• About DPMC
• Contact us
• Feedback
• News
• Publications
• Working in DPMC
  • Vacancies

Publications ~ Statement of Intent
for the year ending 30 June 2005

MANAGING FOR SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES

The quality of DPMC’s work and its staff are the two key “success factors” that mean DPMC can achieve its intended outcomes with the optimal use of its overall resources.

Key Factors in Achieving DPMC's Outcomes

The systems and structures of government are complex. Problems and issues change – often in subtle ways, and significant new events are always occurring.

The ability to work well with all parts of the public service is central to DPMC’s effectiveness in dealing with complex public-policy issues. Certain qualities are essential to all DPMC’s work because their presence increases the probability that its final products will be effective in achieving outcomes. The adaptability and associated ability of staff members to learn quickly is also central to DPMC’s success.

These essential qualities that characterise DPMC’s work and its staff are the “success factors” that mean DPMC can achieve its intended outcomes with the optimal use of its overall resources.

Work Qualities

DPMC’s work must be:

• Thorough – showing a complete understanding of the issues involved, the options for action, and the implications of action.
  
  
• Accurate – making sure information and advice are based on sound data and analysis.
  
  
• Succinct – getting to the key issues clearly and quickly.
  
  
• Honest – reassuring everyone DPMC deals with of its ability to be a truthful messenger and honest broker.
  
  
• Free and frank – fulfilling DPMC’s ethical obligation to provide Prime Ministers and others with the necessary advice.
  
  
• Discreet – maintaining appropriate levels of confidentiality to ensure that government business is conducted effectively.
  
  
• Impartial – ensuring that DPMC’s advice is not coloured by any political perspective or the pursuit of any personal or institutional advantage.

Staff qualities

DPMC’s staff members need to collectively show:

• Adaptability – the ability to detect and respond quickly and effectively to new issues and situations.
  
  
• Good judgement – the ability to weigh all relevant considerations and to provide good advice or action as required.
  
  
• Effective engagement of others – the ability to lead, mobilise and inspire results-oriented action by other stakeholders.
  
  

Risk management

By embodying these qualities in all it does, DPMC can minimise the risk of unintended, and, in particular, negative consequences resulting from departmental action. The key dimensions of this type of risk are performance and capability risks.

Performance risks include:

• not maintaining the quality of advisory and support services
  
  
• failing to assess the nature or significance of changes in DPMC’s operating environment
  
  
• failing to understand or meet the requirements of the users of DPMC’s services
  
  
• not maintaining effective networks and processes of consultation with stakeholders.
  
  

Capability risks include:

• not developing and maintaining the necessary levels or mix of staff skills in DPMC
  
  
• not implementing and supporting available improvements in information and communications technology
  
  
• not maintaining the level of departmental resources to ensure that operational needs are met.
  
  

Performance risk is inextricably linked with capability risk. If DPMC does not stay on top of the issues that can result in capability risk, then DPMC is exposed increasingly to performance risk.

Capability factors

“Capability” for DPMC is its ability to organise its overall resources to promote the success factors that it has identified as increasing the likelihood of meeting its intended outcomes. There needs to be sufficient flexibility to change this mix progressively as outcomes change and evolve over time. DPMC also needs the ability to reallocate resources extremely rapidly to deal with major “sudden” issues. The desired departmental capabilities are overviewed below.

High-performing staff are essential for achieving DPMC’s outcomes and maintaining the required standards in our work. Staff members require high-level conceptual, analytical and communication skills; specialist knowledge; a strong work ethic; and a high level of commitment. Sound judgement and the ability to inspire and work effectively with others are also essential.

A good-agency reputation for past achievements determines the perceptions of other agencies about how DPMC will operate in the future. DPMC aims to obtain the voluntary co-operation of stakeholders in achieving outcomes through maintaining their confidence in DPMC’s impartiality, honesty, discretion, analytical rigour, and broad viewpoint. This includes having a track record of integrity from serving different administrations and supporting the continuity and stability of executive government.

Good networks are needed to obtain the engagement of all interested agencies in contributing to DPMC’s outcomes. DPMC must have excellent working relationships, based on high levels of trust, with all agencies who could influence or affect the business of government. This is necessary for gathering information, developing and testing policy advice, and generally gaining stakeholders’ engagement for the implementation of policies.

Effective infrastructure within DPMC is needed. Such support includes the various corporate, administrative and information-support services, together with personal processes of interaction that support the work of staff members and promote high levels of consultation and sharing of information and knowledge across DPMC. Technology capability remains essential to the DPMC’s role of co-ordinating government policy and responding flexibly and quickly to issues that appear on the political radar with little warning. DPMC has a medium-term replacement strategy for its computer hardware and software. The intention is to work on a four-year life cycle, but with progressive upgrading of key hardware components and operating system and applications software within this timeframe. For instance, one-third of desktop computers will be replaced each year as part of the strategy, and software systems will be upgraded so that DPMC is no more than one version behind the latest release.

The ways in which DPMC is enhancing its capabilities

Ongoing challenges will need to be met through management of DPMC’s overall capability. Careful monitoring and management of the types and levels of resources is needed. Many of the significant responsibilities of key staff members are specific solely to the needs of executive government – so a great deal of staff learning must take place on the job. Some key positions are skilled specialist roles that are the only ones of their type in the country, which means that the staff-selection process for appointees to key roles must be extremely rigorous. These are matters which DPMC has faced in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Our response as an organisation will be to:

1. Ensure that DPMC, as a key means of maintaining a skilled and committed staff, provides all possible opportunities for individuals to obtain job satisfaction and appropriate training within a working environment that supports and values excellent performance.
   
   
2. Enable staff within DPMC to work across existing branch boundaries on projects and services that contribute to departmental outcomes.
   
   
3. Provide opportunities for the secondment of staff from other agencies to work in DPMC for a fixed time. Such work provides officials with practical experience of taking a whole-of-government approach to working with people and issues.
   
   
4. Maintain and develop a supportive internal work environment that values personal commitment to results-oriented work competencies and also ensures observance of the highest standards of personal integrity and adherence to the values of the public service.
   
   
5. Enable DPMC to learn from any unintended results in order to improve, in a systematic way, its business operation.
   
   
6. Ensure that staff can access and manage relevant information within DPMC, and across the Government sector, as efficiently as possible. As appropriate, this will require DPMC to align itself with e-government initiatives.
   
   
7. Continue to monitor DPMC’s strategic human resources in terms of succession planning and the retention of specialist skills within the department – with a particular emphasis on the turnover of key personnel.
   
   
8. Implement the plan to increase departmental capability from the 2004/05 year and in subsequent out years during the period of this Statement of Intent. The department's total operating budget will be increased by $0.968 million for 2004/05 (a 5.7 per cent increase on last year's appropriation) and by $1.164 million annually in the out years (a 6.3 per cent increase on this year's appropriation). This additional funding will provide greater coverage for key staff; address remuneration, training, development, and capacity issues; and allow better maintenance programmes for Government House.
   

 

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – Strategic Overview

 

Overall outcome	Good government, with effective public-service support.
Contributing outcomes	Decisionmaking by the Prime Minister and Cabinet is well supported.	Continuity of executive government within accepted conventions & practices is maintained and well supported.	The Governor-General is well supported.	Management of domestic & external security and other risks is well planned & co-ordinated.
How the outcomes are achieved	Through providing: High-quality advice and information. Effective services to Cabinet & Executive Council. Effective public-service response to key issues. Accurate recording of Cabinet decisions.	Through providing: Effective advice and support on the processes of Cabinet government. Effective constitutional advice & support.	Through providing: Effective constitutional advice & support. Effective support for the Governor-General’s community & ceremonial roles. Maintenance of the Governor-General’s residences.	Through providing: Effective co-ordination of advice & inter-agency response to crises & threats. Effective standards for protecting information. Effective assessment of external issues that could affect New Zealand.
Departmental outputs that service the outcomes	D1. Policy advice, secretariat & co-ordination services. D3. Intelligence assessments on develop- ments overseas.	D1. Policy advice, secretariat & co-ordination services.	D1. Policy advice, secretariat & co-ordination services. D2. Support services to the Governor-General & maintenance of the residences.	D1. Policy advice, secretariat & co-ordination services. D3. Intelligence assessments on developments overseas.