Enabler – HR capability planner

Brett Watts

‘I am the conduit between the corporate HR and internal business areas to ensure the ATO has the right capabilities in a changing environment.’

Government recently announced a new policy that is going to impact a large segment of the taxpayer community. As a HR capability planner, I am responsible for working with internal business areas to ensure that the ATO has the capability to deal with the change and deliver the right outcomes for government and the community.

As soon as the new policy was announced, I knew that I would have a short timeframe to contribute to its successful implementation. Although I don’t deal with our external clients directly, I knew that by going above and beyond expectations to service my internal clients, I was supporting them to deliver excellent service to the community.

The project manager pulled together a working group of key stakeholders to ensure that we had a full understanding of the new policy. I used analytical tools to explore our workforce data and analyse other qualitative information to assess the likely impact of the initiative on our capabilities. I identified the gaps we would need to address to deliver the change.

I called a virtual meeting with the working group and all the business areas impacted by the change. We shared insights from the analysis, discussed ideas and issues we might face, and started detailed planning for the project.

It was clear that to build the capability required, we would need to identify staff from across the ATO with the right skills and experience, and identify appropriate learning strategies to up-skill them. I used the ATO Workforce and Location plans to inform the project planning. I was also able to access a range of learning and development pathways that really helped to identify the learning journey that staff can undertake.

I worked closely with the working group and collaborated with specialists in my team to identify the staff we needed, developed learning strategies, and worked with external partners to bring in additional capability, if required. They knew that they could rely on me to deliver the solutions they needed in a timely manner, without having to navigate the various HR areas themselves. This allowed them to focus more on managing the development of the project and help clients transition through the change.

For me, ensuring I deliver a positive client experience is really important. Having a strong relationship with the various business areas allows me to build and maintain trust with my clients. It helps them to feel comfortable to contact me, and I can input my experience into the process and contribute to outcomes. The project team values my contribution, positive attitude, enthusiasm and patience, combined with expert knowledge of products and services that I provide.

How the ATO behaves

• We work as one team to deliver the right outcomes for the ATO and the community.
• We have confidence and respect for each others skills and expertise, and trust in each other to do our jobs.
• We strive to make a difference in everything we do.
• We encourage and support each other.

What the ATO does

• We operate seamlessly and in virtual teams.
• Brett identifies and engages the right experts to provide a complete service to his internal clients.

How the ATO supports clients

• We have a service focus and put our client, external and internal, at the centre of everything we do.
• We actively seek information to develop an understanding of client needs.
• We develop and maintain client relationships through effective communication and building trust.