Contents
Overview
Our purpose is to lead a high-performing State Services
that New Zealanders can be proud of and trust
to deliver outstanding results and value for money
Iain Rennie, State Services Commissioner
Achieving its ambition to lift the performance of the State Services will require the State Services Commission (SSC) to increase collaboration across agencies to improve customer experience and deliver results for Government.
SSC’s role is to work with leaders across the State Services to change the way agencies think, organise and operate. We’re shifting our approach, from setting policy and the framework for change, to assisting agencies to work at pace across agency boundaries to deliver improved customer services and results.
Over the past four years SSC has launched the Better Public Services Results programme, established Functional Leadership and Head of Profession roles, amended the State Sector Act (to require chief executives and Crown Entity Boards to collaborate with other public entities where practicable) and published the first Leadership Strategy for the State Services.
Having established a framework for change, our next four years will focus on assisting agencies to achieve. We will develop Public Service chief executives as the collective leaders of State Services reform and performance. We will enable cross-agency and whole of government approaches by incentivising and removing barriers to collaboration, providing expertise and investing in capabilities and tools.
Priority Areas
SSC has introduced a portfolio approach to prioritise and balance investment across our interventions. Our three externally-facing portfolios encompass SSC’s five priority areas:
|
Portfolios |
Priority areas |
Interventions |
Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Collective Impact |
CE recruitment CE performance management |
Aligning CE recruitment, expectation setting and appraisal to incentivise collaboration to deliver results |
CEs take collective responsibility and work together to ensure that the State Services make the greatest possible difference for New Zealanders |
|
System Stewardship |
Leadership and talent development and deployment Employment relations |
Investing in infrastructure to support system-wide approaches Building agency capability in talent management, workforce planning and employment relations |
The State Services has the people, institutions and approach to anticipate and respond effectively to the needs of New Zealanders today and in the future |
|
Learning Culture |
Performance Improvement Framework |
Evolving the PIF to support agencies to improve performance for customers Extending the PIF approach to the wider State Services, co-designing a PIF for the education system |
The State Services learns about what works best and uses this to improve its performance for customers |
In our fourth portfolio, Better Every Day SSC, we are implementing a new customer-focused operating model. This will lift our own performance and capability to operate as a confident and respected leader of system change.
The priority areas are mutually reinforcing and together enable SSC to drive the focus and pace of system change. The portfolio approach will improve prioritisation, while our management focus will be on strengthening alignment and integration across the priority areas to reinforce desired behaviours and performance.
One of our most important roles is appointing, inducting and evaluating the performance of Public Service chief executives. Since SSC’s 2013 PIF review we have changed the way chief executive performance expectations are set and performance is appraised and remunerated. We will continue to improve chief executive recruitment and applicant experience, increase engagement between chief executives and improve development and succession planning.
Alongside these changes we will continue to grow the pipeline of talented leaders for system-critical roles. We will also continue to work with the PIF Lead Reviewers to continuously improve the value to the PIF to both Ministers and chief executives.
In addition, SSC is investing in two new areas which have the potential to become key levers to lifting performance across State Services agencies. The first is to maintain a continuous improvement centre of expertise for the State Services. Early indications from agencies who have participated in the pilot programme are that applying the continuous improvement method will deliver benefits for customers and agencies.
The second is to establish a new senior leadership role to better connect government leaders in Auckland, and increase engagement between Auckland and Wellington-based leaders. We will ensure these new levers are aligned with, and contribute to, our existing priority work to connect and develop chief executives, build the pipeline of talented leaders for system-critical roles and lift system performance.