Strengthening the council’s ability to deliver for Auckland has progressed to the next stage with the confirmation of a top-tier leadership change proposal.
In March Chief Executive Phil Wilson announced a refresh of the organisation’s top leadership tiers, which included consultation with staff on a new structure and a proposal that would see greater leadership accountability, enable better collaboration, reduce duplication and deliver a modest net reduction in top-tier staffing numbers.
“Over a three-week period I received more than 600 submissions from our staff,” says Mr Wilson.
“This feedback was thoughtful, considered and ultimately very helpful, and has resulted in some changes to my initial proposal.
“We set out to create a structure that would enable us to do things differently – not make change for the sake of change, or simply slash budgets and numbers.
“As a result, I believe we have landed a new structure that will serve us well, create cost efficiencies, deliver on our Long-term Plan and be the council that Aucklanders need us to be,” he says.
The new structure sees a reduction of two tier two roles on the Executive Leadership Team and an overall reduction of 14 roles in the top tiers of the organisation, and in their support functions. In order to increase collaboration and bring teams that deliver common services closer together, there will be adjustments made to reporting lines.
The next stage of the process includes recruitment to form the refreshed leadership team in preparation for implementation of the new structure at the end of June.
“Organisational change is understandably unsettling. I am incredibly proud of the maturity, professionalism and leadership shown by our people during this process, especially those who may be directly affected.
“We intend to implement the new structure with as little disruption to our services and customers as possible,” says Mr Wilson.
