An independent review of organisational design and workforce composition for a Victorian planning and delivery organisation
Objectives
Right Lane Consulting was engaged by a Victorian planning and delivery organisation (the organisation) to conduct an independent review of its organisational design and workforce model over a medium-term horizon to FY28. As a young organisation still maturing its structure, systems and governance, and operating within a constrained fiscal environment shaped by the Silver Review, the organisation needed to demonstrate that its design and workforce model was efficient, sustainable and good value for money. With the review feeding directly into FY28 budget decisions, the organisation required independent, evidence-based advice on its workforce size, shape and composition, and on the establishment of robust ongoing workforce management practices.
About the Victorian planning and delivery organisation
The organisation is a Victorian State Business Corporation that, from November 2025, assumed responsibility for planning and coordinating the State’s electricity transmission network, taking on functions previously held by the Federal operator. It holds a dual mandate: planning the network needed to connect new generation to the grid and supporting the timely delivery of that network. The organisation sits at the centre of a once-in-a-generation shift to renewable energy, coordinating a growing multi-billion-dollar infrastructure pipeline as coal generation exits and demand climbs.
Description of services provided
Right Lane Consulting delivered the independent review over seven weeks. We began with project establishment and a comprehensive desktop review of the organisation’s strategy, corporate plan, structure, workforce data and divisional financials. We then interviewed 31 internal and external stakeholders across 20 sessions, including the CEO and Executive, the Board and central agencies.
Our approach combined:
- A top-down view that set workforce design parameters and shape targets for the organisation as a whole.
- A bottom-up build that assessed each of the eight divisions for its medium-term resourcing requirements.
- Targeted benchmarking of the organisation’s shape against comparable infrastructure delivery agencies, rather than the general public service, reflecting its specialist and technical profile.
- Lessons learned analysis drawing on comparable public infrastructure and agency failures to pressure test the delivery risks the organisation faces as its portfolio scales.
We tested emerging findings with the Executive, produced an interim report for the Board and oversight committee, and then developed the final review with recommendations, structure options and implementation advice.
Outcomes
The review positions the organisation to deliver its mandate sustainably, build institutional capability ahead of the delivery curve, and demonstrate clear value for money to the State and energy consumers. Key recommendations included:
- A recommended medium-term workforce profile for FY28, built division by division from the bottom up.
- Confirmation that the organisation’s core seven-division structure was sound, avoiding the cost and disruption of a major restructure.
- A set of workforce shape targets to rebalance the organisation over two to three years, including a leaner executive profile benchmarked to a comparable delivery agency.
- An operating model framework, design principles and workforce maturity model to guide the organisation’s ongoing development.
- A staged implementation roadmap taking the organisation from foundation building through to an enduring, stable operating state.
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