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Last updated: 25 October 2007
Agency Health: Monitoring agency health and improving performance
Attachment A
Checklist for Agency Discussions on Corporate Health
1. Corporate health indicators associated with organisations that perform well
Organisational Direction
- an awareness of, and focus on, core business throughout the organisation
- organisational structure reflects organisational direction
- investment in research and strategic policy capacity
- an appropriate balance between innovation and risk aversion
- agency monitors and responds to changes in the external environment
- organisational purpose and strategies reviewed regularly
- agency achieves improvements in quality and efficiency through innovation and continual improvement
Effective Leadership
- an emphasis on all elements of the Senior Executive Leadership Capability (SELC) Framework
- leaders display a visible commitment to the values they espouse
- leaders understand their roles
- leaders pay appropriate attention to all aspects of an agency’s operations
- strong and effective linkages between middle and senior managers
- leaders effectively manage poor performance
- leaders and managers are open to alternative or dissenting views
- a strong framework of support to build judgment and confidence in making decisions
- leaders look beyond immediate priorities and engage in forward planning
Organisational Capability
- a focus on all aspects of organisational capability, including people, processes, culture, structures, and assets
- high relative intellectual capital (based on length and breadth of experience and qualifications of employees) and a focus on assessing trends in intellectual capital
- a balanced age profile, or workforce planning strategies in place to deal with the impact of an ageing workforce
- levels of staff turnover are neither too high nor too low
- significant investment in training and development (formal and informal) and high take-up of training opportunities
- capability strategies are integrated with performance management, reward and recognition frameworks
- effective recruitment and induction processes
- effective knowledge management systems and transfer organisational systems, including programme management, ICT, financial, and human resources systems are aligned to corporate outcomes and priorities
- a focus on project implementation
Effective Corporate Governance Processes
- clear accountabilities and responsibilities
- resources are aligned with outcomes
- an emphasis on effective risk management rather than rigid process monitoring, with key risks identified, articulated and remediated
- governance arrangements are reviewed regularly
- committee systems operate in a timely and efficient manner, and with a clear sense of purpose
- committee membership is considered carefully
- appropriate assessment of delegations and decision-making levels
- a focus on evaluation, including benchmarking of performance against the wider environment and the use of staff and stakeholder surveys
- full cooperation with external scrutiny
- effective management information systems
Relationships and Integrity
- professionalism, including showing respect for others and an understanding of a public servant’s duty
- an emphasis on building effective workplace relationships with Ministers’ offices
- high levels of client focus
- employees exercising regulatory power understand the basis of that power and act in accordance with the regulatory framework
- ethical and effective relationships with stakeholders (measured through stakeholder consultation and surveys)
- consultants appreciate business requirements and understand the impact of what they deliver and its timeliness
- generally favourable public perceptions of integrity
- an internal culture of respect
- high levels of staff morale and job satisfaction (measured through staff consultation and surveys)
Effective Agency Culture
- promotion of a culture of continual improvement, empowerment of staff and trust
- focus on early identification of signs of cultural problems such as lack of information sharing, poor relationships and improper behaviour
- high levels of collegiality and confidence among the leadership group
- strong support for employees
- a focus on effective work-life balance
- support for diversity within the workplace
- an understanding of differences in internal agency culture, and an emphasis on whole-of-agency identity and approaches
- an emphasis on collaboration and engagement with other agencies and relevant stakeholders
Public Sector Factors
- anticipates and responds to emerging issues or priorities of government
- fully aware of the context (political, social, economic) of the agency’s operations
- an emphasis on agility and effective systems for managing change
- effective and proactive handling of public relations
- staff are supported in dealings with Ministers and/or Ministers’ offices
- an emphasis on continual productivity improvement and the agency is proactive about dealing with funding concerns
- procedures are in place to effectively manage geographically dispersed offices
- an effective balance between regulatory compliance and flexibility
2. Corporate health indicators associated with agencies at risk of poor performance
Shortcomings in Organisational Direction
- poor communication of organisational purpose, strategies and vision
- organisational structure is not related to organisational direction, and is difficult to understand
- neglect of core business and business processes
- neglect of research and strategic policy capacity
- an inappropriate balance between innovation and risk aversion
- exercising little delegation and empowerment of staff
- failing to notice or respond to a change in operating environment
Poor Leadership
- a lack of depth and breadth of experience of the management team (particularly in the areas of people management and shaping strategic thinking)
- a lack of clarity in leadership responsibilities
- leaders not effectively managing performance
- a disconnect between senior leaders and middle managers
- a low level of scrutiny and focus by leaders and managers
- a lack of forward planning
- leadership is not open to alternative views or criticism
- evidence of decision inertia
- hostility at senior levels to scrutiny by external bodies
- a focus on image or public relations rather than issues of operational importance
Organisational Capability Shortcomings
- neglect of some aspects of capability (e.g. people, processes, culture, structures, or assets) a lack of alignment between capability and organisational priorities low relative intellectual capital (based on length and breadth of experience and qualifications of employees) and a lack of focus on assessing trends in intellectual capital a lack of employee capability in key areas, either in core business areas (e.g. policy development, regulatory work) or support work (e.g. ICT or HR) an ageing workforce profile, with no strategies in place to deal with the loss of valued older staff a lack of, and/or poor take-up of, training and development excessively high or low turnover of staff ineffective recruitment and induction processes little integration between rewards and recognition frameworks and capability development poor knowledge transfer a lack of focus on effective systems, or poor systems in key areas, such as the management of large-scale projects, ICT or human resources a major failure in administration such as a poor financial situation, a major ICT failure, a large-scale project that overruns budget and timeframes, or an adverse audit finding
Ineffective Corporate Governance Processes
- a lack of clarity in accountabilities and responsibilities
- a lack of thought given to the appropriate decision-making levels
- a failure to regularly review governance processes
- ineffective committee structures and processes
- a non-strategic approach to committee membership
- poor resource management (including financial overspending and underspending) and ineffective alignment of resources with business needs
- an absence of evaluation measures and a lack of staff and stakeholder surveys
- ineffective risk management and a concentration on rigid process monitoring and measurement ineffective management information systems slowness in adopting financial, human resources and management reforms a repeated failure to fix or deal with identified problems or deficiencies
Difficult Relationships and Integrity Issues
- poor and ineffective stakeholder relationships (measured through stakeholder consultation and surveys)
- poor service provided to Ministers and/or Ministers’ offices
- low levels of client focus
- a lack of capability in exercising regulatory power
- sustained complaints to politicians about the organisation or sustained bad reports across the media
- gossip among a range of stakeholders
- a high incidence of, or level of tolerance for, alleged improper behaviour such as harassment and/or bullying
- general concerns about perceived ‘perks’ by senior staff
- low levels of employee engagement and signs of active disengagement among staff (as measured through staff consultation and surveys)
- staff raising concerns about any of the broad areas of corporate health
Shortcomings in Organisational Culture
- a lack of a clearly articulated and understood ‘culture’ aligned with the business focus
- low levels of staff empowerment and trust
- perceptions by stakeholders that the agency’s culture is insular and inwardly-focused
- a failure to respect workplace diversity
- poor work-life balance
- a culture of crisis and blame
- conflicting internal cultures and directions
- a low commitment to collaboration internally or with other agencies, and a fiefdom mentality or ‘us against them’ culture
- an inwardly-focused culture characterised by a lack of interest in learning from other organisations
Public Sector Factors
- a failure to anticipate and respond to changes in government priorities
- insufficient understanding of agency context (political, social, economic)
- insufficient agility and ineffective systems for managing change in response to rapid growth in agency responsibilities, employee numbers and/or workload
- a lack of support for staff dealing with Ministers and/or Ministers’ offices
- a lack of initiative in responding to funding pressures
- an ineffective balance between regulatory compliance and flexibility
- no thought about, or an ineffective approach to, managing geographically dispersed offices
