branches with interconnected functions so they can be designed in a way that considers their similarities and interdependencies. For example, finance related branches will be designed at the same time so we can more effectively understand and consider the complexities of these teams together. It also means our people have the opportunity to consider more than one role they might be interested in as similar or aligned areas will be designed together.

We will share information about how you can get involved in branch design in the lead up to each stage.

If your branch is scheduled for the second or third stage, there are things you can do now, such as teams within a branch starting to work together to look at better ways to combine or streamline processes, and how relationships can be improved through your day-to-day activities.

Looking out for yourself and each other

Now more than ever, it’s important that you prioritise your personal safety, and that of your colleagues, friends and family. Whether that’s in relation to the bushfires or as we go through the ups and downs of change, please look after yourselves and each other, and always reach out for help and support if you need it – lots of support is on hand and outlined here for you.

We also now have a dedicated site that has been developed to keep all our people across the Transport cluster informed and supported during the bushfire crisis. You can find out what we’re doing to help those in need across NSW, the support available for you including various leave options, how you can help and information to help leaders manage their people during this time. Go to www.stayinformed.com.au anytime, from any device to find the latest information.

Thank you again to those of you supporting communities and customers across the state, and those who are supporting our people in their efforts to do this.

Keep safe.

Rodd Staples

Secretary