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NZIM’s Focus on Management p51
In this issue:
KIWI LESSONS FROM IWI GOVERNANCE
FEBRUARY 2011
FEBRUARY 2011 $7.10 INCL GST
9 421902 251030
Deloitte/ Management Magazine
TOP 2OO A Bold Spirit
DESPERATELY SEEKING BUFFALO HUNTERS.
While living off low hanging fruit from your own backyard might ensure your temporary survival, there comes a time when the tree will be bare and you’ll start considering the nutritional benefits of bark. New Zealand needs businesses bold enough to pursue bigger game from new and exciting hunting grounds. So, if you’re unsure of which spear to choose or where to hunt, you need to talk to us. www.deloitte.co.nz Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/nz/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms. © 2010 Deloitte. A member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.
Lucky, but lacking leadership
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ur lucky country has the potential to provide all citizens with a quality of life that we once all took for granted. For many people such a standard of living is rapidly receding into memories of a distant past. Lack of leadership at the very top frustrates efforts to turn our good fortune into a prosperous positive future for all New Zealanders. Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett’s speaks out on the need for realistic goals and incentives for business on page 20 of this issue. The fact remains that we have huge natural advantages: clean air, plentiful water, a temperate climate and fertile soils. We have an environment that can not only support our small population but could also feed significant numbers offshore. And we have an educated workforce, benign political leadership and a relatively stable infrastructure. Yet we struggle to turn these advantages into a high standard of living for the majority of our citizens. This problem is long in the making. We cut the apron strings that tied us to Mother England several decades ago following the loss of guaranteed European markets for our primary produce. It didn’t help that, round about the same time, we were emasculated by the toppling of our All Blacks from their dominance of world rugby. Since then, we’ve struggled to define our place in the world. We can’t quite capture what we’re best at – what
www.management.co.nz a mediaweb magazine publisher Toni Myers ACTING EDITOR Ruth Le Pla editor@management.co.nz
makes us proud to be Kiwi. Our iwi governance cover story on page 22 and the accompanying piece on a tikanga Māori business model (p26) provide some timely pointers. We have a crisis of leadership. We have many pockets of ingenuity and even brilliance but there is no one at the top joining the dots of premium performance and potential into a cohesive gameplan for NZ Inc. It can be hard to remain upbeat in the midst of the challenges we face in a competitive global economy and its stuttering efforts to revive in the wake of the GFC. Yet we are blessed. Just read Selina Tusitala Marsh’s poem, New Zealand, the lucky country, on www. management.co.nz/opinion.asp if you need reminding why. We mustn’t squander our gifts. While we might gaze enviously at the phenomenal growth rates of some of the emerging economic powerhouses, their citizens will be gazing right back in wonder at our lifestyle, freedoms, climate and abundance of sustaining resources. We want more for our future than to be a low-cost playground for budgetconscious adventure tourists and the newly-affluent middle classes from growing economies. In this election year we’re all looking for the fillip that The World Cup will provide. But we’re also looking for leadership and vision from the main political contenders.
Toni Myers, Publisher
CONTRIBUTORS Whare Akuhata, Reg Birchfield, Bob Edlin, Kevin Gaunt, Steve Hart, Sarah Heal, Colin James, Peter Jessup, Trevor Nash, Peter Tynan, Louisa Walker Advertising Manager Clara Iqbal 09-271 3711, 021-930 887, admanager@management.co.nz DESIGNER Fran Marshall COPY & WEB EDITOR Gill Prentice production MANAGER Fran Marshall franm@mediaweb.co.nz NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS www.management.co.nz/subscribe Subscription enquiries subs@mediaweb.co.nz
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NZ MANAGEMENT magazine is independently owned by Mediaweb Limited and is published 11 times a year. It is the officially recognised magazine of the New Zealand Institute of Management Incorporated. Editorial material does not necessarily reflect the views of NZIM. Copyright © 2011: Mediaweb Limited. All material appearing in NZ MANAGEMENT is copyright and cannot be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. Editorial contributions are welcomed. Letters to the editor are also welcomed, but pen names are not acceptable. NZ MANAGEMENT is printed by Benefitz. Subscriptions: One-year NZ subscription (11 issues) $78.15 (GST incl). Overseas (airmail only): Australia $NZ130; rest of the world $NZ250. Enquiries: Mediaweb Limited, PO Box 5544, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141, New Zealand. Phone: 09-845 5114, Fax 09-845 5116, enquiries@mediaweb.co.nz www.management.co.nz New Zealand Institute of Management enquiries to: National Office, Box 67, Wellington; Northern, Box 26001, Epsom; Central, Box 11781, Wellington; Southern, Box 13044, Christchurch.
Vol 58 No 1 • ISSN 1174-5339 (Print), 1179-3910 (Online)
FEBRUARY 2011
| management.co.nz | 1
contents 22 Cover Story
Kiwi lessons from iwi governance Iwi are exploring new governance models in a post-Treaty settlement world, says Whare Akuhata. 1
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
4
INBOX: New and views
10 FOCUS: Top 200 photos 12 AS I SEE IT: Claire Szabó, English Language Partners 15 MANAGERS ABROAD: Brent Hansen 16 NZIM: A strategy to attract international Kiwi managers. Kevin Gaunt 48 EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT 49 EXECS ON THE MOVE OPINION 18 POLITICS: Key – the step-by-step changer. Colin James 12
15
19 ECONOMICS: Those bothersome forecasts. Bob Edlin 20 THOUGHT LEADER: Michael Barnett 21 BOOKCASE: Man for all seasons: The life and times of Ken Douglas. Reg Birchfield. The happiness advantage: The seven principles that fuel success and performance at work. Ruth Le Pla ADVICE 46 EXEC HEALTH: All present. Peter Tynan
20
50 10 TOP TIPS: Manage precious relationships. Sarah Heal
FEBRUARY 2011 • Vol 58 No 1 26
features 26 Lessons from the whale watchers
A bunch of businesses are benefitting from having tikanga Māori principles at their core.
30 Y are we waiting?
Generation Y is nimble, tech savvy and keen to take the reins, but as Steve Hart discovers, their casual approach to commitment and work style may be a barrier to their professional development
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34 Michael Stedman: Natural storyteller
Michael Stedman knows what can happen to an organisation when the handbrake of mindless bureaucracy is released. He talks about vision, belief and how to avoid becoming a one-trick pony.
38 Business ethics does pay
Companies with codes of ethics perform better and are more admired by their peers, says Philippa Foster Back, director of the UK Institute of Business Ethics. During a trip to New Zealand, she talked to Peter Jessup about our law and business ethics.
40 Long tenure: thin contract
Why do so many business partnerships crash and burn? Trevor Nash’s recent University of Auckland MBA research project reveals the importance of trust, the counterintuitive use of thin contracts, and how our Kiwi traits mesh well with Asian values. 34
44 Beyond office politics
Power is about getting things done. Louisa Walker explains how to cultivate positive political power at work.
51 NZIM’s Focus On Management
Applied learning delivers immediate benefits; Wilfred Jarvis on Leadership; Regional news; Upcoming management courses.
39 40
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inbox 21 hours and counting uppose the ‘normal’ working week lasted for 21 hours. Not 35 hours, not even four days, but 21 hours. It’s flexible and variable, but it’s normal and generally expected, by government, employers, trade unions and most public opinion. That’s the radical call from nef (the new economics foundation), a London-based registered charity which describes itself as an independent “think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being”. In its recent paper ‘21 hours: Why a shorter working week can help us all to flourish in the 21st century’, nef is talking specifically about Britain. But much of its thinking could apply equally elsewhere. The report says a move towards 21 hours is essential if society is to achieve what nef lists as three vitally important goals: a decarbonised economy not dependent on infinite growth; social justice and wellbeing for all; and a sustainable environment. “Moving towards much shorter hours of paid work offers a new route out of the multiple crises we face today,” says the report. “Many of us are consuming well beyond our economic means and well beyond the limits of the natural environment, yet in ways that fail to improve our well-being – and meanwhile many others suffer poverty and hunger.” The report goes on to say that a ‘normal’ 21-hour working week could help address a series of interlinked problems including “overwork, unemployment, overconsumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life”. Why pick 21 hours as a new norm? “Twenty-one hours is close to the average that people of working
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com
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age in Britain spend in paid work,” notes the report, “and just a little more than the average spent in unpaid work.” Nef – which tags itself as an organisation that views economics “as if people and the planet mattered” – argues that there’s nothing ‘natural or inevitable’ about what is considered ‘normal’ today. “Time, like work, has become commodified – a recent legacy of industrial capitalism,” it says,
and goes on to state that the logic of industrial time is out of step with today’s conditions. The ‘21 hours’ report details experiments with shorter working hours – including the three-day week in the UK back in the 1970s, France’s 35-hour working week and the four-day week in Utah in the US. It examines how today’s notions of ‘normal’ working hours has emerged and explains why a move towards 21 hours could help meet current challenges. Finally, it highlights problems that might arise and how these could be addressed. Nef backs up its ideas with plentiful research and rather than couch its suggestions as dogmatically fixed ideas, suggests they form the beginning of a national debate. As the report says, “Let’s be clear: there’ll be no time police roaming the call centres and coffee bars. We’re not proposing a sudden or imposed change on this scale. We
are inviting you to take part in a thought experiment.” Nef points out that there are many past examples of shifts in ‘apparently intractable’ social norms: ‘attitudes to the slave trade and votes for women, wearing seatbelts and crash-helmets, and not smoking in public places’. “The weight of public opinion can shift quite suddenly from antipathy to approval as a result of new evidence, strong campaigning, and changing circumstances, including a sense of crisis.” The ‘21 hours’ report forms part of nef’s over-arching thinking around what it calls “the great transition” to a sustainable future. As it states in the opening pages of a report by that name: “Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist – Kenneth Boulding, economist.” M For more information go to: www.neweconomics.org
The rules for women
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espite a great deal of energy spent on trying to balance the gender make-up of senior management teams, men still receive more promotions than women. But you can overcome the odds, says Herminia Ibarra, faculty director of the INSEAD Leadership Initiative and founder of the Gender Diversity Initiative, reported on the SmartBrief business website. Here are her tips: • Anticipate transitions. At a certain point in your career, you will be expected to move beyond managing and will need to show leadership capability to move into the senior ranks. Instead of simply ensuring efficiency, planning and organising staff, you will need to create a vision for change and then inspire your team to bring it to fruition. Look out for these role shifts. • Development isn’t just about your skills. You won’t succeed in senior management if you rely solely on what got you this far, says Ibarra. Two common hurdles for high-potential women include adopting a strategic perspective and managing stakeholders. Big-picture thinking and learning how to create influence through coalitions and networks are key to leadership success. Get on assignments that are key to the success of your company, as well as cross-functional projects that bring together diverse stakeholders from across the company. • Watch out for identity traps. Another common trap for women during the transition to senior management is that they fall victim to their natural leadership style. You’ll need to knock off the micromanaging, learn how to delegate and cultivate the ability to influence without authority. • Authenticity is also about your future self. It takes 15 seconds for a person to form an opinion about you. Think about how you want to be perceived and manage your image accordingly. Keep in mind that it is particularly difficult for women to be perceived as both competent and warm. M Photo: thinkstockphotos.com
4 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
Top-ranking habits
Come back Kiwis
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pending time on quality activities pays off. That was one of the messages from David Hensher, a professor of management at the University of Sydney, and the founding director of Australia’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS). According to Hensher, managers are more likely to achieve their objectives if they place particular emphasis on activities such as long-range planning, anticipating or preventing problems, and empowering other people. Other top priorities include broadening one’s own mind, increasing skills, preparing for important meetings, and investing in relationships “through sincere effort and deep honest listening”. Ignore this and expect more stress, burnout and deeper crises, he warns. Professor Hensher was speaking at the recent opening of Waikato University’s new Institute for Business Research (IBR). The institute draws on the expertise of researchers at Waikato Management School. IBR director Dr Stuart Locke says the IBR will work with a range of clients, from industry groups and government agencies to some of New Zealand’s biggest companies, in areas ranging from innovation to economic impact analysis. “The key challenge facing NZ Inc today is how we are going to increase productivity and provide
David Hensher... “take time to reflect”.
sustainable profitability into the future,” he says. The IBR is one of four new research institutes that Waikato University is opening over the next few months. The others are the National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis (NIDEA), the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and Te Kotahi Research Institute for Innovation, Well-being and Inspiration (IWI). Hensher cautioned managers that urgency is an addiction. “[It is] a self-destructive behaviour that temporarily fills the void by unmet needs: our society is overflowing with urgency addicts. The prevailing culture reinforces the notion that we must behave this way.” Instead he suggested managers take more time to reflect. “What is the one activity that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have a significant positive result in your life?” M
ew Zealand employers can now access highly skilled Kiwis overseas more easily through a new online tool just launched by the Kiwi Expat Association (Kea). The Kea Job Community (www. keajobs.com) encourages New Zealand employers to reach out to Kiwi expats with job offers that may entice them to bring their skills and experience back home. Kea CEO Ross McConnell says attracting some of this talent back to our shores is a necessity for New Zealand to achieve its economic growth targets. “Giving Kiwi employers access to our network is a first step. It is then up to employers to retain this talent so we can benefit from their international experience and networks which will ultimately help our businesses grow on a global scale.” The Kea Job Community uses Kea’s extensive network to not only
give employers access to this pool of talent, but also to give candidates around the world access to a large number of jobs in different industries worldwide. “If the opportunities are here and some of our highly skilled workforce is ready to come home, then we need to reach out to them and give them the final ‘pull’ they need to make the move,” says McConnell. Founded in 2001, Kea now has a membership of 30,000 Kiwi expats worldwide. “For the past nine years, the focus of Kea has been to build and support an offshore network of global citizens who take an active interest in the future of New Zealand,” says McConnell. “Now, following the recession and the country’s continual economic challenges, we have increased our focus to look at how we can use this network to better support the economic performance of New Zealand.” M
Support tomorrow’s leaders
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he NZIM Foundation is asking individuals and corporates for their financial support. Set up 10 years ago, the NZIM Foundation helps develop New Zealand’s young leaders by providing scholarships and study programmes. Individuals or corporates who donate $500 or more will be recognised as ‘Friends of the Foundation’. While one-off donations are very welcome, the trustees would also welcome ongoing contributions. To make a donation please contact Victoria Purdie on 04 473 0470 or national_office@nzim.co.nz. As the foundation is a charity all donations qualify for a tax rebate. See page 15 for more information on the scholarship programme. M
Manage your Taxi Spend with Innovation and Technology
tel: 09 306 1790 email: enquiries@taxicharge.co.nz
FEBRUARY 2011
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inbox Y the XX factor?
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re you missing out on the power of women at work? Firms fronting up to issues associated with gender diversity are locking in a key driver towards improving their business success. That’s according to a whitepaper released by global management consulting firm Hay Group which points out that diversity is about much more than just doing the right thing. Hay Group’s whitepaper ‘The XX Factor’ – a reference to the XX female chromosome – reasons that now is an opportune time to address diversity issues in the workplace as many organisations deal with the post GFC world and start to flex their muscles for their next growth agenda. Skills shortages and internal market pressures may soon be on the horizon, it posits. If that all sounds dandy but a little nebulous, the paper provides some concrete suggestions on where to start. Kick off, it suggests, with a comprehensive gender diversity audit: and that doesn’t mean just counting the number of women in your organisation.
“Rather, [it’s about] getting to the heart within a specific organisation about the underlying issues preventing the strong representation of women in leadership roles,” says the report. Hay Group has pinpointed seven areas to put under the microscope. Its ‘7 lever model’, as it calls this approach, acts as a “framework for auditing organisational blockages for women”. More to the point, executives who view their organisations through this same lens can use it to develop programmes and initiatives to address any areas in which they may be lacking when it comes to gender diversity. “Considering your business strategy in relation to all seven levers is essential to prioritising actions which will have a real and lasting impact on gender diversity,” the report states. Hay’s report also provides a list of questions to consider at each part of the audit. These include: Leadership Is the vision of leadership for your company male dominated? Do people understand the leadership’s
vision for change and why the focus on diversity is necessary? Values and culture Is the new and emerging culture consistent with the desired strategy and vision? Does your organisation have well-articulated values and culture which define how people behave? Organisation team and job design Does the organisation structure optimise the availability of employees regardless of gender? HR processes and systems Are your diversity policies applied and [do they] reinforce your diversity strategy in practice? Are managers challenged to explain and justify their hiring and promotion decisions in terms of equity and performance? Individual and team capabilities Do people understand what they have to deliver and what new skills they need to work in a diverse culture? Are behaviours that encourage and enable diversity recognised and rewarded?
XX
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com
Management processes and systems Do your organisation’s systems focus on outcomes or inputs? Does your organisation’s management system report on diversity metrics? Reward Do you have a robust framework for paying for work value and performance? Are reward diversity audits conducted to ensure women and men are treated equally? M
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6 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
Executive Pulse
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usiness decision makers are as surprised as the general population at the major expansion in freight volumes New Zealand will need to cope with just to keep expected economic growth rates around current levels. Freight volumes will need to grow by about 70 to 75 percent over the next three decades. Freight generated within the Waikato and Canterbury regions is expected to double (100% growth) over that period. Auckland is expected to see the volume of freight attracted to the region almost double by 2031. Some 61.9% business decision makers are surprised by the numbers (15.7% very surprised). Among New Zealanders as a whole 62% are surprised. Are you surprised or not surprised to know that New Zealand will need to manage a 70-75% growth in freight over the next 30 years to keep up with expected economic growth rates?
All New Zealand
Business decision makers
A. Very surprised
15.7%
15.6%
B. Surprised
46.3%
47.4%
38%
37%
C. Not surprised
Correction • Closer inspection shows that Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand last year had revenue of $174,982,000 and should have been ranked as number 174 in our December/January issue’s list of New Zealand’s Top 200 Companies. • The employee numbers for Aperio Group New Zealand (ranked 198) were incorrect. The company’s employee numbers are not publicly available. M
Source: ShapeNZ December 14, 2010, to January 11, 2011. National online weighted survey of 2014 respondents and sub group of 519 business executives, managers, professionals, proprietors and self employed. Maximum margins of error +/- 2.2% on the national sample, 4.3% on decision maker sample. www.shapenz.org.nz, www.nzbcsd.org.nz. ShapeNZ is operated by the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development.
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inbox ADVERTORIAL
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8 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
What chance a genuinely creative intellectual community?
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ear Editor While, like Colin James in his November column (NZ Management magazine, ‘From the edge of the world’), I would be delighted if New Zealand were to produce a economist or philosopher of the international quality of David Hume or Adam Smith – the leaders of the Scottish enlightenment – the prospect is unlikely, for we just do not have the environment. New Zealand not only fails to value such intellectual effort, but we discourage it. It is not just that the conventional wisdom suffers a colonial cringe, unambitiously imitating foreign fashions promoted by second rate overseas ‘experts’. It also actively discourages, and even represses, those New Zealand intellectuals who criticise its beliefs. In the late 1980s a number of quality academics in the economics and education departments of our universities left New Zealand because they found their careers blocked, while inferior academics were being promoted. Their crime? They criticised the prevailing Rogernomics ethos; today their critiques would be considered quite sensible, as the conventional wisdom, which so uncritically embraced the 1980s’ fashion, now accepts. Another academic was told he was unsuitable for a professorial chair because he was ‘too controversial and published too much’. Again the crime was that he persistently criticised Rogernomics; while the economics department he was (not) being considered for proved to have the worst publication record in New Zealand. Things really have not changed much since that time. Oh, sure, the fashions have, but the conventional attitude to critics persists. Rather than careful evaluations, because they might have something valuable to say, the critics are misrepresented and ignored, in effect suppressing alternative views. It is no good assuming that the least moribund of our thinktanks may become a world leader. They are a long way behind the frontier of world intellectual activity, while facing limitations from tight funding which discourages any originality of ideas. Nor can we expect much from our universities; none in New Zealand are doing anything near the frontier issues with which economics (and perhaps some other disciplines) are grappling. This was nicely illustrated by a recent national economists’ conference in which there was not a single local paper on the Global Financial Crisis – which is only the biggest thing to have happened in economics (and challenge to economic theory) since the 1930s. Perhaps an independent scholar may make some contribution, but would we bother to listen? Instead of looking for some major international contribution from our intellectual community, we need to set the less ambitious goal of fostering it. It needs to be genuinely innovative and more responsive to realities instead of trying to avoid change by holding the impossible conclusion that the conventional wisdom is so correct it will not change in the future; we need to be less taken by fashion, and pay more attention to gritty analysis. Indeed while conventional wisdom sees our growth salvation in ‘innovation’ and is willing to spend a fortune on it, its antagonism to intellectual innovation means there is hardly a climate for its promotion, and as like as not we will drive commercial innovation offshore too. (Jumping on this sentiment, rather than mulling it over, is exactly the sort of reaction which undermines innovation.) We need to expect of our intellectual community – economists not least – that they are in touch with international developments, but that they are sufficiently creative to adapt them for our particular needs; does it make any sense to assume that the New Zealand economy is just like the American one? Most of all we need to understand that while we need a conventional wisdom, it is constantly changing and that we should respect its critics, because they are helping us understand where it may be going. Taking such an approach will not only mean our conventional wisdom will be more up to date – today’s still contains fallacies we knew were wrong 20 years ago – but it just might be that we will develop some world-class intellectuals, instead of driving them offshore.
Take a fresh look.
Brian Easton eastonbh@paradise.net.nz
FEBRUARY 2011
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The 21st Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards were announced on December 2, 2010 before a business who’s who of 800 guests gathered at Sky City Convention Centre, Auckland. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
MCs Carol Hirschfeld and Sean Plunket. Guest speaker, the Hon David Cunliffe, Labour’s finance spokesperson. NZ Management’s publisher Toni Myers. QBE Insurance Chairperson of the Year Alison Paterson. Tom Chignell, head of corporate affairs at Vodafone, receives the Kensington Swan Responsible Governance Award for the company’s leadership position on outlawing the use of mobiles in cars. Murray Jack, CEO of Deloitte, addresses the 800-strong business audience. Russel Creedy, chief executive of Restaurant Brands, receives the Marsh Most Improved Performance Award.
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8 Claire Szabó, CEO of English Language Partners, receives the Young Executive of the Year Award from co-sponsors Eagle Technology’s Corallie Eagle and NZIM’s Phillip Meyer. 9 Jason Hollingworth, chief financial officer and company secretary at Sky Network Television, accepts the Workbase Best Growth Strategy Award. 10 Ngatarawa’s Alwyn and Brian Corban congratulate one of the lucky winners of Glazebrook wine. 11 Peter Goodfellow receives the Designworks Visionary Leader award on behalf of his father Sir Douglas Goodfellow, from Designworks’ Jef Wong. 12 Keith Reynolds, CEO of Beca Group, calls his senior management team on-stage to acknowledge their success as Deloitte/Management magazine’s Company of the Year for 2010. 13 Mark Waller, managing director of Ebos Group, receives the final award of the evening and is acknowledged as the Deloitte/Management magazine Executive of the Year for 2010.
FEBRUARY 2011
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M AS I SEE IT
Claire Szabó International connectedness is key for Claire Szabó, chief executive of English Language Partners NZ and 2010’s NZIM/ Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year.
How would you describe the New Zealand identity? Identity is rapidly changing as new waves of migration reshape our population. Right throughout the country, cities and towns are settling more people from increasingly diverse cultural backgrounds. From the Pacific, Asia and beyond, in high and lower skilled professions and throughout our schools and communities, the New Zealand identity is embracing greater diversity. We are a country with pretty moderate and tolerant views and a curiosity and respect for each other’s cultures. We have the physical space for people to move here. Our Treaty offers a uniquely New Zealand way of thinking about different people populating one country. Our refugee programme grows our significant international reputation for humanitarian contribution. But equally, migration offers important things that New Zealand needs: skills and labour for our economy; new ideas and perspectives to solve social problems; and connectedness to other parts of the world despite our physical isolation and size. What will be the country’s next major challenge? Utilising the skills that people bring. At board tables and in senior management teams, throughout professions and on our representative bodies we see diversity lagging. Migrants and refugees are too frequently unemployed or underemployed. Our city councils and school boards do not reflect the people they serve. Increasingly distinctive regional flavours are emerging from
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the traditional New Zealand identity. In Southland, one in nine people was born offshore. In Manukau, this is one in two. Providing local and regional leadership that builds bridges between people in rapidly changing regions is a major challenge. So, too, is providing national leadership that holds all the different parts of the country together. New Zealand needs to see Auckland as a major opportunity and a source of pride: an innovation hub, an economic centre, and an early indicator of what national cultural identity may be in the future. Aotearoa is going to be much more Asian and Polynesian, multilingual and internationally connected. Are we doing enough to ensure that this extraordinary meeting of peoples is realising its potential for ideas leadership and generating more light than heat? Do our different regions understand each other’s needs? What do we need to do to prepare for this? From my position at English Language Partners New Zealand, I see a large range of successful community services focused on settling migrants in – often with support of government. In the future, large and small firms, professional organisations, schools, hospitals, community organisations and iwi will all need to understand and play their role in accommodating, settling and drawing out the benefits of New Zealand’s changing face. We may be a small country but we have a huge advantage if we can use the talents, skills and connections of all of us. M
2 011 Kea New Zealand invites you to join us for a night of celebration showcasing New Zealanders who are succeeding on the global stage! The 2011 World Class New Zealand Awards are being held in Auckland on Wednesday, 6th April, in The Great Room at The Langham Hotel. This prestigious black-tie gala event attracts a VIP audience of top international business people, senior Ministers and officials - an ideal opportunity to interact with the “best of the best” of New Zealand’s global talent. Now in their eighth year, the World Class New Zealand Awards are one of the country’s most important accolades for outstanding individuals who have made major contributions to New Zealand’s success on the world stage. This year is a special year for Kea as we celebrate our 10th anniversary and hope that you will be there as we also pay tribute to our founding directors.
Kea is delighted to announce the 2011 World Class New Zealand Award winners: • • • • • • •
Information and Communications: Michael Boustridge, President, BT Global Services Multi-National Corporations Creative: Michael Stedman, Managing Director, Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ) Life Sciences: Emeritus Professor Robert (Bob) Elliott, Medical Director, Living Cell Technologies Ltd Manufacturing, Design and Innovation: Sir George Fistonich, Owner and Managing Director, Villa Maria Estate Science, Technology and Academia: Dame Anne Salmond, Distinguished Professor of Maori Studies and Anthropology, University of Auckland Finance and Investment: Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas, Independent Public Policy Professional New Thinking: Sam Morgan, Founder, TradeMe
The Supreme Award and Friend of New Zealand winners will be announced on the night. This year’s recipients are again in a class of their own and the night will be a celebration of all that is truly World Class New Zealand. For more on the winners visit: http://www.keanewzealand.com/wcnz/wcnz-awards.html
TO ORDER TICKETS
Please order your tickets through: holly@verve.co.nz or phone 04 499 6909 Table of 10 ($2,600), single ticket ($285). Prices exclude GST.
The World Class New Zealand Awards are presented by Kea with support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Kea would also like to acknowledge and thank this year’s sponsors for the significant contribution they make to the success of this prestigious annual event.
New Zealand has some of the highest recorded negative youth statistics in the developed world. The Graeme Dingle Foundation is committed to turning this around through its work with FYD. Help transform the lives of thousands of Kiwi children each year and make a lasting difference to New Zealand society through making a bequest, donation or endowment to the Graeme Dingle Foundation. The Graeme Dingle Foundation has been set-up as a permanent endowment to ensure the longevity of the Foundation for Youth Development’s (FYD) programmes – Kiwi Can, Stars, Project K and MYND. FYD currently helps over 18,000 young people to be confident healthy individuals who contribute positively to NZ society. FYD’s programmes are supported by robust research and evaluation including Auckland, Massey, AUT and Hong Kong universities. Results show that the programmes work. FYD students perform better over a range of factors including improved academic performance, improved behaviour and attitudes and boosted self-confidence – all leading to a positive sense of purpose and direction.
For more information, please contact Debbie Brown on the details below:
Graeme Dingle Foundation Phone 09 477 6237 Email office@fyd.org.nz Website www.fyd.org.nz PO Box 305 474, Triton Plaza, North Shore 0757
MANAGERS ABROAD M
A different diaspora Brent Hansen has built a high-profile international career on a distinctively Kiwi management style. He explained the benefits of ‘New Zealand-ness’ to Reg Birchfield.
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s there anything particularly distinctive about New Zealand’s diaspora? Well actually, yes. For starters, the OECD rates it the highest in skilled competency in the world – at least on a per capita basis. Certainly anecdotally, if not statistically, Kiwis that fly the coop punch well above their weight, to mix a metaphor, when it comes to filling high flying slots of global influence and enterprise. Why and how can this be? One of the more ‘philosophical’ members of this illustrious alumni of expats is Brent Hansen who, until he retired in 2006 at the ripe old age, for a rocker, of 50 was London-based Music Television’s (MTV) president of international creative and its global editor-in-chief at MTV Europe. Hansen landed on his gilded perch, like so many migrating Kiwis, more by accident than skilful navigation. But having secured the music industry’s top television slot, he shaped both the job and his approach to it to become MTV’s most ‘iconic individual’. He was the guy who ‘symbolised something beyond the bottom line’ and saw himself, as he once put it, as the philosopher of the company. His long hair and languid, easy charisma no doubt helped. But Hansen, in town recently for the launch of the Auckland Chapter of Kea, New Zealand’s global network of enterprising expatriates, thinks the international success many Kiwis enjoy goes a little deeper than happenstance. He has attributed his personal success to what he calls his ‘New Zealand-ness’, an attitude, management and leadership approach that kept him in his job as a shaper of world contemporary music preferences for the thick end of 20 years. “I have always tried to see things
from a New Zealand perspective, whatever that is, and to deliver through my own persona,” he says. Hansen and his wife, former New Zealand television presenter Philippa Dann, still live in London. But they spend increasing dollops of the time building a holiday home on Waiheke Island for their teenage son and their Brent Hansen... “Success runs deeper than happenstance.” daughter who is now studying at Wellington’s Victoria University. take their skills and ideas to the global The arts and history graduate marketplace. originally seemed destined for a life in “Then Kea offered a way to talk with academia. That ended when he found other Kiwis who wanted to know about himself, through various part time jobs, the world and its opportunities. It was a producing Television New Zealand’s breath of fresh air to me,” he says. ‘alternative’ music programme, Radio Hansen thinks Kea’s approach to with Pictures. But then he left town for a bringing expats and aspirants together six-month sabbatical on the other side is a professional way of making the of the world and the rest, as the cliché diaspora work for the good of both the reminds us, is history. individual and the country. “Kea has Hansen was offered a job at the treated me with respect, never insisted fledgling European arm of the American- that I be a super-extrovert and party turn. owned MTV and simply rose to the I’m not a joiner. I am an individual who opportunities the company’s rapid rise enjoys being taken seriously but who in the European entertainment world maybe has something to offer and wants presented him. Once on top he perched to share it.” there for 19 years, a longevity of tenure Hansen may be retired from MTV he once ascribed ‘100 percent’ to his Kiwi but he keeps busy. He is on the board roots. of London’s Southbank Centre, which Now he has retired from his ‘city job’ is the largest arts organisation in the and indulges his homing Kiwi instincts by United Kingdom. He still does gigs as a spending more time in comfortable and DJ and is on the board of another small familiar surroundings. Returning home business. But mostly, he likes to travel to isn’t always an easy transition however. New Zealand as often as he can to spend He found it difficult, for example, to time with his family, friends and other have stimulating conversations with Kiwis who want to join a very different like-minded New Zealanders itching to diaspora. M Brent Hansen is a member of Kea, New Zealand’s global talent community. www.keanewzealand.com
FEBRUARY 2011 | management.co.nz | 15
NZIM / DEVELOPING SKILLS
A strategy
to attract international Kiwi managers New Zealand should focus on developing international entrepreneurship and management skills, according to the New Zealand Institute’s (NZI) latest discussion paper released at the end of last year. Kevin Gaunt agrees.
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an New Zealand develop the depth of business and public sector management skill needed to deliver successful exporters and local businesses? The question is one of the top 10 issues identified by NZI that the country must address to successfully internationalise the nation’s businesses, accelerate growth and lift prosperity. The discussion paper, one in a series that NZI is releasing to propose policy directions to “plug the gap” (between potential and actuality) and lift our global performance, suggests New Zealand can become a small advanced economy by exporting high-value differentiated goods and services. NZI identifies two key requirements that are pivotal to the implementation and execution of a successful international business strategy. They are: • The increased availability of venture capital; and • A focus on developing international entrepreneurship and management skills. And while the paper mentions the role the New Zealand Institute of Directors (IoD) can play in increasing the required directorship skill, it does not mention the very obvious role the
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New Zealand Institute of Management can play in doing the same thing for managers. NZIM is unquestionably the managerial equivalent of IoD. The paper recommends the establishment of an Entrepreneurship Institute through the University of Auckland Business School, primarily because it already has established activities in this area. NZI’s recommendation is probably based on the understanding that the majority of New Zealand management organisations focus on teaching the core concepts of management. They don’t, however, offer specialities in the needed area of international management. NZIM’s management development niche, on the other hand, is based on providing experience-based training. That is not just delivering the theory, but rather of sharing the actuality of what happens in the real world of management practice and processes. And because NZIM’s approach to management development is flexible, it can provide programmes tailored to meet market and society needs as these change and evolve. It is, therefore, perfectly positioned to contribute to NZI’s proposed strategy. NZIM could effectively partner with IoD and the
Auckland Business School to develop and deliver high level programmes of the kind envisaged by NZI. The key issue, however, rests in some understanding of the extent of the real, and not just assumed, shortage of management talent in New Zealand. This is the classic chicken and egg conundrum. Because New Zealand is not the advanced economy NZI’s discussion paper says we should aim to become, our more talented and motivated managers move offshore to expand their skills and their income-earning potential. They do this once they have equipped themselves with the basic training that our home-grown resources provide. It is an understandable phenomenon, but it is also problematic when it comes to discussing policy options. The current situation leaves a vacuum which the Government attempts to fill through its immigration strategies. Many immigrants, however, are attracted to New Zealand to tap its perceived lifestyle and quality of life offerings and, having reached a certain level of security, they ease back in order to enjoy the lifestyle they aspired to. Again, this is an entirely understandable
Nominations open for NZIM Foundation Scholarship The NZIM Foundation is calling for nominations for its Foundation Scholarship programme. Foundation chairman David Moloney, says three individuals will be selected to attend the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) National Convention in Sydney in June and also attend a one-day workshop with leadership guru Wilf Jarvis and some boardroom briefings with prominent New Zealanders working in Australia. The scholarship covers return airfares from New Zealand to Sydney, the cost of the conference and accommodation for six nights in Sydney. More than a dozen individuals have won scholarships to attend major offshore conferences, to meet management experts and attend briefings with CEOs of major companies run by New Zealanders. It is, says Moloney, a unique opportunity and experience unmatched by other offerings. The NZIM Foundation was established 10 years ago to help develop New Zealand’s young leaders by providing scholarships and study programmes. The foundation was established through support by its founding members including South Island businessman Graeme Marsh, IBM, Air New Zealand, The National Bank, Fulton Hogan, Fisher Print, NZ College of Management, The Open Polytechnic and NZ Management magazine. Candidates should send their application into the foundation by April 11. Application forms are available from the NZIM National website www.nzim.co.nz or by contacting Victoria Purdie at 04 473 0470 or national_office@nzim.co.nz. You can either post this to PO Box 67, Wellington 6140 or email it to national_office@nzim.co.nz. Winners will be announced on May 9.
human reaction. Compared with many countries, New Zealand offers easy access to an attractive lifestyle. Attracting talented emigrants back to New Zealand seems, therefore, like at least one good starting point. The NZI paper comes to what is probably the best strategic approach to breaking the nexus of the chicken and egg cycle with its suggestion New Zealand invests in building its international management and entrepreneurship capability. If, at the same time, something is done to increase the availability of capital for new ventures then this might result in us retaining more people capable of building our economy and attracting back managers with the international management experience to effectively increase the talent pool. NZIM is perfectly placed to play a key role in this strategy for the following reasons: • It operates nationwide;
• It is capable of developing learning programmes aligned with the country’s needs quickly; • Its training is based on real, on-theground experience and is therefore ideal for managers who are already in the workplace and want to build specific capabilities; and • NZIM is used to working in partnership with many organisations and could easily partner with IoD, Auckland Business School or, indeed, other relevant organisations. NZI’s latest discussion paper is visionary and strongly aligned with New Zealand’s needs. NZIM is committed to playing a major role in helping the country move back to being an advanced economy and does not see our small size as a nation as an impediment to that process. M
LEADERS BUILDING LEADERS Our aim is to build management capability through Research, Learning, and Recognition. Our focus is to: • Research leading management trends and practice and promote a constantly developing model of best management capability for New Zealand. • Enable managers and aspiring managers to participate in learning programmes, mentoring, and events that provide the information and experience they need to develop their capability. • To identify leading management role models and provide awards that recognise the career and educational achievements of managers. NATIONAL BOARD Phillip Meyer FNZIM (Chairman) BRIAN SOUTAR AFNZIM Gary Sturgess Life FNZIM Lloyd Davies FNZIM John Sandford FNZIM Cheryl Doig fnzim Lynda Carroll AFNZIM OFFICES National Office Acting ceo phillip meyer fnzim Box 67, Wellington 6140 Ph 0-4-473 0470, Fax 0-4-473 0479 Email national_office@nzim.co.nz National website http://www.nzim.co.nz Northern President: John Sandford FNZIM CEO: KEVIN GAUNT FNZIM, FAIM Box 6600, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141 Ph 0-9-303 9100, Fax 0-9-303 9109 Email kevin_gaunt@nzimnorthern.co.nz Website www.nzimnorthern.co.nz Central President: Phillip Meyer FNZIM CEO: Karin Callaghan FNZIM, FIPAA Box 11781, Wellington 6142 Ph 0-4-495 8300, Fax 0-4-495 8301 Email karin_callaghan@nzimcentral.co.nz Website www.nzimcentral.co.nz Southern President: BRIAN SOUTAR AFNZIM CEO: Joseph Thomas AFNZIM Box 13044, Christchurch 8141 Ph 0-3-379 2302, Fax 0-3-366 7069 Email joseph@nzimsouthern.co.nz Website www.nzimsouthern.co.nz
NZIM Foundation Chairperson: David Moloney FNZIM Secretary: Jim Thomson PO Box 67 Wellington, Ph 0-4-473 0470 national_office@nzim.co.nz
Kevin Gaunt, FNZIM, FAIM, is chief executive of NZIM Northern.
FEBRUARY 2011
| management.co.nz | 17
M politics colin james
Key: the step-by-step changer Is the Prime Minister John Key the trader or John Key the manager of traders? In that distinction lies a clue to his prime ministership.
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ast year was to have delivered, in Key’s own words in a NZ Management cover story, a stepchange. “We were elected on making a step-change for New Zealand,” he said in an interview for that article. He emphasised the strategic nature of his intentions: “What we do in 2010 will have some impact on our electability in 2011 but a much greater impact on our electability in 2014.” Have we had the step-change? Key cites tax reform (undoubtedly big); reorganisation of science and innovation, with an amalgamated ministry; rejigged funding priorities and Crown Research Institutes pushed to work more closely with private firms (widely approved but, Key acknowledges, still ‘too little money’); reprioritisation of $4 billion of spending (Key calls that ‘squeezing the lemon’); other structural changes such as parking the National Archives and National Library with the Internal Affairs Department; and, progress on trade. He says there will be a ‘savings and investment’ budget this year. Bill English adds: a start on welfare ‘reform’, though he also warns that is no quick fix. That attests to a busy government. But some chief executives grump that more than busy-ness is needed. They want bolder regulatory steps and a visible strategy. But, where those CEOs want leaps and bounds, National’s step-change sticks close to the ground. Well before the 2008 election the leadership jettisoned policies which polling told it might cost votes. So
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interest-free student loans stayed and superannuation at 65 and indexation of Working for Families rebates. This was a rejection of radicalism – the plunge in polling that followed Ruth Richardson’s great-leap-forward ‘mother of all budgets’ in 1991 is seared into English’s memory. It was also a reclamation of National’s traditional slightly right-of-centre liberalconservative spot. Instead, the leadership explicitly decided to make modest promises (do some things, don’t do some others) before each election and carry them out. The model was John Howard across the Tasman and Helen Clark at home: relatively modest changes term by term which build to significant but mostly sustainable change over time. Senior ministers and Key say that is the guiding principle for the next term as well as this. Key says: “You have to keep your word.” He promises to seek a “mandate for some different things” this year. In a recent example he has flagged partial selldowns of selected state-owned enterprises. More labour law liberalisation can also be inferred from the fact that that has been an area where Key has gone further this term than his 2008 mandate. But it doesn’t add up to what you would expect from a risk-taker. No crashthrough-or-crash. Instead, a measured programme that amounts to step-bystep change. But wasn’t Key a currency trader? Aren’t they risk-takers? And didn’t Key describe himself in last February’s article as a trader who took “quite large shortterm risks”, not one of those who took “smaller, long-term risks”? The likely answer: Key became a manager of traders and made much of his fortune from that. The manager has a bigger game: to ensure the cumulative actions of individualistic risk-taking
Prime Minister John Key... “You have to keep your word.”
traders don’t crash the bus. Manager Key wants to steer the National bus to a third term. He says he won’t quit next term, though he won’t stick around if beaten. And he still wants as a legacy to have done better by disadvantaged kids, hence part of his reason for whanau ora. It comes partly from his history as an orphan which caused him a “bigger emotional impact than I would have thought” from the miners’ deaths in November: he shared families’ losses. That human connectedness is a large ingredient of Key’s high poll ratings. It is also a key to his step-by-step version of step-change. M Colin James is New Zealand’s leading political commentator and NZ Management’s regular political columnist. ColinJames@synapsis.co.nz
Bob Edlin economics M
Those bothersome forecasts Current initiatives to rebalance our economy are no way to shake off debt, warns Bob Edlin.
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his time last year, this column focused on Finance Minister Bill English’s management style and the influences on his policy decisions. The exercise was somewhat handicapped by his refusal to be interviewed. Otherwise we might have been tempted to chime in with the other forecasters and commentators who eagerly foresaw the end of the recession and a quick recovery. They seemed to be on the right track with their optimism for the first few promising months of the year. But as BERL records in its latest forecasts, “the mood darkened and the incipient recovery stalled”. Further bad news from abroad added to the country’s troubles and by September the commentators were clucking about the prospect of a doubledip recession. Just in time to dilute the joy of Christmas, statistics for the September quarter showed gross domestic product contracted 0.2 percent. But English did his best to cheer us, insisting the economic recovery remained on track, despite the contraction. Before that result, five consecutive quarters of growth had been recorded and “I’ve said all along that this recovery would be a bit bumpy at times…” More critically, in terms of his policy emphasis this year, English said New Zealand’s economic imbalances had built up over more than a decade – exacerbated by the global recession – “and so it will take us more than a year or two to fix them”. Indeed. The NZIER’s year-end Consensus Forecasts survey showed economic forecasters expect a slowing recovery before conditions strengthen in the March 2012 year. Treasury forecasts for the shortterm outlook were among those revised
down. Economists on average expect positive economic growth in the year to March (2.1 percent, down from 2.8 percent in the September survey) and 3.5 percent, (up from 3.1 percent) in 2011/12. But the outlook for March 2013 is a subdued 2.6 percent. Bearing in mind the Government’s priority of rebalancing the economy, the deteriorating current account forecast is much more bothersome. It was significantly reduced in the March 2010 year by the Bill English... “It will take us more than a year or two to banking sector’s one-off tax fix New Zealand’s economic imbalances.” payments and an improved trade balance. But slowing exports, rising imports and do that “by setting a credible path back to increased costs of financing New Zealand’s fiscal surplus as soon as practical” and will large net foreign liability position are continue to keep a lid on new spending expected to widen the deficit again, from initiatives. Yet this state-sector austerity a forecast -$7.4 billion in 2010/11 to -$11.9 will exacerbate the effects of greater billion in 2012/13. householder saving, or debt reduction, in This will exacerbate the country’s reducing business turnovers. indebtedness at a time when international The rebalancing is meant to pitch financiers are pulling the plug on highly the economy in favour of exports and indebted economies. It will also stiffen investment as well as saving. But a surge in the Government’s resolve to remedy the investment activity forecast this year owes imbalance which English regards as New more to the Canterbury earthquake than to Zealand’s biggest vulnerability. government policy. The Budget this year, accordingly, More ominously, the Consensus “will clearly outline the next steps in the Forecasts survey found the trade balance Government’s programme to lift economic outlook remains negative. Export growth growth, with a particular focus on forecasts are positive but have been improving national savings and reducing trimmed, (to 2.6 percent from 2.8 percent our reliance on foreign debt”, he said when in the year to March 2011 and to 4.9 releasing the Budget Policy Statement and percent from 5.2 percent the year after), Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update. reflecting uncertainty over the exchange English will take his cue from the Savings rate and global growth outlook. Imports Working Group and expects any policy are expected to outpace exports in all of responses in this area to be included in the forecast years, too. That’s no way to Budget 2011. shake off debt. M But he also said it was important the Government plays its part in improving Bob Edlin is a leading economic commentator and New Zealand’s national savings. It would NZ Management’s regular economics columnist. FEBRUARY 2011
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M thought leader
Convert the dream To improve our living standards, businesses need realistic and achievable goals, says Michael Barnett.
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rrespective of what size our firms are, we have goals that are measured against specific targets and timeframes and we vary actions to ensure that the goals are achieved. In all cases a failure to achieve over a period of time means a change in personnel or process. When you look at New Zealand businesses’ poor export and growth records over recent years, it is obvious that the economic targets we have set as a country are wrong. The targets are not seen as believable or achievable, and the interventions by associated government departments are wasted. What is urgently needed are realistic goals that New Zealanders believe in, that will deliver us success on a world stage and that are seen to be achievable within timeframes capable of holding a nation’s attention span. The previous Labour-led government adopted the target of reaching the top half of OECD rankings in per capita GDP. Today’s Government has the goal of closing the gap with Australia in per capita GDP. Per capita GDP is a recognised indicator as it is a good proxy for income per person. Measuring the target as a ranking, though, is problematic because New Zealand could get richer, but if other countries also got richer faster than us, New Zealand would drop in the rankings. The more important issue is that most New Zealanders have no idea of the meaning of economic expressions like “GDP per capita”, how it is calculated or how they can influence it: so having it as a measure of change becomes irrelevant. Nevertheless, based on 2009 OECD data, for New Zealand to reach the top half of OECD countries, it would have to increase its ranking from 21st to 17th. This would mean overtaking France, whose per capita GDP was US$33,679 compared to New Zealand’s US$29,176. This means
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we would need to grow 16 percent more than France to achieve this target. It’s a similar story with Australia. Its per capita GDP is US$39,351. To eliminate the gap, New Zealand would need to grow 35 percent faster than Australia. When have we ever looked like doing that? It is worth noting that the gap has widened since 2008 because even though we have been growing quite respectably, Australia has been growing faster. Both these targets have been misused over the years, with politicians and business not really Micheal Barnett... “Every New Zealand business has the potential to improve its performance.” applying what it takes to achieve the goals or varying the goals to what would make capacity to alone significantly lift living them achievable. standards and New Zealand’s overall Let me suggest that what is needed economic performance. from Government is encouragement to We need to find ways to grow export business to set identifiable growth goals volumes and values in new areas such as and targets, and provide support to help ICT, film-making, clean technology and them be achieved. energy, high-value food and beverage At the end of the day, the living products, and the many other innovative standards of all New Zealanders depend and creative services and products made on what the country earns from locally. business, especially those that export. If Every New Zealand business has the we are to improve our living standards potential to improve its performance. and catch up to the living standards They should be given the motivation of countries such as Australia, more to do so. It might be about training, businesses need to convert the dream management skills, research, exporting of becoming a successful player on the or attracting investment, but the world stage into success. consequences of attention to any of the The goals we set as a nation need to elements in a dedicated way will over be realistic and achievable by a larger time impact on New Zealand’s growth tier of businesses across a wider front. It and our nation’s confidence. M has become clear in recent years that our current group of export heavyweights in Michael Barnett is chief executive of the Auckland agriculture and tourism lack the growth Chamber of Commerce.
BOOKCASE M
Take-no-prisoners leadership Man for all seasons: The life and times of Ken Douglas By David Grant • Random House New Zealand RRP $45
The life and times of former New Zealand trade union supremo Ken Douglas effectively parallels the life and times of trade unionism in New Zealand over the roughly 40 years to 2000. Historian and first-time biographer David Grant makes a reasonable fist of relating the story of both man and movement – though I struggle with the Man for all Seasons title. The book is hardly, despite the author’s claims, a ‘wartsand-all’ biography but, his superlatives aside, it is an interesting account of the life so far of an interesting and somewhat enigmatic man. From truckie to trade unionist, communist to Labour Party political aspirant, from Federation of Labour and Council of Trade Unions leader
The happiness advantage: The seven principles that fuel success and performance at work By Shawn Achor • Random House New Zealand RRP $36.99
This book is better than chocolate. It tells me not to drop fun times with friends and whanau when the going gets tough at work. It tells me to work on tiny bitesized goals when all around me seems impossibly chaotic. And it reassures me that I can retrain my tired old brain to spot patterns of possibility and sidestep negativity. I felt happy reading it. Writer Shawn Achor is the kind of
to corporate board director, Ken Douglas influenced and shaped – for better or worse, intentionally or otherwise – the fortunes of the nation’s trade unions and the industrial legislation that dictates their current place in the economy. Douglas was, and is, the product of his ‘working class roots’ and the author spends considerable time describing them and how they shaped his personal philosophies of life. Effectively abandoned by his alcoholic mother, his father’s mother became his guiding spirit. Understanding the background from whence he came is relevant but it is, at times, poorly recounted. The Ken Douglas story comes to life with the tales of personal ambition, political intrigue, ideological conflict and the portrayal of events that delivered the man to activist and leadership roles in a sometimes seemingly slow moving but always steadily
changing working-class world. Ken Douglas is an enigma. David Grant explains the many ways in which Douglas’ personal contradictions manifest themselves, but offers few convincing explanations of why. Perhaps it is simply because his view of the world in which he operated changed and he chose to turn his leadership, negotiating skills and increasing global grasp of people, politics and economic matters to account. Some observers, according to Grant, think Douglas ‘grew’ to become a more rounded, though still grounded, leader. Some fellow traveller socialists and committed trade unionists, on the other hand, still hold that he abandoned his principles and has moved to the dark side of the class struggle. That both Douglas and trade unionism changed significantly under his watch is everywhere apparent. How the man of – rather than for – many seasons really feels about those changes cannot be read in this biography. For students of an era of industrial relations, political deceit and takeno-prisoners leadership styles, this book is well worth dipping into. Reg Birchfield.
guy you’d like to invite round for tea. As he tells it, he bootstrapped his way up from a humble start in Waco, Texas, to Harvard University. He spent 12 years living in college dorms, first as a student and then as a live-in officer helping others navigate their way through their new-found academic lives. Noticing how some students flourished while others floundered, he started thinking about the link between success and happiness and this book is the end result.
It turns on its head conventional thinking that says we first need to become successful – at work, in sport, in love, wherever – before we’re allowed to be happy. For in Shawn Achor’s world, happiness fuels success and not the other way round. With rigorous referencing to numerous psych tests, interlaced with personal anecdotes and an easy style of writing, Achor summarises his thinking into seven principles. Sounds corny. But it’s not. Read it and enjoy. Ruth Le Pla FEBRUARY 2011
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MĀORI BUSINESS
Kiwi lessons
from iwi governance Iwi are exploring new governance models in a post-Treaty settlement world, says Whare Akuhata.
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eople, planet and profit. While the triple bottom line approach may not have been expressly mentioned at a recent symposium in Wellington, this concept could best describe what Māori organisations are considering at the dawn of a post-Treaty settlement era that has the potential to significantly alter not only the Māori world but Aotearoa/New Zealand. Governance, the Māori economy, cultural heritage and natural resources were the major themes at ‘Te Pourewa Arotahi – The Elevated Platform for Resolution’, a recent symposium where chief Ngai Tahu treaty negotiator and keynote presenter Sir Tipene O’Regan spoke about the post-Treaty of Waitangi settlement era, economic development potential, and the dilemma between commercial and cultural interests. Sir Tipene called for innovative and creative thinking about the economic
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challenges and opportunities for iwi in a post-Treaty settlement era. “That thinking,” he said, “must have as its outcome norms of Māori governance which can work effectively for the long-term benefit of Māori. This will not be achieved by merely relabelling existing Pākehā governance norms in te reo.” Analysis by Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry for Māori Development, shows that Māori participation in New Zealand’s GDP has lifted significantly from $2.6 billion (or 1.96 percent) in 2003 to $8.3 billion (or 5.35 percent) in 2006. Between 2001 and 2006 the Māori commercial asset base increased 83 percent from $8.9 billion to $16.6 billion. Around $6 billion of that asset base was in some form of collective ownership. The treaty settlement process is estimated to represent $2 billion and future settlements will add a further $1.4 billion to those figures.
While acknowledging that Māori have a range of traditional values on which to draw, Sir Tipene cautioned that “there is nothing in our collective past which provides a clear precedence for the contemporary and future challenge”. He said the norms of good governance are appropriate for Māori organisations but the governance model must be designed and structured to suit the fundamentally particular aims and requirements of iwi Māori. “This does not mean that Māori governance should be any less rigorous or demanding of directors, trustees or management,” he said. “What it does mean is that in its design, practice and ethos it should be Māori and not merely imitative of generally articulated Pākehā values and principles.” In Sir Tipene’s view, the most important underlying principle is that operational governance must reflect, both
Photo: Whare Akuhata
in philosophy and practice, the fact that Māori entities are essentially inter-generational in character and are collectively owned. This poses a fundamental contrast with the governance requirements of the single-generation market economy with which Māori are surrounded. He added that a further factor is a cultural need to recover or protect the rohe, or land, with which a particular iwi may identify. Te Runanga o Ngāti Awa, for example, has been active in purchasing land within its tribal boundary: notably a large dairy unit on the Rangitaiki Plains. A distinctive characteristic of Māori tribal enterprises is that they are “ultimately, not for sale”, said Sir Tipene. “And although their profits may be distributed by way of share dividends or in a range of forms which may be loosely described as ‘charitable’, they are generally intended to be vehicles which can, and will, maintain their capital wealth
inter-generationally.” He added there are few satisfactory examples and “an overriding aim of intergenerational wealth maintenance is a tall order”. However, he contended that it is possible for an iwi-owned economic entity to acquire assets, and hold and grow them on an intergenerational basis. He also believes it is possible to reduce the problems of a centralised corporate model of benefit distribution to iwi members with its attendant risk of merely privatising benefit dependency. In Sir Tipene’s view, Māori must look for “a unique solution away from conventional economic management norms and understandings of the nature of benefit”. In short, iwi must construct a uniquely Māori economic paradigm centred on the intergenerational requirements of the tribe. If the tribe is to endure then its capital must endure with it.
Speaking at the same symposium, distinguished professor Graham Smith, CEO of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, said sustainable economic development is fundamental to enabling a more selfdetermining existence. Smith has just returned from Alaska where, since their settlements in the 1940s, tribes have reorganised themselves as multi-billion-dollar corporations. “It was particularly interesting,” he said, “to observe at the Annual Alaskan Federation of Natives Convention that the natives sat under the banners of different corporations: for example the Sea Alaska Corporation, the Denali Foundation, the North Slope Corporation and so on.” Professor Smith said sustainable economic development is fundamental to enabling a more self-determining existence and Māori needed to take more care as they position themselves for the future. FEBRUARY 2011
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Photo: Whare Akuhata
MĀORI BUSINESS
Sir Tipene O’Regan... “Operational governance must reflect the fact that Māori entities are essentially inter-generational in character.”
“Iwi cannot have a sustainable or effective socio-economic revolution without a prior or simultaneous education and schooling revolution. If the treaty settlement phase has been mostly about lawyers, then the post-treaty settlement era needs to accentuate education and skills development.” While treaty settlements are important, many people believe the key is for iwi to unlock the potential value of the Māori asset base both by themselves and with assistance from other partners and stakeholders. Significantly, most of this activity is happening in the provinces and is expected to provide a lift for these areas: many of which are experiencing considerable socio-economic problems. Māori already have a strong presence in the primary and tourism sectors: both of which are important for both Māori and wider New Zealand economic growth. The nature of the Māori asset base, cultural connections and ownership of tribal and pan-tribal entities means that Māori assets, ownership, and wealth will always remain in New Zealand. Although much of the iwi-administered asset base is now in the primary industries, iwi are increasingly looking to emerging industries and exploring the pos24 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
sibility of private or Crown partnerships. Early Ngai Tahu and Tainui settlements have provided a benchmark for many subsequent agreements. Both groups now have assets estimated at around $640 million apiece. Lessons are still being learnt: witness the latest political ructions for Tainui with a very convoluted organisational structure and a large number of players. As commentator Rawiri Taonui said in a succinctly Māori way: “Indeed at every bend of the Waikato River there is a taniwha.” This refers to the well known Tainui proverb “Ko Waikato he piko he taniwha.” At every bend of the Waikato River there is a chief. Some tribes have elected to take their grievances to the Waitangi Tribunal where the opportunity to tell their stories at the hearings has proved cathartic for some. Currently a group of Ngā Puhi wants to proceed down this track while the main group prefers to negotiate directly with Government. Iwi will often take both approaches simultaneously, as was the case with Ngāti Awa and Tuhoe. Settlement processes require considerable research, which has resulted in a huge body of iwi knowledge. The Sealord deal highlights potential problems. In this case, it took almost 12 years for the former ��������������������� Fisheries Commission to develop a method by which fisheries assets were to be shared equitably between all iwi. Capacity remains an issue and considerable effort has been invested over several years to strengthen the governance and management capabilities of Māori organisations by groups such as the Federation of Māori Authorities, Poutama Trust and Te Puni Kōkiri’s investment in the Strengthening Management and Governance (SMG) Programme. A cohort of capable Māori leaders is being supported by a rapidly-increasing number of younger people who have been brought up by their elders to fill emerging roles in the transition process. Many of these younger leaders have gained their qualifications – and often racked up relevant experience – overseas before
Completed settlements The Treaty settlement process was estimated in 2007 to represent over $2 billion of the Māori commercial asset base. Future settlements will add a further $1.4 billion to that figure. Ngai Tahu Redress amount: $170 million Year of deed: 1997 Year of legislation: 1998 Waikato/Tainui raupatu Redress amount: $170 million Year of deed: 1995 Year of legislation: 1995 Commercial Fisheries Redress amount: $170 million Year of deed: 1992 Year of legislation: 1992 Central North Island Forests Iwi Collective Redress amount: $161 million (on account against comprehensive settlements with members of the collective) Year of deed: 2008 Year of legislation: 2008 Ngāti Awa Redress amount: $42.39 million Year of deed: 2003 Year of legislation: 2005
Source: Office of Treaty Settlements
returning to their tribal homes to lead. Co n s u l t a t i o n re m a i n s a ke y process with much effort being put into determining the wishes of tribal members. Te Runanga o Ngāti Awa began a process in 2008 to identify the tribe’s future aspirations. Titled Vision Ngāti Awa, the project identified four collective aspirations which set the strategic direc-
Photo: Whare Akuhata
tion to enable the runanga to support the tribe in realising its goals. Based on these unifying aspirations, which are long-term, intergenerational goals, the runanga recently released its strategic vision for the next five years. Many Māori organisations are also frequent travellers to booming offshore emerging economies where they investigate opportunities not only in the primary sector but also in fields such as education. Graham Smith recently returned from India where he was a guest of the Indian government. The country has embarked on a programme of developing 1000 new institutions. Over and above this, in the past two years, it has established six tribal universities. He says his visit stemmed in part from a recent trip to New Zealand by India’s Minister for Human Resource Development who shared his concern that these tribal universities were simply replicating standard education models. “What [the minister] got from his visit here was the fact we’re actually changing the pedagogy, changing the structure, changing the philosophies …,” said Smith, “and he wants us to work with them to show what we’re doing.” Meanwhile, the Chinese government has shown interest in environmental research undertaken by Māori groups in New Zealand. Last year, for example, a Chinese delegation visited Whakatane and the Sawmill Workers Against Poisons (SWAP) group. These workers – many of them Māori – have been lobbying for recognition that the land and waterways have been poisoned by the use of toxins used in the timber-milling process. At the symposium, much talk on natural resources centred around culture, rather than profit, as the driving force for iwi-based organisations. There was agreement that iwi should set, and meet, their own standards of protection of natural resources. In many cases, iwi organisations have their own resource management sections and can tap into a growing pool of resource management experts. Iwi are partnering with others who share the same values and exchanging
Sharing insights A new Institute of Post Treaty Settlement will help capture and share the challenges and highlights of realising iwi potential and aspirations in a post-treaty settlement environment. The institute is the brainchild of distinguished professor Graham Smith, CEO of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, who launched the institute at a recent symposium in Wellington: Te Pourewa Arotahi: The Elevated Platform for Resolution. Smith says his organisation will provide the academic rigour needed to sustain a ‘think tank’ of this nature. “To anchor the institute in iwi realities, Te Runanga o Ngāti Awa is the joint venture partner. This is an opportunity to draw breath and reflect on where we have been, where we are, and more importantly, where we are heading in the post-treaty settlement era.” Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Māori Development, will endow a chair for three years with distinguished professor Sir Sidney Mead (Hirini Moko), representing Awanuiārangi, as its first occupant. Sir Harawira Gardiner, representing iwi partner Ngāti Awa, is cochair. “The idea of an institute to conduct research in the treaty settlement process has been on the minds of those who have settled their claims with the Crown for some considerable time,” Smith said. “It was clear that much of the experience, both good and bad, resided within the respective iwi and there was not an appropriate vehicle established for the purpose of bringing these experiences to light. “The institute will be devoted to conducting research and analysis, and running regular seminars on the work of treaty settlements. The focused approach the institute intends to bring to this vital area will help not only those who have yet to settle but those who have settled.”
knowledge of best practice. Does all this amount to a triple bottom line approach? Perhaps, but it will be adapted by Māori to suit their own particular requirements for a period that offers both huge potential and risk for not only the
Māori world but for greater Aotearoa/New Zealand. M Whare Akuhata (Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Whare) is a photojournalist who for the past 18 years has covered a wide range of Māori issues. pukaea@wave.co.nz
FEBRUARY 2011
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MĀORI BUSINESS
Lessons from the
whale watchers A bunch of businesses are benefitting from having tikanga Māori principles at their core says Katherine Ryan.
W
hen the Human Rights Commission (HRC) sought to discover what makes some businesses successful and employees happy to work there, more than 3000 employers and employees across 16 regions of the country had their say. The feedback for the National Conversation about Work, the HRC’s largest ever work-based project, highlighted the benefits that business can derive from taking a tikanga Māori approach. Such a business model incorporates tikanga principles, which can be loosely translated to mean ‘the right way of doing things’ or ‘the Māori way’ of doing things. Tikanga, a set of protocols and procedures, stems from the word ‘tika’, meaning correct and right. In his book Tikanga Māori: Living by Māori Values, Hirini Moko Mead says it involves “moral judgements about appropriate ways of behaving and acting in everyday life”. Relating this to the business world
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encompasses an importance on building relationships, connecting individuals to the wider group, the connection of people to the history of the rohe (region), valuing the wisdom and knowledge of older generations, looking after the environment and wildlife, working now for the benefit of future generations, and maintaining traditions. It also acknowledges the time it takes to do these things. As everyday life changes, so too does tikanga. Mavis Mullins, of Dannevirkebased fourth-generation shearing business Paewai Mullins Shearing, says tikanga is not “stuck in concrete”, but rather “evolves with the people, with each generation”. Mullins, whose company featured in the National Conversation about Work project, says tikanga has to maintain “a fair amount of relevance”. A tikanga business model is holistic and includes variables such as the community and sustainability. This is the case at Whale Watch Kaikoura, which has a commitment to the environment and focuses on the benefits
to the community. Founded in 1987 by a group of local Kaikoura families, the company is still run by locals and its majority shareholding remains locally held. “The community and Whale Watch are one and the same,” says chief operating officer Kauahi Ngapora. “What benefits us, benefits the community. What benefits the community, benefits us. “… It merges back to that connection Māori have with the environment and sustainability. We have them both to lose if we don’t look after what we have here. If there are no whales, no dolphins, there’s no Whale Watch.” Community and the environment are stipulated in Whale Watch’s business plan, with a strategic goal to financially empower the company to achieve their wawata – aspirations, hopes, dreams and desires. It’s about “doing the things we want to do rather than the things we have to do”, as Ngapora puts it. The company’s core values – the five Cs of company, customer, community, conservation and culture – underpin how the business oper-
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com
ates and are based on the modernisation of traditional philosophies. Ngapora sees valuing and respecting customers as manaakitanga – hospitality, or the “Māori version of customer service”. How to treat people – making them feel welcome and taking care of their needs – is another aspect of tikanga. A modernised version of this for Whale Watch is recognising that customers are now more aware of the environment. They expect companies operating out of nature to be doing things the ‘right way’, with a view to sustainability and environmental consciousness, says Ngapora. One of the benefits for Whale Watch of integrating Māori cultural values with business practice is the point of difference it gives them, particularly as the majority of their customers are overseas visitors to New Zealand. These visitors can form a lasting impression of the country as a whole from their experiences with Whale Watch from every aspect ranging from the logo to personal contact. The company logo tells the story of
Paikea and Tohora and the journey on the back of a whale from his old land to a new life and prosperity. The names of the vessels are culturally significant, each with the tā moko (design element), and guests are welcomed on board with a short mihi. Ngapora says the experience is a blend of their Māori cultural identity (and things they would do anyway) and being conscious of the general ‘Kiwi’ culture. Crucial to the concept of tikanga are whanaungatanga (relationships, family connection) and manaakitanga. The National Conversation found Māori-owned businesses saw these concepts as crucial to their work environment. Mavis Mullins believes focusing on people ultimately leads to enhanced productivity – the bottom line is taken care of as an adjunct. “Pride in your work, turning up for work, being valued in work are not tangible assets to a company, but they pay off in productivity,” she says. “The company has maintained market share, during a time when shearing numbers have been declining for up to 10 years.” Tikanga at work means being inter-
ested in employees as individuals, not as a commodity. Outside interests and responsibilities are valued, as they contribute to the person and then to the company. “It’s that whole investment in human capital, which isn’t always that easy to capture or measure,” says Mullins. She adds that the benefits to the shearing business can not always be explained with numbers. “Someone could say to us, ‘show us how, show us where’. But when you look at the bigger sector, the bigger industry... it tells us we are doing something very, very right.” If the shearing company takes on 10 young people, invests in their training and only two stay on to become qualification holders that is a success. “If we can help two of those people to capture personal confidence and some transferable skills, then everybody has benefitted from it. It’s not about 10 out of 10; it’s about anything out of anything,” she laughs. Mullins says the main aspect of tikanga in their business is that new employees are taken in to the family and become whānau. “You turn up at our home and FEBRUARY 2011
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Tune up your tikanga The Māori businesses highlighted in the National Conversation about Work project are willing to share their good practices with other organisations interested in exploring the tikanga model. For more information and contact details go to http://www.neon.org.nz/nationalconversationaboutwork/
Wonderful Wāhine at work
we’re sitting down to a meal, then you’re invited to sit down and have a meal with us, whether it’s a roast dinner or a tin of baked beans.” Translating tikanga into tangible business success at Whale Watch has been a little more apparent through the international recognition it has gained over the past two years. In November 2009, the company won the Virgin Holiday Responsible Tourism award, in London, and in May 2010 the Tourism for Tomorrow award for community benefit, in Beijing. Being put on the international stage gives great exposure to the business and Kaikoura and creates pride in the staff and locals. “We’re a small-to medium-sized company in a little town and we take it out to the world,” says Ngapora. The connection of whānau, whakapapa and rohe is translated in Wakatū Incorporated’s Associated Director’s Scheme. The Nelson-based Māori-owned business collective aims to grow the next generation of governance through whakapapa and encourage young blood into the boardroom. Shareholders and whānau are given the opportunity to gain experience in the governance of Wakatū Incorporation, with a view to becoming nominees for future board elections. Associate director Kerensa Johnston says all decisions made are consistent with whānau values, history and culture. “It’s always about looking backwards, to where we began and where we come from, with a view to looking forwards and being consistent with those values and ideals that our ancestors had,” she says. Like Whale Watch, kaitiakitanga (guardianship) is a strong aspect of tikanga for Wakatū Inc – “making sure we are effective and responsible kaitiaki – guardians – of our resources”. Wakatū Inc head office is currently engaged in the carboNZero programme and has achieved level one of the accreditation process. “So we are making sure we’re doing things to put those principles into practice,” says Johnston. The complexity of Wakatū’s seven businesses means it is important for future
directors to be equipped with the necessary commercial skills and understanding of the history and peoples of Te Tau Ihu. By supporting upcoming board members, Wakatū is planning for the future. Johnston says the opportunity for associate directors to work with board members, some of whom have been there for 20 to 30 years, is invaluable. “It’s a very gentle succession process,” she says. “Other commercial entities can be quite cut and thrust and competitive, in not just governance but management as well. At Wakatū, there’s a real willingness from the current leadership to create opportunities for the younger generation. ” The connection between generations and sharing experience is also evident in Whakatū Marae’s Wonderful Wāhine programme. The youth-to-work programme aims to keep young Māori girls at school longer and encourage them to connect with tertiary education, training or employment. The programme is run in conjunction with Nelson’s Nayland College and has an annual intake of around 30. The participants learn from the experiences of their kuia as well as listening to other young role models, building new relationships and checking out career opportunities. The basis of tikanga here is to strengthen and build capacity in the younger generation. As a result of the programme, participants find they have better social interaction with peers, whānau and the community. The participants stay in school longer and have better relationships with teachers, counsellors and the school. While tikanga is a Māori concept, putting values and standards into a business is not culturally specific. “Values are not owned by any one people or one group of people,” says Mullins. “They’re owned by us all.” Ngapora echoes this idea. “It’s not just Māori culture. It’s the company culture and the Kiwi culture. It’s trying to merge all those things into a more modern type of framework.” M Katherine Ryan is a communications specialist for the Human Rights Commission. katr@hrc.co.nz
FEBRUARY 2011
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Y
SUCCESSION
are we waiting?
Generation Y is nimble, tech savvy and keen to take the reins, but as Steve Hart discovers, their casual approach to commitment and work style may be a barrier to their professional development.
N
ot too long ago any story about Generation Y, the current crop of 18 to 30-yearolds, would have discussed how brash, demanding and self-centred they were. We were told that Gen Ys had grown up in a world of instant reward and recognition. Praised by their parents for getting out of bed in the morning, given a certificate at school just for turning up, they lived in a world of constant reassurance. And this, claimed the experts, caused problems for employers when Gen Ys eventually entered the workforce. Suddenly, they felt unloved. Employers had to change tack to appeal to them, using toys, free car parking, flexible working, unblocking Facebook from the IT system and offering free gym membership.
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For a few years the Gen Ys had a bad rap. But this generation of demanding wannabes are a little older and wiser. So too are the Baby Boomers who manage them. But unlike previous generational crossovers, the gap between the Gen Ys and Boomers is perhaps the biggest in living memory: two generations separated by a culture chasm. Gen Ys have grown up in a multicultural world with little regard or thought for the geographic boundaries their forefathers fought to protect. More technically savvy than any other generation, they really can multitask – talking on the office phone, texting and reading an email all at the same time. While some CEOs print off an email, scribble a note on it and ask their PA to send the reply, Gen Ys think nothing of replying from their PDA on the fly – wherever they may be.
It is this different approach to work that can cause Baby Boomers to be wary of Gen Ys, says David Jones, managing director of recruitment firm Robert Half Asia Pacific. “People question Gen Y’s work ethic, but all that’s really different is their work style,” says Jones. “The elder generation always think that the younger generation works less. But they just work differently. “What is different with the Gen Ys is the technology – they communicate more via social media – be it Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or email. There is a lot more non-verbal communication going on. And there is sometimes a belief that people hide behind that. Whereas if you speak with a Gen Y person, their perception is that if you communicate in writing you are communicating more effectively.
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com
“Many years ago we’d have a conversation and be asked to put it in writing – today some verbal conversations have been replaced with typed text. “If you speak with Gen Ys they probably don’t think too much of the generation above them. Nothing derogatory, but they probably think they are a bit slow because they don’t embrace the variety of communication methods, channels or tools and that decision making is too slow.” But there are murmurs in the boadrooms up and down the country according to Tait Grindley, a learning and development business consultant at the New Zealand Institute of Management. Grindley spent years in the recruitment industry before joining the institute and has first-hand experience of what makes Gen Ys tick when it comes to recruitment, retention and development. “Some of the feedback I have been getting at the institute is that there is caution about bringing on Gen Ys,” he says. “Senior managers realise that Gen Ys are the future, they realise they are the
ones who have got a lot of knowledge when it comes to things such as technology, social media networking and doing things faster and better. “However, the nervousness is generally based on the fact that they are not too sure how long they are going to stay. The old school style of trying to lock them in to a senior role doesn’t work. Baby Boomers don’t have faith in the younger ones to stay because there tends to be a two or three-year turnaround with a lot of the Gen Ys.” Nevertheless, Grindley says companies are heavily investing in Gen Ys because they know that they add value when they are there. “I guess there is a reluctance to hand over the keys, I think it is a control thing,” he says. “Gen Ys are still interested in the here and now – they are more like impact players off the bench. They come in, do their thing, they serve a purpose, suck up all the information, figure it out and take it to the next place. That is the beauty of them. “But when you are trying to build
a business – it is not ideal. Especially in older professions such as law or accounting where you have partners and people who have been promoted through tenure, then there is a real low tolerance for Gen Y. Gen Ys are seen as the future, but not – right now – as future leaders.” Zuza Scherer has built a career out of helping New Zealand companies understand what makes Gen Ys tick – she’s one herself. An award-winning public speaker, she says her generation is starting to realise that job hopping isn’t getting them too far up the corporate ladder. “Gen Ys are getting promoted,” she says. “But it is the ones who demonstrate they are prepared to put the effort in to gain the necessary experience and prove they won’t go travelling next month, or decide the career is not really for them. “Baby Boomers have a huge baggage of experience, which sometimes prevents them from seeing things afresh. They know how things should be done, but often can no longer see the new ways FEBRUARY 2011
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SUCCESSION
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com
What Gen Ys need to know
in which they could be done.” Nevertheless, she says CEOs should be cautious about inviting apparently dedicated Gen Ys to the top floor, unless there is a strategy in place to manage them. “While Gen Ys may have what it takes to step up and take on senior positions, a lot of them have never had a chance to try out those roles and gain the crucial experience they need,” says Scherer. “Gen Ys, even those in their late 20s, still require a lot of mentoring – they want to be mentored.” Marc Burridge, general manager at recruitment firm Hudson says from the research the firm has done on Gen Ys, there is nothing unique about them and that what is taking place now always happens when one generation nears retirement. He says the solution is good succession planning and mentoring. “Succession planning should be constant in any forward-thinking organisation,” he says. “If you think about what’s been available to Gen Y since they entered the workforce, purely from a technological point of view, it’s no wonder they are the instant, now, me, generation. They’re used to getting what they want, when they want it. Instant gratification in terms of media, access to information and knowledge.” Burridge says the primary moti32 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
vational factors for Gen Ys at work is around learning and development. “What they’re looking for from leaders is people who are authentic and who will embrace and encourage them to continue to add to their skill set,” he says. “If you understand Gen Ys from that perspective, you’re then able to think about using them in the workforce. “We’ve seen great success where organisations have put Gen Ys into leadership roles, but ensured they are supported and, in some cases, shadowed, by people with greater experience.” It is a view shared by Jones who says Gen Ys actively look for mentoring relationships with older and more experienced workers. “That mentoring relationship is more about the thirst for knowledge,” he says. “There is a lot of information out there – but nothing can replicate personal experiences like a verbal conversation.” Kate Billing of employment branding and company transformation firm Blacksmith wonders if today’s managers are capable of successfully bringing on Gen Ys into senior management roles. “It comes down to management competency,” she says. “Are they capable of bringing through younger people and
The New Zealand Institute of Management’s Tait Grindley says up and coming Gen Ys need to look longer term, to think “five years ahead, instead of five minutes”. “Gen Ys have typically looked at employers saying ‘what’s in it for me’. But work is a mutually beneficial relationship,” he says. “Organisations are always going to invest in people as long as they get a return on their investment. “My message to Gen Ys is to choose an organisation or a profession wisely, and once you are ready, make that commitment and make sure the employer knows you are prepared to stay on – to put your stake in the ground to become a future leader.”
do Gen Ys even understand what their managers do – other than to delegate tasks?” On one hand she wonders if Gen Ys understand what it takes to be a manager and on the other if their managers understand the world Gen Ys have come from. “Gen Ys have grown up in an education system where everything is clearly mapped out, they have a strong sense of steady progression – until they hit the workplace,” she says. “Then suddenly they are off-road. They have gone from being on this clear path to being told what to do and being given limited choices. They struggle because, unlike tertiary education, life is not that well organised.” While Gen Ys are at one with technology, Billing says it would be wrong to judge them purely on their ability to use a computer or navigate social networking websites. “It is not just a skill thing with Gen Ys,” she says. “It is actually a way of looking at the world. It is quite different
when compared with Baby Boomers because of the way they have engaged with it – be it texting, FaceBook or online gaming – it’s a core part of how they operate in the world.” Like Jones, Billing says Gen Ys are hard working and have ‘energy to burn’. “They want to change the world,” she says. “If you are doing your job as a leader and as a manager – and you are providing the direction of ‘this is our strategy, this is where we are going, this is our purpose…’ and managers are walking the talk, and Gen Ys are given a degree of autonomy, then they can be an enormously positive power within an organisation.” Once in a position of management, Scherer says Gen Ys are quick to break down departmental barriers – the same ones Baby Boomers have spent their professional lives building and defending.
“Gen Y are often less hierarchical, they joke around and are quick to be seen as friendly and approachable,” she says. Ultimately, she says, Gen Ys don’t want to be seen as competition to Baby Boomers. They want opportunity mixed with support. “They want responsibility, to do meaningful, challenging jobs, but have someone there when they need help and support. Their thinking is ‘I’m not too desperate to take your position, but if I do well, show me you appreciate me and reward me for it’. “Gen Y may not be fully ready to take on senior positions, just like Boomers are not ready to give them up. But they are hungry to learn. Businesses need the fresh outlook and perspectives that Gen Y bring with them.” Burridge says businesses need to see
Gen Ys as “just another tool” – a tool that can shine a light on established process and ask “why”. “The question is how you use it,” he says. “I’d look at the Gen Ys and say it’s another opportunity, they are absolutely a reality in the modern day workplace. “You have the option of either saying they are a talent that we must embrace and think about how we can leverage their expertise, or you view them as disruptive and problematic – in which case – if we don’t have a problem today, we will have a problem tomorrow. They’re going to be, whether we like it or not, the majority of the workforce at some point. “If you stick your head in the sand and continue down the path with the Boomers then you will one day find you’ve got a big void in your workforce.” M Steve Hart is a freelance journalist.
The Westpac way One company that has confronted the challenge of integrating and developing its workforce of Gen Ys is High Street bank chain Westpac. David Boyes, general manager customer and technology services at the bank, says the country’s workforce is changing and that by 2020 Gen Y will be a bigger demographic than Baby Boomers. “This creates a compelling reason to understand the drivers, motivations and aspirations of this workforce,” he says. “So a coherent talent retention strategy is delivered.” To get a grip of the way Gen Y staff and customers think, the firm has launched what it calls its Gen W programme. The programme includes a hand-picked group of 16 high performing Gen Ys that the bank’s senior managers consider to be emerging leaders. Each one is on a 12-month rotation so they get to work in different parts of the business across the country – from call centres to corporate banking, HR and marketing etc. “Gen Y staff help shape organisational goals that link to Gen Y customers and bridge the gap between the executive team and Gen Y customers and staff,” says Boyes. “In short, Gen W represents a new generation of leaders, bankers and customers that Westpac wants to develop and grow with. Its members attend key meetings and senior leadership forums and are active in decision making when it comes to new products with a Gen Y focus.” The purpose of the Gen W group is to:
• Challenge younger employees in the design and shaping of the firm’s strategic priorities. • Engage emerging leaders in the vision and values that underpin the business strategy and commercial decision making. • Create development opportunities. • Develop strategic thinking capability. • Provide challenge and innovation to everyday banking and business processes. • Understand younger people’s views on what a bank means and how it can change and innovate customer proposition. Despite being exposed to all levels of the business, and being able to attend management critical meetings, Boyes says the key to working with Gen Ys is not to treat them as anything special and that managers “don’t just give them the sexy new things to work on”. They create and see opportunities to innovate and change the way we do things. They will suggest ideas and new ways of working – some we can use, some we can’t… but they’re seeing that there’s real opportunity out there. They help us with the business cases. Boyes understand that Westpac may not be able to hang on to every Gen Y it recruits – but hopes they will return. “We’ve already seen that,” he says. “In the last five years we’ve had grads go offshore, then they’ve come back and the first place they’ve called is us. We’re increasingly building a culture around the young, the Gen Ys and the Gen Xs, they’re our future leaders.”
FEBRUARY 2011
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FAce to face
Michael Stedman Natural storyteller Michael Stedman knows what can happen to an organisation when the handbrake of mindless bureaucracy is released. He talks about vision, belief and how to avoid becoming a one-trick pony.
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ichael Stedman has been interested in the art of storytelling since he first played the part of a frog in a play by Aristophanes. He was just six years old. Now, the CEO of Natural History New Zealand finds his background in theatre, and his hands-on involvement in New Zealand television since its infancy, shapes his thinking on leading the Dunedin-based global documentary-maker. Stedman’s early career is rooted in the Dunedin world of theatre and the nascent TV industry where local station manager Hal Weston made the shrewd decision not to compete head-on with Wellington and Auckland. Instead, Weston decided his Dunedin unit would concentrate on highvolume, fast turn-around production. Children’s shows were a natural niche. The young Stedman quickly sussed that the then controller of programmes in Wellington would accept pitches for good ideas. He went on to produce over 1000 programmes covering content from sport to children’s to classical music. This provided a serious training ground for his later career. In 1978, Stedman was appointed executive producer at the Natural History Unit. He crossed the Tasman to head up training at Australia’s Film and Television School and segued
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across to the ABC as head of features. Stedman eventually came back full-circle to the Natural History Unit in 1987 where he helped wrestle it from under TVNZ’s wing and into the arms of Fox. “People were surprised, I think, at the Fox/News Corp link,” he acknowledges. “But there were people inside Fox who we had known for a very long time and were good people.” To Stedman, the difference between working for Fox and TVNZ was like night and day. “The board of TVNZ knew nothing really about the industry and therefore didn’t, and wouldn’t, make decisions. Whereas the people we reported to when we went to Fox absolutely understood the industry, they were the industry, and so the decisions we got were extraordinarily fast and we were just told to get on with it.” As Stedman puts it, the handbrake of mindless bureaucracy was gone. “I remember a time when we had the desperate need for some money to be spent on the place. To make capital expenditure under TVNZ, we had to write these bloody papers for the board – the papers would go up and the board would come back: ‘We want more information’.” Stedman says TVNZ’s requests for
detailed information were a way of not making decisions. “So we went for years without anything, we were still working with equipment that anywhere else in the world was in museums, it was that archaic. “Then we became part of Fox and capital expenditure was approved in a matter of weeks. And we were given an immense amount of freedom, just to get on and grow the company. It was just chalk and cheese.” Meanwhile, the global market for natural history programming was peaking and Stedman realised he needed to diversify the company’s portfolio. “I remember going to some of the international natural history events and being stunned at the amount of money that was floating around and the amount of production that was going on,” he says. “People could not get enough wildlife – it was extraordinary. “And we were right down the bottom of that foodchain – in the UK we were treated with mild amusement. They were very condescending, the Poms, about the idea that someone from New Zealand wanted to have a go internationally: which was actually quite good, because there’s nothing like a bit of condescension to put fuel in your bloody system.
“So we got a bit of that acunderstanding can manage. I say tion but I remember thinking, to the people here, ‘At the end ‘This could change, and we’re a of the day, we’re manufacturers, one-trick pony. If people wake we’re manufacturing stories.’ up one morning and decide they “I think why we have succeeddon’t want any more wildlife in ed where many other companies their schedules, we’re stuffed!’” have failed is that right from the That’s where Stedman’s beginning we built an incredibly thinking around adaptability strong business foundation. So kicked in. we had moved past that sense “We looked at what our of a creative hobby wonderland core skills were and we knew we to a place where the bottom line didn’t have many of them. One was important, budgets were of them was the ability to film important, delivery quality was in very specialised places – you important. One of our mantras know, we could film animals at is, ‘On time, on budget and always the tops of mountains, we could better than the client expects.’” film underwater, we could film Film production, he points inside sharks and record in vitro out, is an industry. cannibalism; we could film in “And in that sense good manjust about any place on earth agement is important. The fact and in any situation. that I also had skills in produc“So the question was, ‘Okay, tion was immensely helpful but I Michael Stedman... “My job is to createthe best possible environment what else uses that?’ ‘Well, ad- I can in order for people to make terrific films.” do think some of the things that venture. Travel. Science’.” drive me forward in terms of The Natural History Unit management style are universal. started broadening out its base. It was one “Yeah, look, I don’t know what I’m It’s about respect, it’s about giving people of the first companies in the world to see like to work for, actually, because no-one freedom; there’s a whole lot of things that the shift in the market and react to it. will be honest with me. They all come in would apply to any industry.” “And, as we thought it might, the tugging their forelocks and going, ‘Yes He underpins his thinking with an natural history market did contract,” sir’, ‘No sir’. understanding that good management says Stedman. “It contracted significantly “There was something I once read practice is based on a ‘do unto others’ and many of the condescending English years ago that really resonated with me: approach. He has, he says, picked up little companies that had been so amused at our ‘Management are a resource of those nuggets through his working life that are, attempt to have a go on the world stage managed.’ My job as I saw it – and still in hindsight, quite significant. disappeared; some of the big companies in see it – was to create the best possible “I remember when I was a producer, the UK and in the United States couldn’t environment I could – and can – in order the then-station manager said, ‘You know, adapt and collapsed.” for people to make terrific films. That’s re- you can say anything to anybody about Meanwhile, the Natural History Unit ally my job. It’s pretty simple in that sense, their performance, as long as you leave continued to grow. Demand for natural and I think if you take that approach, then them with their self-respect.’ And I always history programmes declined and later you’ll probably do okay.” remembered that. It was one of those litre-emerged in a different form. Stedman acknowledges that, especially tle gems. It was about respecting others, “The voice-of-god, David Attenbor- in the early days, the fact that he was not and self-respect, and it was about helping ough-style documentary, which had been only running the company but was also people succeed as opposed to controlling pretty much the standard film that every- the executive producer of everything that people. body wanted to make, became less popular went through the place really helped. It “A couple of the other things were the in the United States and a far wider range would have been “much, much harder”, ability to say no, and the ability to change of approaches to storytelling was devel- he says, if he had not had a “reasonable your mind. So many managers will make oped as a result,” says Stedman. amount” of experience in production. the decision and that’s it. Fred comes along “That said, I think we’ve got to be a the next day and says, ‘Hey look, I’ve disDo unto others wee bit careful that we don’t pretend tele- covered that…’ ‘I don’t care what you’ve Stedman laughs when asked to describe vision is some sort of magical industry discovered, I’ve made the decision!’ You his approach to managing people. that only people with great insight and know, new information – why wouldn’t FEBRUARY 2011
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FAce to face
you look at it? So that ability to change your mind and also to acknowledge you’re wrong is important. That really comes down to honesty.” Right from the start, Stedman has shared information with staff. “Everybody knew how bad it was or how good it was, because where there’s a lack of information, mistrust grows; and where there’s mistrust, all sorts of conspiracy theories fester – if there’s a vacuum, people start filling it. “So from the very early days, everything was shared. Some people said, ‘You’re giving them a bit much information.’ But where’s the line? And the other thing is, if you say to people, ‘Look, I’m going to share this with you but please respect that it’s in confidence,’ they’ll respect that. I was never once let down. Ever. People respected the straight-forwardness and insight, and it never bit me in the bum.” Back in 1987, when Stedman returned to New Zealand from a stint in Australia, he ended up managing the dual roles of executive producer of the Natural History Unit as well as director of production for TVNZ. Charged with turning the Natural History Unit around, “because it really had got into a fair amount of old poo”, Stedman refused to opt for redundancies, reminding staff at his first meeting
with them that they were all in the same boat and would either all survive or all go down together. “I had a huge belief in the talent that was in Dunedin and my job was really to create a climate in which that talent could prosper and people could start making films,” he says. “Part of that involved finding markets internationally, because I knew that the domestic market was not sufficient to rely on for our survival.” Stedman says he was given a year to turn the company round. It took that long to start getting some traction. “I’ve often talked about how there were three words that were really important during this period. One of them was ‘vision’, another was ‘belief’ and the third was ‘adaptability’. “I had a vision that this group of people in Dunedin could stand tall on a world stage. I really, really believed that. So the vision was standing on the stage and the second thing was the belief they had the talent to do it. “Belief ’s really important, because without it the going gets a bit tough. If you don’t have belief, you’re going to fail.” He likens his approach to climbing a mountain. “If you believe you can get to the top, you will,” he says, “even if it can be bloody difficult and at times you wonder
how the hell you’re going to make the next step. But if you doubt you’re going to get to the top, you’re probably going to fall off. So belief is really, really important – unshakable belief in the talent here. And when I say ‘here’ I’m talking about Dunedin and New Zealand.” Stedman’s third tenet – adaptability – kicked in as the traditional way of approaching wildlife documentaries started to change. “That’s been one of the hallmarks of this company from then until the present day – that ability to constantly adapt to a changing world market. “There was adaptability in terms of the approach to making films but also in terms of the people inside the organisation. For example, I remember when Neil Harraway, who has been here since day one, was the producer of a documentary about Antarctica called Under the Ice. He learnt to dive so he could go down with the underwater cameramen and do the lighting. So there’s that adaptability in how we work. “You know, I expected people to be multi-skilled and to lead and to lean into anything that was needed at the time.” M This article is based on an interview with Michael Stedman that first appeared in NZ Management magazine’s sister publication Onfilm.
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ETHICS
Business ethics does pay Companies with codes of ethics perform better and are more admired by their peers, says Philippa Foster Back, director of the UK Institute of Business Ethics. During a trip to New Zealand, she talked to Peter Jessup about our law and business ethics.
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hat happened w ith finance companies in New Zealand over the past two years should never be allowed to happen again, says the director of the London-based Institute of Business Ethics Philippa Foster Back. The recession exposed almost every company to increased audit, not just of financial results, but also into the way they and their employees operated, she says. Too often the stock market and the shareholders that back it were disturbed by the corporate and private behaviour of business leaders. High markets allowed the exaggeration of prospective profits, legal but morally questionable corporate behaviour, excess and abuse – and all because too few questions were asked. Foster Back’s message? “Business ethics is common sense.” Yes, but does it bring in business? Does implementing the processes required to meet high standards and then advertising that fact to the market pay off on the bottom line, or does it just sound fancy and cost money? Foster Back is unequivocal.“Yes, it does bring more business in, both from existing customers and new ones who hear wordof-mouth. It also attracts good staff and helps retain staff. Business is increasingly recognising the value of it [ethical behaviour] – good businesses always have.”
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Part of her work is training the moguls of large multinationals in how to implement strategies to ensure good corporate behaviour at management level, including how to limit both employee theft and corruption, and to uncover breaches. She also encourages management to set in place customer-care programmes and follow them through with staff so they understand good customer relations. Staff like working for a company where they feel the customer is treated well, she says. “If you do get a complaint, deal with it quickly and fairly. If you reject the complaint, make it clear why.” Companies should have a strategy on how they want to grow the business. “At the expense of your customers and for short-term gain? No.” She cites the change in public perception of British Airways after new management came in following privatisation and implemented customerfriendly service. “BA used to have a terrible reputation and people were always complaining about the poor service from cabin staff. Then it jumped to become the world’s favourite airline. Of course, it’s slipped back a bit since.” Which is why companies must continue to review codes and practices, she says. “If you want to protect your reputation you must be continually vigilant.” The Institute of Business Ethics
Philippa Foster Back... “Business ethics is common sense.”
(IBE) surveyed major companies which have had ethics codes in place for at least five years. The result was a research paper called Does business ethics pay? Ethical and financial performance, which claimed there is good evidence that large companies with codes of ethics: • are consistently more admired by their peers; • are rated higher than those without codes on their ability to reduce nonfinancial risks; • perform better financially than those that do not have codes. Ethical companies showed far more stable price/earnings ratios than companies without codes, the survey showed. The IBE approach is that it is better to “include and influence” rather than to “exclude and criticise”. Their own membership and business was growing prior to the recession – now it is booming, not least because of the behaviour uncovered at companies like Enron and through the Madoff “Ponzi” schemes. There is increasing legislative pressure in most countries, she says, as well
as a more inquisitive business media and a more active shareholder base. All these now spotlight the shadier dealings and the private lives of chief executives and directors. We are entering a new era in company compliance, says Foster Back. The United Kingdom has passed a Bribery Act, which comes into force in April 2012 and carries a 10-year jail term for those in authority in British companies which engage in corruption in the UK or overseas. The companies can be fined and after conviction are banned from bidding for European Union contracts. The recession brought to light a lot of bad behaviour, Foster Back says. “There is always a temptation when you are up against it to find ways to cut corners just to get the job done. It is a very risky approach and a very short-sighted view.” CEOs should consider a code of values or business principles as a useful start in establishing clearly that ‘this is the way we do business round here’, she says. She advises a three-step test for business leaders before they implement a decision. “First, do I mind anybody else knowing what I’ve decided to do? Does the thought of being ‘found out’ give me butterflies in the stomach? Second, who does my decision affect? Have I thought through the consequences? And third, is it fair?” Philippa Foster Back comes with an impressive list of credentials. Starting her career in finance with Citibank, she went on to spend nine years at the Bowater Group where she rose to financial controller, before moving on to the publicly-listed training organisation, DG Gardner Group. After that she moved to Thorn EMI in 1993, where she was group treasurer until 2000. Since 2001 she has been the director of the IBE, where her role is to raise awareness of the need for and value in maintaining good business practice and ethical behaviour in the marketplace, and guide companies through this process. She is also on the board of the UK
Kiwi firm first to join IBE Law firm Kensington Swan is the first New Zealand-based company to subscribe to the Institute of Business Ethics. The decision was driven by the increasing global focus on business ethics in both the private and public sectors, said Kensington Swan partner Hayden Wilson, who heads the firm’s government and regulatory practice. “Joining the institute reflects both the values that our clients have within their own organisations and those they demand of their trusted advisers,” Wilson says. “The key values of ethical business practice – integrity, trust, respect and openness – are exactly what our clients demand of their lawyers.” Wilson says having access to the resources and knowledge of the London-based IBE would allow his firm to add value to clients’ businesses in both the public and private sectors. • Kensington Swan sponsors the Responsible Governance Award at the Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards.
Institute of Directors, is a past president of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to the Ministry of Defence, where she was formerly a non-executive director and chaired the Defence Audit Committee. No secrets Company leaders these days need to think hard about the examples they set, she says, no matter what the business does. Does what company managers get up to in their own time matter at all? “If you bring the company into disrepute by your actions, or if you misuse company assets, then you can expect trouble. If someone makes a poor decision in their personal life; might they make a poor decision in business?” She says people will ask, what’s this person really like? Can we trust them? If their immoral behaviour is apparently acceptable, how do they expect colleagues to behave? How will customers perceive it? Concerns over ethical behaviour may be limited to the immediate impact on business confidence. But nothing remains secret for long these days and bad news travels fast in the internet age. Foster Back says she believes New Zealand’s business law is sound, the new financial advisers code is sound and able
to be made more robust if required. “Nothing broke,” she says, but she warns against complacency. Internally, companies need good mechanisms to pick up bad behaviour. “Most of the time problems come to light because someone sees something happen and they’re not happy about it. You need a process whereby someone who wants to report something can speak up, without thinking they will end up in trouble, be discriminated against in some way or might lose their job. “So if the boss is part of the problem, they need someone else they can go to and that pathway has to be clear to people. Then it is crucial also that the employee knows how the information they provide will be used, so that they understand the process and know that they have been taken seriously.” The best way of preventing bribery and corruption is to ensure those most at risk know what not to do, she says. In the UK, these are often countries high on the “Transparency International Bribe Payers Index”. “You need good internal controls and audits to ensure good behaviour. Some internal auditors need a new skill set beyond the legal and financial.” And the message must be constantly reinforced. M Peter Jessup is a freelance journalist.
FEBRUARY 2011
| management.co.nz | 39
RELATIONSHIPS
Long tenure: thin contract Why do so many business partnerships crash and burn? Trevor Nash’s recent University of Auckland MBA research project reveals the importance of trust, the counterintuitive use of thin contracts, and how our Kiwi traits mesh well with Asian values.
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ifteen years ago management guru Peter Drucker suggested that the greatest change in corporate culture, and the way business is conducted, may be the accelerating growth of relationships based not on ownership but on partnership. Drucker was right. Some 25 to 40 percent of all US foreign direct investment is now made via joint venture, totalling hundreds of billions of dollars each year. The rate of partnership formation is increasing at 25 percent per year. But some two-thirds of partnerships run into serious trouble within their first two years, of which only a half recover. Success factors in business partnerships, like marriage, remain something of an enigma. Various participants and commentators emphasise different factors and there’s no complete consensus. Partnerships are complex and involve commercial as well as social aspects. Over 50 years ago, business partnerships were viewed as single transactions to overcome market failure and industrial constraints. Later work identified the significance of governance structure, partner fit, compatibility and trust. Now the focus is on firms’ own capabilities and readiness to partner with others: something that Harvard professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter calls a firm’s “collaborative advantage”. For my executive MBA research project I interviewed 15 partnering companies based in New Zealand, Australia, China, the USA and the UK. While they reported different approaches to partnership, they had many success factors in common. Surprisingly, no one source, either interviewee or literature, appeared to capture all the tools or approaches of successful partnerships. A lot of partnering nous seemed to stem from experience and gut feel. Often a company’s partnering capability is innate and unrecognised. Successful partnerships are as much about the relational as the commercial factors. My study found generally consistent agreement on the need for relationship skills, complementary fit,
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trust and an understanding of the partner’s business and culture. All the interviewed executives emphasised the importance of good communication, particularly at senior level. Unforeseen changes test the partnership most and these often stemmed from transitions in management. Some consensus was found on the benefits of multi-level communication, the role of shared values and design of the partnership contract to create healthy tension and avoid deadlock. Cultural differences across partnerships are often overstated. Most of the partnerships examined in this project were crossborder or cross-cultural, and the main challenge experienced by these partners was unexpected. A difference in language or national culture was not the major issue in itself – rather the challenge stems from difficult communication, arising from reduced contact time, insufficient contact points (‘zippering’), or time zone differences – and success was found to correlate with activity levels of communication. The largest variations in partnering approach came from different emphasis between contractual detail and values. Ironically, some of the partnerships with the longest tenure were based on the thinnest contracts. As an Australian executive explained, “Our partnership agreements in China were six pages long and not very detailed – the document signed was more about reflecting on how we would tackle the issues rather than specifying all of them.” His Chinese business partner added, “In this part of the world things are done less contractually – agreements are less than 10 pages and capture the principles. You don’t need to clearly specify mechanisms for when things go wrong like the western style contract. While our approach seems vague and uncertain, the results are often as good – after all you can end up in court either way. And if things go wrong, suing your partner will not help – they’ll get revenge in other ways and in any case
A lot of partnering nous seemed to stem from experience and gut feel. Often a company’s partnering capability is innate and unrecognised. Trevor Nash you will lose the value of that relationship. And remember you had reasons to choose them as your partner in the first place.” In a partnership with a distant organisation of a different culture this ‘thin contract’ approach seems counterintuitive, and the attraction of a detailed agreement is apparent. Various partners described the key factors of successful partnership as a careful values-based selection process and maintenance of strong contacts at multiple, particularly senior, levels. Closer to home, similar examples are found in partnerships with Maori organisations. Says one senior iwi executive: “A good partnership is based on values and principles, then goals. Having just profit motives is like prostitution – take the money away and there’s no relationship. The agreement should clearly state the values and principles of what the partnership is all about. This will guide any changes or new business in the partnership; else cracks will open up if the relationship is not developed well at the beginning. The alternative of a heavy contract would not value the relationship, as it points to no trust or understanding at the beginning.” And from their partner: “We write a partnership charter in which we acknowledge each other’s aspirations. This stance is more intellectual and philosophical than a contract law framework. The charter captures the metaphor of our partnership – that we both live on the same river, we are both paddling our waka on that river. We could have paddled separately in different directions, but by rafting up together we can go further and faster.” Here the important part of negotiation is the journey, and what is written in the documents will be informed by how the parties are already working together. The contract simply seeks to capture the essence of the courting and engagement dialogue which includes who you are, what you’re trying to achieve and what your values are. The agreements are more values-based
than standard joint venture contracts. There are, however, contrary views. As one senior US executive put it, “Joint ventures would not start around a values document. The companies would sign it without ever truly agreeing.” This large US organisation sought thick three-volume partnership agreements not only to satisfy their management but also to protect the venture from themselves. “We needed the detail in the contract. This joint venture competes with others we have around the globe – if a new vice president was assigned to oversee the venture and wanted to make a quick unilateral decision then the contract would force that to a board decision.” Other interviewees took a middle ground between trust and contract detail in their partnerships. As one veteran of oil and gas exploration explained, “Just like a marriage, business partnerships can be formed quickly but then take years to divorce. It should be the other way round… You have to go in with an element of trust. If that’s not there from day one why would you ever do business with them?” In the construction industry, some players are moving towards a more values-based approach. As one interview subject reported: “In a construction alliance we form an Alliance Charter to capture the values and ethics of the partners… We deploy our more collaborative managers to alliance contracts and more adversarial managers to the conventional fixed-price contracts.” Contract detail appears to be a substitute for trust in many agreements – to manage the effects of management transitions in a large organisation, or for smaller firms to mitigate dominance by the larger partner. One person explained: “We spent a lot of effort in developing our partnering shareholders agreement. Being very aware of our minor shareholding we were careful to maintain our rights on important issues, to FEBRUARY 2011
| management.co.nz | 41
RELATIONSHIPS
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42 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
preserve our value and not be squeezed out.” If building trust and understanding takes time then it is important to connect people with common values. Leadership New Zealand chair Jo Brosnahan, in a July 2008 NZ Management article ‘Savvy about schmoozing’, suggests that business is moving away from processes to being about people in relationships. “With people who trust each other and whose values are aligned, there is an opportunity to develop successful business,” she says. In the same article Daniel Vidal, a director of Integral Consulting, suggests that successful business outcomes may take some 18 months of relationship building from the first meeting. All of this is increasingly relevant as New Zealand companies develop business in Asia. According to a McKinsey Quarterly December 2010 article, ‘Past lessons for China’s new joint ventures’, foreign multinationals in China need to revive use of partnerships and joint ventures, since outright acquisitions are getting more difficult and expensive. Typical joint venture failures are due to different strategies and interests between the parent companies they say, and “the ability to influence the course of a joint venture depends largely on the partners’ ability to build trust-based relationships at all levels”. In a NZ Management article, ‘Wanted – Great New Zealand leaders’ published in August last year, Fletcher Building CEO Jonathan Ling sees New Zealand business as defined by its relationship culture. This, he says, is driven by our need to get along with each other and contrasts with a ‘sports-dominated winning culture’ in Australia. While Ling suggests this trait leads us to make “emotive rather than factual responses”, these relationship tendencies may be a natural advantage to our business in Asia. McKinsey’s Shanghai-based director Andrew Grant argues that to succeed in China businesses need to commit for the long term. He identifies our pioneering spirit, ability to manage talent and high levels of energy and resilience as particularly helpful Kiwi traits (‘Leadership lessons from China’, NZ Management, August 2008). Adding these traits together suggests New Zealand executives are well placed to succeed in partnerships and those versed in values-based Maori business partnerships have skills applicable for partnering in China and elsewhere in Asia. This is our collaborative advantage. M Trevor Nash has an Executive MBA from the University of Auckland’s Business School. His MBA research project centred on the enabling requirements for successful business partnerships. He is an Auckland-based energy development manager. trevor.study@gmail.com.
COMPANY PROFILE
EXPERT PR THE KEY TO OUTSTANDING RESULTS THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY at Wright Communications is to help clients earn and protect enviable reputations. A successful structure of small dedicated client teams has enabled Wright Communications to become a trusted adviser to a wide range of organisations since it began in 2006 – these include some of the country’s largest corporates, successful not-for-profits, and flourishing small businesses. Company founder and managing director Nikki Wright says the firm’s comprehensive range of skills and experience means it is able to offer clients full service public relations advice and implementation. “A total understanding of clients’ needs is the key to the company’s delivery of outstanding public relations results,” she says. In most cases, the first client priority is to increase their profile through premium media exposure in front of their key audience, whether it be in specific newspapers, lifestyle or trade magazines, television, radio, or the new phenomenon of social media.
Enviable media contacts and an ability to think outside the square allow Wright consultants to devise and implement the correct media strategy for crucial opportunities such as major product or corporate reputation announcements, new staff appointments, thought-leader opinion editorials and executive profiles in business media. Wright Communications works with its clients to develop effective public relations strategies for each part of the organisation, which includes
comprehensive analysis of objectives, risks and mitigation, audiences, and step by step implementation to achieve the desired results. “This is coupled with a strategic messaging programme that reflects the long term goals of the organisation and positions a corporate vision and strategy,” says Nikki Wright. Nikki Wright says the firm assists clients facing public inquiries or litigation, corporate restructuring, senior executive appointments and departures and reputation issues. “When an unexpected issue occurs and the media comes calling, we swing into action to help a client manage journalists and get its messages across in a planned and effective way,” she says. From crucial early advice and strategic counsel to urgent media training for spokespeople, the development of key messages and timely media statements, and co-ordinating interviews, Wright Communications has the experience and expertise on hand to deal with any client issues in a professional way to prevent the situation escalating into a full-blown crisis. “It is crucial for PR practitioners to be calm under pressure, and be able to produce accurate work quickly. Our consultants are adept at helping clients deal with issues and protect their brand.” Nikki Wright says it is increasingly important for businesses to demonstrate and report on their corporate responsibility initiatives – Wright Communications’ specialist expertise in CR is in demand. “As conscious consumers assess products like never before, and businesses increasingly examine their suppliers and partners’ corporate responsibility credentials, effective communication becomes a critical factor in business success,” she says. In addition to its annual report-writing
Nikki Wright leads a team of highly skilled PR practitioners from the CBD office in Auckland’s Shortland Street.
“It is crucial for PR practitioners to be calm under pressure, and be able to produce accurate work quickly. Our consultants are adept at helping clients deal with issues and protect their brand.” capability, Wright Communications has years of experience in producing clients’ sustainability reports to global best practice standards, and challenging clients to increase their corporate responsibility. Because sustainability has been a bedrock philosophy since the firm’s inception, clients know Wright Communications walks the walk alongside them. “This is an increasingly important way for organisations to cement their reputation, and it is a vital part of an overall communications strategy,” says Nikki Wright.
Ph: +64 9 366 0040 . Fax: +64 9 366 0041 . www.wrightcommunications.co.nz Ground Floor, General Building, 29-33 Shortland Street . PO Box 90290, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142
FEBRUARY 2011| management.co.nz | management.co.nz| |1943 DECEMBER 2010
POWER
Beyond office politics Power is about getting things done. Louisa Walker explains how to cultivate positive political power at work.
G
ossip, backstabbing, competition, hidden agendas, power plays and outright sabotage: Ask most people to describe politics at work and they fire off a long list of negatives. Seeking power is often considered shady and intrinsically immoral. Principled people worry about the ethics of gaining and using political power, fearing it is morally unacceptable and sure to corrupt. Politics is, unfortunately, often about the misuse of power. Yet it is possible to harness power in the service of higher goals. Being powerless does nothing to advance the goals of principle. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi understood this. Learning to gain and use personal political power as a means to positive and principled ends is a desirable and important responsibility. Don’t want to play? Many believe that if they keep their head down, do a good job and stay out of the way, they will avoid the politics altogether. This is a myth and a mistake. Office politics is unavoidable and inescapable. You avoid engaging in office politics at your own peril. You can easily become a victim of what you don’t understand. Your failure at the hands of political
44 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
manoeuvres only results in your own suffering. Worse yet, your principles and values and the work that you care about may not advance. In any organisation, office politics really refers to the informal ways that things get done. Beyond the formal hierarchy and organisational chart, there are the interpersonal interactions involved in how resources are allocated, whose priorities matter and how decisions are made. Inevitably, engaging in office politics involves getting and using power and, ultimately, power is about your ability to get things done. It is essential that you learn to operate well within your organisation’s informal political processes. So how do we begin to understand and use positive political power? In their book Enlightened Office Politics: Understanding, Coping with, and Winning the Game – Without Losing Your Soul Michael and Deborah Dobson identify six types of personal political power. These are: role power, relationship power, resource power, rhetoric power, respect, and reason and purpose. Most people are naturally strong in at least one or two of these areas. At the same time, we need to develop those areas where we are less skilled in order
Photos: thinkstockphotos.com
Office politics is unavoidable and inescapable.
to gain balance and maximise our effectiveness. Role power refers to the impact, or power, that is inherent in your position. Your role in the organisation is one measure of your personal political power. Relationship power is crucial. This is the power that comes from who you know and how you know them. Resource power refers to what you control such as material resources, access to others with power, time and money. This includes the power to approve someone’s budget or to decide who gets access to everything from equipment, training, travel or parking spaces. Rhetoric power stems from your ability to communicate. If you speak and write well, you have the power to
persuade or influence others. If you do great work, it can be lost on others if you can’t get your ideas and your priorities across via effective communication. Respect power speaks for itself. You are powerful, in one sense, according to the opinions others hold about you: your integrity, dependability, skills and accomplishments, for example. Finally, and perhaps most important, is the power you achieve via the reason and purpose you bring to your work. There is nothing more powerful than a clearly focused goal based on a vision that includes higher moral, and/ or, ethical aims. We are left with a promise and a challenge. The promise is that we can gain and use political power for highly-
principled ends and, in the process, have a profoundly positive impact on the culture of an organisation. The challenge is that this involves no small amount of courage. It takes strength and resolve to counter negative influences and a toxic atmosphere at work. It is vitally important to learn to appreciate and practise positive politics in the interests of principles and ethics. With commitment, courage and bit of homework, it is possible to become empowered, find your own voice and learn to successfully manage the political landscape at work. M Louisa S. Walker, PhD, teaches two-day courses in office politics at The Centre for Continuing Education at The University of Auckland.
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EXEC HEALTH
All present A new study has highlighted how an empty desk or two might just be the tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to calculating the true cost of ill health in your workplace, reports Peter Tynan.
I
f asked to tally up what illness costs your business annually, most of us would head straight for the easily measured suspects – sick leave, temporary staff costs and perhaps staff turnover. But in doing so, we may not account for a problem that has the potential to make a huge dent in business productivity. A new report prepared by the New Zealand Treasury has turned the spotlight on the ‘hidden’ cost of presenteeism in the workplace. Presenteeism is defined as workers being on the job but, due to medical conditions or illness, not fully functioning. Health problems that result in presenteeism are many and varied, and include depression, back pain, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure and gastrointestinal disorders. The Treasury report is based on Statistics New Zealand’s “SoFIE” (Survey of Family, Income and Employment) data. Of the adult working population surveyed, almost half reported reduced productivity due to emotional problems or physical health in the previous four weeks. Evaluated at the average full-time pay rate, this was estimated to cost the country between $700 million (39.3 million work hours lost) and $8.2 billion (409 million work hours lost) per year – a range calculated by estimating illness-related reductions in productivity of between 15 percent and 50 percent. Even at the lean end of the scale, it represents enormous lost opportunity.
46 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
To put the figures in perspective, taking a midpoint of the range ($4.1 billion) equates to 2.7 percent of GDP. For further perspective, New Zealand’s entire public health budget for 2010 was $13.6 billion. In 2009, the Southern Cross Health Society commissioned independent research which estimated the impact of presenteeism and absenteeism to be a $2 billion annual burden to employers – with 60 percent of this cost attributed to presenteeism. The Southern Cross research found the average time off work due to illness (absenteeism) was 4.2 days per year, while the average number of days where employees went to work when they were too sick to be fully functioning and productive (presenteeism) was 11.1 days. Though absenteeism can be measured through ‘direct’ costs of sick leave and temporary staff, these may be eclipsed by the indirect costs it can generate. Just consider the costs of the following: • Time lost and administration finding replacement staff or reallocating work. • Lapse in quality due to overworked staff or from staff being substituted into an unfamiliar role. • Additional stress on other team members. • Missed deadlines or extensions for projects. • Quality or deadline issues creating unhappy customers. The good news is that there’s plenty
we can do about it. Enter the case for workplace health interventions. Several key health problems that can result in
Winter flu is upon us
presenteeism are of the kind described as ‘lifestyle’ diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, and are able to be better managed or even prevented through a healthy lifestyle. We spend a great deal of time at work, so it can be an ideal place to make the sometimes small, routine changes necessary to build wellness – and improve business productivity. The first step might be to consider your workplace culture in terms of attitude to health – and whether in fact this is contributing towards presenteeism or absenteeism. For example, is sick leave spoken of in derogative terms? Is stress considered part and parcel of the industry? Do employees feel pressure to ‘soldier on’ with winter flu, potentially infecting other colleagues? When questioned privately, it’s possible that some employees
Photos: thinkstockphotos.com
Well, not quite. But right now is the time to prevent an empty office come July. Providing an annual workplace flu vaccination, either through an onsite clinic or vouchers for staff to get the vaccination at their local medical centre, is a simple and cost-effective way to help prevent absenteeism and presenteeism during flu season. But vaccinators get very busy in the lead up to winter – so book well in advance. It takes two weeks for the vaccine to become fully effective so jabs are best delivered in March or April. In general, seasonal influenza activity begins rising in May.
are concerned about letting the team down, losing pay, or being thought of as unreliable by taking time off. The second step might be to do a workplace health audit. Employee health checks are an excellent way to gain an overview of the health risks within an organisation, and identify areas for improvement. The third step is to implement initiatives to target the ‘problem’ areas identified. These could include: • Flexible working hours or work from home options. • On-site GP clinics. • Subsidised health insurance to enable faster and more affordable access to medical treatment. • Smoking cessation or nutrition workshops.
• Annual flu vaccinations. • Work station assessments to prevent OOS or back pain. • Workplace fitness programmes or sporting challenges. The costs of implementing such initiatives have been shown to pay for themselves by negating direct illnessrelated costs alone. For example, in just the second year of running its inhouse wellness programme, Southern Cross Health Society reduced unplanned staff absence by around 15 percent. Taking into account the potentially much greater indirect costs saved, it could very well be the best investment your business makes this year. M Peter Tynan is chief executive of Southern Cross Health Society.
Healthy staff means higher productivity and profitable business. Your profits, not ours. Because we’re not for Covering staff with Southern Cross health insurance means less profit, we’re for you. To find out more, call Southern Cross Health sick days, quicker return to work1 and it’s an attractive incentive for retaining and recruiting employees. It all adds up to a more productive Society on 0800 323 555 or visit our website healthybusiness.co.nz
Healthy people healthy business 1. TNS research 2004.
Southern Cross Medical Care Society, 181 Grafton Road, Grafton, Auckland 1010
FEBRUARY 2011
| management.co.nz | 47
M Executive development Sponsored by The University of Auckland Business School Short Courses www.shortcourses.ac.nz 0800 800 875
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21-22 Mastering Negotiation Skills. Wellington. Bright*Star Training and Conferences. www.brightstar.co.nz 22 Governance Essentials. Auckland. Institute of Directors. www.iod.org.nz 22, March 15, April 5 Authentic Leadership. Christchurch. Organisation Development Institute. www.development.org.nz 23 Finance Essentials. Auckland. Institute of Directors. www.iod.org.nz
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48 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
execs on the move M
Tony O’Boyle, Helen Cross
Shelley Campbell
The Sir Peter Blake Trust has appointed Shelley Campbell as its new chief executive. A former chief executive of Waikato Primary Health Organisation, Campbell is a member of Cancer Council NZ and chair of the Minister’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Taskforce. She was a member of the New Zealand delegation to the World Health Assembly in 2008 and has examined health systems in Canada and the UK. Prior to taking up her new role she was overseeing the business case process for the Ministry of Health’s reforms in Auckland. Campbell is a past recipient of a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader
Barry Brook
Agribusiness consultant Barry Brook has been appointed as the next chairman of independent dairy company Synlait. He succeeds Graeme Milne who retired from the position to become chairman of Synlait Milk, Synlait’s joint venture milk processing company. Brook led the mergers of Wrightson with Williams and Kettle and Pyne Gould Guinness to form PGG Wrightson and was the group’s chief executive until 2008.
Michael Daniell
Managing director and chief executive officer of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Michael Daniell has joined The University of Auckland Council. His appointment is for a four-year period.
Award. She received this honour in 2007, becoming the first person from the health sector and the first Māori woman to receive this prestigious award.
Dato Shahudin, Nik Jaffar
Opus International Consultants has appointed two new directors to bring new expertise and provide international input to the board’s decision making processes. They are Dato Seri Ismail Shahudin and Nik Airina Nik Jaffar.
Dr Ian Parton
A prominent Auckland engineer and company director, Ian Parton is the new ProChancellor of The University of Auckland. He succeeds Lindsay Corban, who served a two-year term and remains on the University Council.
Rural cooperative Farmlands has two new directors. Tony O’Boyle, a Wairarapa sheep and beef farmer and past chairman of Fonterra Shareholders’ Council, has replaced long standing elected director Roger Barton. Dr Helen Cross, managing director and co-founder of Cross Ventures, has been appointed as an independent director.
Keith Taylor
Experienced director and actuary Keith Taylor has been elected to the board of the not-for-profit Southern Cross Medical Care Society. He has over 30 years’ experience in the insurance and financial services industries as a CEO, CFO and actuary and his current board appointments include the Reserve Bank, the Earthquake Commission, Gough, Gough & Hamer, NZ Qualifications Authority, Government Superannuation Fund, Port Marlborough and the Takeovers Panel.
Garry Bray
Insurance broker and risk advisor Marsh has appointed Garry Bray as an executive director. Most recently national manager financial services for Elders Rural Holdings, Bray has 32 years’ experience in the insurance industry including nine at Lumley as general manager – insurance.
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www.projectplusgroup.co.nz FEBRUARY 2011
| management.co.nz | 49
M 10 TOP tips
Manage precious information Information Leadership’s director Sarah Heal shares insights on how to make your information work for rather than against you.
T
here has always been a relentless increase in information flow – the difference now is the sheer volume. So, how do you make sure you know what you have got, your most important information is secure, you can access it effectively, and are keeping only what really matters?
1
Give up your email folders
Some people are well disciplined and find it easy to use and manage their email folders. For most people though this gets out of control over time or they simply give up. Instead, use two folders only – ‘in’ and ‘processed’. Put everything you’ve read and want to keep into ‘processed’ using red flags or tasks to manage ‘to dos’. Delete irrelevant stuff. Hey presto – empty inbox at the end of every day. By using search or sorting you can find any emails you need.
2
Slow down or batch your email responses
on critical 4Focus documents
All documents are not created equal. Big bang projects designed to bring the wealth of documents under control are often doomed to failure in large organisations which easily get stuck at the pilot stage. Instead develop a roll-out plan based on areas of greatest risk or importance first rather than team by team. Candidates often include contract management, project management and recruitment.
5
Get the right tools for the job
The ability of a business to use its information is often significantly compromised by the poor presentation of this information. Data visualisation tools help us to identify and understand patterns in our data.
6
Link strategic, tactical and operational documents
A significant barrier to more effective use of information is the different repositories documents are spread across and how they are described. Business taxonomies describe, in a standard form, the functions, activities and services provided by a business. They can help make clear connections between different types of documents and repositories.
Many people spend more time than they need to emailing during the day. Instead consider a batching approach to email – do all of your email responses at a set time of day (or two or three if you really must).
7
3
8
Think about collaborative workspaces
These can offer open ways for a team to communicate on tasks. This includes creating a total online workplace environment that tracks results, tasks, dialogue and documents. 50 | management.co.nz | FEBRUARY 2011
Simplify security
A helpful rule of thumb here is that everyone should be able to see everything unless there is a specific reason to restrict access (eg, personal or commercially sensitive information).
Collect the right information in the first place
Apply GRiT (Goals, Results, Information, Technology) to ensure there is a clear alignment between your organisation’s business goals and the information that is captured, shared and exploited.
Sarah Heal
9
Tune the information environment for different roles Review the needs people in different roles have for creating, sharing and exploiting information. Tune their information environment to best suit their needs. This can mean creating different information views for different roles. Also provide ‘at the desk’ support for new and existing users to help them really get value from the systems that you have invested in and the information that these systems deliver.
10
Connect your data and documents
While much information is codified and stored in databases, still more is held in email systems, in people’s in-trays and on hard copy job and contract files. Few businesses are adept at managing and connecting their structured information (held in databases), semistructured information (held in well managed shared drives and document management systems) and their unstructured information (emails, documents stored on c:/drives; unfiled papers). Use the business taxonomy approach described above to help make these connections between data and documents. Expecting good results from knowledge workers while expecting them to operate with one hand tied behind their backs is optimistic at best. M
FEBRUARY 2011 Vol 06 Number 01
ISSN 1177-5815
on management
New Zealand Institute of Management IN ACTION
Applied learning delivers immediate benefits O
ne of the biggest DHBs in New Zealand, the Counties Manukau District Health Board (CMDHB), employs nearly 6000 staff and covers an area sprawling out from Middlemore Hospital across Manukau, Franklin and Papakura districts. “It’s an exciting place to work,” says organisational learning & development manager Anne Marinelli-Poole. “This is known as an innovative, dynamic place, it embraces change, and it’s very multicultural – we have around 107 different cultures here.” With a total commitment to quality improvement as a strategy driving improved performance, growth and innovation, staff development is critical, she says. “We’re trying to create a culture and an organisation that is open and can learn from its mistakes – how can we do better, how can we deliver better patient-centred health care – and we’re developing our people so they can do that. It’s also about retaining staff, engaging them in their work and investing in them.” CMDHB’s three-tier management and leadership development programme starts with its Foundations of Management programme, followed by the in-house Managerial Excellence programme and culminates in a leadership development programme. The CMDHB’s customised Managerial Excellence programme comprises six of eight modules towards NZIM’s Diploma in Management [Advanced] Level 6, with participants gaining the Diploma by successfully completing two of NZIM’s public programmes. The focus is on applied learning. “This is all about learning from consultants who are in the business, who know what they’re talking about and about applying that directly back into the job,” says NZIM Northern L & D consultant Tania Bailey. Applied learning not only delivers immediate organisational benefits, but often proves a revelation to academically-qualified participants. “I warned participants, this will be very different,” says Anne Marinelli-Poole. “You won’t have somebody talk at you then sit an exam – you will live and breathe this for the next nine months. They came out at the end raving about it, saying it’s harder than most post-graduate programmes. It’s been a very different kind of learning, giving them a completely different skill set. “Because quality improvement [QI] needs to sit at the core of everything we do, Tania and an NZIM facilitator worked closely with us to create an NZQA-accredited QI module, and participants must also undertake a major QI project.”
Participants from CMDHB’s 2010 Managerial Excellence programme.
Programme participants are drawn from both clinical and non-clinical management roles throughout the organisation. Each of the six modules (communications, quality improvement, applied and project management, change management, leadership, and presentation skills) consists of a two-day workshop, an applied, workplace-based assignment, plus the major course project that knits all the learning together. “We’re very clear that they must work with their manager to select the best possible project, something that needs to be done and is relevant to their work area and role. And because what they’re doing will potentially make a positive difference to their workplace, they get the buy-in and support of their managers.” Diana Dowdle, service manager NASC and Home Health Care (part of the Adult Rehabilitation and Health of Older People division), says the Managerial Excellence programme has proved very successful. “We’re very supportive of it. Although it does take a lot of time, it has huge benefits.” NASC (Needs Assessment Service Coordination) and the Home Health Care Services are multi-disciplined teams of district nurses and allied health professionals. Richard Small, operations manager, Home Health Care Orakau, completed the Managerial Excellence programme last year. His project looked at the allied health workforce’s capacity and resourcing. “I developed the Allied Health Workloads Standards Project firstly because some of my clinical staff were saying there wasn’t enough time to do what they needed to, there were backlogs in terms of client waiting lists, and a sense that things weren’t on the right track. It was also in response to the economic and political environment, and needing to be accountable for our time and resources. We needed clear
guidelines for the workload expectations and capacity of each discipline and clinician.” “Richard’s project is a first for allied health, looking at workload, capacity, how to match resources to the workload and how to measure it,” says Diana Dowdle. “He collected data on what the teams were actually doing, breaking it down into how much was clinical and non-clinical. He worked with them to establish the accuracy of the data, and what we want them to be doing, i.e. to spend about 80% of their time on clinical work. That’s actually what they want to do too, but a lot of other things were taking them away from their clinical work. It was all about supporting them, to ring fence their clinical work.” Communication and building understanding and support for the project amongst all stakeholders was vital, says Small, and he applied many of the principles directly from the change management module in particular, trying to ensure there were no misconceptions and that everyone was moving forward together. The result was tremendous buy-in from the staff, says Dowdle. “It was a good process for both those groups. Richard’s project just came at the right time. It’s going to be a huge advantage if we can increase the clinical capacity of, which will deliver a huge benefit to clients.” Although the Managerial Excellence programme was a heavy workload, Small says it was very relevant to his work. “The other thing that particularly appealed was the type of content – bang on for any manager and all things that can be difficult to find in a quality course together in one place. I was able to apply what we were learning from Day 1. I also enjoyed the sense that they were there to help us. There was sense a of working together. I felt myself learn, and change. I guess that’s the upside of it being such an intensive, challenging year!” Focus on Management
Project Management – get the right tools for the job New Year equals
new opportunities W
elcome in the New Year and hit the ground running with a middle management qualification. NZIM Northern has a suite of qualifications available to give you the tools to help you on your career path. From new leader, team leader and up to senior management, a range of qualifications is available and, unlike tertiary study, these have a practical base and are facilitated by industry professionals. They will provide you with the tools and practical know-how to apply what is learnt directly back into your role and your workplace. Because of this immediate return on investment many organisations are very happy to have staff work towards these qualifications. For the aspiring new leader wanting to show their willingness to learn and commitment to development, there are the National Certificates in Business – Levels 3 and 4. While Level 3 covers the essential skills and tools for those new to their roles, there is also the Level 4 certificate which is made up of our Team Leader series. With the series covering Team Leader Essential Skills, Building Effective Teams and Operational Management, there is a wealth of knowledge and information to assist the would-be manager. With intakes for both levels starting in February and March, now is the time to secure your investment in your future by booking now. Visit the NZIM Northern website – www.nzimnorthern.co.nz for more information, or phone 0800 800 694 to speak to an L & D consultant.
I
n today’s business world, the thin line between success and failure must be trodden carefully. Often it comes down to the right people having the right tools, to do the job right. Project Management is an increasingly sought-after skill set, as the ability to manage projects effectively means the difference between the project meeting specifications or going over both budget and timeframe. KPMG recently ran New Zealand’s first nationwide Project Management survey in New Zealand for 2010 and reported the following key findings: • 60% of NZ companies are failing to measure projects’ returns on investment. • 70% of NZ companies experienced at least one project failure in 2010. • The following were key problem areas: lack of timely delivery, cost (project runs over budget), or inability to achieve the stated deliverables. • Over 50% of respondents stated that they do not consistently achieve stated project deliverables. • In the past 12 months, 98% of those surveyed completed less than five projects; however, the
NZIM Northern welcomes new L & D Consultant N
ZIM Northern is delighted to announce the appointment of a new learning and development consultant for their Auckland team – Justine Fisher. Justine comes to NZIM Northern following a number of years in the corporate recruitment industry, where she has worked in various roles for a global consultancy. Her international experience has been with Drake International, and more recently she has undertaken fixed term contracts with IRD and NZ Bus. Justine is a natural relationship manager and quickly builds rapport when dealing with new and existing clients. One of her key skills is Justine Fisher. the ability to build customised solutions in line with the needs of her customers – a skill that will come in handy in the dynamic environment at NZIM Northern. After an 18-month stint in London, Justine started with NZIM Northern in January and is looking forward to meeting and working with clients, facilitators and participants. All the best from the team Justine!
national NZIM Diploma in Health and Safety Management Wellington 12-25 June (Residential Component)
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his NZQA Approved Level 6 Diploma Qualification (Dip HSM) was developed in New Zealand, for New Zealand, based on ”global” health and safety and quality management practices. The programme covers what businesses need to do to manage health and safety and then provides the “how to do it” process for participants to use on the job. For more information contact Victoria Purdie at victoria_ purdie@nzim.co.nz or phone 04 473 0470.
Focus on Management
amount of money spent was significant with 44% of companies spending more than $15 million on their projects over this period. With these findings, it is hard to believe that these mistakes are being made at such a cost to organisations’ bottom lines. With 2011 well under way, it is in every organisation’s best interest to ensure that their people have the right tools and are well equipped to manage projects successfully to avoid repeating the mistakes made the previous year. NZIM Northern has recently partnered with CC Learning, offering the PRINCE2®Foundation with Practitioner programme. Along with our Project Management Professional (PMP) Preparation programme and Diploma, NZIM Northern is now equipped to provide for the needs of both aspiring project managers and the old hands. For more information and to empower your journey to Project Management excellence, call 0800 800 694 and speak to an L&D Consultant, or visit our website: www.nzimnorthern.co.nz *Source: KPMG New Zealand Project Management Survey 2010
NZIM Foundation 2011 – Management Study Scholarships to Australia
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his year the scholarships will comprise a seven-day study tour to Sydney, Australia, 5-11 June and will include return air travel to Sydney, accommodation for six nights in Sydney, registration at the AHRI National Convention and Exposition, board room briefings with iconic New Zealand business leaders in Sydney and a one-day management workshop with Wilf Jarvis. This will be an experience that will benefit the individual and enhance their value to their organisation. Don’t forget to register for this fantastic opportunity on the NZIM National website www.nzim.co.nz. Applications close 5pm Monday 11 April 2011.
NZIM’s Young Professionals Network presents:
An evening with Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown W hat a fantastic evening. The NZIM Young Professionals Network (YPN) was delighted to host this event with Wellington’s new mayor in November. Mayor Celia Wade-Brown spoke on the topic of sustainability. Managers already know about recycling milk cartons but what does sustainable project planning really involve in practical terms and how can we embrace new technologies and be more environmentally friendly? A superb speaker, Mayor Wade-Brown entertained whilst at the same time ensuring the audience of some 40 professionals appreciated the importance of practices within the workplace and at home that are sustainable. Exactly what is meant by sustainability was addressed. Understanding this from the perspective of economic, social and environmental dimensions is critical, she said, in that in that these provide a useful platform for everyone to examine what initiatives they can take to ensure an effective contribution to sustainability. Mayor Wade-Brown outlined the initiatives that Wellington City Council is taking and the types of measures she is keen to be judged against in terms of sustainability. She emphasised the difficulty in employing sustainability initiatives, given that the payback is often low in the immediate term but of greater benefit over the longer term. Technology initiatives are helping but still remain expensive relative to past technologies. However, if we all play a role and take sustainability seriously we will make a difference, she said. YPN appreciated the mayor making time
Constructive feedback techniques – new Research studies show that employees commonly complain that workplace managers in New Zealand provide insufficient feedback. Moreover, the feedback that is given is mostly negative. The new one-day Constructive Feedback Techniques workshop is designed to provide managers and senior staff members with a number of techniques for giving feedback to colleagues and direct reports, to assist in raising performance and achieving desired behaviour. Participants can also opt to undertake follow-up coaching with the facilitator after completing the workshop. Any manager or senior staff member who must manage or coach another person in the workplace will benefit from this workshop. After the successful completion of this course, it is expected participants will: • Know the differences between constructive and destructive feedback. • Be able to hold an effective feedback session. • Have practised through role play a number of feedback techniques. • Understand what specific pitfalls to avoid
Introducing
Les Armstrong
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Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and YPN committee member Shekhar Karl Reddy.
available to speak. It was commendable, and a fine example, to hear she was to take off to her next engagement (dinner with family) on her bicycle. Well done – a fine example for all young professionals! – Shekhar Karl Reddy, Learning and Development Advisor, JOLT Training YPN will be hosting further events throughout 2011, with the next event planned for this month. For more information on NZIM’s Young Professionals Network please contact Susan Mckibbin on 04 495 8296 or email susan_ mckibbin@nzimcentral.co.nz
during feedback sessions. This one-day programme conveys a variety of tools and strategies to aid in coaching sessions. Participants can opt to undertake follow-up coaching with the facilitator after completing the workshop. Date: March 17 Cost: Members $600.00 + GST Non-members $700.00 + GST Facilitator: Phil Hartwick Introduction to Marketing (Cert in Mgt) Marketing is often confused with sales, and whilst there are definite links to sales, marketing is about business development. It involves a set of specific disciplines that are not necessarily restricted to those organisations usually considered as needing marketing expertise. It may be a team within an organisation that wishes to market its services internally. This is an introductory programme suitable for people with little or no previous experience of marketing, or as a starting point for those wishing to pursue a career in marketing. It is also suitable for teams, managers or leaders
es Armstrong facilitates learning in the areas of finance and marketing. He has tutored at universities and polytechnics in a number of countries, and also currently owns and operates a number of businesses in New Zealand in the tourism, manufacturing and service sectors. Les won the top national APANZ polytechnic award for excellence and innovation in teaching. Currently he coordinates and runs the highly successful Friday/Saturday NZIM Diploma in Management / NZ Diploma in Business block course programme. This is for busy working people who prefer to do a paper in six days of block learning as opposed to 17 weeks of night classes. He is a passionate, practical teacher and business owner who can get the message across in a clear and straightforward manner so students can apply their learning instantly in the workforce.
Les Armstrong
who wish to learn how to market their services within their own organisation. On successful completion of this programme, it is expected you will have the tools to be able to: • Identify core marketing concepts. • Describe the nature of the marketing process and elements of the marketing mix. • Explain the components of a marketing strategy. • Identify the requirements for an effective marketing plan. • Prepare and evaluate a marketing plan. • Explain how marketing can be used as a planning and management tool. The emphasis for this programme is on practical skills rather than detailed understanding of marketing theory. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, find appropriate solutions, and apply their learning to the marketing of relevant goods and services. Dates: July 4 & 5 Cost: Members $1100.00 + GST Non-members $1450.00 + GST Facilitator: Les Armstrong Focus on Management
25th NZIM Charity Golf Tournament…
a huge success despite the rain
Summer function for Southern Fellows N
F
riday 5 November was chosen as the preferred date to run our 25th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Russley Golf Club last year. However, after enjoying 24 years of near perfect weather for this well supported event, we experienced the wettest conditions we could have imagined, requiring the Ambrose tournament to be reduced to just nine holes. Months of superb planning by the tournament committee, ably driven by Julie Fussell, resulted in some really fun activities being conducted by the generous hole sponsors. So it was disappointing that many in the 116 strong field missed experiencing these. However, even though the outside conditions were appalling, the ‘after match function’ more than made up for it with some excellent prizes, thanks to the support of the prize sponsors, handed out to the top performing teams. The prizegiving culminated in the drawing of a grand prize consisting of flights for two Photos by John Nichols
Photos by Jane Wyles.
ZIM Southern Fellows were hosted to an enjoyable function one recent summer’s evening at the stunning, newly renovated Russley Golf Club meeting rooms in Christchurch. The speaker was our new CEO, Joseph Thomas, who shared his background and credentials – and passed the test of his peers with his views and comments. The Institute of Management in the South Island is definitely in good heart with an outstanding new leader. “We welcome Joseph’s expertise and experience and are confident that he will be a valuable asset to NZIM Southern in the years ahead.”
to Brisbane courtesy of Air New Zealand, plus three nights for four people at the Hyatt Regency Coolum on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. The lucky winner, Tim Martin, was also a member of the winning team under the leadership of Barry Knight. It was great to once again have very good friend Sir Bob Charles taking part in the tournament. Sir Bob’s Golf Scholarship was also one of the charities supported on the day. The other very worthy recipient of the charity money from the tournament was Camp Quality, which also gained additional funding from some impromptu auctions run on the day, thanks to the generosity of some of the prize winners who gave their prizes up to be auctioned for the cause. We thank all the hole sponsors, prize sponsors, Copthorne Hotel Commodore and of course all the hearty players on the day for making our 25th Annual Tournament something to remember for all the right reasons!
L to R: Geoff Ridley, Peter Taylor, Frank Dickson, Brian Shackel. Nathan Astle.
Start of the day.
L to R: Bill Tate, Peter Hutchison, John Pipe.
L to R: Brian Soutar, Wilf Jarvis, Susan Foster-Cohen and Malcolm Park.
L to R: Joseph Thomas, Campbell Ballantyne.
Focus on Management
Winning team: (L to R) Neil Pattinson, Jim Martin, Ralph Webster and Barry Knight.
7th – Ivan Lawson, Carl Brooking, Nora Patterson and Michael Patterson.
2nd – Rainbow Print team: (L to R) Mark Righton, John Boyle, Nathan Astle and Jono Brent.
5th – Polson Higgs team: (L to R) Charles Whitwham, Peter Rhodes, Michael Rondel and Stephen Spence.
Joseph Thomas, CEO NZIM Southern.
Gillian Dawe from Air NZ with Jim Martin, winner of the 25th anniversary prize package.
Personally tailored in-company courses gaining popularity W hile we have an expanded curriculum in place for 2011, we are always willing to discuss individually tailored “In Company” courses to fit a client’s unique training and development requirements. Our consultants, Gail Foster-Bohm, Harry Fox and Lee Hughes are knowledgeable, extremely competent and very easy to get along with! They welcome queries for information and quotations.
L to R: Harry Fox, Gail Foster-Bohm, Lee Hughes.
NORTHERN
CENTRAL
All courses shown are in Auckland. For more information phone 0800 800 694 or visit www.nzimnorthern.co.nz
All courses shown are in Wellington unless otherwise indicated. For more information phone 0800 373 700 or visit www.nzimcentral.co.nz
FEB
FEB
3-4
15 15-16 16-18 17 17 21-22 23-24 23-24 24-25
MAR
Manage Operational Plan Human Resource Management Accounting for Non-Accountants Effective Use of Time Effective Business Writing Interpersonal Communication Skills Dealing with Difficult Behaviours Coaching and Mentoring Supply Chain Management (in the Construction Industry)
3-4 3-4 3-4 3-4
Supply Chain Management Presentation Skills Negotiation Skills Introduction to Supply Chain Management 7 Conducting Effective Meetings 8 Diploma in Management (Advanced) (Level 6 starts) 8-9 Conflict Management 9-11 Team Leader 3 – Operational Management 10-11 Essential Sales Fundamentals 14 Effective Use of Time 14 Effective Business Writing 14 Managing Quality Customer Service 15-16 Operational Management 17 Stress Management Strategies 17 Implementing Effective Performance Reviews 21 Diploma in Project Management (Level 5 starts) 21-22 Practical Management Skill 23 Memory & Mind Mapping 23-24 Think On Your Feet 23-24 Performance Management 24-1/4 Train the Trainer 28-30 Leadership, Motivation & Team Building 28-30 Professional Administrator Skills 30-31 Budgeting for Non Financial Managers 31-1/4 Corporate Story Telling APR 1 Principles of Policy Design 4-5 Interpersonal Communication Skills 4-6 Project Management 5 Principles of Policy Analysis 6 Diploma in Frontline Management (Level 5 starts) 6-8 Four Quadrant Leadership 7 Manage Effective Workplace Relationships 7-8 Key Account Management 8 Emotional Intelligence 11 Writing an Effective Business Plan 13-14 Facilitation Skills 13-15 Team Leader 1 – Essential Skills 15 Lean 6 Sigma – Yellow Belt 15 Basic Budgeting
15 17 17-18 18 21
Introduction to Facilitation Speed & Power Reading (starts) Report Writing Emotional Intelligence Manage Personal Work Priorities (DFM Modular) 21-23 Project Management 22 Managing Your Time 24-25 Building a Business Case 25 Effective Business Writing 25 Effective Recruitment & Selection 28 Introduction to Management (starts) MAR 1 Memory and Mind Mapping 3 Having Difficult Conversations – NEW 7-8 Managing Small Projects (Cert in Management) 8 Developing an Internal Mentoring Programme 11 Facilitate & Capitalise Change & Innovation (DFM Modular) 15 Peer to Peer Mentoring Skills (starts) 16 Managing Your Time 17 Constructive Feedback Techniques – NEW 21 Manage Operational Plan (DFM Modular) 21 Train the Trainer (starts) 22-23 Developing Influencing and Motivation Skills 24 Basic Budgeting 25 Resilience in the Workplace – NEW 28-30 Project Management 31 People Skills for Prince2 (starts) – NEW APR 4-6 Accounting for Non Accountants 6 Taking Minutes and Preparing Meetings – NEW 7-8 Leading Virtual Teams 11-12 Resolving Conflict 11-13 Leadership, Motivation and Team Building 13-15 Professional Administrator Skills 18-19 Negotiation Skills
SOUTHern
For more information phone 03 379 2302 (Christchurch & Queenstown), 03 477 9277 (Dunedin) or 03 218 7451 (Invercargill) or visit www.managementsouth.co.nz or.
FEB
15-16 Accounting for Non Accountants – Stage I C
16-17 How to Manage & Lead Successfully I
21-23 Team Leader – The Essential Skills C 23-24 Building Relationship Versatility C 24
Managing Stress I NEW
25 Emotional Intelligence I NEW 28-2/3 Four Quadrant Leadership D
MAR
2 Dealing with Difficult People C 4
Speed Reading C
7
Macro Trends – Global View C
8-9 Human Resource Management I NEW
9-10 Accounting for Non Accountants – Stage II C
10 Core Business Writing C 15 Managing the Performance of Your Staff I
16
Effective Business Writing I
17
People & Communication Skills I
18 Dealing with Different People & Handling Conflict I
21 Effective Use of Time I 21-22 Strategic Planning C 23
How to Manage Drug & Alcohol Risks in the Workplace D NEW
23-24 Accounting for Non Accountants 1 I 25
Basic Budgeting I
28
The Art of Minute Taking D
29 Professional Reception Skills D 29-30 Presentation Skills C 30 Essential Skills for the Administrator D 31
Project Management for the Administrator D
APR
1 Successful Event Management D 4-5
Introduction to Performance Management C
4-5 Building Relationship Versatility C 4-6 Team Leader 1 – Essential Skills I 4-6
Four Quadrant Leadership C
6-7 Negotiation Skills C 7 Courageous Conversations C 7 SBG | Managing Risk I NEW 7-8 The Counsellor Salesperson C 11-12 Strategic Marketing C 12-14 Team Leader – Leading the Work Group C
15 Stress Management C 18-19 Introduction to Marketing C 18-20 Team Leader – Building Effective Teams C
19-20 Accounting for Non Accountants Stage I C
20 How to Manage Drug & Alcohol Risks in the Workplace Q NEW
27 Lean Six Sigma – Continuous Improvement C
17 Effective Use of Time C
28 Leading Virtual Teams C
21-22 Presentation Skills D
28-29 Work Place Law C Focus on Management
LEADERS BUILDING LEADERS Our aim is to build management capability through Research, Learning, and Recognition. Our focus is to: • Research leading management trends and practice and promote a constantly developing model of best management capability for New Zealand. • Enable managers and aspiring managers to participate in learning programmes, mentoring, and events that provide the information and experience they need to develop their capability. • Identify leading management role models and provide awards that recognise the career and educational achievements of managers. NATIONAL BOARD Phillip Meyer FNZIM (Chairman) Brian Soutar AFNZIM Lloyd Davies FNZIM Cheryl Doig fnzim John Sandford FNZIM Gary Sturgess Life FNZIM Lynda Carroll AFNZIM OFFICES National Office Acting CEO Phillip Meyer PO Box 67, Wellington 6140 Ph 0-4-473 0470, Fax 0-4-473 0479 Email national_office@nzim.co.nz National website www.nzim.co.nz Northern President John Sandford FNZIM CEO Kevin Gaunt FNZIM, FAIM PO Box 6600, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141 Ph 0-9-303 9100, Fax 0-9-303 9109 Email kevin_gaunt@nzimnorthern.co.nz Website www.nzimnorthern.co.nz Central President Phillip Meyer FNZIM CEO Karin Callaghan FNZIM FIPAA PO Box 11781, Wellington 6142 Ph 0-4-495 8300, Fax 0-4-495 8301 Email karin_callaghan@nzimcentral.co.nz Website www.nzimcentral.co.nz
P R OFI LE:
Wilfred Jarvis on Leadership W
hen discussing leadership in management education, Four Quadrant Leadership quickly becomes top of mind, along with its author, worldrenowned behavioural scientist Wilfred Jarvis. The techniques and relationships of the Four Quadrant Leadership system are based on his 60 years of research into leadership practices as observed in a large number of businesses and corporations from many countries. Before establishing his own organisation, he was Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Science at the Graduate School of Business, University of New South Wales. Jarvis was in Christchurch recently to present Four Quadrant Leadership programme Stages 1 and 2. These and other programmes are now translated into eight languages and used in many organisations worldwide. He began studying leadership when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and was called “The Great Leader”. He soon concluded that Hitler was not a leader – rather, he was a psychopathic liar who despised people and used them for his own purposes, eliminating anyone who opposed him. Jarvis says that countless contemporary politicians and other powerful people have the same deficits. He believes that many managers are not leaders, because their organisations don’t require them to fulfil leaders’ obligations. During the past five years, while conducting seminars in many countries, he has asked over 4000 class members this question: “Most organisations declare, ‘Our people are our greatest asset’. Before taking up your first appointment as a leader in any organisation, were you required to complete some systematic education in leading people? And were you expected to prove that you could use those skills before the organisation allowed you to be in charge of ‘their most important assets’?” Just four percent of that large sample said “Yes”, and most of those had been members of armed services. During his years in the Royal Australian Air Force Jarvis quickly concluded that he could never tell whether an officer was a leader by knowing his rank, and that many powerful officers were not leaders. He learned that the Air Force determined
an officers’ rank and roles; but that the people subordinate to him decided whether or not he was a leader. Jarvis believes the same truths apply in all civilian organisations. His research has convinced him that most CEOs, executives, managers and supervisors are primarily rewarded for their achievements in managing things, not for their skills in leading people. He has concluded that there are truths about the techniques and relationships of true leadership that have been demonstrated for centuries in numerous societies where people worked, lived or played together. He summarised many of those conclusions in Four Quadrant Leadership, emphasising these axioms: Leaders must earn the right to be accepted as leaders, using their personal integrity and not their ranks, transforming their colleagues into volunteers, not conscripts. People follow them because they want to, not because they have to. • They tell the truth and seek the truth about themselves. • They constantly prove that they care about their people. • They use power wisely. • They assist their colleagues to achieve high performance standards. • They define tasks clearly. • They use reliable methods for determining the levels of authority they will allocate to all members of their teams. • They give far higher priorities to selftranscendence than to self-actualisation. Asked if there have been great New Zealand leaders, Wilf Jarvis says he has met many. He mentioned Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Peter Blake and war hero Charles Upham, saying that they would be remembered for inspiring their team members to cooperate with them and with each other, to maintain high performance standards as they worked together to achieve very difficult goals. Jarvis is frequently asked when he plans to retire from his work as a clinical psychologist, consultant to organisations and seminar leader. He usually replies, “When my speed of reading, memory and reliable knowledge of people are not better than the average attainments of the people in my seminars!”
Wilf and Judy with key NZIM Southern staff members. L to R – Judy Berry, Val Taylor, Jackie Burtenshaw, Wilf Jarvis, Chris Parnell, Anne Mayhew, Colleen Eathorne and Julie Fussell.
L to R – Joseph Thomas and Wilf Jarvis.
Southern President Brian Soutar AFNZIM CEO Joseph Thomas AFNZIM PO Box 13044, Christchurch 8141 Ph 0-3-379 2302, Fax 0-3-366 7069 Email joseph@nzimsouthern.co.nz Website www.nzimsouthern.co.nz
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