Strategic framework: Rigorous process to decide 10-year strategy

Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation has developed a draft document that sets out its strategic intentions for the next 10 years.

The Ātihau Group strategic intentions document, describing the combined intentions of Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation and Te Āti Hau Trust, has been in development for two years and is now being finalised.

Chief executive Andrew Beijeman says strategy is carefully reviewed every three years.

“The strategy developed this time has been a couple of years in the making – it’s been a much more thorough process than in the past.”

The strategy has been developed by the Board and executive team. In a series of special strategy development sessions, Ātihau has also called on the knowledge and experience of a group of former key personnel. Known informally as the Mātua group, it includes former chair, general manager and operations manager Dana Blackburn, former Committee of Management member and farm supervisor Jim Edmonds, and former long-serving secretary Lex Moody.

“The executive team has worked really hard on it,” Andrew says. “It has been two years of work looking at and analysing a whole range of

different options. It has involved a lot of looking backwards in order to look forward. It’s been a rigorous process and I think where we’ve got to will ensure the business is a lot more resilient in the future.

“Within the strategic intentions document, we remind ourselves about where we’ve come from and we share the aspirations of the Ati Hau Way, that is, the purpose and the values that guide our decisions and actions. We talk about what we will do and what that means for the next 10 years in terms of strategic priorities.”

Setting strategic intentions with an outlook that points toward the vital few priorities will address the challenges of the next decade, Andrew says.

“It’s about living within our means and implementing some of the work we’ve been figuring out for the past two years. It’s also about talking to shareholders about how to implement our Taiao strategy, land use change, farm development and our investment strategy (our SIPO, or statement of investment policy and objectives).”

Board chair Dr Tiwha Puketapu says Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation and Te Āti Hau Trust have a shared ambition of working together to achieve the collective aspirations of the Ātihau Group.

“The strategic intentions in the document outline who we are, why we are here, and our focus over the next 10 years,” Tiwha says. “They recognise the interdependence between whenua and the people. To prosper, we must first retain and then restore the whenua.

“This refreshed strategy demonstrates our generation’s desire to contribute, with respect for our past, hope for our future and positive growth in our time.”