Strategic Review of the Office of the QLD Government Architect
“The process we undertook with [Telos] provided time for self-reflection about why we come to work each day and the difference that we want to make, as well as the best way to get there and how we approach our future work from attitude, intention and objective. Wayne conducted interviews at arm’s length with external parties with professionalism and garnered great insights that helped us frame the holistic outcomes of the service review.” - OQGA
Client Context
Office of the Queensland Government Architect (OQGA);
Five-person function within the Department of Energy and Public Works that provides leadership, advocacy and advisory services to Government, industry and the community on well-designed built environments for the State of Queensland;
Telos engaged by the Queensland Government Architect.
Presenting issue
Following appointment of the new Queensland Government Architect in late 2021, it was requested that a strategic review be conducted to ensure the ongoing effectiveness and value-add service delivery of the Office. Telos was engaged between October 2021 and June 2022, with the aim of clarifying strategic priorities and actions for immediate focus that would enable a solid strategic and operational foundation upon which the OQGA might drive sustainable, aligned and innovative improvement.
Our Approach
In order to ascertain the steps required for a client to get to where they want to be, it’s essential to understand where they are coming from. For this reason, we undertook a thorough assessment of the OQGA’s current state before co-designing their desired future state, and prioritising the strategic actions required to get there.
Understanding Current State
In order to evaluate the existing operating efficiency, service delivery effectiveness, and stakeholder engagement of the OQGA, a multi-source data-gathering approach was utilised through:
Conducting a Force-Field Analysis within the current OQGA team;
Interviewing previous Queensland Government Architects to leverage valuable learnings and potentially inform future direction;
Collecting stakeholder experience feedback via an online survey distributed to key internal clients of the Office.
Strategically Planning for the Future
Output from the above data collection phase was analysed, themed and presented back to the OQGA team before facilitating a discussion to effectively prioritise strategic focuses, which translated into the execution of the below activities:
An OQGA stakeholder prioritisation framework was created to assist the Office effectively prioritise requests that they received for assistance. This ultimately ensured that they would not over-stretch themselves and could maximise their value-add against resource expenditure.
An OQGA Purpose Statement was formulated to clarify the Office’s strategic direction, and coordinate team activities in an effective, cohesive and constructive manner.
A new OQGA Service Framework was created to better communicate their service offering and benefits to clients, repositioning the OQGA from being a ‘nice to have’ function, to a ‘need to have’ function to boost stakeholder engagement.
A Strategic Action Plan with key projects for future focus was developed, to continuously drive the optimisation of OQGA functioning and service delivery.
It was acknowledged that continued engagement with key stakeholders was critical for the Office to be able to effectively influence good design. As a result, one on one interviews were scheduled between Telos and three key senior stakeholders to seek feedback on the output of the above. This feedback was again themed and presented back to the OQGA, alongside relevant recommendations from Telos.
Outcome
In addition to the tangible outputs that were produced as part of this Strategic Review, the OQGA reported greater common understanding and insight regarding their existing challenges, strengths, goals, and activities as a team. Facilitator-led discussions that were driven by real data-points permitted the OQGA team to safely express their ideas, concerns and aspirations in a constructive and supportive manner, whilst remaining solution-oriented and focused. Finally, key stakeholders were made aware of the full breadth of the OQGA’s service offering and commitment to enhancing their value-delivery.