I am announcing a realignment of our organizational structure. This

From: Konkin, Doug ENV:EX

Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 9:45 AM

Subject: Organizational Realignment

Importance: High

I am announcing a realignment of our organizational structure. This note provides information that

executive, our directors and I think is important and helpful; it is longer than I like, and ideas are

restated in a number of ways, but it is important to try and be clear.

First and foremost, these changes are not about cutting positions - they do not mean people were doing

things wrong. Transforming our business and continuous improvement are not new. Today’s changes

are further steps in seeking ways to deliver our mandate.

Over the last year and a half I have gotten a sense that some staff do not feel connected with or able to

deliver our “lofty” goals; that workloads are high and growing and that more needs to be done to break

down silos and protect our environment. This realignment won’t by itself address all that, but it is part

of the answer and builds on the integration already occurring in the field and at headquarters.

As environmental and resource development pressures increase and become more complex, we can no

longer afford to manage to single agency/single sector goals - we must be integrated in our decision

making, both within MOE and across agencies. We cannot afford duplication or inefficiencies and must

align outcomes, policies, and regulatory approaches.

MOE has a unique role in this integration: for it to work properly we provide environmental and

ecological knowledge; we lead the thinking on a healthy environment, protected areas, water, and

species conservation and management, climate adaptation, and more. To succeed in all of that we do

so in a way that is respectful of and incorporates thinking on the province’s social and economic goals.

Many staff tell me they are sometimes overwhelmed with workloads and cannot react fast enough to

the demands placed on them. Staff have told me they are worried about the growing environmental

pressures we are facing. It is clear we can no longer spend so much of our time responding to specific

projects and trying to mitigate negative impacts. Future success depends on accelerating the shift to

proactive environmental management; on using social media and finding more ways to get

manufacturers, proponents and society to protect the environment. This includes product life cycle

thinking, use of market based instruments, polluter pay approaches and improved professional reliance,

among other strategies.

None of that is new and organizational realignment won’t instantly make things better all by itself. We

will have to continue to transform processes, work to analyse and assess cumulative effects on the

environment, improve knowledge management, make this a better place to work, streamline systems,

improve regulatory processes, and the list goes on. Organizational realignment is intended simply to

create new relationships in MOE with the goal of furthering our ability to:

integrate within and with other agencies;

strengthen our focus on area-based, cumulative management, and,

further proactive approaches to environmental stewardship.

Our Realigned Organizational Structure

1. Environmental Protection Division, Environmental Stewardship Division, Water Stewardship

Division, Parks and Protected Areas Division and part of Strategic Policy Division are realigned to

create two new divisions.

The Environmental Protection and Assurance Division (EPAD) will be focused on providing

environmental leadership for the future through an emphasis on environmental goals and

policy development.

The Resource Stewardship and Parks Division (RSPD) will be focused on the decisions of today,

striving for excellence in resource management in the areas of fish, wildlife, habitat and water.

This will put a greater emphasis on the integration of services “on the ground” on one hand and

environmental leadership for the future on the other.

2. Given the significance of our transformation projects, RMCP initiatives, key strategies (e.g., Oceans

Strategy) and integrated business planning needs in the ministry, I am establishing an Executive

Lead, Resource Integration to help provide the necessary leadership capacity to support these.

3. The ministry will continue to be supported by the Conservation Officer Service, Strategic Policy

Division, Climate Action Secretariat, and Corporate Services Division.

For most staff, there will be no immediate impact on reporting relationships from these realignments.

Some people will work within new teams and a few will be asked to take on new roles. I want to

reiterate that these changes are not driven by budget – we do face further budget reductions next year

but need to address those by changing work processes and systems, not by reorganization.

Obviously there is a relationship between all these things. We organize teams of people to support

common ideas, processes or functions. Changing the teams will influence how we categorize, examine,

and find efficiencies in our processes and systems.

There is also a relationship between organizational structure and culture. We have many cultures in this

agency. They differ by geography, function and division. This change will be a chance to build on the

positive aspects such as the willingness to ask questions, share one’s point of view, and coach each

other. It will also be a chance to refresh our thinking on core competencies and ensure accountabilities

are clear.

All of our work will have to continue to be supported by efforts to build trust, by probing, sensing and

responding and by being adaptive and flexible.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the staff who have stepped up to leadership roles and/or taken on

additional responsibilities over the past year. Your efforts have positioned us well for the upcoming

changes. This is an organization with an abundance of talent and you are integral to our collective

success.

Highlights of Next Steps

This realignment is effective immediately, however much work remains to fully implement the new

structure and we will be engaging with managers and section heads in the remaining design work. You

will be hearing more from your manager over the coming days and the ministry executive will

communicate regularly as we move forward. Those specific branches and teams who will be

experiencing new reporting relationships, accountabilities or process changes can expect to be engaged

in additional discussion about this and I invite your thoughts on how we move towards our goals of

environmental leadership for the future and excellence in resource management.

Doug Konkin

Deputy Minister