Relationship Manager – Operations Support

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Relationship Manager role is a client-facing role responsible for managing a number of the Service Centre’s customers (Business Partners) on a portfolio basis across the Ministry and external agencies/entities. The Relationship Manager will develop a positive working relationship with the Business Partner’s Management Teams and will be the key communication conduit between the Business Partner’s Management team and the Service Centre. Where the Business Partner questions, queries, activities and plans touch multiple teams within the Service Centre, the Relationship Manager is responsible for filtering communication from and to the customer and acting as the key liaison.

The Relationship Manager is also responsible for building strong relationships with the Business Partner’s Management Team, identifying challenges and/or opportunities, and finding ways to assist with these challenges and opportunities, by working with their Service Centre colleagues.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Previous work experience in sales, management, key account management, or relevant experience.
• Extensive customer/stakeholder relationship management at senior levels of an organisation, both at governance and operational levels.
• Proven experience in enabling and leveraging relationships to achieve desired outcomes.
• Significant experience managing, monitoring and reporting on performance against agreed service standards, including mitigating and resolving risk and issues.
• Ability to assimilate and analyse information, plan and prioritise conflicting priorities and negotiate to deliver solutions/services to Business Partner.
• Highly developed people management skills.
• Team player who is able to work constructively and collaboratively with colleagues and other Relationship Managers.
• Strong customer focus; customer centric.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; must be a listener, a presenter, and a people-person.
• Able to prioritise and manage time efficiently.
• Ability to multitask and manage multiple customer accounts simultaneously.
• Ability to influence and facilitate others to achieve outcomes and deliver on service expectations.
• Able to adapt style and approach to audience needs and preference.
• Self-motivated and self-directed.
• Good computer skills, and experience with the Microsoft Office Suite
• Strong negotiation skills.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Relationship management

• Effectively build and manage solid and trusting relationships between the Business Partners and the Service Centres.
• Provide strategic advice as to how best to leverage services/solutions to enable desired outcomes.
• Provide a single point of contact for the resolution of issues and complaints.
• Develop an understanding of each Business Partners Service Centre needs.
• Manage communications between the Business Partners and the Service Centre teams by representing and articulating strategies, outcomes and requirements of both parties.
• Lead strategic planning with the Service Centre Management team to improve service provision for the Business Partner (i.e., reducing contact volumes, reducing average handling time, reducing complaints, increasing quality and technical correctness of interactions).
• Anticipating the Business Partners needs and working with them to help them achieve these needs through Service Centre service provision.
• Proactively establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with Service Centre Management and their teams.
• Leveraging relationships to identify and share best practice information.
• Facilitate planning and prioritisation discussions between the Business Partners and the Service Centre teams.
• Negotiate the service contract with the Business Partner and ensure the terms are met throughout the duration of the contract.
• Establish a schedule for key interactions and reviews: performance reporting, account management meetings, service contract review/renegotiation.
• Establish charging mechanisms and costs for services with MBIE Finance Business Partners to ensure costs associated with the agreed services are accurately presented.
• Work with MBIE Finance Business Partners to ensure that billing/charging mechanisms are accurate before being applied to the clients cost centre or invoice issued (for external non-MBIE clients).
• Work with the Business Partner to forecast anticipated contact volumes and the associated cost of provision and tracking this monthly with them.
• Plan and present account management reports on account progress, goals, and initiatives.
• Identify areas for improvement working collaboratively with the customer’s Management Team and Service Centre teams towards agreed outcomes.
• Meet all customer needs and deliverables according to agreed timelines.
• Work with the Service Centre teams to analyse data (contact statistics, quality reviews, complaints etc.) to provide customer insights.

Account mangement meetings

• Establishing a regular cycle of account management meetings with appropriate customer representatives.
• Planning for each cycle of meetings so there is a clear agenda, focus and pack of accompanying information.
• Ensuring the meeting cycles time with key account changes or dates, such timing it when the contact/service performance data is available, financial data is available, ensuring sufficient lead time for reviewing plans and service agreements.
• Maintaining a register of interactions, contact details, actions agreed, minutes etc. to ensure continuity of service provision in case of absence (planned or unplanned).

Reporting and forecasting

• Planning and presenting monthly reporting for both Business Partners and Ministers on Service Centre performance, agreed targets and insights, or to enable the Business Partner to self-serve the information.
• Ensuring reporting is in line with standards agreed in the service contract.

Finance management

• Understand Business Partner standard service cost model.
• Understand and accurately present costs associated with extended services where applicable.
• Present rolling forecasting, actuals against forecast, both volumes and costs, each month and identifying variances and causes of the variances.
• Use past information and customer-provided information to inform Workforce Management to assist with forecasting contact volumes and spend.

Wellbeing, health and 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 Relationship Manager position reports into the Manager, Operations Support within the Engagement and Experience branch. The branch sits within the Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery group.

More information about MBIE's structure

Matatautanga – Competencies (Leadership Success Profile)

The Leadership Success Profile (LSP) is a leadership capability framework, developed by the New Zealand public sector for the New Zealand public sector. It creates a common language for leadership and establishes what great leadership looks like. You can look at the twelve underpinning capabilities and four leadership characters here: Leadership Success Profile | Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission(external link)

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).

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