Auckland Council’s Chief Executive Phil Wilson has announced a refresh of the organisation’s top leadership tiers to help the council become the organisation that Aucklanders need us to be and deliver the services expected of us.
The proposed changes to the organisational structure, that were outlined to council staff today, include bringing together functions to enable better collaboration and ensure efficiency; reducing duplication and taking a more customer-centric, coordinated and cost-effective approach. He says this will help 'deliver differently' and enable the implementation of the Long-term Plan.
“In order to be the council that Aucklanders need us to be, we’ve got to do things differently. Having the right structure is critical; but how we deliver, our mindset and how we work together collaboratively across the council group will enable our success.
“This means making changes to our leadership portfolios now, and thinking about how we may need to adapt or adjust in the future, as our customer and community preferences change," he says.
Looking for opportunities to maximise efficiency by delivering common back-office functions in a shared manner across the council group – all five council entities – is also being accelerated. This includes things like human resource functions; health and safety; ICT services and corporate support.
The refresh proposal will see adjustments made to the council’s tier 2 and tier 3 management layers, with a reduction of senior leaders at director and general manager levels. Mr Wilson is careful to emphasise that this proposal is neither a new Chief Executive making their mark, nor a simple adjustment to trim budgets and meet targets.
The draft proposal is underpinned by seven themes:
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Creating a dedicated focus on group strategy and transformation
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A strong focus on performance
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Grouping together governance and policy functions
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Grouping functions involved in land use decisions
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Grouping together customer delivery functions
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Creating a sustainable and resilient Auckland
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Driving shared services across the council group.
The Chief Executive’s proposal was presented to impacted staff on Thursday 7 March and will be open for internal consultation. Final decisions are likely in early May, with the new structure expected to go live on 1 July 2024.
