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Workshop Shortage of Planners - Western Bay of Plenty District Council Case Study

October 2005

Background

  • High growth
  • Rural subdivision/lifestyle pressure
  • Limited funding/high FC's (user pays)
  • Complex District Plan

Response - Mid-90's

  • Simplify plan provisions
  • Introduce 'certification process'
  • Design computer based solutions - ORIGEN
  • Fine tune fees and charges to recover max
  • Focus on through put and performance

Result of mid-90’s Response

  • Great ‘production’ achieved, statutory targets met
  • High work volumes with modest staffing levels
  • High level of private funding of the consents function
  • High level of Council and customer satisfaction

Increasing Problem - 2002 Onward

  • Tightening labour market for planners
  • Gradual loss of experienced staff
  • Recruitment and retention difficulties
  • More complex subdivision and land use applications
  • Introducing SmartGrowth Strategy
  • More complex plan and rule environment
  • Accommodating Council - plenty of funding
  • Performance dropping and customers less satisfied
  • Loss of Council and customer confidence visible
  • Highly reliant on contractual support
  • Service delivery failure a real possibility

Response

3 inter-connected areas

  • process and systems changes
  • staff performance issues
  • work environment improvements

Process and Systems Changes

  • Establish CPU to enhance co-ordination and control workflow
  • ISO Quality Certification - key processes and dependencies
  • Enhance engineering support - locate in planning
  • Establish Administration Team - increase planner productivity
  • Create Consents Technician position - expand the labour pool
  • External reviews to validate approach and enhance effectiveness
  • Leadership effectiveness - Wasley Knell
  • Engineering processes and linkages - Catalyst
  • Processes effectiveness and best practice - MfE
  • Resource ‘in-house’ for base workload
  • Refine consultant support and configure to the new system

Individual Performance Issues

  • Address poor staff performance.
  • Review, reward and recognition actions for good performances.
  • Create a culture of performance based on shared responsibility and accountability
  • Avoid temptation to fill a position with the “wrong” person

Creating a Great Work Environment

  • Increase employment flexibility
  • Enhanced training opportunities
  • Link professional development to salary and promotion opportunities
  • Create more work variety and balance - fun and rewarding
  • Review accommodation and create good physical environment and linkages to policy planning and CPU
  • Remove administrative burden
  • Minimise duty planner role

Results

The tide has turned

  • MfE Best Practice Report Finding
    • Resource consent process well though through and efficient
    • Allows Planning Team to dedicate time to analysis and decisions
    • Admin Team supports the professional judgement functions
    • Professional practice improvements required especially decision making confidence
    • Number of specific actions to improve current practice
  • Consents Manager recruited - job expectations fully understood
  • Ongoing refinement of CPU and Admin Support
  • Confidence and culture - stepping up
  • Reconfirmed adequate resources available for the work load
  • Turnover (currently) eliminated - stable team environment
  • Complaints reduced and higher levels of satisfaction
  • Full potential of changes to be realised - unlock the potential created
  • Productivity factors for comparative purposes
    • Pre-Changes
      • Quarter ending Sep 04 - no statistics
      • Quarter ending Dec 04 - 10.9%
    • Post-Changes
      • Quarter ending Mar 05 - 15.6%
      • Quarter ending Jun 05 - 15.7%
    • Improvement in the order of 40% +
  • Processing stats
    • Pre-Changes
      • Quarter ending Sep 04 - 74%
      • Quarter ending Dec 04 - 83%
    • Post Changes
      • Quarter ending Mar 05 - 93%
      • Quarter ending Jun 05 - 96%

Management Observations

  • Monitor key business areas - what gets measured, gets done
  • Analyse the facts and seek confirmation from alternative sources but ...
  • Don’t discount your gut feeling - intuition is often accurate
  • Create a p Don’t discount your gut feeling - intuition is often accurate
  • lan to achieve the outcomes required:
    • Processes and systems, people, environment
    • Deal with the big stuff first
    • Move quickly and decisively
    • Support “new order” fully, inside and outside the organisation
    • Celebrate progress and successes but don’t do tokenism
    • Create an environment of “positive urgency”
    • Expect planning to “add value” in resolving issues, not be the problem
    • Empower and delegate to the lowest level of competence consistent with acceptable risk
  • Provide adequate resources to do a good job
  • Build a team with shared vision - integrate the disciplines
    • Planning
    • Engineering
    • Administration

Last updated: 16 January 2009