Statement of Intent 1 July 2006 - 30 June 2009

Part 1: Strategic framework (continued)

Capability within the Ministry

The Ministry of Defence aims to have top-quality people, relationships, and processes that will enable us to achieve our intermediate and high-level outcomes.

While we continue to have areas of strong capability, and areas where capability is improving, we also have areas that need further improvement, and will continue to test us.

People

The Ministry of Defence aims to attract and retain:

high-quality policy analysts
project managers who can manage military equipment procurement
evaluation analysts who can assess and audit defence activities and functions.

In a Ministry of only 60 permanent staff ¹, we must ensure we have the right people in the right job at the right time.

We want to play our part in upholding and reinforcing the ethical standards that will ensure the New Zealand public service deserves and holds the respect of its citizens.

Policy analysts

We continue to attract highly qualified graduates with a real interest in defence.

We ensure that we have the right human resources policies to recruit, develop, train, and retain high-quality policy analysts. We want to develop further the depth of knowledge of defence issues held by our analysts and expand their breadth of knowledge about Government processes and practices. To help achieve this, we maintain a comprehensive training programme as well as an active secondment policy. Mutual secondments of policy analysts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are extremely beneficial in enabling our staff to gain a broader understanding of how New Zealand's security and prosperity interests are advanced and protected abroad.

Acquisition project managers

We require people with expertise in the acquisition of military capability. This is a highly specialised area. The Ministry of Defence needs people who operate to public service standards in a highly competitive commercial environment. Project managers and project officers may be required to live overseas for extended periods to supervise an acquisition project. The Ministry is too small and specialised to train and retain people in the full range of skills required. The Ministry of Defence must therefore recruit project managers and project staff who have already developed the necessary skills and experience. A project manager may lead a team of up to 10 project officers (usually seconded from the New Zealand Defence Force) and manage a number of external providers of services, for example: consultants who provide independent verification and validation of specifications; lawyers for the project; risk management consultants and specialist auditors. We need project managers who can protect the Crown's interests through complex and multi-faceted projects.

Evaluation analysts

In our Evaluation team we seek to maintain a broad range of skills, disciplines and backgrounds. We undertake training with our Australian counterparts, in various audit and evaluation contexts, to ensure continuing professional development.

Relationships

The Ministry of Defence will continue to develop its reputation as the prime source of credible and impartial defence advice. As well as having the right people to provide that advice, we must make sure that our advice is accessible to others.

We must ensure that we promote good understanding of defence policy issues with other relevant public sector agencies, for example, the Treasury, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Office of the Auditor-General.

Processes

The Ministry of Defence maintains, and continually seeks to improve, rigorous processes for:

acquiring military capability for the New Zealand Defence Force
undertaking audits and assessments
analysing and managing risks.

Analysing and managing risks and opportunities

We continue to review our operating environment, the risks we must manage and the opportunities available to us. In doing so, we have identified the strategic risks and opportunities that we face, within individual divisions and as an organisation. We monitor these regularly to ensure that the Government is fully advised with regard to risks and opportunities.

In the Acquisition Division, individual acquisition projects undergo comprehensive risk analysis, mitigation, and management. The Acquisition Division also maintains certification to ISO 9001 for quality management processes and outcomes.

The Capability Management Framework has provided a direction to establishing mechanisms for identifying risks to capability projects at an earlier stage in the life cycle.

Continual improvement

Our capability to persuade and influence, to ensure that we are credible and respected, must continue to improve. We will assess whether our capability development is delivering the outcome we need. This will be measured by periodic internal review, drawing on the stakeholder feedback we receive on our effectiveness.

How Corporate Division helps employees
The Ministry's Corporate Division supports policies and practises to ensure staff receive appropriate professional development opportunities. Staff are encouraged to establish development plans and to adopt a shared responsibility for their professional development. Managers are required to ensure that all staff can make known their training or professional development needs, and staff training requirements are reviewed regularly throughout the Ministry. Managers are encouraged to participate in Leadership Development Centre activities as appropriate. An in-house programme ensures that all managers have the opportunity to undertake professional development based on 360º feedback. All new staff attend an induction programme in the first few weeks of their job to ensure new employees are equipped to be productive and enjoy their work. This programme covers all aspects of the Ministry's work, and includes introductions to the New Zealand Defence Force, and to the workings of the Minister of Defence's office. All new staff receive specific briefings on the Ministry's policies, especially security policies and procedures. The induction programme reflects the importance placed on the cohesive function of the Corporate Division within the Ministry. The induction programme covers: introduction to all aspects of the Ministry's core business training on the Ministry's electronic document management system, with particular emphasis on the collective responsibility to care for the information created and retained by the Ministry introduction to the Ministry's performance management system health and safety/EEO policies and practices. Further training sessions are provided, as appropriate, on the machinery of Government, writing for your audience, project management and on legislation like the Defence Act and the Official Information Act. Specific roles have courses geared towards them, for example, policy analysis, which are later followed by other courses. Ergonomic audits and adjustments as necessary are undertaken on the workstations provided for all Ministry staff.

How Corporate Division helps employees

The Ministry's Corporate Division supports policies and practises to ensure staff receive appropriate professional development opportunities. Staff are encouraged to establish development plans and to adopt a shared responsibility for their professional development. Managers are required to ensure that all staff can make known their training or professional development needs, and staff training requirements are reviewed regularly throughout the Ministry. Managers are encouraged to participate in Leadership Development Centre activities as appropriate. An in-house programme ensures that all managers have the opportunity to undertake professional development based on 360º feedback.

All new staff attend an induction programme in the first few weeks of their job to ensure new employees are equipped to be productive and enjoy their work. This programme covers all aspects of the Ministry's work, and includes introductions to the New Zealand Defence Force, and to the workings of the Minister of Defence's office. All new staff receive specific briefings on the Ministry's policies, especially security policies and procedures. The induction programme reflects the importance placed on the cohesive function of the Corporate Division within the Ministry. The induction programme covers:

introduction to all aspects of the Ministry's core business
training on the Ministry's electronic document management system, with particular emphasis on the collective responsibility to care for the information created and retained by the Ministry
introduction to the Ministry's performance management system
health and safety/EEO policies and practices.

Further training sessions are provided, as appropriate, on the machinery of Government, writing for your audience, project management and on legislation like the Defence Act and the Official Information Act. Specific roles have courses geared towards them, for example, policy analysis, which are later followed by other courses.

Ergonomic audits and adjustments as necessary are undertaken on the workstations provided for all Ministry staff.

In addition the Ministry employs up to 32 seconded project specialists.

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