New Zealand’s One-Page Compliance Strategy

We recently designed and issued a one-page compliance strategy to our people built on four key themes – our risk picture, the customer connection, targeted interventions, and capability growth.

We consider producing a one-page strategy (often called a "plan-on-a-page") will provide significant benefits for staff, mainly by replacing several complex, long-winded documents with a clear, accessible, and actionable roadmap. Our overall objective is to ensure all our people readily understand Inland Revenue’s compliance direction.

Our one-page strategy distils several complex strategies into a simple format which we consider anyone in Inland Revenue will grasp quickly. We have eliminated jargon, making the "why" and "how" behind our compliance goals accessible to everyone.

The limited space effectively forced our leadership to identify only the most critical, high-impact issues (the "critical few") rather than a long, unmanageable to-do list. This should help our people focus on what truly matters, reducing wasted time and effort. Because the strategy is concise, it is easier to update in response to changing conditions or internal challenges, allowing us to pivot faster in the future.

The one-page compliance strategy should serve as a great tool for onboarding new employees, allowing them to quickly understand Inland Revenue’s direction. It also makes for a better, more digestible, and frequently referenced communication tool for internal staff meetings. 

Overall, we are hopeful of bridging the perceived gap between high-level strategy and day-to-day execution. We consider our people are more likely to buy into a compliance strategy they understand.