Question mark hangs over Wellington Water boss after scathing report

Friday, 26 July 2024

An independent review into a $51 million blunder by Wellington Water raises serious questions about the leadership of the council-owned organisation.

The report by consultants Roy Barker and Kevin Jenkins says there were multiple failures in leadership, as well as deficiencies in structure, systems, and processes.

The tone of the report must inevitably raise questions about the future of chief executive Tonia Haskell and other senior managers.

It said the problems included “a lack of strategic leadership at the highest levels of the organisation, and wider problems of organisational culture”.

The report was commissioned after Wellington Water announced in May that there was a $51m error in its advice to councils preparing their long term plans.

On Thursday, board chair Nick Leggett acknowledged the mistake was unacceptable and Wellington Water had a culture of not accepting its botch-ups.

“It became more and more obvious as I read on that most of the answer lies in a dysfunctional culture with insufficient checks and balances in processes that made errors of the kind that prompted the report inevitable,” Leggett said.

“I agree with the reviewers that unless we turn that culture and ways of working around, similar errors are bound to occur in future, as they have in the past with the failure over fluoride.'

He declined to comment on the future of Haskell but said the culture in the company had to change.

The board would be looking at making immediate changes to improve internal systems and improve the culture.

“We have to improve internal leadership and set about changing to a no blame culture where the organisation takes responsibility for mistakes.”

Leggett said the board must also accept that it had to do better and a lot of work was required to restore confidence.

The board was determined to take steps to make sure that the blunder was never repeated and he offered an “unreserved apology” to councils and residents in the region.

The Government had plans to bring in a new water entity to replace Wellington Water. Leggett believed that contributed to some of the problems in its management.

“The anticipation of imminent water reforms may have made Wellington Water too timid in addressing much needed change in its organisation.”

In the report, Barker and Jenkins said Wellington Water had not kept pace with the demands placed on it by councils.

“We found unclear structures and accountabilities, with like functions not being grouped with like; a control environment that is loose and not fit for purpose; inadequate systems and processes; some missing competencies (including strategic leadership); under-resourcing in the finance and the risk functions.”

They noted that similar problems had not been addressed, in a previous report in 2022, on the way Wellington Water handled fluoride.

“The problems this review has identified need to be addressed urgently, otherwise errors of the type investigated by the 2022 inquiry and this review will happen again.”

Wellington Water, they said, would have to work hard to regain the trust of the councils.

“For the senior leadership, it also includes recovering some lost trust and confidence among their own people.”

The report contained some far reaching recommendations, aimed at improving the performance and trust in senior management, including to: “Ensure that the senior leadership team and tier three managers have a better understanding of the process and the importance of all aspects of planning.”

The report will be discussed at a meeting of the Wellington Water Committee at 10am today.