Strengthening Our Capability

Being clear on how we can add the most value

The main driver to help maximise the Treasury’s impact is embedding a results focus into every aspect of our organisation. In order to do that, our Strategic Leadership Team has set our three-to-five-year direction (outlined in the outcome sections) so that there is clarity about the overall impact we are seeking over time. That required impact is now being defined in terms of shorter-term results across all of the work we do.

Defining what is important to the Treasury as a whole makes it easier to allocate resources to the highest Treasury priorities, to work cross-Treasury on issues that will increase our leverage and to move out of areas (in a timely way) that are no longer a priority.

What we are doing to establish a results focus

• Establishment of an Organisational Results Team to provide guidance and assistance on specifying and measuring results across all Treasury groups.
  
  
• Asking all groups to undertake full specification of results by June 2007.
  
  
• Reviewing our performance management approach to ensure it is aligned with establishing a results focus using our Organisational Development and Capability Team.
  
  
• Measuring our impact externally – both when results are specified and then while we are working towards those results, so we can assess how well we are doing.
  
  
• Improving our internal assessment tools to review results, priorities and resourcing across the Treasury every six months, in addition to improving our process to resource emerging priorities between these regular reviews.

A stronger focus on the needs of our customers

A critical part of our results specification process is making sure that we understand the requirements of our customers, particularly the Minister of Finance, now and into the future. We build this into our results specification, our work programme and the way we operate on a daily basis.

We also need to maintain quality relationships with many other customers, key stakeholders and influencers. These range from the media and business audiences to colleagues in key government departments and agencies. To do so, we are constantly looking at new ways to listen, inform and engage.

What we are doing to establish a customer need focus

• Establishment of an Office of the Chief Executive to undertake specific work around identifying and meeting customer need.
  
  
• Ensuring information about the Minister’s requirements is communicated throughout the Treasury to guide day-to-day work, through better use of internal communication channels, and promoting ways to make our ministerial advice more solution-focused.
  
  
• Identifying potential issues of interest to governments in the future and acting now to position ourselves to be able to respond to these issues if the need arises.
  
  
• Actively identifying and promoting opportunities for external engagement by senior management with key stakeholder audiences, both formal and informal, centred around the Treasury’s work priorities.
  
  
• Proactively and regularly communicating with key media, particularly those with an interest in the economy and in the Treasury’s work, and monitoring the organisation’s media coverage and profile.
  
  
• Using the Treasury’s website/s to more effectively meet the needs of all key external audiences and customers, by creating more accessible navigation systems and content.

Delivering the best products, services and advice we can

We are building a focus on quality advice through more consistent quality standards, better timeliness and the provision of options and solutions.

What we are doing to establish a quality focus

• Making more explicit and consistent judgements on quality based on the overall results we are trying to achieve, and driving a stronger focus on behaviours that support quality.
  
  
• Developing and implementing a more systematic quality assurance system to ensure continuous improvement of our products, services and advice.
  
  
• Establishment of the Organisational Results Team, which has a cross-Treasury quality role and, in conjunction with our Development Centre, ensures more consistent knowledge of policy and analytical frameworks.
  
  
• Promoting a culture in which people feel comfortable to actively share their work and ideas to ensure there is an appropriately wide range of input, peer review and critique.

• Reviewing our performance management system to ensure it aligns with our results focus and to underpin behavioural change.
  
  
• Learning and development to support behavioural change.

• Creation of a Deputy Secretary Central Agencies position to provide extra focus on working across the three central agencies and on implementing the outcome of the Central Agencies Review.
  
  
• Creation of Assistant Secretary positions to work with the Deputy Secretaries in providing internal leadership and management within the Treasury groups and in engaging with external stakeholders.
  
  
• Striving internally for more consistency and a focused approach to leadership and management, including the development of future leaders. Externally, we want to be actively shaping the agenda and providing more leadership across the wider public sector.

• Moved from four policy branches to three policy groups to better reflect our three outcomes: Economic Performance (EP), State Sector Performance (SSP) and Macroeconomic.
  
  
• Establishment of the Central Agency Group to ensure that a central agency perspective is brought to the work we do.
  
  
• Establishment of the Organisational Performance Group, which is focusing on maximising the performance of the Treasury through the provision of improved advice and services.

• Using the Organisational Results Team to focus on our planning and prioritisation processes, linking directly with the results required.
  
  
• Using the Organisational Development and Capability Team to ensure that capability and resource allocation is closely aligned with those planning and prioritisation processes.

• Improving the quality of information available, particularly when decisions are taken with cross-Treasury implications, and creating new decision-making and advisory structures.