Transformation program

The latest edition of ET News is out now. This issue features updates from Planning & Programs, Capital Projects, Customer & Stakeholder Relationships, and Enablement.

The latest edition of ET News is live. See the latest change initiatives from workstreams Planning & Programs, Financial Sustainability, and Leadership, Culture & Behaviour. We also explain how the Evolving Transport Program is coordinated and governed from end-to-end.

We recently decided to temporarily pause some of our organisational design work, so everyone could focus on supporting our people and the community during this time of uncertainty with Coronavirus.

While pausing was the right thing to do, we haven’t lost momentum and are building on the great work that has happened so far.

Work is currently underway to do some further groundwork on the operating model that will better inform and speed up the design of branches in key areas.

Thank you to everyone who have taken part in branch design work to date. By making use of all the work that’s already been done we have the opportunity for branches to accelerate design, which will give people clarity and certainty sooner. Your ideas, engagement and hard work have been crucial to help set us up on this path.

Next steps and timings

We have now scheduled when branches will start their design process again, which will kick off from June.

The revised design schedule focuses on giving branches more flexibility to complete their design, by providing a better understanding of how our organisation needs to operate into the future.

Branches have reorganised into three groups based on the below criteria:

• Group A: Branches whose organisational structure is less dependent on the design and work flows of other branches therefore can progress with organisational design at their own time and pace
• Group B: Branches whose organisational structure is highly connected across the operating model and influences the design of branches in Group C
• Group C: Branches whose organisational structure enables and supports the customer-centred operating model and is influenced by the design branches in Group B

Find out when your branch will go through the design process.

Planning for Groups A and B to progress is underway, with their branch designs continuing from June. Group C will follow from August. However, we will need to remain flexible during this time as Coronavirus continues.

The rest of the Evolving Transport Transformation Program is still continuing with work taking place online and new ways of working being used to make sure we keep rolling out the change initiatives over the coming months.

The latest edition of Evolving Transport News is out now!

Click here to find the recent updates on executive recruitment, and also Capital Projects, Safety, and Asset Management workstreams.

To make sure we can continue to deliver the Evolving Transport Program during these times, the Transformation Office has done an assessment of the Program to evaluate Coronavirus impacts.

The good news:

• Most workstreams only have minor impacts, meaning work continues as we pivot to an online approach and address resourcing impacts from Coronavirus.
• There are opportunities to accelerate delivery in some workstreams, such as Leadership, Culture and Behaviours; we’re going to keep looking for these opportunities.
• Pausing Organisational Structure is giving us time to reflect on what we’ve learnt so far and better embed our operating model – this is helping us to formulate an approach to fast-track branch design in key areas.
• Some Executive recruitment is being finalised and interim structures are progressing to ensure branches can function effectively in the interim.

Work to adapt our approach to Organisational Structure continues this week, including conversations with Dep Secs to work through some critical components such as timeframes. More to come soon about next steps and what this means for your branch.

You can see here the assessment of Coronavirus impacts on the ET Program. It’s important during this time we keep progressing with all the great work happening in the Evolving Transport Program, as we find new ways of doing things.

As part of our overall business response to Coronavirus, we have decided to put Stage 1 organisational design temporarily on pause. The teams are working hard on a revised approach and schedule, and we will send through more information in the next few weeks. There have also been some changes to Future Workplace moves. Visit the Future Workplace website for more information.

The remaining 12 workstreams in the transformation program will continue as planned as we find new ways to continue delivering in this environment. We have already made a lot of progress across the program and as things continue to change, we have an opportunity to innovate and potentially accelerate some of our work.

Find out here about the latest news on the Evolving Transport program, visit this page regularly or click here to subscribe.

In April 2019, we started the journey to become one Transport organisation focused on better customer and community outcomes and to change the ways we work. We established the Evolving Transport program to drive this change within our organisation.

Throughout the year, we developed and agreed on roles and responsibilities, accountabilities of divisions, and the functions that worked across several divisions.

From this we established a number of Evolving Transport workstreams to help us implement the transformation and shape the way we work within our new operating model.

You can now see all of the timelines, initiatives, and commitments for each workstream.

These 13 workstreams will deliver major change initiatives over the next 6 to 12 months across a range of areas. Eleven are about ways of working, and the other two are about organisational structure and supporting the changes (enablement workstream).

Each of these workstreams lines up with our operating pillars which ensures we are delivering:

• the design of new processes and ways of working
• improved financial sustainability and outcomes
• an improved experience for our people at work
• the design and implement the next layers of our new organisational structure.

Timing of workstreams

Each workstream has sponsors and project leads who have defined ambitious timelines for driving improvements to our ways of working. As you can see, we are aiming to have many workstream initiatives completed and transitioned to a BAU way of working by mid-year 2020.

What we’ve achieved so far

While there is more work to do, we have already made a lot of progress while continuing to deliver every day for customers and communities. Here are some of the highlights:

• completed an extensive consultation that included receiving over 2000 pieces of feedback and 65 briefing session for the new divisions top level structure
• set-up new divisions of our operating model which redefines how our business is structured
• put in place our new top level leadership structures
• moved everyone to a Transport email address
• providing an integrated and collaborative Transport response to the NSW bushfires
• developed a stakeholder management framework to better engage with our external stakeholders

There will be regular updates about how the workstreams are progressing, so continue to check the Evolving Transport Transformation Program and Workstreams page.

From today, our new top level leadership structure comes into effect with new branches, leaders and reporting lines. Let’s run through what this may mean for you and your team.

Appointed branch leaders and other leader movements

Throughout January, recruitment has been progressing to appoint leaders for the top level leadership. You can get to know a little more about the appointed leaders on 'Our leaders' webpage to help you start putting a face to the name.

Please visit this page for the latest information on appointed leaders, and also leader movements and acting arrangements on your divisional pages found on the right hand panel.

For the remaining vacant roles, recruitment is progressing well and your divisional and branch leaders will make further announcements about these soon.

How this may affect you

• Reporting lines - As part of the transition to our new top level structure, we have a number of teams moving in and out of divisions, as well as between branches. This means your reporting lines may have changed. If you are unsure which branch your team belongs to in the new structure, please check the updated structure information pack on your divisional page. This pack also includes information on the new reporting lines for Executive administrative and business support staff.
• Systems – we are working to have our systems reflect the new structure as quickly as possible. In the meantime, there may be discrepancies between what is in the system and how your branch is functioning.
• Governance – branch leaders will be reviewing and setting up divisional governance for us to operate efficiently as quickly as possible.
• Operating rhythm – each branch leader will prioritise meeting new teams in the next few weeks, and establishing how the branch will operate.

How you can help

Teething problems are inevitable for this scale of change, so we ask that you speak up when you spot something that is not working. Please share thoughts and recommendations to your manager and divisional management office.

Next steps

We are now moving onto the detailed design of 15 branches with several of them bundled in the Finance and Investment, Operations, or Place design activities. Another five branches will be designed individually.

For our other branches, our organisational design is only one part of how we are transforming into a more integrated and collaborative organisation. There are other ways we can start working differently, such as reviewing our processes and workflows.

Details about the next steps for your branch will come through in the coming weeks from your branch leaders.

Over the next few months, leaders will be appointed to roles in the new structure. We have a new ‘Our leaders’ page that will help you get to know a little bit more about them including putting a face to the name.

As we finalise our operating model we will be regularly updated to profile more of our leaders, so stay tuned for more to come.

You can find further information of the teams under these leaders and other people movements on the divisional pages found on the right hand panel.

We’ve now moved into the next phase of Evolving Transport, where we will look at the organisational design for branches and teams. This work will happen across 3 stages and will be led by our new top level leadership, which comes into effect on Monday 3 February.

Key information:

• Detailed organisational design will be done in 3 stages – first stage starting in February, second stage starting in May and third stage starting in August.
• The design process for each stage is expected to take between four and twelve weeks, depending on the complexities of the teams and functions.
• We’ve grouped together or ‘bundled’ some highly interconnected branch teams and functions, 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 your branch design in the lead up to each stage.
• If your branch is scheduled for the later stages, 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.

Work is continuing on the 13 Evolving Transport workstreams as we move through changing our structure. For more information, please visit our FAQ’s relating to this announcement. You can also still access the December 9 consolidated top level leadership information