Senior Advisor – Ministerial Services Business Advisory Team

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

Senior Advisors in the Ministerial Services Business Advisory (MSBA) Team work across their team to support a range of functions and focus areas. Working with the Team Leader the specific split of tasks for each senior will be based around demand, capability and development areas. Senior advisors in the team will:

Bring their business understanding and perspective to work in partnership with managers and other staff across the Ministry to support teams in their Ministerial Servicing, Proactive Release, and with workflow activities.

Collaborate with others to build, implement, embed and support assurance and reporting framework reviews to identify performance and service optimisation opportunities.

Work closely to support, and when required lead the effective and efficient development and completion of a range of critical outputs, including proactive release, WPQs, and official correspondence (OIAs, Ministerial Correspondence etc).

Provide business advisory services and support to help strengthen the overall capability of the team and help ensure the quality and consistency of advice, services and practices across the team.

Ensure a focus on continuous improvement in workflow processes, including how to make effective use of the Ministerial and Departmental tracking system to ease workload pressure.

Provide day-to-day workflow services and coach and mentor others in the team.

The role requires excellent relationship management, strategic and systems thinking, building and maintaining deep subject matter knowledge, and business process improvement skills. As a Senior Advisor you will be proactive, at times turning thoughts into action, and presenting solutions.

The Ministerial Services Business Advisory (MSBA) Team hold a critical business intelligence function within MBIE, and it is expected that as part of this team this role works to ensure risk and issues are identified quickly, escalated and managed appropriately so that the reputational risks to MBIE are known and can be mitigated.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Expert knowledge and wide experience across Ministerial and Parliamentary processes including Ombudsman review, Ministerial correspondence, OIAs and WPQs.
• Demonstrated coaching, mentoring and training experience.
• Expertise and experience in project management concepts and reporting.
• Demonstrated general problem identification and solution skills and the ability to develop robust solutions that are viable; possible and desirable for all people affected.
• Proven ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with a wide range of individuals and groups both internal and external to an organisation.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills: demonstrated competence in effectively communicating complex ideas both orally and in writing to a wide variety of audiences.
• Experience and understanding of recruitment and selection processes.
• Thought leadership.
• The ability to gain and maintain a national security clearance to Confidential level.
• Tertiary level education or equivalent work experience.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

The Senior Advisor MSBA Team will contribute to the day to day work of the team which includes:

• Develop strong relationships with business groups, legal services, communications and Ministers’ offices to make sure proactive release and ministerial servicing coordination is effective in meeting MBIE, stakeholders and customer expectations.
• Ensure that data governance and quality and other reporting inputs are robust for reporting purposes.
• Advise business groups of their responsibilities to make sure Proactive Release material is published within the agreed timeframes subject to relevant approval and other considerations.
• Provide advice on due diligence and risk assessment including withholding grounds consistent with the Official Information Act and other instruments governing the availability of official information.
• Take lead responsibility for prioritisation, specific practice, programme and service development initiatives or projects, effective stakeholder relationships.
• Ensure a focus on continuous improvement of team processes, including how to make effective use of the Ministerial and Departmental tracking system to ease workload pressure.
• Coaching and mentoring Advisors within the team.
• Present proposed solutions when escalating as appropriate any concerns about system performance, or other factors impacting on the team to the Team Leader.
• Use project management disciplines and actions to ensure effective delivery of initiatives.
• Scans at a strategic and operational system level and works collaboratively to identify issues, business process improvement opportunities; tension points that need addressing; and opportunities for innovation.
• Ensure that business intelligence function within the RI Team is upheld and risks are managed and escalated as appropriate to ensure reputational risks to MBIE are managed and mitigated appropriately.

Workflow services

The Senior Advisor will also contribute to the day to day work of the team, including:

• Logging, acknowledging where appropriate, processing and tracking all OIA requests, WPQs, Ministerials, Ombudsman complaints and briefings to Ministers across all Ministerial portfolio.
• Advising on ownership, transfers and the coordination of responses to cross MBIE OIAs, PQs and Ministerials.

Relationship Management

• Building and maintaining a strong relationship-based approach to engaging with the business groups.
• Building and maintaining effective relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, as necessary in order to identify and share best practice information and to promote MBIE, its products and services.
• Participating as an active team member and contributing knowledge and expertise needed to achieve MBIE’s outcomes.

Wellbeing, health & safety

• Displays commitment through actively supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives.
• Ensures own and others safety at all times.
• Complies with relevant safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, safe systems of work and event reporting.
• Reports all incidents/accidents, including near misses in a timely fashion.
• Is involved in health and safety through participation and consultation.

Tō tūranga i roto i te Manatū – Your place in the Ministry

The Senior Advisor position reports into the Team Leader Ministerial Services Business Advisory within the Engagement, Communications and Ministerial Services branch. The branch sits within the Ngā Pou o te Taumaru group.

More information about MBIE’s structure

To mātou aronga – What we do for Aotearoa New Zealand

Hīkina Whakatutuki is the te reo Māori name for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Hīkina means to uplift. Whakatutuki means to move forward, to make successful. Our name speaks to our purpose, Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All.

To Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All, we put people at the heart of our mahi. Based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi, we are committed to upholding authentic partnerships with Māori.

As agile public service leaders, we use our breadth and experience to navigate the ever-changing world. We are service providers, policy makers, investors and regulators. We engage with diverse communities, businesses and regions. Our work touches on the daily lives of New Zealanders. We grow opportunities (Puāwai), guard and protect (Kaihāpai) and innovate and navigate towards a better future (Auaha).

Ngā matatau – Our competencies

Cultivates innovation We create new and better ways for the organisation to be successful by challenging the status quo generating new and creative ideas and translating them into workable solutions.

Nimble learning We are curious and actively learn through experimentation when tackling new problems by learning as we go when facing new situations and challenges.

Customer focus We build strong customer relationships and deliver customer-centric solutions by listening and gaining insights into the needs of the communities we serve and actively seeking and responding to feedback.

Decision quality We make quality and timely decisions that shape the future for our communities and keep the organisation moving forward by relying on an appropriate mix of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgement to make valid and reliable decisions.

Action oriented We step up, taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with purpose, urgency and discipline by taking responsibility, ownership and action on challenges, and being accountable for the results.

Collaborates We connect, working together to build partnerships with our communities, working collaboratively to meet shared objectives by gaining trust and support of others; actively seeking the views, experiences, and opinions of others and by working co-operatively with others across MBIE, the public sector and external stakeholder groups.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

As an agency of the public service, MBIE has a responsibility to contribute to the Crown meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti). Meeting our commitment to Te Tiriti will contribute towards us realising the overall aims of Te Ara Amiorangi – Our Path, Our Direction, and achieve the outcome of Growing New Zealand for All. The principles of Te Tiriti - including partnership, good faith, and active protection – are at the core of our work. MBIE is committed to delivering on our obligations as a Treaty partner with authenticity and integrity and to enable Māori interests. We are committed to ensuring that MBIE is well placed to meet our obligations under the Public Service Act 2020 (Te Ao Tūmatanui) to support the Crown in strengthening the Māori/Crown Relationship under the Treaty and to build MBIE’s capability, capacity and cultural intelligence to deliver this.

Mahi i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui – Working in the public service

Ka mahitahi mātou o te ratonga tūmatanui kia hei painga mō ngā tāngata o Aotearoa i āianei, ā, hei ngā rā ki tua hoki. He kawenga tino whaitake tā mātou hei tautoko i te Karauna i runga i āna hononga ki a ngāi Māori i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka tautoko mātou i te kāwanatanga manapori. Ka whakakotahingia mātou e te wairua whakarato ki ō mātou hapori, ā, e arahina ana mātou e ngā mātāpono me ngā tikanga matua o te ratonga tūmatanui i roto i ā mātou mahi.

In the public service we work collectively to make a meaningful difference for New Zealanders now and in the future. We have an important role in supporting the Crown in its relationships with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. We support democratic government. We are unified by a spirit of service to our communities and guided by the core principles and values of the public service in our work.

What does it mean to work in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Public Service?(external link) — Te Kawa Mataaho The Public Service Commission