10 September 2019 - Secretary's Evolving Transport update

Hi everyone,

We have made good progress in the Foundation Planning (3A) stage and are close to finishing work in this phase. We are concurrently planning for the detailed planning and implementation process - this is where structures and new ways of working will be developed with your input.

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken part in foundation planning over the past few weeks. I can’t emphasise enough how important this piece of work has been. You’ve provided great ideas, insights and valuable feedback that is helping everyone get on the same page about the roles of our new divisions and how they will work together going forward.

We have developed new draft purpose statements and accountabilities for each division, which are available on the Evolving Transport website for you to read and comment on. We’ll be finalising these later in the year, so I would encourage everyone to join the conversation and have your say on the future of our divisions.

Your feedback has also helped us identify additional interdependencies or focus areas that we are now working on as a priority. These are areas of our work that cut across divisions and have multiple areas of our business accountable for them. Each of the eight interdependencies is being sponsored and led by a Division leader and it includes reviewing everything we do in these areas and determining the smartest and most efficient way of working in the future.

What is organisation design and how are we doing it?

It’s a question that keeps cropping up in your feedback. Organisation design is much more than creating structures on a page. It’s about working through and determining how we operate together as one transport organisation to achieve our Future Transport strategy. It means looking at our organisation in detail – workflows, systems, processes, structures and ways of working – to make sure they all work together to help us achieve the best for customers and communities.

Foundation planning has been a key part of our organisation design as all the information and decisions we’ve made will underpin the next phase.

What is co-design?

You may have heard people talking about ‘co-design’ lately and we’ve also had many questions on this subject. Co-design is a way of creating something with people so that the result of what is being created meets their needs and is usable. It involves listening to diverse thoughts and experiences and allowing these to inform the outcome.

Co-design doesn’t mean everyone gets to go to a workshop. But it does mean providing opportunities for different voices to be heard, to provide feedback and challenge current thinking. This could be through a survey, focus groups, online discussions and forums, one-to-one sessions and group sessions.

It’s also important to understand that not every process will require a co-design approach. There will be basic things that we can just get on with by using a more direct approach and these will be decided as the organisation design progresses.

We’re using co-design so you can inform and influence how we design our future organisation. I encourage you to think about what other aspects of your work could be improved by taking a co-design approach with customers, stakeholders and clients.

What’s happening in the organisation design and implementation phase?

We’ve broken the next phase into two parts. In the first part (3B-1), we will work through our priority interdependencies and design the functional models and top-level structures for all divisions. This phase will provide more detail around what will and won’t be done in each division and how those functions will be organised in relationship to one another.

Where possible, all divisions have their top level structure (to the level of direct reports of division leaders/deputy secretaries) designed and proposed by mid-October. These structures will then be ideally implemented by mid December. Some divisions may also have the next layer (direct reports to the direct reports of divisional leaders/dep secretaries) defined in the timeframe as well. Working back, this means staff consultation on the functional models and top-level structures would ideally close in November.

The second part of this phase (3B-2) is when we will start the design and implementation of the remaining structures for all divisions which will take place from January – October 2020.

This approach means that we will have to wait some time before we know what the outcome will be for teams and individuals. However, this is a deliberate decision that I am taking to ensure a more robust design approach is put in place and reduce the need for us to continually restructure in future.

What are the next steps?

Divisional leaders are working with the Transformation Office and People and Culture business partners to consider the feedback and input we’ve had so far. People and Culture will then work with each division to come up with divisional functional models and top-level structures over the next 6 weeks. Your leader will be keeping you in the loop as the process continues.

Getting support during change

It is important to look after yourself, and each other.

There are support services available on the Evolving Transport website. I really encourage you to take advantage of these great tools.

Rodd Staples

Secretary