Building Our Capability

To support the development of our staff the Ministry has adopted a People Strategy which strives to provide a working environment that attracts, engages and retains good staff. All Ministry staff are also expected to make an ongoing investment in their skill development and growth.

Developing strong leaders is an important priority for the Ministry. To build capability in this area a Leadership Development Programme (LDP), utilising Lominger competency models, began in 2008. The overarching objective is to develop and maintain a critical mass of leadership capability to help meet the Ministry’s long-term objectives.

In 2008/09 the focus was on knowledge and skills. The LDP has been very useful in the Ministry’s development of its staff and will continue to be taken up in 2009/10 and beyond.

The Ministry also has a management development programme, which began in 2007. It consists of a series of skills-based modules available to managers and staff aspiring to managerial roles.

Following the completion of the Ministry’s first Gallup Q12 Engagement Survey a series of actions was undertaken in 2008/09 to improve the level of staff engagement and make the Ministry a more attractive place to work. A further survey will be undertaken in 2010.

Toward better performance management

During the past financial year the Ministry implemented the performance development model of the new human resource information system (HRIS). The HRIS is designed to improve human resource capability reporting and help managers and staff to manage team and staff development and performance.

Over 2009/10 it is intended to implement the training management, recruitment, and health and safety modules of the HRIS.

Document management

The document and records management system is now fully operational across the organisation. The Ministry is also making steady progress with the ongoing alignment of its paper and electronic file systems.

Educational resources

The Starfish education pack for teachers and students in years 7 to 10 was redeveloped and launched by the Minister in July 2008. The resource and its accompanying website contain fact sheets and activities to help children learn about the role that they can play in ensuring there are fish for the future.

An additional fact sheet providing information about the capture of the world’s largest squid, the colossal squid, and its eventual display at Te Papa Tongarewa, was included in the pack in April 2009.

In June 2009 the Ministry developed a fact sheet on the New Zealand longfin eel – its biology, status of the stocks, and current management issues. The fact sheet was made available though the Ministry’s website.

Feedback and complaints

The Ministry operates a process intended to provide a formal means of capturing and addressing feedback and complaints made by stakeholders. This process is governed by the Feedback and Complaints policy that sets out what should be classed as feedback and complaints, and the process that should be followed when feedback is received.

In the 2008/09 financial year the Ministry received 49 individual feedback and complaint items. Just over one-third of these were complaints about the commercial sector. The figure is similar to that of the 2006/07 and 2007/08 financial years.

A periodic review of the information from the Feedback and Complaints system is conducted by the Ministry’s Strategic Leadership Team in order to identify and address any emerging trends and issues.