Three little letters, having a big impact on the NSW Government
NSW Government is currently undertaking a broad executive restructure. It’s just one part of their strategy to bring the public service into the 21st Century, having previously been labeled “outdated and rigid”.
The Government Services Employee (GSE) Act enforces legislative change from new performance management systems to changes to the use of temporary employees.
One of the most significant changes is the restructure of the Senior Executive Service (SES), which is being made “leaner” and “flatter”. It’s meant the SES (Director and upwards) have had to reapply for roles; in some Departments I’ve worked with, this has been coupled with a broader workforce transition (causing more complication).
Given the number of people impacted (NSW Government is the largest employer in Australia), this obviously presents a huge challenge for Departments (though I’ve seen very little written about it), particularly because how you manage a transition has a lasting impact. In the words of Walt Disney, “you can design, build and create the most beautiful place in the world but it’s people that make it a reality”. If all of your excellent people leave because the transition is managed poorly, then what was the point anyway?
Last year, the Public Service Commissioner was quoted saying “the pivotal areas to delivering on the promise of high-quality services to the community are values, capability and culture”. Culture. That word really sticks with me. Culture is a really difficult thing to orchestrate, it’s very difficult to fake and no matter what you say, it’s what you do that has a lasting impact. It’s also a really important part of why people choose to work where they do.
Supporting people through the change, and ensuring that people still want to work for you, is just as important as meeting the objective of reducing overhead. I have never managed an organisation restructure that people enjoyed, but here are some simple techniques I think Departments can incorporate,
• Implement negative change all at once: a single large loss tends to be less painful than multiple smaller losses. This can be applied to making redundancies.
• Be genuine and don’t lie: a person’s expectations about an experience have the ability to change their actual experience. People will experience more pain if you set their expectations higher (positive) than they will if you are upfront and honest from the start.
• Co-design the future: taking control and making choices helps people attribute greater value to those decisions; where you can consult/ co-design it’s valuable to do so.
• Identify relevant references: people are more likely to adopt a solution if it aligns to social norms. In the context of the GSE this could be “like all NSW Departments we need to align to the GSE Act”.
• End on a high: our brains are geared to remember how we felt at the most intense point and the end of experience — so find a way to close the transition on a positive note, no matter how the transition went.
The reality is many people know that they will probably work for an organisation that goes through a restructure or round of redundancies and while it’s hard to make it a completely enjoyable experience, how the process is managed is what leaves a lasting taste in people’s mouths.
Sophie is a Senior Consultant with CEC, she brings over five years’ experience working across the public and private sectors. Sophie particularly enjoys providing innovative, audience-tailored solutions to complex and challenging problems.
