NZ Management June 2012

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JUNE 2012 $7.10INCL GST THE TROUBLING TRUTH ABOUT LEADERSHIP P20

Trading with Asia: ready or not? p16 Primary purpose: adding value to our food basket p34 Thomas Pippos: Deloitte’s new CEO p40

DAME KIRI TE KANAWA

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W hat underpins the achievements of individuals, organisations or nations? And how can

we generate more of whatever that may be? In this month’s cover story we celebrate the winners of this year’s Kea World Class New Zealand Awards. This is a group of individuals whose richly varied pathways to achievement have taken them out onto a world stage where they can easily hold their own as Kiwi global citizens.

They’re innovators and entrepreneurs who have made significant contributions to the country’s growth and development. They’re out there building global connections, promoting New Zealand internationally, and helping exchange information, knowledge and skills from, and about, our country.

So, clearly, individual Kiwis such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa – this year’s Iconic New Zealander – and the late Sir Paul Callaghan – who won the Supreme Award – are more than capable of doing all this and more besides. And, clearly, that’s not where we’re slipping behind as a nation.

For it seems to me that at the country level New Zealand still appears unsure of what it is and who we are. The analogy of the number 8 wire mentality, so frequently cited in the past as the epitome of Kiwi ingenuity, has not yet been replaced by a more fitting symbol for nationhood.

So for this issue we asked seasoned writer Nick Grant to explore the notion of what it would take for New Zealand to be world class as a nation. His article, which starts on page 26, throws out some interesting insights into what could be a shared vision for our country’s reputation, brand and future prospects.

Such conversations dovetail neatly with our launch this month of this year’s Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards (go to page 24 for an early reveal of the 2012 campaign). For years now, these awards have been identifying and celebrating stand-out business leaders and organisations that clearly have what it takes. Innovation and a desire to chart their own path for growth must be part of their DNA. When everyone else zigs, they’re zagging.

So it’s fitting that this month Deloitte New Zealand CEO Thomas Pippos shares his insights into what it’s like to be taking over the mantle of leadership at one of the country’s iconic big four professional services firms. As I see it, he brings to the role a keen sense of the legacy inherited from those who have led the firm before him. Importantly, too, he brings a sense of a new future direction. He knows how to differentiate his firm’s brand in an established market.

We’ll continue to explore the underpinnings of achievement in upcoming issues. Next month, for example, and as part of our contribution to the country’s annual Leadership Week, we’re dedicating the issue to the theme of leadership. For as our Top 200 Awards winners know only too well, those leaders who have what it takes to succeed can truly make a difference.

What does it take?

Ruth Le Pla, Managing Editor

JUNE 2012 | management.co.nz | 1

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Vol 59 No 5 • ISSN 1174-5339 (Print), 1179-3910 (Online)

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A MEDIAWEB MAGAZINE

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CONTRIBUTORS

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As Kea NZ knows only too well, this country pumps out some brilliant individuals. Like the winners of this year’s World Class NZ Awards, they’re talented, savvy and easily

able to foot it on the global stage. But, as a country, we struggle to create a shared vision for our nation’s reputation, brand and future

prospects. Nick Grant asks six leading Kiwi businesspeople to talk about their own vision

for Brand NZ in a fast-changing world.

26 COVER STORY

World Class New Zealand What Does it Take?

contents

1 EDITOR’S LETTER

4 INBOX: News and views

12 FOCUS: Randstad Awards

14 AS I SEE IT: John Evans

15 MANAGERS ABROAD: Kirsty Graham

16 NZIM: Coming: ready or not – Trade with Asia Reg Birchfield

52 EXECS ON THE MOVE

53 EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT

OPINION

18 POLITICS: Dark arts: missing in action Colin James

19 ECONOMICS: Pride and austerity Bob Edlin

20 LEADERSHIP: The troubling truth about leadership Reg Birchfield

21 THOUGHT LEADER: Why NZ must get tech-smart Susan Carlow

22 BOOKCASE: The End of Leadership; What Matters Now Reg Birchfield

ADVICE

51 EXECUTIVE HEALTH: One small step for mankind Peter Tynan

54 TOP TIPS: How to manage conflict Mark Wager

14

DAME KIRI TE KANAWA


















JUNE 2012 • Vol 59 No 5

40

46

34

features34 Stories of NZ Enterprise Success

Primary purpose – are we adding value to the food basket?

The roots of New Zealand’s economy are dug deep into a primary

sector that still earns the bulk of this country’s income. But are we

making the most of our food basket heritage? Vicki Jayne does her

own digging.

40 Face to Face: Thomas Pippos – Inheriting the mantle of leadership

For Thomas Pippos, a role as CEO of Deloitte New Zealand has

been a lifetime in the making. Ensconced in the top seat since

November last year, he brings to the job a keen sense of a legacy

born from having worked alongside many of the firm’s brightest

leaders and a professional life dedicated to squaring up to

complex challenges. By Ruth Le Pla.

44 People Management: Rubbing along nicely

Working with some of life’s difficult people? Try focusing on their

performance rather than on the individual, says Margaret Inge-Frost.

46 Focus on Wellington: The coolest little business capital

The oft-maligned weather plays a positive role in Wellington’s

dynamic business culture, writes Vivienne McLean.

55 NZIM’s Focus On Management

Exciting opportunities for closer trans-Tasman relationship;

Member comment from Nici Hammer; Regional news; Upcoming

management courses.

44

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4 | management.co.nz | JUNE 2012

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“enormous decline” in public trust, according to Bricker.

“People are more sceptical now – they’re not necessarily more critical but they’re asking

more questions. Why? Because they know more… People now have more access to

information than anyone has ever had in human history and they’re also more capable of using it than in any other time.”

Bricker sees a societal shift towards a more causal style of thinking in which people believe they can figure out why something happened.

“People now feel they have the right to question things: they no longer have to suffer in silence.”

All of which means that organisations must now engage with consumers and gain their trust. Effective methods include demonstrating where, or how, an idea has worked elsewhere or in the past, he says. Small-scale experiments and evidence-based policymaking work well.

“Reputation has a present value,” says Bricker. “It has an impact on the bottom line. The management of trust is just about more important than anything else. And a good reputation enables an organisation to weigh in on issues credibly.” M

To Dr Darrell Bricker, public opinion is like a smell. People either like something or they don’t and there’s often little rationale behind the reaction.

“That’s how the public makes up its mind about things,” he told a group of researchers and company clients in Auckland recently. “It’s now possible to measure, predict, and even manage public opinion, and smarter companies and organisations are doing this already.”

Based in Toronto, Canada, Bricker is CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, a company specialising in social research and corporate reputation. Yet, even to him, the emergence of global public opinion and, by extension, how to work with it, is a relatively new phenomenon.

Bricker says it has long been possible to see what the world used to be thinking. A trawl through any newspaper editorial would have provided such insights. But organisations can now measure what the world is thinking “fairly instantaneously” through multi-modal research that can integrate actions, feedback and insights from a huge range of media.

There remain technical hiccups and problems, says Bricker. So don’t expect precise numbers. But it is increasingly possible to gain “some sense of direction”, around, for example, whether people think something is good or bad. And that, he says, is vital information for the decision-makers leading any organisation.

Bricker says that while the economist and political scientist Joseph Schumpeter once famously described capitalism as the world’s greatest force of creative destruction, in his opinion, the choices that citizens and consumer make are now the most destructive forces in the world.

“The public is starting to discover itself: whether it be through new media, social interaction or getting together in the streets – as they did in Cairo’s central square. Public opinion is moving in ways that it has never moved before and it moves fast. Ask [ousted Egyptian president] Hosni Mubarak. It’s a destructive force. It sweeps things before it.”

Bricker cautions that organisations must increasingly take public opinion into account.

“In the past, if something didn’t fit within the four Ps of marketing, [product, price, promotion and positioning] marketers didn’t tend to take it into account. Public opinion wasn’t factored in to marketing decisions. We’re now working out ways to take it into account.”

To Bricker’s mind, the study of global public opinion is akin to trying to figure out how diseases spread: how trends develop and spread poses some of today’s most interesting unanswered questions.

“If, for example, people in Australia get upset about genetically modified foods, how long would it take for that concern to spread to New Zealand? And then on to Europe and to North America? And how does that pattern work?”

Such questions play out in a world in which there is now an

What the world thinks now

Dr Darrell Bricker.


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Performance > Productivity > Profit

Talent show & tellEmployers and jobseekers can now check out the cost of talent across Asia Pacific thanks to a new regional compendium by global workforce solutions company Kelly Services.

The guide outlines comparative salaries for professional and technical talent in a region where demand for their expertise saw employee turnover rates rise an estimated 14 percent last year.

Dhirendra Shantilal, Kelly Services Asia Pacific’s senior vice president, says that while demand may soften slightly this year, keen competition for knowledge workers across all countries in APAC is still evident.

“Even as unemployment rates continue on an overall downward trend, talent scarcity in specialist areas like engineering, accountancy, technology and financial services is further heightened.”

He adds that hiring in these areas is expected to grow this year despite rising inflation and capacity shortages.

“Experienced skilled professionals can expect to see some salary increases, particularly in the more developing economies. Employers will have to consider hiking up salaries to keep pace with inflation, to attract the right talent and to retain their critical workforce.” M

A reminder that organisations had best stick to the letter of anti-spam laws comes in the form of a recent notice from the Department of Internal Affairs’ Anti-Spam Compliance Unit. The unit says it is taking legal action against an alleged spammer under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.

The unit’s application to the Auckland High Court alleges that the person used a number of lists of email addresses to promote business and marketing seminars to be held in New Zealand.

The act states that it is illegal to send unsolicited, commercial emails. The maximum fine for an individual for breaches of the act is $200,000.

In its statement of claim the department alleges the emails were sent to email addresses that ended in .nz, and were sent from an email address with the .co.nz suffix which was registered to the alleged spammer or his agent.

It also alleges the computers, servers or devices used to access the emails were located in New Zealand as were the people who received the emails. The recipients had not consented to receiving the emails from the lists used.

Information about the department’s compliance activities can be found on the Enforcement Action section of its website www.dia.govt.nz M

WHAM BAM, NO THANK YOU SPAM

Kelly Services’ Dhirendra Shantilal.

http://www.steel

http://www.dia.govt.nz


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Managing and coaching seem to be poles apart but effective managers are often great coaches, according to talent management consultancy Right Management. The firm sees a growing number of organisations showing interest in coaching as a tool to develop their workforce.

Principal consultant Nick Grage-Perry says the benefits of coaching for individuals are well known, and this new trend demonstrates a greater awareness of the value it can offer to organisations.

“At a basic level, coaching identifies an individual’s skills and motivations, and helps them use those to the best of their ability. Used properly, it can overhaul the entire culture of an organisation, as well as improving its bottom line.”

In the past, people tended to think of external consultants when it came to coaching. Grage-Perry says the interest is now in internal coaching, carried out by managers within the organisation.

“Employers are often wary of asking managers to coach staff because of a perceived conflict between the roles,” he says.

“Managing is about optimising individual and organisational performance. While coaching can also be performance focused, an effective coaching approach considers the whole person, including interests and ambitions outside their role. For example, a coach might bring you to the realisation that you’re better off in a different role, or even in a different organisation.”

Grage-Perry says growing evidence in New Zealand and overseas shows internal coaching can improve organisations across the board.

“There are case studies showing impressive gains in retention, motivation and engagement. As more organisations make internal coaching a part of their culture and put their results out there, people realise the benefits outweigh the potential risks,” he says.

Grage-Perry adds that in tough economic environments, it can make particular sense to get managers to fulfil coaching roles.

“Demotivated staff can be costly, and avoiding the issue can lead to further problems down the track, such as employees with little loyalty to the company or declining interest in their job.”

So how does a manager coach? What are the drawbacks? And where does managing stop and coaching begin?

“There certainly are pitfalls, and for internal coaching to work well, there are three things organisations need to keep in mind,” says Grage-Perry.

“First, like leadership, not everyone has the skills or desire to be a coach. An unwilling or unskilled coach can easily cause more harm than good. Selecting the right individuals and ensuring they get adequate development is the most important step in realising the benefits of internal coaching.

“Next, trust and confidentiality are critical. Information can come out during coaching sessions that individuals wouldn’t want shared with anyone else in the organisation. People who know that their coach will have input into decisions about their pay or promotion are unlikely to be honest during the process.

“The ‘manager as coach’ has to be clear about what parts of the conversation are confidential, and has to earn the trust of the coachee.

“Finally, ask before you tell. Managing is often about giving advice or directions, whereas coaching is about helping people come up with their own answers or solutions. Ask open-ended questions and then listen. It’s easy for managers to slip back into an advising style of communication.” M

MEET YOUR COACH. IT’S YOUR MANAGER

Nick Grage-Perry.

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The all new BMW 3 Series has stepped up. With a refi ned TwinPower Turbo engine, this class leading 6th generation BMW is propelled with purpose. Experience breath taking power with superior levels of safety, thanks to features like the pre emptive passenger protection system. And as you’d expect from any BMW, the 3 Series offers future facing technology, including a 6.5” colour display with iDrive controller. The momentum is building, live for it. Test drive the all new 6th Generation BMW 3 Series at an Authorised BMW Dealership today.

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ADVERTISING BOOKING DEADLINE 5TH OF MONTH PRIOR

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G• Special Issue Focusing on Leadership• 25 Under 25: NZ’s Young Leaders• Leading NZ’s Construction & Engineering Sectors

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For further information contact: Rod Myers: 0-9-372 6444, 027 484 8046,

[email protected] Day: 027 561 6556, [email protected]

SPECIALFEATURESJULY & AUGUST 2012

$850,000 a year in energy costs, more than repaying the $2 million invested in its programme.

NZ Post Group’s operation – which includes KiwiBank and Express Couriers – covers 16,000 vehicles and 900 retails outlets, making it New Zealand’s second largest retailer.

Judges commended its energy reduction efforts for being driven from the top, with strong management buy-in. “This approach is what is missing in the market – a fantastic example of holistic energy process done well, with valid outcomes,” they said.

New Plymouth District Council was a co-winner in the public sector category for an energy management programme saving $200,000 a year.

The awards attracted nearly 90 entries, with the combined value of energy projects entered totalling more than $600 million.

For more on the 2012 EECA Awards see www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/awards. M

A programme that’s saved more than $500 million in energy costs has won Air New Zealand the title of supreme winner at the 2012 EECA Awards.

The airline, which also won in the transport category, has cut energy use by 15 percent and CO2 emissions by 142,000 tonnes a year – a difficult task in the energy-intensive aviation sector. It was praised not only for its success in cutting fuel use, but also for being an energy-saving influence on other businesses, locally and globally.

Air New Zealand has pioneered commercial biofuel trials, and is also driving the push across the industry for shorter, more direct routes to reduce travel time and fuel burn.

The award was presented at a ceremony on 23 May, where winners across nine energy categories were announced.

The judges particularly noted Air New Zealand’s courage in aiming to become the ‘world’s most sustainable airline’ – and the positive flow-on effect for other Kiwi businesses as a result, particularly in tourism and export sectors.

Other big winners on the night included New Zealand Post Group, which won the energy management and public sector awards for a project that’s avoided more than $5.6 million in energy and transport costs, and ASB, which took the large business award for its long-running Save Watt programme.

ASB has run its Save Watt programme since 2004, with a strong focus on engaging staff through an online Energy Tracker tool. It’s saving

Saving energy & scoring awards



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A self-described former “skinny kid growing up in Wellington”, Rick Boven reckons he’s become cold-averse, which could come in handy as he’s about to be one of around 100 people taking part in this year’s Lifewise Big Sleepout.

On June 28 he’ll join a group of influential New Zealanders making a concrete slab their bed, an open air quad their bedroom and others their ‘sleep mates’, all in the name of raising critical funds and awareness for the issue of homelessness.

Dr Lesley Mynett-Johnson, Lifewise’s director of fundraising, marketing and communications, says their collective efforts last year resulted in over $110,000 being raised.

“It was an extraordinary effort that ensured we were able to continue providing solutions to Auckland’s homeless population.”

Boven, who did the sleepout last year as well, says his usual methods of giving to others are often indirect “by contributing ideas and changing the

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ways people think. This is an opportunity to give back more directly.”

A director of Stakeholder Strategies and former head of the independent thinktank the New Zealand Institute, he aims to beat his previous year’s fundraising target, learn more about how homeless people live their lives successfully, enjoy the camaraderie and atmosphere of the event, and “walk home in the early morning with altered perceptions”.

Mynett-Johnson says there’s still time for other people to get involved and she’d love to hear from other business leaders keen to take up the challenge.

“You’ll sleep out overnight in the open on a piece of cardboard. And you’ll get to mix with other like-minded leaders: someone described the event as the most

unusual networking event they’d ever been to. “You’ll also have a chance to talk to a few people who have experienced

homelessness and hear first-hand how they came to be on the streets and how they got off the streets.”

She says her organisation’s approach to homelessness is about ending the issue rather than managing the consequences.

“Our work is having a significant impact on the issue of homelessness in Auckland but without the funds raised through the Lifewise Big Sleepout, we’d struggle to keep the doors to our homeless support service open. So there is no doubt that each and every person taking part in this event is making a real difference in the lives of those who are homeless in this city.”

She also invites participants to provide names of two influential people who they would love to see ‘homeless’ for the night.

“They could be friends, associates or colleagues. We’ll send them a friendly invite on your behalf suggesting that they join you for a night of rough sleeping.

“And if sleeping rough is not for you, please jump online at www.bigsleepout.org.nz and show your support by donating to Rick or our other inspiring participants.”

To find out more or to register to take part, call Lifewise on (09) 302 5390. Email [email protected]. Or @bigsleepout on Twitter. M

AUT’s Derek McCormack.

Last year’s sleep mates: Bob Harvey and Dick Hubbard.


http://www.bigsleepout.org.nz

http://www.bigsleepout.org.nz



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WANTED: YOUNG BLOOD remain unaware of the specific benefits young people can bring, where to find them and what makes them stay.

“Young people bring their energy and enthusiasm, their new ideas and perspectives, their technological literacy and their social networking skills, especially in understanding the dynamics of social media,” he says.

“Finding the right people is easier than it may seem.” He says 90 percent of young people in New Zealand aged 20-24 use Facebook, which facilitates advertising to specific niche groups. And many university students are looking for volunteer opportunities.

The global AIESEC group is the world’s largest youth-run organisation. It focuses on providing a platform for youth leadership development.

Last year, respondents to a Charities Commission online survey raised the need to attract younger people as a major issue for the non-profit sector.

The People ByAssociation Conference will be held at the Jubilee Building, 525 Parnell Road, on Tuesday, June 19. For more information visit www.associations.org.nz. M

Attracting younger people to their organisations is one of the biggest challenges facing the non-profit sector during the economic downturn. As the average age of members and volunteers continues to rise, associations and charities are keen to find ways to revitalise their organisations with young blood.

A human resources conference for non-profits, People ByAssociation, organised by the New Zealand Association Resource Centre Trust (NZARCT) in Auckland later this month, will provide some answers on engaging with young people and the best recruitment channels to use.

The power of galvanising young people to take action for a cause was highlighted by the student army after the Christchurch earthquake in 2011, says NZARCT trustee, Rosemarie Dawson. “This was an incredible triumph for the youth of that city and shows what can happen when a powerful connection is made.”

AIESEC NZ vice-president for organisational development Josh Levent, who will speak at the conference about how to recruit the Facebook generation, says many non-profits

AIESEC’s Josh Levent.

http://www.associations.org.nz


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Victoria University of Wellington has conferred an honorary Doctor of Commerce degree on Sir John Anderson. The move recognises Sir John’s achievements in business and service to the country.

He had a long and successful career at the executive level in banking and finance. Sir John is particularly noted for leading the mergers of the National Bank of New Zealand with Rural Bank and Countrywide Bank. When the National Bank was sold to ANZ Bank he was appointed chief executive and director of ANZ National Bank, until retiring in 2005.

Sir John’s skills have been called upon by successive governments. He has held numerous chairmanships across fields as diverse as health, industry, media, rural services, finance, the environment, sport and regional governance.

Victoria University of Wellington’s Professor Pat Walsh says Sir John has been incredibly influential in New Zealand’s financial industry. “But he has also shared his wealth of experience with numerous other organisations. It is very appropriate for us to recognise and celebrate his service.” M

Honouring Sir John AndersonMORE PAY FOR TECH STAFFBusiness growth, upgrades and a shortage of skilled staff are combining to drive up salaries in the technology sector. New Zealand technology staff can look forward to an average 3.8 percent pay rise in 2012 according to a recent 2012 Robert Half Technology salary guide.

Data architects and business analysts are set to receive the biggest year-on-year salary gains, with average pay rises of 7.5 percent and 7.3 percent respectively.

Robert Half says hiring new staff to facilitate business growth and manage systems upgrades will be a key driver for technology recruitment over coming months. Some 80 percent of new hires will be recruited to fulfil these requirements.

Financial services, particularly banking and insurance, as well as the utilities industries are likely to have the highest levels of IT recruitment.

Signs are also positive for growth in other areas: a recent survey of 100 Kiwi CIOs and CTOs conducted by Robert Half found 66 percent shared confidence in their company’s intention to invest in new technology projects in 2012. M

Sir John Anderson.


FOCUSM

Randstad Awards 2012

1 Fred van der Tang (Randstad). 2 Paul Robinson (Randstad), Diane Walsh (Lion), Martin King (Coca-Cola Amatil), Diane O’Brien (TVNZ) and John Campbell. 3 Myles Fordyce (New Zealand Post) with James Brown and Sinead Johnston (both University of Auckland). 4 John Campbell. 5 Jo Oakes and Lauren Voyce (both McDonald’s) and Elizabeth Amery (Randstad). 6 Bill Perry and Phil Chitty (both New Zealand Customs Service) and Jeff McDonald and Blair Cashin (both Randstad). 7 Natalie Yakas (BUPA), Craig Carter (Randstad) and Lisa Harris (BUPA). 8 Paul Robinson (Randstad). 9 Fred van der Tang (Randstad), Muriel Roake (Air New Zealand), Paul Robinson (Randstad) and John Campbell.

• See http://tinyurl.com/cxv745r for more on this year’s Randstad Awards.

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http://tinyurl.com/cxv745r

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M AS I SEE IT

John Evans spent last summer in Antarctica as the Sir Peter Blake Trust’s 2011 Antarctic Youth Ambassador.

What are New Zealand’s major challenges for 2012? The economic climate will continue to pose significant challenges, both nationally and internationally, as the Government works to reduce spending and therefore debt. Selling some of the large government assets is a major decision and there will be plenty more debate around this.

Living in Christchurch, I have seen the devastation the earthquakes have caused and consequently the rebuilding of Christchurch. This challenge is both economic and social, but in time the new look of the city will begin to emerge – which is exciting.

How well prepared are Kiwi business leaders to face these challenges?Kiwis have a great can-do attitude and this is reflected in New Zealand business leaders. Living in an Antarctic field camp for 13 weeks, with highly limited access to global stimulus, we focused on the tasks at hand such as living and keeping our team together. This made me realise that people are everything and leadership is key.

New Zealanders are becoming more robust and adaptable: traits that are required in any challenging environment. New Zealand has a history of great leaders, and effective leadership can hold people and companies together through challenging circumstances.

What more could we do as a country to thrive in the current global economic climate?Education is especially important as we move towards lower dependence on social welfare and higher rates of employment. Investing further in research and development will open up avenues for future smart technology industries. In addition to the challenging economic climate, we face significant long-term global issues around fossil fuel dependence, uncertain supply security, land pollution and limited resources. We must continually look to the future. M


MMANAGERS ABROAD

Kirsty Graham is a member of Kea, New Zealand’s global talent community. www.keanewzealand.com

After five years as New Zealand’s senior permanent representative to the United Nations, Kirsty Graham switched to take up her current role as Pfizer’s senior director for international public affairs for Asia/Pacific and Canada. She’s now based in New York.

What prompted you to seek work out of New Zealand? I have been part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the past 16 years and diplomatic work requires taking up regular offshore assignments (our last posting was to Washington DC from 1996 to 2001). I was attracted to MFAT out of university as I enjoy international public policy and I was keen to help represent New Zealand abroad. My decision to move to the private sector here in the US was driven by a family decision – my husband’s business is in New York City and our boys (8 and 6) are now quite settled in their life here.

How are your experiences overseas shaping your understanding of New Zealand?Despite being away from New Zealand I read the NZ Herald every day and I’m in regular contact with many of my friends especially those in New Zealand politics and MFAT. I still feel enormous attachment to home (evinced by a houseful of Kiwis for the Rugby World Cup final and the pride in watching Bret McKenzie win an Oscar). My experiences both in the UN and now in corporate America make me reflect on New Zealand often: we are a nation of do-ers and we are very egalitarian in our outlook. I think we come up with great ideas but we still need to recognise the importance of implementation and quality follow-through if those ideas are going to go anywhere.

In an international setting, I sometimes think we can be too casual in our approach. This can be part of our charm and it also means we are relatively fearless of big opportunities but we need to make sure that we respect and put time into thinking how others see the world.

How can offshore Kiwis contribute to New Zealand?Many of the New Zealanders here give back to home in lots of different ways – connecting people, helping fund certain ventures, and mentoring. Many also want to stay involved and interested in New Zealand and its economic and overall policy direction, and they find ways to contribute to the policy debates. From a business standpoint, Kiwis can support others trying to go global. I keep telling my husband that he ought to write down the lessons learned after starting a business in the US as there are so many aspects of this market that you want others to know before jumping in. M

http://www.keanewzealand.com


Success,” said the very fine Ameri-can illustrator Henry Hartman, “always comes when preparation meets opportunity.” Intra-Asia

trade undoubtedly offers New Zealand enterprise some great future opportuni-ties. Many of them were identified at the two-day Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation Conference (CBAFF) held in Auckland last month.

But the New Zealand Institute of Management’s question to the confer-ence was simple: Are Kiwi businesses sufficiently prepared to turn those op-portunities into success stories?

Businesses are only as good as their people. And employees can only perform as well as their managers and direc-tors allow.

Business is a team sport. To win, every member of the team must be fit for purpose; have a game plan; be capable of executing the plan; and, most of all, be motivated to perform.

New Zealand enterprise doesn’t have a particularly good track record in high-performance management. All Black rugby’s traditional obses-sion with first-class game prepara-tion is seldom found in Kiwi board-rooms or executive offices.

There are, of course, excep-tions to this rule. Companies like Mainfreight, Air New Zealand and

Are Kiwi enterprises and managers sufficiently prepared to tap into new trade opportunities in Asia? By Reg Birchfield.

Coming: ready or notTrade with Asia

engineering consultants Beca prepare their organisations well. Consequently, they succeed against the odds and win global market share in even the toughest economic conditions.

Winning performances must become the rule of New Zealand enterprise rather than the exception for the country to feel the real benefits of the Asian opportunity. But, unfortunately, there is a significant body of evidence about to support the contention that when it comes to best practice management we are at best mediocre.

For example, just before this issue of NZ Management went to press, the Swiss-based International Institute of Manage-

ment (IMD) released the results of its annual Global Competitiveness Survey.

PERFORMANCE RANKINGThis survey is a performance ranking of the competitiveness of 50-something global economies.

At the time of writing this year’s figures had not been released. But more often than not, New Zealand slips a place or two each year. Last year we dropped just one place to 21st. The year before, we tumbled five slots. If we climb a few places this year it will be a welcome exception.

The IMD survey is a relevant and meaningful management performance measure and shouldn’t be dismissed. It

shows how and why our managers and business leaders are failing to compete successfully with the rest of the world.

There are also other measures to consider. Back in 2010, government agencies including the Ministry of Economic Development, Treasury, NZ Trade & Enterprise and the De-partment of Labour jointly funded some important management re-search.

It was undertaken by Sydney’s University of Technology as part of a worldwide study led by the London School of Economics and global consultancy McKinsey & Co.

A world of difference The following nine factors are the key drivers of manage-ment capability measured in the New Zealand Institute of Management’s Management Capability Index.

1. Visionary & strategic leadership. 2. Performance leadership.3. People leadership.4. Financial management.5. Product & service innovation.6. Organisational capability.7. Application of technology & knowledge.8. External relationships. 9. Integrity & corporate governance.

“


INSPIRING MANAGERSOur aim is to build management capabilitythrough membership, development and research.

Our focus is to:• Researchleadingmanagementtrendsand

practice and promote a constantly developing model of best management capability for New Zealand.

• Enablemanagersandaspiringmanagersto participate in learning programmes, mentoring, and events that provide the information and experience they need to develop their capability.

• Toidentifyleadingmanagementrolemodelsand provide awards that recognise the career and educational achievements of managers.

NZIM Inc CEO: Kevin Gaunt FNZIM, FAIMEmail [email protected]

Auckland OfficesContact: Tait GrindleyPO Box 6600, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141Ph 0-9-303 9100, 0800 800 NZIMEmail [email protected] www.nzim.co.nz

Wellington OfficesContact: Shaun SheldrakePO Box 11781, Wellington 6142Ph 0-4-495 8300, 0800 800 NZIMEmail [email protected] www.nzim.co.nz

NZIM SouthernRegional Director: Michael Weusten FNZIMCEO: Joseph Thomas AFNZIMPO Box 13044, Christchurch 8141Ph 0-3-379 2302, Fax 0-3-357 8003Email [email protected] www.nzimsouthern.co.nz

NZIM FOUNDATIONCHAIRPERSON: DAVID MOLONEY FNZIMSECRETARY: JIM THOMSONPO BOX 67 WELLINGTON, PH 0-4-473 [email protected]

It found, unsurprisingly, that New Zealand managers are “middling” by global standards.

The study found that management matters when it comes to driving and deliv-ering business success at home or abroad.

MANAGEMENT MATTERSThe “Management Matters” report was, and is, important. Treasury had histori-cally played down the macro-economic importance of managers per se. But as economist Gareth Morgan said recently …“without managers you’re buggered”.

The study effectively highlighted why, if New Zealand wants to succeed in Asia, more businesses must make a serious at-tempt to prepare their people and their companies for the global business en-counter. They can only do that effectively by lifting their management capability.

And here emerges, as is often the case in life, a twisted irony. On the one hand, New Zealand has a proven management capability problem. On the other, it has developed one of the best mechanisms in the world for identifying and address-ing the problem. It is called the NZIM Management Capability Index.

Asian countries such as India, Ma-laysia, Singapore and, just two months ago, Australia, have adopted the index to measure and focus on building their management performance.

They do this for the very good reason that management – good management – matters enormously when it comes to competing and succeeding both globally and locally.

NZIM’s index has reinforced the findings of a number of other research studies that also show New Zealand man-agers generally underperform. Ten years of measurement show they perform at around two thirds of their self-declared potential. That means that senior manag-ers know they could do better, but don’t feel so inclined.

NZIM believes that management’s mindset, probably more than any other single factor, determines the culture and thereby the capability of an enterprise. For evidence of this, look at Mainfreight.

It demonstrates what an effective organi-sational mindset can achieve. Its manage-ment mindset generated the culture the company needed to tackle the world. Its leadership and management prepared the organisation to capitalise on a perceived opportunity. Success, as Hartman said it would, followed.

NZIM believes the application of the MCI performance principles helps prepare businesses for success. The index measures management capability, not competency. Competencies describe the general ability to perform successfully in a particular job or position. Capability, on the other hand, is the degree to which managers use their skills, abilities and competencies to achieve results for the organisation.

DIFFERENT ABILITIESA high-functioning management team harnesses the different abilities, prefer-ences and strengths of an enterprise to meet the changing demands of the prevailing operating environment and to achieve outcomes. Asia is the new environment for which Kiwi managers must be prepared.

NZIM has identified nine manage-ment capability drivers that contribute to sustainable performance and profit-able business growth (see box story “A world of difference”). That management organisations in other countries, particu-larly Asia, now use the index suggests a universal acceptance of the importance of these drivers.

The drivers are both common and critical to any successful enterprise. Ap-plied and managed properly they deliver profitable business growth or the equiva-lent in non-business organisations.

No matter how much the manager’s world is buffeted by the winds of change, these core competencies are critical to a company’s preparedness to succeed.

Management always matters, but it will matter even more when New Zealand enterprises attempt to tap the potential offered by intra-Asian trade. M

Reg Birchfield Life FNZIM is a writer on management,

governance and leadership. [email protected]



http://www.nzim.co.nz




http://www.nzimsouthern.co.nz



POLITICSM


Dark arts: missing in action

S ix months into the first year of its second term the Government was on the back foot. How did this

happen, after a big vote of confidence last November? Blame management. The plan was simple and front-footing: initiate a raft of changes to demonstrate a government in charge, clear-sighted, with a programme and focused on “results”.

By the end of March, all that looked more gauche than grand. By April the Government was reduced to attacking Labour through more-or-less-National-friendly blogs suggesting threats to David Shearer’s leadership, obligingly parroted by the traditional media.

But two of those blogsters nevertheless condemned John Key’s second-term government for having no theme through a March quarter ‘horribilis’ (reflecting the Queen’s annus horribilis some years back).

John Banks then made it ‘horribilissimo’ with his self-confessed “obfuscations” over Kim Dotcom’s “anonymous” donations to his 2010 mayoral campaign. That prompted Key to lower his bar for expectations of ministerial behaviour from ethics to bare legality, from eyebrow-level to knee-level, around where Banks’ trousers were.

Even worse: Banks was in Parliament and in Key’s ministry only because Key lobbied National voters to put him there.

MMP requires such manoeuvres. Labour got an extra seat when Jim Anderton’s separate party held the Wigram seat. Key was doing the best by his party.

But just after that famous vote-Banks ‘cup of tea’ there was a failure of political management: having discovered a recording device left on the tea table, Key declared the media

on a slippery slope to emulating British tabloids’ hacking of cellphones of celebrities, MPs and a murder victim, and set the police on to even staid Radio New Zealand.

The result was a shift in the political media ‘pack’s’ attitude toward him. That was bound to happen anyway, but gradually over time. He kicked it along hard and early.

A skilled political manager would first have taken a long and deep breath – and/or would have had out the back somewhere a political operator mandated to inject a “hey, but” at critical times.

At the least, the resultant incredulity at the heavy-handed action to offset a minor potential embarrassment would have alerted a more politically savvy Prime Minister to rethink over Christmas and appoint a “hey, but” person. Even politically super-savvy Helen Clark had Tony Timms, who didn’t need focus groups to tell him what was up, as an extra set of her eyes, ears and bite.

The events of March and April indicate Key did not do that. But he did come back from Hawaii with a programme, a theme and an action plan. He and Bill English, the thinking man’s thinking man (by political measures), agreed that “results”, not smiles, were needed to win in 2014.

They set that out in late January and in the February budget policy statement, then in March in a set of 10 targets, with specific goals. In essence: get the budget back to balance by 2014-15, start on public service remodelling, start some welfare-to-work reform, some asset sell-downs enabling development investment without borrowing, a large regulatory and local government reform programme, and a bit more science and technology.

But the tax revenue numbers slid.

Murray McCully botched the foreign service remodelling (then nobly ducked for cover – ethics again). An imaginative public service reform report was cut to a few targets and a big upheaval to create a department to match Steven Joyce’s burgeoning ego. The asset sell-downs rationale changed month to month. The science and technology future got swallowed into a zero-new-spending budget.

And Nick Smith resigned over a letter for a friend who had provoked four privacy investigations into the Accident Compensation Commission and led to Judith Collins suing two Labour MPs, thereby ensuring this won’t die for a year or two. And Banks obfuscated.

Some bad luck in all that. But also some substandard management – political management. Not the way to get a third term. M

Colin James is New Zealand’s leading political

commentator and NZ Management’s regular

political columnist. [email protected]

COLIN JAMES

John Banks’ obfuscations haven’t helped John Key.



ECONOMICS BOB EDLIN M

Pride and austerity

While European voters were expressing their disapproval of economic austerity early in

May, Finance Minister Bill English was tidying his 2012 Budget for unveiling later in the month. Maintaining an austerity programme was high in his considerations.

He told Parliament – in reply to a patsy question from a party colleague – the Government was committed to attaining surpluses, because that would stop the rise in public debt. It also wanted to achieve a competitive economy and better public services, because in the long run better public services would reduce its costs and a competitive economy would generate more revenue, more jobs and more growth.

A competitive economy was needed to help lift incomes by selling more products to the rest of the world at higher value. And it was important to get the Budget back to surplus so the Government could make its contribution to reducing our economic vulnerabilities by preventing a further rise in public debt.

Prime Minister John Key tackled a more hostile question from Labour leader David Shearer, who asked him if he recalled saying – in 2009 – that New Zealand would be coming out of recession reasonably aggressively by early 2010. If so, had it come out of recession reasonably aggressively?

Key did remember making the statement. He had also said this was “subject to a lot of flux in Europe”.

This prompted Shearer to ask how the Government could continue to blame earthquakes and the financial crisis for the way things had turned out. Six months earlier, he teased, the Treasury had forecast revenue being $1.5 billion higher than the latest figures

showed. It had based that expectation on stronger employment, wage growth and business profitability than had been realised.

Key rejoined that the rest of the world had been badly affected by the global financial crisis. That was why Europe’s unemployment rate was around 11 percent, unemployment in Spain was around 24 percent, and the unemployment rate in the UK was over eight percent.

It was also why the UK was back in recession and why Australia had recently cut interest rates. Key wished he could live in a world that could just ignore what is happening in the rest of the world, “but that is not the real world”.

In the real world, European Union leaders were about to hold an emergency summit after voters in France and Greece added their heft to an anti-austerity backlash, threatening to break the Eurozone.

Newly-elected French president François Hollande was demanding a change to the EU’s economic policies and a shift from austerity to growth. In Greece, voters overwhelmingly rejected austerity measures that were a condition for bail-out arrangements.

Those developments and the uncertainties they heightened were reflected in the Reserve Bank’s latest “Financial Stability Report”.

It supported the Government’s aim to restore its Budget surplus, contending this would help contain the national debt and ensure the Government can respond to future downturns. But it identified global financial instability as a source of risk and warned that renewed financial market turbulence could increase the costs of borrowing.

That, English argued, was another reason for consolidating the Government’s fiscal position while

borrowing costs were relatively low. In other words, he would stick with

an austerity programme and restore its Budget surplus so the Government could contribute to reducing the country’s vulnerabilities by preventing a further rise in government debt.

But events in Europe were showing the debt and currency crisis was taking a political toll. Of 17 governments in the Eurozone using the single currency, The Guardian observed, 10 had been drummed out of office in little more than a year, more often than not directly because of the crisis. The mass voter rebellion against incumbents had begun in Ireland in February last year. Not all countries had gone to the polls since the austerity path was taken.

The Key Government has less than 30 months in which to main its slender grip on public support while also keeping a tight lid on public spending. M

Bob Edlin is a leading economic commentator and

NZ Management’s regular economics columnist.

Bill English: Wants Budget back to surplus.


There’s something rotten about the world of leadership. New findings and thinking about

the authenticity of leadership and the “industry” that feeds upon the idea of leadership are emerging like bedbugs in New York’s upmarket hotels. Worse, they are rapidly turning a previously heroic script into what can only be described as a farce, one we are forced to watch endlessly play out on the world stage.

Both players and script writers are seemingly in cahoots and, as is now common practice in business and politics, unmercifully fleecing the punters.

How do we, for example, reconcile the time, thought and money poured into leadership pursuits only to produce universally fruitless outcomes? Leadership thinker and author Barbara Kellerman, whose latest book The End of Leadership is reviewed on page 22 in this issue, is particularly perturbed.

The leadership industry has exploded over the past few decades, but there is little to show for it. Leaders of every stripe are in disrepute, according to Kellerman, and the “tireless and often superficial teachings of leadership have brought us no closer to nirvana”.

Kellerman is concerned by what she calls the gap between the teaching and practice of leadership. And she is “downright queasy” about the proliferation of leadership centres, institutes, programmes, seminars, workshops, experiences, trainers, books, blogs, articles, websites, webinars, videos, conferences, consultants and coaches claiming to teach people – “usually for money” – how to lead.

The evidence of our eyes and everyday experiences show all too conclusively that no-one really knows how to successfully grow leaders or cull bad ones before they reap havoc. Despite the dollars and deliberations poured into trying to teach people how to lead, the “leadership

industry has not in any major, meaningful or measurable way improved the human condition”, says Kellerman.

The evolution of a gathering band of leadership agnostics is not particularly helpful. They may be drawing attention to an alarming reality but they don’t come armed with any answers.

It might be helpful, as some other academics have suggested, to have the many contradictions, inconsistencies and

irrelevancies of what passes for leadership thought and training enumerated, but that doesn’t really help a world badly in need of individuals with real and relevant leadership qualities and skills.

The fact that leaders are, according to the growing number of disgruntled and disillusioned followers, performing badly or worse than ever, doesn’t reduce the complexities of life or diminish the need to somehow winkle out those who can do leadership as opposed to those who say they can but don’t.

Unmasking leadership’s falsities is more than simply embarrassing for those on the game. Kellerman calls the state of the leadership industy a “gnawing, growing, chronic problem that threatens the fabric of life in the 21st century”. She thinks it undermines the relationship between leaders and followers and “imposes disorder” on a world requiring at least a “modicum of order”.

Warren Bennis, another leadership guru and author of Still Surprised: a memoir of life in leadership, thinks Kellerman’s book

is “disturbingly honest and indispensable” and urges his fellow practitioners to “mind the hoary disconnect” between what the leadership industry produces about best practices and what leaders who read their books actually practise.

What leadership thinkers like Kellerman, Britain’s Gary Hamel, Bennis and others are now asking is: can leadership – can learning how to lead – be taught? The truth, they say, “is we don’t know”.

What Kellerman does say, rather provocatively, is that they know the leadership industry is “self satisfied, self perpetuating and poorly policed” and that, by and large, these are trying times in which “the leadership class” has not distinguished itself.

It is not, of course, either fair or reasonable to paint the entire leadership industry with the same off-coloured brush. According to Kellerman, the industry is not “without merit”. Not everyone who purports to teach leadership is flawed and not everyone who purports to have learned how to lead is misguided.

However, it is time to accept that the world has a debilitating leadership problem which stretches across every aspect of human society – enterprise, politics and religion. Addressing it without acknowledging its existence won’t work. It hasn’t for the past couple of thousand years. M

Reg Birchfield is a writer on leadership, governance

and management. [email protected]

M LEADERSHIP REG BIRCHFIELD

The rise of a troubling truth

“The leadership industry has not in any major, meaningful or measurable way

improved the human condition.”Barbara Kellerman



The average Kiwi seems to be innately programmed with the view that we are, as a nation, an inventive

and resourceful bunch. We’ve historically taken great pride in our pioneering spirit, and our ability to fix almost anything with a piece of four-by-two and some number 8 wire. This approach has served us well for many years, but unfortunately it’s out of date and irrelevant in the new technological age.

The reality is New Zealand businesses are lagging when it comes to technological ability and productivity. But why? Did we just get lazy? Or could it be that we are just a bit bamboozled with all the new tools and systems that are in front of us?

The results of research commissioned by the New Zealand Computer Society in 2010 found addressing ICT competence within the New Zealand workforce could result in a productivity gain of up to $1.7 billion per annum. In a business that employs 1000 people that equals up to 3000 hours wasted per week, or a conservative cost of around $2 million per year.

There are some important changes being rolled out in schools which include a government enquiry launched to investigate how our schools are keeping up with technology. Despite the focus on lifting education at school level, working adults are left to their own devices or are reliant on their employers to offer IT training.

As the dust settles post-recession, it is now vital that New Zealand businesses are up to speed with the fast-moving, ever-changing digital landscape and we are working quicker, smarter, and better than ever before.

In my job I meet lots of different people with varied and differing IT capabilities. Most of them freely admit to low skills and a reliance on their PA

or even their children. Every day I see people frittering away opportunities to increase their productivity with really simple stuff. Whether it’s Word, Excel, Outlook or SharePoint, a few minutes spent learning how to find a better way could save you time every working day.

I think we rely too heavily on the traditional ‘she’ll be right’ mentality. It’s a view that, if we’re not careful, will leave us lagging well behind. In the past few years our increasing dependency on mobile devices such as Blackberrys, iPhones and iPads for communicating, accessing news and staying connected, and the rise of social media, which has further fuelled the need to stay connected 24/7, means that an inability to access or use technology is effectively a barrier to social integration and personal development.

With increased business confidence, New Zealand companies are already looking to invest more heavily in technology, and that is when the skills shortage is really going to start letting us down. There’s a requirement for business leaders to become accountable for the digital literacy of their workforce. They have the ability and responsibility to encourage and empower their employees to use technology more efficiently to achieve more. This will deliver significant overall benefits to the organisation and the country, as well as the individual.

The best way to address this issue is to invest in targeted and meaningful training, which in turn is an investment in people. Dedicate time and budget to learning for staff at all levels and build IT up-skilling into regular performance reviews. You’ll soon find that a few hours IT systems training time spread across six months pays off, not only in performance and productivity, but also in job satisfaction.

The less work time employees spend on day-to-day functionality, the more available time and energy they will have to focus on the key objectives that help move business forward.

It pays dividends back to the business in other ways too. Not only will staff feel more empowered, job satisfaction will improve and retention will rise.

A commitment to up-skilling needs to come from the top, but there’s plenty that individuals can do to take ownership of their own learning. Actively encourage staff to expand on what they currently use and to share their learnings with the rest of the team.

In 2012, digital literacy is now an essential life skill and the right of every New Zealander. We have got to get up to speed, and the sooner that happens, the closer we will be to closing that $1.7 billion annual deficit and building a more confident and able workforce. M

Susan Carlow is productivity and coaching team

leader at Kinetics. [email protected]

THOUGHT LEADERSUSAN CARLOW M

Why NZ must get tech-smart

Susan Carlow.



THE END OF LEADERSHIPBy Barbara Kellerman • Harper Business • RRP $44.99

Like many business journalists, loosely defined, a good slice of my living has come from peddling thoughts – not advice – about leaders and leadership. One way or another I’ve been reporting on, reading about, interviewing and watching so-called leaders for 40-something years.

I now confess that a growing disquiet about leaders and the leadership business has me enthusiastically embracing a new book by American author and leadership academic Barbara Kellerman who effectively debunks the subject upon which she has feasted.

I found Kellerman’s latest book The End of Leadership strangely liberating, smugly reassuring and both refreshingly honest and starkly obvious. The experience was rather like re-reading the fable of the Emperor’s new clothes.

If anyone has earned the right and intellectual standing to call our preoccupation with leadership a load of old rope, Kellerman has. She is the James MacGregor lecturer in public leadership at Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government. She is, as one critic called her, an academic leadership all-star.

Kellerman slices her subject in

WHAT MATTERS NOWBy Gary Hamel • Jossey-Bass • RRP $37.99

How to overcome the limitations of today’s management practices without losing the benefits they confer – that is, if not the question, certainly the goal. It would not, suggests insightful management thinker

two. On the one hand she explains the leadership versus followership phenomenon, illuminating the transition that is taking place as leadership is supplanted and dwarfed by the emergence of follower power.

One the other, she explains that while the leadership industry has thrived, grown and prospered by many hundreds of millions of dollars a year more than people like her in the game ever imagined, there is much less to the leadership industry “than meets the eye”.

She explains: “For whatever the [leadership] industry’s small, generally narrow successes, humankind writ large is suffering from a crisis of confidence in those who are charged with leading wisely and well, and from a surfeit of mostly well-intentioned but finally false promises made by those supposed to make things better.”

Kellerman accuses the industry, of which she is a leading member, of peddling the idea that great leaders can change the world. Leaders might have delivered some great things in times when followers believed them. But with the shift of power to followers – a transition process she explains – leaders are not the stars they used to be.

The End of Leadership invites readers to

and writer Gary Hamel, make sense to find a cure for our organisational insularity and inertia, if “the side effects were imprudence and inefficiency”.

What Matters Now is, at least in management literary genre terms, a descriptively and delightfully composed case for seriously re-thinking how managers manage. Why should they? Because, says this very thoughtful author

honestly and thoughtfully consider our collective, desperate and lazy tendency to look to leaders to solve things. Most of them, in enterprise and in politics, cause more problems than they solve.

Kellerman offers no prescription for this predicament. She simply says “leadership is in danger

of becoming obsolete”. That won’t suit readers who insist on happy endings so here is her elaboration: “There will always be leaders – but leadership as being more consequential than followership, leadership as learning we should pay to acquire, leadership as anything better than business as usual, leadership as a solution to whatever our problems, and leadership as an agreement of which merit is a component.”

The leadership industry must, she writes, end the leader-centrism that constricts conversation; transcend the situational specifics that make it so myopic; subject itself to critical analysis and reflect the object of its affection – in other words, change with the changing times.

Like the management book also reviewed on this page, here is a book by a writer who has sniffed the breeze and smelled the need for dramatic change. – Reg Birchfield

and management professor, managers are “too easily satisfied” with their below acceptable organisational performance.

Hamel, the author of The Future of Management, which he wrote back in 2007, thinks few managers are entirely content with the way their enterprises work, but they are not “outraged” by this reality when, he says, they should be.

Managers should be incensed by the

M BOOKCASE

A crisis of leadership


BOOKCASE M

“poisonous politicking, the squandered creativity, the debilitating cynicism, the ignoble values, the ethical shortcuts, the executive egomania and the strategic myopia” that more often than not infects their organisations.

Hamel bemoans the fact managers are insufficiently incensed to commit to creating something better, for themselves and for their organisations. He concedes that even he was “seldom as indignant, or as hopeful”, as he should have been in his 35 years as a manager and business professor observing organisational life.

So what, based on his observations

and personal experiences, does matter now? What are the fundamental challenges that will determine whether an organisation will “thrive or dive” in the years ahead?

According to Hamel there are five issues contemporary managers should consider paramount. They are values, innovation, adaptability, passion and

ideology, each one of which is wisely dealt with in its own section of five chapters. It helps that not only is his reasoning astute and soundly based but his prose is delightful and his story therefore compelling.

The issues he identifies are “big and

thorny” and to tackle them managers must venture beyond the “familiar precincts of management-as-usual”. The reader does not, however, have to equip herself for a hard slog through 25 chapters in 288 pages. They are mostly short and, as Hamel says, “you can dip in and out as you like, depending on your interests. It’s not a seven-course banquet; it’s a tapas bar.”

For my money this book is a joy to read with scrumptious phrases like “Shakespearean catalogue of moral turpitude” and “a roster of make-or-break management moonshots” and a host of others.

Reading What Matters Now should, at the moment, matter most to most managers. – Reg Birchfield

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Innovation Business

Traditional Business

COVER STORY

DAME KIRI TE KANAWA

COVER STORY

JUNE 2012 management.co.nz | 27

T hat old joke about how the inevitable result of putting two economists together in a room is three opinions is not, thankfully, mirrored in a small, informal poll that NZ Management conducted recently. Inspired by

the World Class New Zealand Awards’ focus on contributions to New Zealand’s growth, development and reputation, the ques-tions the half dozen leading Kiwi businesspeople individually were asked were based around the themes of the country’s repu-tation, brand and future prospects. While they certainly couldn’t be accused of groupthink, there are a number of remarkably similar strands in the six’s insights.

It’s not a great shock, of course, that no one is talking up a vision of a New Zealand in the future that features ever-widening social and economic disparity, and environmental degradation. Instead, there are variations of the hope expressed succinctly by Sue Watson, Kea New Zealand’s global chief executive, for “a thriving, intentionally-diverse economy and society that’s found its place in the world and that everybody has an opportunity to participate in and contribute to”. As Douglas Pharmaceuticals’ Graeme Douglas notes, “We would all like to enjoy increased prosperity and security – in every sense of the word.”

And while such aspirations could be dismissed as empty, antipodean equivalents of motherhood and apple pie, they’re not unrealistic, according to Peter Watson, expat head of US-based investment bank, The Dwight Group.

“I’m extremely bullish on New Zealand’s future,” he says, pointing to demographic, trade and investment projections in-dicating that by mid-century the Asia-Pacific region, China and Latin America are going to be high-value economies. “Clearly

As Kea NZ knows only too well, this country pumps out some brilliant individuals. Like the winners of this year’s World Class NZ Awards, they’re talented, savvy and easily able to foot it on the global stage. But, as a country, we struggle to create a shared vision for our nation’s reputation, brand and future prospects. Nick Grant asks six leading Kiwi businesspeople to talk about their own vision for Brand NZ in a fast-changing world.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

WORLDCLASSNEW ZEALAND

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Iconic New ZealanderAfter being accepted without audi-tion to study at the London Opera Centre in 1966, Kiri Te Kanawa achieved global fame after launch-ing her international career in 1968 and is considered one of the 20th century’s top five operatic sopranos. She has sung at every significant opera house in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London and La Scala in Milan.

In 1982 Te Kanawa was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and was invested as an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1990. She was awarded the Order of New Zea-land in the 1995 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

She has received honorary de-grees from a number of universities worldwide, including the University of Auckland and Waikato University, and in 2004 founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, which provides financial and career scholarships to young New Zealand singers and musicians.

Sir Paul Callaghan Supreme AwardSponsored by Air New ZealandThe founding director of the Wellington-based MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Paul Callaghan was a world-leading physicist whose work put New Zealand on the international map in the fields of nanotechnology and magnetic resonance. Demonstrating exceptional leadership as a scientist and science administrator, he was at the forefront of bridging the divide between science and business.

A Professor of Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington, Callaghan was also a founder of Magritek, a successful NZ-based business that creates innovative nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging products and markets them globally.

In 2001 he became the 36th New Zealander to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and was recognised in 2007 by a Kea/NZTE World Class New Zealand Award and the Sir Peter Blake Medal. He received a knighthood for services to science in 2009 and was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year in 2011 in recognition of his commitment to science and its communication.

Paul Callaghan died in March after a long battle with cancer.

2012 World Class New Zealand Awards Every year, the World Class New Zealand Awards celebrate New Zealand innovators and entre-preneurs who have made significant contributions to the country’s growth and development.

Nominees are evaluated against five main criteria, with a focus on promoting New Zea-land internationally, building global connections and facilitating the exchange of informa-tion, knowledge and skills from and about the country.

A New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) initiative, the awards are delivered by Kea New Zealand.

Here are this year’s winners.

COVER STORY


COVER STORY


David Kirk Information and CommunicationsSponsored by MetServiceCurrently managing partner of Bailador Invest-ment Management, which he co-founded, as well as chairman of Trade Me and executive chairman of The Hoyts Group, David Kirk re-mains best known for captaining the All Blacks to victory in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987, an achievement for which he received an MBE.

While Fairfax Media’s CEO from 2005 to 2008, he was responsible for building its market capitalisation value up to $9 billion, and for completing the $750 million purchase of Trade Me – the biggest technology deal in New Zealand history.

In 2005 Kirk was named CEO of the Year and Leader of the Year at the inaugural Australian Hu-man Capital Awards in recognition of his time as chief executive of ASX-listed printing and media services company PMP.

A Rhodes Scholar with degrees in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University, and medicine from Otago University, Kirk now resides in Sydney and sits on the boards of a number of other companies and charitable organisations.

Ian Taylor CreativeSponsored by Wellington City CouncilA leading Maori innovator, Ian Taylor is founder and owner of one of New Zealand’s foremost computer graphics companies, Animation Research (ARL).

After 20 years with TVNZ, he established three successful Dunedin-based technol-ogy businesses in 1988: ARL; multi-media company Taylormade Media; and specialist online booking company BookIt.

Taylor and ARL became renowned in the computing sector after providing revolution-ary real-time 3D sports graphics technology for the 1992 America’s Cup. The company has since expanded this technology to include golf, cricket, tennis and Formula One.

Of Ngati Kahungunu descent, Taylor was a member of the Government’s ICT Task Force and one of four trustees on the Secondary Futures Trust. He is currently on the Ministry of Science and Innovation’s innovation board and is a Maori Television board member.

Inducted into the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame in 2009 and named North & South magazine’s 2010 New Zealander of the Year, Taylor was named a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit in 2012 for services to television and business.

New Zealand is well positioned to benefit from this, both in terms of its current in-tegration into those markets as well as its understanding of many of them.”

Equally unsurprisingly, there is a great deal of agreement about the current state of New Zealand’s international reputa-tion and brand, which is generally re-garded – in the words of Sue Watson – as “overwhelmingly positive; we’re seen as a nation and people of enormous integrity”.

Douglas concurs, noting that in his company’s considerable experience in the offshore health industry, the high esteem in which New Zealand’s integrity is held “really is the major card for us to play. The ‘world can trust us’: this advantage must be protected and enhanced at all costs.”

As well as integrity and honesty, pro-fessional company director John Stace points to the international estimation of New Zealanders as “hardworking people who are not afraid of ‘getting our hands dirty’. We are often viewed as trail-blazers and pioneers.”

That said, there are problematic aspects to image, reckons Stace, who de-clares he’s “not a fan of pushing the No 8 wire theory that New Zealanders are adept at tackling challenges from a basic, down-to-earth point of view. While it might have attractions, it also indicates a rather rustic attitude to life.”

There are related reservations ex-pressed about the amount of emphasis put on the country’s ‘clean and green’ creden-tials in its branding. Yes, it’s largely a good thing for a myriad of obvious reasons, in-cluding as part of positioning New Zealand as “a place where talent wants to live”, as the late Sir Paul Callaghan advocated. But as Sir Paul also pointed out, there’s a real risk in trying to present something as reality when the data doesn’t entirely support it.

It’s well worth recalling, too, that he saw a need to promote the virtues of our apparently paradisiacal natural environs in tandem with the idea that we’re a smart country. After all, pastoral idyll is not exactly synonymous with innovation, a point picked up by Douglas.

“Our brand does not appear to project

COVER STORY


Jeremy Moon Manufacturing, Design and InnovationSponsored by the Ministry of Science and InnovationSince founding Icebreaker at the age of 24, Jeremy Moon has pioneered the new retail category of merino outdoor clothing and in the process built the apparel company into a leading New Zealand brand.

Under Moon’s leadership the company continues to grow strongly, over the past four years more than doubling its sales into the international outdoors, technical sports and lifestyle markets. With 100 staff based at its Wellington headquarters, and a further 250 in its offices in Australia, the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France and the Czech Republic, Icebreaker supplies its unique product range to over 3000 stores across 43 countries.

Named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008 for his services to business, Moon is a passionate advocate for sustainable business practices and the impor-tance of innovation and design. He currently chairs NZTE’s Better by Design group, which helps improve companies’ international com-petitiveness by integrating design principles across their business.

Professor Malcolm Grant Science, Technology and Academia Sponsored by The Royal Society of New ZealandRecently appointed chairman of the board responsible for England’s National Health Service, with a mandate to transform the country’s healthcare outcomes, Malcolm Grant is an emi-nent academic and a leading vice-chancellor, bar-rister, environmental lawyer and public servant.

Since 2003 he has been president and prov-ost of UCL, one of the four leading universities in Europe and currently ranked number seven in the world. With 25,000 students, 9000 staff and a turnover of NZ$1.6 billion, it is also considered one of the world’s leading medical science institutions.

Grant’s current public appointments include British Business Ambassador, and memberships of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong. He is also director of the League of European Research Universities.

In 2003 Grant was awarded the CBE for services to planning law and local government, and appointed Officier dans l’Ordre de Mérite by the French government in 2004.

that we are a cultured country with a high standard of education and the capacity to be highly innovative in the demand-ing areas of technology and science,” he says. “I consider the bias is inappropriate. The record shows that our scientists and engineers can compete with the best; perhaps unfortunately, this is capitalised on by larger countries that benefit from the high level of education provided to our graduates.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Red Eagle Corporation’s Tony Falkenstein: “We are seen as a beautiful country, with lots of space and lots of sheep and cows. However, I would like us to see ourselves as being innovators in all that we do by thinking laterally, and individually.”

Making a persuasive argument for bridging this apparent divide by adopting and projecting a national ethos of “raw so-phistication” is BRR’s Brian Richards, who talks about marrying New Zealand’s core brand values – “unaffected, honest, open, young, active and fresh” – to a “mindset shift from commodities to niche, and from our current obsession with improving processes to a focus on the product”.

However, he warns, effecting such a transformation will require visionary leaders to encourage and facilitate a marked increase in collaboration – some-thing that, as “a nation of backyarders, who worship the guy who starts up in the garage and has a go”, we’re generally not very good at.

The pressing need for collabora-tion born of consensus is, appropriately enough, another key point of agreement.

“We need a coherent vision that’s shared and articulated across all sectors of New Zealand society,” says Sue Watson. “I believe we need a shared vision of what we want this country to be, and what our place in the world is and can be. And we all need access to a shared understanding of what that is; a shared language and a shared consensus about what that looks like, and an agreement that we want everyone to be able to participate in it.”

What is shared at present is an anxiety encapsulated by Falkenstein’s suggestion that, as a nation, we’re just

Winners: 2012 World Class New Zealand Awards

COVER STORY


Sir Graeme Douglas Life SciencesSponsored by Ernst & YoungAfter founding Douglas Pharmaceuticals in 1967 as a marketer and distributor of ethical, over-the-counter medicines in New Zealand, managing director Graeme Douglas has overseen its transformation into one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Australasia.

Diversifying into the manufacture of generic pharmaceuticals for the domestic market in the 1980s, the company now also sells 15 different generic products to 60 customers in 35 coun-tries. With 450 staff and turnover of more than $140 million, it is now the largest employer in Waitakere, Auckland.

Appointed as a Member of The New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the NZ pharma-ceuticals industry in 1998, Douglas received a knighthood for services to philanthropy and athletics in 2010.

Organisations to benefit from his philan-thropy include The Cancer Foundation, the Neurological Foundation, the Salvation Army, New Zealand Heart Foundation and Auckland City Mission He recently donated $3 million to Starship Hospital for the launch of a new magnetic resonance imaging service.

Dr Peter Watson Investment and BusinessSponsored by BDOPresident and CEO of Washington DC-based investment bank The Dwight Group, Peter Watson served as the White House’s Director of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council from 1989-1991 during George HW Bush’s presidency, and held top posts in the adminis-trations of Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

Other previous positions include chairman of the US International Trade Commission, and chairman, president and CEO of the US Over-seas Private Investment Corporation.

A recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Award for Public Service and the University of Auckland’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Watson was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit this year.

The day after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake he set up The American Friends of Christchurch, a charity that has raised millions of dollars for earthquake relief and remains the primary portal for donations from overseas.

Tony Falkenstein New Thinking Sponsored by Gen-iA leading CEO for the past three decades of multinational subsidiaries and two NZX-listed companies, Tony Falkenstein has also led his family’s Red Eagle Corporation for 25 years.

Passionate about business education as the key to New Zealand’s economic prosperity, he was instrumental in creating the country’s first secondary-level business school at Onehunga High School and achieved the goal of introduc-ing ‘business’ as a national curriculum subject in 2010.

Falkenstein also sits on the advisory boards of the University of Auckland Business School and AUT University Business School, and helped establish the $10 million AUT Venture Fund, which encourages students to start business ventures while studying.

His philanthropic activity earned him a chapter in Charles Handy’s 2006 book The New Philanthropists.

Inducted into the Fairfax New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2008, Falkenstein was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010 for services to business, and received a University of Auckland Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011.

COVER STORY


COVER STORY


meandering along when we should be planning for the future. Stace says that, in the political sphere, “We need stronger

leadership than we get at present”. While he believes that part of the problem is attitudinal, some of it is as simple as the three-year parliamentary term being too short.

“If you had a four-year term there’d be less tinkering. And we do have the habit of pushing out some of the world’s worst drafted legislation. A lot of that comes down to the haste with

which it’s prepared and the research that goes into it. I’d love to see better drafted legislation that’s more likely to stand the test of time and won’t waste future governments’ time having to go back and amend it.”

There are also intimations of a widespread feeling that it’s well past time to move beyond the politics of ideology.

“I have serious concerns that our strategy to achieve the goals of increased prosperity and security is not well defined,” says Douglas. “In my opinion we need at least a 10-year strategic plan that all politicians should endorse and pledge to pursue with a single mindedness that is patently not apparent at this time.

“A small but classic example would be the incentives for companies involved in research and development with potential for export,” he elaborates. “In three years we had three separate schemes, which made planning by private companies and cor-porations most difficult.

“I consider the current scheme is working well and directed admirably by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. But it concerns me that the opposition is already talking about reverting to tax deductions, a policy wide open to rorts.”

What’s essential in creating a shared strategy, says Peter

We need deep and real collaboration.

Watson, is the harnessing of “our pragmatism and willingness to be honest and objective about ourselves”, and, in the pas-sionately dispassionate spirit of Sir Paul Callaghan, engaging in “fact-based, rigorous analysis” that’s “demonstrably politically-neutral and non-partisan”.

The leadership that’s required for New Zealand to advance confidently into the future is not just political, cautions Sue Watson; it needs to come from the body politic as well. “Every-

one needs to contribute to shaping that vision,” she says. “We need deep and real collaboration.

“We’ve become very atomised and siloed, and as a very small country we

can’t afford not to do things together. We need to get a lot bet-ter at working together for a common good, rather than having everyone paddling their own waka.”

Kea NZ’s global chief executive is happy to report signs of something of a sea-change in this respect.

“I’m really heartened by the increasing amount of coopera-tion I’m seeing across the sectors,” she says, “particularly in terms of public and private sector partnerships. We sit in the middle of that in quite a unique position because, being a not-for-profit, we’re not public or private, and we’re increasingly able to work collaboratively with the public and private sectors. We’re really enjoying that, as are our public and private sector partners.

“When Kea holds a meeting we have central and local government there, and private sector representatives, and frequently people from the community sector too. We’ll often look around the room and go, ‘Isn’t it great that we’re talk-ing about what we want and how we can get there, working to each other’s strengths and sharing resources?’ And what’s really fantastic is we all want the same thing.” M

Nick Grant is a freelance journalist. [email protected]

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ENTERPRISE SUCCESS

The roots of New Zealand’s economy are dug deep into a primary sector that still earns the bulk of this country’s income. But are we making the most of our food basket heritage? Vicki Jayne does her own digging.

From sheep’s back to cow’s udder or from wood to wine, New Zealand can boast a long heritage of earning its way in the world through the productivity of its primary sec-

tor. Along this more than century-long journey, it has shifted from straight out exploitation to more sustain-able husbandry and from pure commodity to higher added-value diversity. But has it gone far enough to really reap the benefits of our food basket heritage? And what price the trade-off between further inten-sification and the inherent (arguably growing) market value of our Pure NZ image? Does our staple export diet need some sophisticated tweaking?

Despite all the talk of high tech and the advan-tages of “weightless” exports, there’s no doubting the economic dominance of New Zealand’s primary production. Offshore earnings from land and sea last year totalled $31.5 billion – a massive 71 percent of this country’s export revenue.

In trade terms, we box above our weight because we harvest a lot more product than our small popula-tion can consume. So although our burgeoning dairy industry may be a mere drop in the global bucket – at a little over two percent compared to America’s 12

Primary purposeAre we adding enough

value to the food basket?

ENTERPRISE SUCCESS


previous year – though wool, meat, fish and forestry all lifted, mainly on the back of demand from China.

Shifts in market demand have in turn led back to land use change, with dairy conversions increasingly common and in turn leading to changes both to irrigation patterns and environmental impact.

These changes bring their own problems – well-known Central Otago artist Grahame Sydney laments the homogenisation of local landscapes as the area’s natural bleak ochres and browns are transformed to “lurid, lush artificially fertilised grass….”.

Just what is local and offshore toler-ance to the environmental impacts of land use change?

Expansion of our healthy aquaculture industry runs into the same question as shellfish and salmon farming spread into

percent, it accounts for about one third of world trade in dairy.

Today, the compass of that trade is swinging firmly towards Asia. Where once the bulk of our produce headed back to “the old country”, exports to Asia now account for 40 percent of total export value, driven partly by a sharp rise in dairy products going to China.

According to Statistics NZ data, primary products (dominated by milk powder and logs) now account for more than 90 percent of New Zealand’s earn-ings from China. Wine exports to China have also shot up – from $3 million in September 2008 to $17 million in 2011.

Where meat and wool once topped the export tables, dairy is now dominant and growing. Last year, milk products contributed $13.2 billion to export rev-enue – a massive 25 percent rise on the

pristine waterways, while wild fishing has whole other environmental questions to address.

There is an excellent argument that one way to add value to New Zealand’s primary sector is for it to augment the country’s existing green image by seri-ously embracing sustainable practice. And that’s a track several producers – from fish processers such as Sealord to wine grow-ers like Yealands – are clearly embracing.

In that context, agriculture’s entrance to New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme from January 2015 is helping drive changes to farming practices – from increased tree planting to more efficient use of nitrogen fertiliser and better management of animal waste. Given the sector accounts for some 48 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions (unusual for a developed nation) it’s a challenge this country is taking a lead role in addressing.

Then there is the vexed question of land ownership – highlighted by the recent sale of the Crafar farms to Chinese interests. Can we afford to lose control of that which feeds us – literally and economically? Does it really benefit our trade relations with China? Would

Stories of NZ enterprise successThis is the third article in a major eight-part NZ Management series: Stories of NZ enterprise success. Leading New Zealand business journalist Vicki Jayne conducts a sector-by-sector review of the underlying drivers of success in key parts of New Zealand’s economy. Next month: construction / engineering.

Can we escape the commodity cage?If local producers are to ever escape the economic roller coaster of world commodity pricing, they have to haul themselves up the value chain – and there are a bunch of ways they are already doing that.

We’ve come a long way from exporting whole carcasses to packaging specialised cuts, adding brand value to fine wools through companies like Icebreaker, or moving from straight milk products to the manufacture of sophisticated bionutrients (see “Milking diversity” box story).

Basic primary produce now comes in much more diverse and consumer-oriented products, notes Agmardt chair Jeff Grant.

“If you look at the dairy industry there are now probably 4000 different products; if you look at the meat industry, it has

shifted from frozen carcasses to a range of about 2000 products. So in terms of diversity of product, I don’t think we are in a commod-ity trap.”

However, adds Grant, it is not just about shifting the paradigm for producers but also educating the market. He gives the example of lamb shanks, a product once seen as little more than good dog tucker but now ranked as one of the industry’s most valuable exports. The issue, he says, is that a major percentage of our exports is still in commodity areas.

“So milk powder, for instance, is still a large proportion of total exports. Is there an argu-ment for going further up the value chain into nutraceuticals or enzymes or protein develop-ment? Yes, I think so, but the reality is that the consumer is not there yet.”

High value also tends to come with a high price tag – though that is another area in which collaborative R&D efforts could per-haps bump producers up the product value chain a little faster.

Agmardt’s Jeff Grant says lamb shanks can no longer go to the dogs.

ENTERPRISE SUCCESS


a system of land leasing be preferable? Ownership structures in the pri-

mary sector have already undergone major changes. Even a cursory troll through the past 10 years of Deloitte/Management Top 200 data highlights a few of those shifts. Consolidation in the dairy sector birthed our largest company, Fonterra, just after the turn of the century. Similar attempts at consoli-dation in the meat sector eventually saw Richmond disappearing (reluctantly) into PPCS, which in turn morphed into Silver Fern Farms – more on that later.

Meanwhile, once mighty forestry enti-ties were felled or harvested. After earning the dubious distinction of being amongst the list’s biggest loss makers in 2002, Fletcher Challenge Forests’ assets were divvied up, with most of its forests eventually sold offshore and its “children”, listed compa-nies Rubicon and Tenon, both now earning criticism for being amongst the NZX’s worst per-formers. Former top five ranker Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) had, by 2008, dropped beneath the radar into Rank Group’s diversi-fied private holdings.

Some primary investors have spread their wings – fishing family Talleys also has good-sized stakes in the meat industry (through

strike-troubled Affco) as well as owning a dollop of local milk fat – including Open Country Dairy, which earned the Top 200’s “most improved revenue” accolade last year with a 93 percent increase.

Government structures have repli-cated the consolidation trend. This year the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) was re-christened the Ministry for Primary Industries to encompass all government work across agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, food and biosecurity.

This move, according to Primary Industries Minister David Carter, is about recognising the broad role of the ministry in growing and protecting “the powerhouse of New Zealand’s economy”. Importantly, says Carter, it “provides the different parts of the organisation with a single, unifying identity”.

It’s a move welcomed by those who believe the primary piece of NZ Inc has a lot to gain by collaborating in areas of mutual interest.

WE’RE ALL IN THIS ...TOGETHER?In a radical attempt to haul industry play-ers out of their siloed sectors to focus on where and how they could usefully col-laborate, more than 20 chief executives representing dairy, beef, sheep, seafood, viticulture and horticulture are getting together in Silicon Valley later this year for a six-day intensive “boot camp”.

Championed by John Brakenridge, CEO of New Zealand Merino (NZM), it’s all about working smarter to leverage the industry’s global potential. Brakenridge reckons that “commodity complacency” in many parts of the primary sector puts our economy in a vulnerable position.

“We’ve been riding on a bull market but what will it look like when the tide goes out? How much stickability is there? How many retail brands are overtly building the New Zealand story into our products?”

There is, he warns, an opportunity we could easily miss in a global climate where greater awareness of product provenance and powerful social media could become

NZ Inc allies. The boot camp idea emerged

when Brakenridge and Silver Fern Farms CEO Keith Cooper (see box story “Plate to pasture”) were at Stanford University discussing their collaboration through the Government’s Primary Growth Partnership.

“It was benefiting us – so we wondered if it could be ex-tended. How much value could be unlocked for our businesses, stakeholders and for New Zea-land?” says Brakenridge, who believes the “power of alignment,

Milking diversityBased in the heart of Waikato dairy farming since 1914, Tatua Cooperative takes 190 million litres of milk from its farmer shareholders every year and turns it into an ever-expanding array of products.

Milk is just the starter kit for manufacturing everything from dairy whip to purified proteins utilised in biopharmaceutical applications. Tatua exports 94 percent of its output to more than 60 countries around the world and takes pride in its ability to “develop unique customer-specific products” backed by an extensive onsite research and development team.

NZ Merino’s John Brakenridge: fighting off commodity complacency.

Primary numbers6.2 million dairy cattle – up from 3 million in 198231.1 million sheep – and decreasing3.9 million beef cattle – unchanged 1.1 million deer – decreasing34,350 ha of wine grape plantings – expanding48,800 ha of exotic forest harvested in 2011 – increasing$31.5 billion primary sector export earnings$13.2 billion from dairy$1.22 billion export earnings from wild-capture fisheries$308.7 million 2011 earnings from exports of farmed fish and shellfish – a 24.2 percent annual increase

ENTERPRISE SUCCESS


Plate to pasture“We buy an animal from a farmer, process it and then attempt to sell it around the world and make money. Most other manufacturing businesses work the other way round and identify what the consumer actually wants….”

Silver Fern Farms CEO Keith Cooper reckons the insight that underlies the recent transfor-mation of New Zealand’s largest meat producer from being production-driven to a model that is consumer-facing and market-focused could also help drive sectoral change.

Adopting the catchphrase “plate to pasture” as a guiding principle has found recent expression in a collaboration with NZ Merino on the premium Silere alpine origin meat brand. A joint venture aiming to unlock extra value for Merino farmers through a branded niche approach to meat and co-products, this has, in just 12 months, gone from concept to having tens of millions worth of contract signed with growers, and the Silere brand on the menus of top local restaurants.

“Getting the thinking to start at consumer level, you can then bring that back up the value chain into how our growers produce the product,” says Cooper.

Hence FarmIQ Systems – the company’s partnership with Landcorp, MAF and Tru-Test, which was established in 2010 with a vision to “create a demand-driven integrated value chain for red meat that delivers sustainable benefits to all participants”.

Silver Fern Farms has also collaborated with Fonterra through Kotahi (Maori for ‘we stand as one’) to take advantage of supply chain synergies in containerised shipping.

It all helps boost cross-sector communication.“Before that relationship, a dairy company would have had no reason to talk to a meat

company,” says Cooper. “We all deal with the same farming communities but don’t talk to each other. That’s because the companies haven’t yet found how we can play together to do things differently. If you think about it, why wouldn’t we work together to better service the farmer constituents who are all common to us?”

That could expand into areas like irrigation and other broader environmental considera-tions, he agrees. But right now, Cooper is excited by what might be achieved through cross-industry collaboration in global markets – using the proposed boot camp to explore how and where local players could usefully pool resources to get more market traction.

“The mere fact that we are going to have the conversation is hugely innovative – and that’s before we get some outcomes that could be world class.”

Why farming is sexyOne of the problems for New Zealand farming is that it’s being practised by a steadily age-ing demographic and is not seen as very sexy, opined blogger Peter Kerr in a recent post (www.stick.co.nz).

Commenting on a MAF report that there are huge gains to be made in pastoral farming productivity if the average players could do what the top 25 percent were achieving, he reck-ons part of the problem is that farming doesn’t “own its story”. He has a good point.

Farming is no longer the province of clods in gumboots – if it ever was. Today’s primary production sector is the meeting place of practical knowledge and scientific innovation – the best performers have embraced high tech solutions. How about cows who choose when to go get milked?

It boasts a great brand back story and positive market future – food is not going out of fashion any time soon. It exemplifies the great New Zealand outdoors ethos and can be leader and showcase for world best practice in terms of sustainable development. Farming is where our DIY gene was born and where it still finds best expression.

What’s not to get excited about?

collaboration and innovation provides a significant opportunity for a seismic shift in the sector’s approach”.

Principal sponsor is Agmardt, whose chair Jeff Grant says it fits with his organi-sation’s new strategy to fund activities that “enable New Zealand agribusinesses to identify and explore potential opportuni-ties within the global marketplace”.

In terms of a greater focus on in-market activity, innovation and leader-ship, it hits all the buttons, says Grant.

“In the past we’ve been more involved in youth leadership but we wanted to shift that focus into putting more effort into governance, training, mentoring –

Silver Fern Farms’ Keith Cooper wants to unlock the gates to extra value.

ENTERPRISE SUCCESS

http://www.stick.co.nz

ENTERPRISE SUCCESS


executive immersion in markets.”It is a matter of putting effort into “un-

der-cooked” areas of the sector, he notes.“The focus really for New Zealand

is that we are very good at production and very good at processing – and that is where the big change has come in the past 20 years. Diversity of product, whether in dairy, meat or horticulture has been good. The continuing problem we always have is how we present ourselves in the market.

“Questions are: could we do better in competitive markets by being more coop-erative; and are there better mechanisms in terms of positioning our product?”

He acknowledges that some industry sectors like meat have had a history more characterised by combat than collabora-tion but suggests there is a strong argu-ment around “commercial maturity”.

“In my view, the meat industry has improved substantially because there are

fewer, larger players with the major four now responsible for about 80-85 percent of total exports. And an example of a product with little commercial maturity is the strong wool industry, whereas the niche merino market has really good market penetration, partly by volume but more by innovation.”

While Agmardt is not putting pressure on specific outcomes for the proposed bootcamp, Grant says, “the status quo is not acceptable”. But whatever emerges has to stock up economically, which is why it’s important the initiative is industry-led.

Brakenridge thinks it would be good if “we had something of a broader New Zealand aspiration in terms of how we want to be seen in market.

“I think we approach things from too siloed a stance and if you look at this country from a global perspective – we’re the last, somewhat shaky rock just before

Antarctica – but we don’t have the right amount of resources going into how we tell our story in global markets.”

He is clear that the primary industry is this country’s economic powerhouse and engine room.

“If New Zealand is going to have economic transformation, then it is going to come about through the primary sec-tor. The agriculture sector brought us to where we are today as a country and in my opinion, if you look at our competitors and comparative advantages globally, it is the sector that will lead us to economic prosperity.”

His warning: it’s a big opportunity this country risks missing. M

Vicki Jayne, a former editor of NZ Management, is a

freelance business journalist. [email protected]

Fishing for the futureSustainability ranks high on Sealord’s list of core values – both as market asset and driving principle. The Nelson-based company exports around $500 million worth of seafood to 60 countries, employs over 1500 people and has access to nearly one fifth of New Zealand’s total commercial fishing quota – including 30 percent of the allowed Hoki catch.

Half owned by Maori-backed Aotearoa Fisheries and half by Japanese fishing company Nis-sui, it considers its people to be “guardians of our seas and marine life”, and backs that with third party accreditation through the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

“Hoki was the fourth fishery and first white fish to be MSC certified and we’ve had that for 10 years, so it has given us a good reputation and market premium,” says Sealord’s general manager international fishing Ross Tocker.

The “gold standard” of third party accreditation for wild fishing, MSC’s “pass mark” is based on scientific evaluation, environment practice and comprehensive management sys-tems (New Zealand’s quota management system is a big plus) – and is a high bar for fishing companies to cross, says Tocker.

“It is doubtful more than 15-20 percent of global fisheries would meet the standards unless they make major changes.”

The company is aiming for full “boat to plate” traceability.“We’re not 100 percent there in all products but later this year we’ll be at the point where

whatever product is going to whatever customer in the world, we will be able to absolutely determine which fishery it came from, which vessel caught it, and on what day,” says Tocker.

By then, the company will have launched a new website designed to answer any queries peo-ple may have about its sustainability principles and how these are being pursued on land and sea.

“It’s about ensuring all the things we do around sustainability are well documented and read-ily communicated so people can feel totally confident in the products we supply,” says Tocker.

Sealord’s Ross Tocker aims for boat to plate traceability.


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For Thomas Pippos, a role as CEO of Deloitte New Zealand has been a lifetime in the making. Ensconced in the top seat since November last year,

he brings to the job a keen sense of a legacy born from having worked alongside many of the firm’s brightest leaders and a professional life

dedicated to squaring up to complex challenges. By Ruth Le Pla.

Thomas PipposInheriting the

mantle of leadership

FACE TO FACE


the way, he’s worked alongside former CEO and current chairman Murray Jack, former CEO and chairman Nick Main, and former managing partner Daphne Rawstorne.

Yet, when Pippos had first entered the workforce as a young man armed with a double degree in commerce and law from Victoria University of Wellington, his only general plan was to “be successful”.

“From a professional point of view, I didn’t want to go through life thinking ‘what if ’,” he says. “And, as a consequence, I would always strive to achieve more on a yearly basis.”

Such drive, and a fair dollop of tal-ent, saw Pippos achieve partnership just seven years after joining the firm as part of its 1989 graduate intake, and continu-ally push himself to take on senior roles and grow as a professional. By 1998, he’d become lead partner Wellington tax and two years later took on the role of national tax service line leader within Deloitte’s management group.

He maintains that an underlying enjoyment of the role is fundamental to success in his type of business.

“I remember early on in my career someone making an observation that it’s best you find a part of the business that you really enjoy and then it’s not really a job. It’s more that you get pleasure from it.”

Even as CEO, he still works with a number of clients: a fact, he says, that surprises some people.

“I think there’s a perception that as you move up in firms you lose client connectivity.”

Pippos says it is “dangerous” in his type of business to lose connectivity either to partners or to clients. He’s also mindful that his work with clients provides him with a greater mandate to expect the same from other partners.

At its core, Pippos believes, Deloitte is in the business of providing solutions to complicated problems, and a com-merce and legal background forms a “quite disciplined way of thinking” in which to do just that. No surprises then that he’s enjoying his new role.

He likens it to how other people enjoy

On talentWhen it comes to corporate New Zealand’s ongoing quest for talent, Deloitte NZ CEO Thomas Pippos reckons the biggest challenge is not necessarily whether there are, or aren’t, enough bright, savvy, driven people to fill the gaps. He’s more concerned about whether or not this country can provide enough places to deploy that talent and keep it here.

“One of the things I’m passionate about is what I call New Zealand-headquartered organisations,” he says. As Pippos sees it, globalisation brings its own set of both advan-tages and disadvantages. While many Kiwi companies now have brands in New Zealand, for example, in many cases their reporting lines lead back to – and therefore the decisions are made in – Australia, Asia, Europe or the US.

“Those organisations no longer provide the opportunities for young New Zealand-based professionals that they did in the past,” says Pippos, who sees the importance of New Zealand continuing to grow new corporates, “and that, once these organisations grow to a certain scale, they are able to stay in this country and become NZ-headquar-tered organisations”.

He acknowledges a degree of “naked self-interest” in the whole idea. After all, it pro-vides Deloitte with a client base. “But, ultimately, it provides our children with jobs and that’s critically important to New Zealand’s success.”

Thomas Pippos, Deloitte NZ’s new CEO, says there’s a run-ning joke that the transition from former CEO Murray Jack

to himself took about 45 minutes. “So it was a little bit on the brief side,” he quips. “But you’ve got to remember that Murray and I go back a very long time. When I was a graduate, Murray was a senior manager.”

The reality is that by the time Pippos took over as CEO, he’d been a partner in the firm – one of New Zealand’s iconic big four professional services firms – for over 17 years, and on the management group for a good 15 or so of them. He knows how the firm ticks, and the individuals within it, incredibly well.

Apart from a couple of years on se-condment to the offices of the Ministers of Revenue and Finance as a private sec-tor tax policy advisor – a time which he includes in his list of career highlights – Pippos has been with Deloitte ever since he rather unscientifically picked it for a summer clerk’s job way back in his days as a student. As he puts it, he’s “lived and breathed” the firm ever since.

So, as he says, “if I was ever trained for this role, it’s simply that I’ve been with the firm since the beginning”. Along

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doing crossword puzzles or jigsaws: “both of which I dislike immensely … probably because whatever part of the brain that can solve such puzzles has already been consumed by other things”.

He solves the problem of managing a firm with 900 or so people through a “leadership cascade” in which he spends most of his time with the firm’s more than 80 partners, who in turn connect through to others in the organisation.

On diversityDeloitte NZ CEO Thomas Pippos espouses the view that diversity strengthens a team while at the same time cautioning that the diversity agenda is not exclusively about gender (or race or age, for that matter).

At Deloitte, he says, it pivots around diversity of perspectives and the need for an inclusive culture so that those perspectives can come to the fore and the group can make a decision.

Still, it’s very unusual, he says, that the senior teams at Deloitte won’t form a consensus decision “because like-minded individuals, even if they come from a different perspective, will still be able to rationally determine what the right answer actually is”.

The firm has launched a process to determine what diversity means from a Deloitte New Zea-land point of view and expects to soon have a set of concrete initiatives ready for implementation.

More specifically, he works up close and personal with the firm’s executive – a small core group of partners and a chief operating officer – which cascades ideas and initiatives down to a wider management group, which, in turn, links through to the larger L25 team. This, when at full strength, is a 25-member-strong group of the firm’s business leaders.

“If everything works appropriately at a partner level then everything works appropriately for the remaining team as well,” says Pippos.

He sees it as part of his role to instil a greater sense of own-ership and leadership amongst all the partners, and emphasises the bond of trust that must exist for any partnership to flourish.

“We’ve grown up together in a number of instances so these relationships are like professional friendships,” he says.

Pippos is more than mindful of the legacy that has now been put into his hands and says, modestly, that the role can be “a bit daunting when you think about it because there’s a lot of responsibility.

“When I joined the firm, there were eight leading [global] firms and Deloitte ranked seventh out of the eight. I think we had revenues of around US$2 billion. Now we’re in the top two with PwC and our revenues are coming up to US$30 bil-lion. So within my lifetime, this firm has somersaulted ahead relative to some of our competitors.”

He jokes that a couple of times when he was quite new in his role as CEO he caught himself wondering who would have to make certain decisions.

“And it dawned on me that the decision is mine. You have to recognise that the buck does ultimately stop with you on all sorts of different fronts.”

As he sees it, “the reality is that people need to step up and be their own man or woman, as the case may be, in their own roles”. In any case, he says the “bullshit and bravado” of his children and their friends in the car as he drops them off to school in the morning can lighten up even the most challenging day ahead.

Pippos prefers to steer away from concrete examples but says all of the important decisions he’s made as chief execu-tive have been influenced by the fact that he’s been able to

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feed off the experiences of other partners with different perspectives. It’s his role to pull the best of those different viewpoints together.

“It’s all about incremental changes. If you enter a meeting thinking ‘black’ and exit thinking ‘white’ it’s not a very good idea that you’re the leader. The whole point of being a leader is that you have gumption in terms of what, directionally, the right answer should be.”

Certainly direction, rather than desti-nation, is key to Pippos’ thinking. There’s always a danger with a destination, he says, of arriving and not knowing what to achieve next. Such a drive for forward momentum underpins his view that “as CEO, you’ve got to have self-belief and be satisfied that you will never be satisfied”.

“The curse with all of these firms is that there’s no destination. You have to have your guiding principles in terms of where you want to take the firm and what’s important, and then you shouldn’t deviate too far from them. I’m quite clear about where I want to take the firm: which is not where it currently is.

“That’s, in some respects, how these firms are. They’re never satisfied with where they currently are so it’s always about continuing to improve.” Stages along the way may be measured by top- and bottom-line dollars and market share, he says. “But, ultimately, we want to become larger and more successful than what we currently are. That’s our destiny, I suppose, to continue this growth trajectory, not only from a New Zealand, but also from a global point of view: to become an even more iconic brand from a professional services per-spective.”

Pippos says one of the things that he stands for is the need for the firm to do things differently. “Why? Because you just need to. Different means change, means innovation.”

In his business-as-sailing analogy, earlier marketplaces may have been char-acterised by more favourable economic times in which a firm just needed to hoist

its sails and catch the prevailing winds. “Now, it’s about what type of sails

you put up, how you trim them, and how you face off to the marketplace that determines whether you will be successful or not,” he says. “But is it easier or harder to be a CEO now? I really don’t know. It is whatever it is.”

In Pippos’ world, clarity of thought and a strong grasp of what you want to achieve are critical. “You can’t just bumble along.” He sees the talent agenda as one of those critical points around which a firm’s success will pivot. He’s conscious of the ongoing need to fill the partnership

with talented people and that, with every passing year, Deloitte should continue to lift the average of its talent base.

“We see the edge that some of the young people coming through today have got,” he says. “Part of it, to my mind, is just drive and determination. I crudely refer to the fact that you need three attributes: you need to be bright, show common sense and have drive.”

Common sense, he concedes, is diffi-cult to measure. “But there’s no rule book here. You can’t just paint by numbers. We try to avoid being in the commodities business. The most successful partners can design and build, and that requires common sense to work things through.”

Ultimately, however, the critical crite-rion is drive. “You don’t often bump into success. You have to work at it. It’s about incremental improvement on a year-on-year or month-by-month basis.”

It’s one of the themes that Pippos ex-panded upon when he met with a group of more than 100 graduates in Auckland recently. Still, the idea can be hard for some of them to understand, he says.

“The way I articulate it is that the year they currently have they’ll never have again. Next year they’ll never have again either. So they need to determine what

they want to achieve in that particular year. It’s about setting their own plans and achieving them.

“To quote one of the global manage-ment gurus: the only person that follows up on anyone is their mother. I made it perfectly clear to everyone that I was not their mother. The consequence of which is it’s up to them to set their own goals. And we [at Deloitte] can provide them with the environment in which to achieve their goals.”

Many potential graduate employees are really driven people, he says, who clearly want to get ahead.

“Others, you can see have a lot of talent but don’t necessarily want to put all the rubber on the road. We need to identify as early as we can the ones who want to get ahead. We

need to nurture them and help them grow as professionals so that, ultimately, they can take over the mantle of partner and all the leadership roles.”

More controversially, perhaps, Pip-pos is also keen to challenge the notion of automatic partnerships for life. He’s pushing for the need for partners to “re-invent” themselves periodically in order to maintain relevance in the market.

“It’s one of the things I’m challeng-ing all of our partners to do… It’s about taking a perspective on what they want to achieve, say, over the next five years. And then once they get to that five-year horizon there’s a similar perspective in terms of the next five years.”

As he sees it, a business such as Deloitte will only grow as the partners themselves grow as professionals.

In the end, Pippos is mindful that he and the current crop of partners have but a fiduciary relationship with the business. They are charged with looking after it and passing it on to the next generation.

“The expectation is that you pass on something more than what you inher-ited,” he says. “I’ve grown up with this business. To that extent, I’m quite lucky to have found a place that I enjoy being part of and that is now part of me.” M

There’s no rule book here. You can’t just paint by numbers.

PEOPLE


Working with some of life’s difficult people? Try focusing on their

performance rather than on the individual, says Margaret Inge-Frost.

RUBBING ALONG NICELY

A ggressive, hostile, complain-ing or silent. Unresponsive, super-agreeable, negative, bulldozing or indecisive:

difficult people display a wide range of disruptive behaviours. Trouble-some behaviour affects many others. An individual may refuse to carry out specific functions, exploit legal loop-holes to avoid specific tasks or become involved in irrelevant activity. They

may sulk, criticise, argue or be surly to their manager yet laugh with other employees as a means of gaining support, joking over behaviour such as consistently arriving at work half an hour late each day.

So how can managers best deal with them? Lower Hutt industrial psychologist Keith McGregor says a cranky employee, or boss,

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strengthen desirable behaviour. A comment such as, “I’ve noticed you’ve been much more supportive of new staff over recent months”, even though not 100 percent true, can begin to im-print a positive picture of the required behaviour.

Another management tool is para-doxical intention or reverse psychology. McGregor cites the case of a manager

who was being constantly undermined by a staff member. Using the pretext that, as a manager, she needed to learn how to cope with being undermined, the manager insisted the staff member continue with her negative comments for the rest of the month. This con-fused the staff member and resulted in a dramatic reduction in her negative comments.

Dealing with difficult behaviour in the workplace can eat up vast amounts of management time and incur signifi-cant financial and emotional costs. The key, according to McGregor, lies in re-maining emotionally neutral and focus-ing on the tasks that have to be achieved rather than the personality issues. He stresses the importance of taking the time to hear people out and to identify the root causes of a problem rather than jumping to early conclusions.

The narcissistic personality poses a particular challenge. These individuals excel at competency-based selection interviews and as a result are often fast-tracked into organisations. That’s the view of Jeff Simpson, a consultant with Wellington-based Ethos Group, who

has learned how to behave that way over time and often has little desire or ability to change his or her ways. He defines a difficult person as someone who doesn’t behave the way we think they should. And that one thought, he says, is very empowering for managers.

“It enables us to separate out the negative emotions we may be expe-riencing about the person and focus

instead on the performance issues by carefully analysing the gap between what should be happening versus what is happening.”

McGregor says managers need to implement structured programmes to prevent such behaviour worsening. Written performance and behavioural standards need to become part of an employment contract, covering behav-iours such as general attitude – and manner towards others staff.

It also helps if managers can iden-tify the different types of behaviour that they may consider unacceptable. “Snipers”, for example, may enjoy taking potshots or making sneaky attacks on others. McGregor advises managers to address such behaviour promptly.

They could send a powerful message that the behaviour will not be tolerated through a comment such as, “At the meeting I noticed you were making sarcastic remarks about Gareth. Can you please tell me what you were trying to achieve by those comments and how you think they helped the situation?”

Managers may also choose to em-ploy affirmation techniques to help

says such people often show confidence and high levels of competence across a broad range of tasks.

“The leaders amongst them go on to be very transformational in society. But that confidence can be a very big red herring which hides a deep insecu-rity. They don’t always plan well for a company’s future. Often self absorbed, they are seemingly unable to reflect on their personal behaviour. A more mature person would demonstrate not only employee confidence but, in addi-tion, carry their intellect with humility.”

For his PhD, Simpson studied 82 commerce graduates during the early stages of their careers. Through psycho-metric testing and other measures, he found that 14 percent of the graduates showed evidence of narcissistic traits. Narcissists often construct an “idealised self image” because they appear to lack an ability to appreciate realistic feedback.

“They responded incredibly nega-tively to negative criticism of them-selves,” he says, “like stroppy teenagers or four year olds in the office. They were not people who performed well with others, and within about six months of taking up their employment, they were the lowest-performing group within their companies. From a therapeutic perspec-tive, they are the least likely to seek help.”

Simpson believes there are now more narcissists in society than there were 20 to 30 years ago. “That’s because society values them highly and they can be charismatic and empowering. But they often fall short of their own claims about themselves.”

He is critical of existing recruit-ment systems which are not yet mature enough to identify a narcissist at an interview. Faced with trying to identify such characteristics when interviewing job candidates, he suggests managers try asking: “Why would I not like working with you?” Or: “Why would I not agree with the situation you proposed?” M

Margaret Inge-Frost has worked across mass media

as a freelance journalist and broadcast for a number

of media outlets. [email protected]

Written performance and behavioural standards need to become part of an

employment contract, covering behaviours such as general attitude – and manner

towards others staff.


FOCUS ON WELLINGTON

O nce dominated by central government and corporate head offices, today Welling-ton boasts a dynamic, diverse

economy marked by innovative knowl-edge-based industries and a flourishing creative sector. From high-tech manu-facturing to the creative, digital, ICT and health sectors, Wellington’s economy is abuzz with highly connected, innovative, entrepreneurial people. Dominated by finance and insurance, and communica-tions and business services, the private sector now accounts for nearly 80 percent of Wellington’s economy, and just over 70 percent of the jobs.

Government cutbacks and loss of head offices have forced Wellingtonians to think outside the square. In many cases talented and experienced people

have chosen to stay in Wellington when their company has moved out, and started up their own business – Xero’s Rod Drury is just one example.

The result is that Wellington is glo-bally recognised for its entrepreneurial successes – Xero, Weta, Trade Me, Ice-breaker, Resn, Phil & Teds, Trilogy, Sidhe and more. A key factor in Wellington’s success is inventive, high-value businesses excelling in global markets.

Is it working? Well, Wellington is still strongly influenced by public sector performance – GDP for the Wellington region grew 0.8 percent for the year to March 2011 (cf national growth of 1.6 percent). This gap is largely attributed to government sector cutbacks, which in turn saw a decline in business services.

However, the region’s priority sectors

WellingtonReinventing the world from the coolest little capital

FOCUS ON WELLINGTON

The oft-maligned weather plays a positive role in Wellington’s dynamic business culture, writes Vivienne McLean.

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– food and beverage, screen and digital, manufacturing, education, information technology and clean technology – have all grown above the national average. The food and beverage sector grew at almost double the national rate (4.2 percent compared with national growth of 2.1 percent). Screen and digital output grew by 2.2 percent compared with national growth of 1.2 percent. (Source: Infomet-rics Annual Economic Profile, year to March 2011.)

“To be a successful company in Wel-lington you pretty much have to export from the get-go,” says Mary-Anne Web-ber, general manager, business growth for Grow Wellington, the regional economic development agency. “It’s often over-looked that if you’re an ICT company in Wellington you need to move very quickly

to establish a global market because you don’t have a large domestic one.

“Wellington is the coolest little capital in the world but it is a little capital. In Wellington you cannot create a successful me-too company – it’s not going to work. Phil & Ted’s doesn’t make one of the best designed baby buggies in the world – it makes the best designed baby buggies in the world. Xero didn’t create an account-ing software program; it created a world-leading software program. That’s the difference. The good thing is the whole culture here is set up to support that.”

Webber is one of many who agree the city’s geography has had a special influ-ence on the city’s culture of innovation. Wellington’s CBD is very tightly con-tained, and the weather is not always that kind. The resulting coffee culture often

sees business people, politicians, creatives and start-up entrepreneurs in the same cafe, encouraging the cross-fertilisation of ideas and creating something of a melting pot.

“That’s coupled with a large number of highly qualified people living in the city,” adds Webber. “You get these very clever, very forward-thinking people liv-ing in a geographically isolated country, but focused in a very small area.”

People power is certainly a factor in Wellington’s success, with a highly edu-cated workforce, and tertiary education and research resources all contributing to Wellington’s education, skills and re-search infrastructure – four of the eight national Crown Research Institutes, three universities, three institutes of technology and polytechnics, many private training establishments, national offices of over half of New Zealand’s industry training organisations and over a dozen formal, research-oriented organisations.

Around 47 percent of the region’s workforce is employed in knowledge-intensive occupations compared to a national average of just over 32 percent. The region also has the highest average household income in the country and more than 40 percent of households earn more than $89,000 a year. It’s also a young city – 56 percent of Wellingtonians are aged between 18 and 49, compared with 45 percent of the overall population.

“Highly qualified people are a key component of innovation,” says Webber. “Because there aren’t a lot of big corpo-rates here there aren’t a lot of corporate ladders to climb, so if you want to be suc-cessful and you’ve got a lot of drive, energy and enthusiasm, it’s a very welcoming community in terms of start-ups.”

Every success story spurs others to follow, and physical proximity encourages collaboration.

“All over the city there are little clus-ters of small networks,” says Webber. “They’ve all got day jobs but at night they’re all working together to be the next Sam Morgan – it’s wonderful.

“We’re also beginning to see the merg-ing of technologies in the region, so, for

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This support can range from helping with events, making space available for meet ups, providing speakers, through to commercialisation advice. Grow Welling-ton does not make seed funding available to individual businesses but focuses on enabling the private sector.

“A good example is the BizDojo co-operative working space in Vivian Street,” says Webber. “That’s a wonderful place for emerging ICT, screen and digital compa-nies to work, so instead of setting up a standalone facility we enabled BizDojo to set up their space in Wellington.”

Grow Wellington is also the regional technology partner for the Ministry of Science and Innovation’s business invest-ment programme TechNZ.

Wellington has the highest concentra-tion of web and digital-based companies per capita in New Zealand, with Welling-tonians more than three times as likely to work in ICT.

Dave Moskovitz is chair of WebFund, a self-described combination of “angel investor, private incubator, ideas fac-tory, and development shop”, that takes web-based businesses from ideas to the point where they’re ready for world-wide expansion.

“We invest our time, money, expertise and creativity in people with brilliant ideas and the drive to make them hap-pen,” he says.

“Wellington is a great place to do business. New Zealand ranks as the third easiest country in the world to do

example, we have companies that are using the science from Industrial Research, and blending that with the ICT and creative capability of Wellington City in creating world-leading medical devices. In Otaki, for example, there’s a Clean Technol-ogy Centre, with about 20 entrepreneurs clustered around it. Kapiti Coast District Council has made the region available as a test bed for piloting new technologies so these entrepreneurs are taking the smarts available through the institutions and the universities, and they’re up there piloting world-leading technology, so you can see how the whole region is becoming an in-novation network.”

Grow Wellington seed funded the Clean Technology Centre, and has a manager helping companies commer-cialise their products. Grow Wellington also supports biomedical and screen and digital centres of excellence as well as a number of the innovation networks that have sprung up around Wellington.

business. We’re the world’s least corrupt country, we have a great education system and our computer science grads are really world class – there’s a lot of raw talent to work with.

“Starting a business in Wellington is fantastic because not only are you able to build on that substrate but there’s only half a degree of separation here. Everybody knows everyone and people are generally friendly and supportive – we help each other out because we know it’s for the common good.

“There are lots of good support serv-ices here that people can use – more than one incubator, Grow Wellington, TechNZ, and multiple co-working spaces where you can get involved with like-minded people and other companies at the same developmental stage.

“There are some really great sub-communities, Summer of Tech, Unlim-ited Potential, Lean Startup – all these resources you can draw on to make your own start up a success. Wellington also has a highly mobile population – lots of immigrants coming in with skills, passion, intensity... and networks overseas.”

On the ground, Wellington city is concentrated and compact, making doing business easy.

“Everything is right here,” says Opus regional manager Nick Gurr. “We’re right in Willis Street so we’re close to our clients and it’s all within walking distance. There is a traffic problem but it’s not as bad as Auckland – Opus is involved in a lot of

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the projects here and the transport system around Wellington will improve.”

Wellington Airport’s proximity to the CBD also saves the business traveller time and money. By 2030 passenger numbers are expected to double to 10 million, requiring a $450 million investment in essential infrastructure. This will enable Wellington Airport to generate 11,500 new jobs regionally, sustaining 21,000 full-time positions and increasing its contribution to the regional economy to $1.6 billion a year, with flow-on impacts of $3.1 billion.

As part of this expansion, the airport will expand its business meeting room and conference facilities.

The last word goes to Nick Gurr: “There’s real pride in Wellington amongst Wellingtonians. The place gets bagged by the rest of the country but they’re proud of the way Wellington is, and now I’m feeling like that too... I’m not from here originally but when anybody bags it, I’ll give them my views because it’s such a lovely place.” M

Vivienne McLean is a freelance business writer.

Heritage charmThey say good things come in small packages and that’s certainly true of the Wellesley Boutique Hotel. The building is one of the finest examples of neo-Georgian architecture in Wellington, with a Grade 1 listing by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. But don’t be fooled by the 1929 construction date – the Wellesley Boutique Hotel has meticulously been restored as a deluxe hotel catering for the discerning corporate, leisure and confer-ence traveller, and is part of the Heritage Boutique Collection.

Just off Featherston Street and Lambton Quay, and close to Parliament, the courts and government offices, the Wellesley Boutique Hotel prides itself on appealing to the traveller who’s looking for something a little bit different – and more personal.

“Business travellers feel comfortable in this environment,” says manager Roger Chap-man. “With a small professional team committed to a very professional personal guest experience, we like to get to know our guests by name. We try to create an environment where you can get rid of the business day – where it’s more like coming home.”

And if you want to experience dining in Wellington at its finest, look no further than the Wellesley Boutique Hotel’s restaurant, Maginnity’s. Award-winning head chef Marc Soper (2011 Chef of the Capital) is well known in New Zealand and internationally for his culinary talents. Food critic David Burton rates Maginnity’s highly. In February he awarded the food and wine list 4.5 stars and 5 stars for service and ambience.

“Marc’s penchant is to produce New Zealand cuisine with a little bit of an international twist, drawing on the influences he has gained in the US and Europe,” says Chapman. “He is passionate about local ingredients and the freshness of what he buys and has created a menu that incorporates fresh local produce and unique flavours. It’s top end bistro dining without top end prices.”

On the business side, the Wellesley Boutique Hotel offers complimentary wireless inter-net as well as meeting, conference and function facilities. The dining room can be trans-formed into a conference venue, seminar or meeting space, and smaller meeting rooms are available by the hour, half or full day. At the other end of the scale the Grand Dining Room lives up to its name, catering for up to 120 guests banquet style.

Modern conferencing equipment, plus the services of the Wellesley Boutique Hotel’s experienced function coordinator will ensure your function or conference runs smoothly.

Chef Marc Soper.


It’s one of those pieces of news that causes you to pause and reflect a moment on what the world has

come to. In 2011, one of the US’ largest non-profit healthcare organisations, Kaiser Permanente, launched an online educational campaign to encourage one of humankind’s most basic activities – walking.

Walking, it seems, is something of a lost art. The average American adult walks just 3000 to 5000 steps a day. Kaiser Permanente is urging people to boost that number to at least 10,000, the number recommended by the World Health Organisation to improve health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

But before you dismiss the idea of a walking campaign as an “only in America” situation, consider New Zealand’s own, rather sobering, statistics on activity.

Research by the Ministry of Health has found that physical inactivity is responsible for eight percent of deaths in New Zealand – over 2600 per year.

Only 52 percent of New Zealanders meet the Government’s minimum recommended level of physical activity for health. By any standard, the minimum is not onerous – at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day at least five days per week. This intensity can be achieved by simply walking at a pace where there is a slight, but noticeable, increase in breath and heart rate, but you can still carry on a conversation.

The health benefits of walking are

numerous. Studies report reduced blood pressure, reduced risk of certain cancers, diabetes and stroke, stronger bones, improved circulatory system, better resistance to colds, and boosted “good” cholesterol levels.

Walking has also been cited as effective in the prevention and treatment of depression. Research reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that walking 30 minutes a day boosted mood in depressed patients faster than antidepressants.

So what’s stopping us from walking? Well, times have changed. Technological, business, economic and cultural forces are eating away at our opportunities – and our desire to walk.

A large proportion of jobs are sedentary, with no reason to regularly move. The internet has become a major source of leisure-time activity. Work and family pressures leave many New Zealanders with little time for incidental exercise – why “waste” 30 minutes walking when you could take the car?

The Ministry of Health is urging Kiwis to change this mindset. They ask people to think of movement as an “opportunity not an inconvenience”. Employers could also embrace such thinking.

Walking has the potential to improve business productivity in a number of ways. In addition to improving employees’ physical health, walking can help reduce anxiety and stress, and improve mood.

Walking provides a short break, which can aid in the prevention of occupational overuse syndrome. Getting together to walk is also a great way to help build stronger relationships within a team.

To engage employees in the idea of walking, introducing some healthy inter-team or inter-business competition

into the mix might be an option. The success of pedometers in encouraging walking is behind the ‘Global Corporate Challenge’ (GCC). Participants log their daily steps on a website, giving them the ability to compare results with colleagues and other businesses. Results from 2011 showed that people involved in the challenge walked on average 325 percent more than the average office worker.

One foot in front of another. It’s simple, natural and could very well save lives. It may just be the answer we’ve been looking for. M

Peter Tynan is chief executive of the Southern Cross

Health Society.

EXECUTIVE HEALTHPETER TYNAN M

One small step for mankind

Covering staff with Southern Cross health insurance means less 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 and profitable business. Your profits, not ours. Because we’re not for profit, we’re for you. To find out more, call Southern Cross Health Society on 0800 323 555 or visit our website healthybusiness.co.nz

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EXECS ON THE MOVEM

Business sustainability advocate Penny Nelson has been appointed inaugural executive director of the Sustainable Business Council, formed in early 2012 from the merger of the BusinessNZ Sustainable Business Forum and the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development. Nelson has held leadership roles in policy and advocacy in the public and private sectors.

Deloitte has announced the appointment of Campbell Rose as a tax partner in the firm’s Auckland office, effective from June 1. Rose joins Deloitte from law firm Russell McVeagh, where he has been a partner for the past six years.

Rochelle Marriott has been promoted to associate of Marriotts after leading one of the Christchurch accountancy firm’s teams for the past two years

Dr Mandy Suddes, formerly programme lead and executive director of Novartis Oncology Global Development in the United States, has joined Manuka

Health New Zealand as head of research and development.

Brett Carter will lead the Commerce Commission’s consumer law legal team in the new role of principal counsel (informed consumer). Most recently senior legal

counsel with the Commission, Carter has 12 years’ experience in commercial and criminal litigation.

David Blacktop has been appointed in the new role of principal counsel (competition) at the Commerce Commission and will lead the Commission’s

competition law legal team. Blacktop joined the Commission from Bell Gully.

Nissan New Zealand has appointed Maryon Wils-Parkes to its newly created corporate business manager role. She joins Nissan from a role as a national key

account manager in the security industry.

Pacnet has announced the appointment of Nigel Stitt as chief executive officer of its Australia and New Zealand business. With more than 21 years of IT and telecommunications experience, Stitt was most recently national sales director for Pacnet Australia.

As part of a reshaping of the organisation to deliver on its group strategy refresh announced in late March, Fonterra has announced its new senior management team: Jonathan Mason, chief financial officer; Ian Palliser, managing director group optimisation and supply chain; Maury Leyland, group GM strategy; Paul Campbell, group GM mergers and acquisitions; Todd Muller, managing

director co-operative affairs; Gary Romano, managing director New Zealand Milk; John Doumani, managing director Australia New Zealand; Mark Wilson, managing director ASEAN/Middle East/North Africa; Kelvin Wickham, managing director China/India; Alex Turnbull, managing director Latin America; and, Sarah Kennedy, managing director Fonterra Nutrition.

Pure Advantage, the organisation developing the business case for green growth, has welcomed Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere (chairman) Mark Solomon, to its list of high-profile trustees. Solomon hails from Kaikoura and is of Ngāti Kuri and Ngāi Tahu descent.

McDonald’s New Zealand has added two experienced managers to its senior management team. Chris Brown has been appointed as director of marketing

and Jacky Hollingsworth has been promoted to chief of finance, taking over from Quentin Smith who has moved into a newly formed business partner role within McDonald’s.

Roger Thompson, Auckland managing director for accountancy firm Staples Rodway, has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong New

Zealand Business Association.

National PMO Symposium‘Driving Business Through Maturity’

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MEXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT

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How to manage conflict

1Check yourselfThe famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl

Jung once wrote that people make decisions by using a preference for either feeling or thinking. A feeling person bases their decisions on personal values, putting themselves into the situation of the person affected. They define fairness as treating everyone as an individual.

A person with a preference for thinking, on the other hand, removes themselves from the emotional state and makes decisions based on practical logic. They define fairness as when everyone is treated the same.

Consider which preference you may have, and remember that when you deal with conflict you need to explore and balance both logical and emotional preferences.

2Listen activelyFor the majority of people caught

up in a conflict, the issue in question is at that moment the most important thing in the world. Nothing is more likely to make the situation worse than the idea that you are not listening with your complete attention. So turn off your phone, go somewhere quiet, stop talking and listen to what they have to say.

3Acknowledge Controlling your own emotions

during conflict is difficult enough but trying to control the emotions of other people is even more challenging. It’s very easy to make a judgement based on your own values, for example, ‘I wouldn’t be upset, or angry if that happened to me’. However, the other person is angry and upset and that feeling is real even if the reason behind the cause isn’t.

People in pain – even if it is self-inflicted – want you to acknowledge

what they are going through. So do just that. Agree that they are feeling these emotions. With regards to the reason, stay neutral.

Say, “You seem really upset”. Do not say, “I would be upset too”. Say, “It sounds like you are very frustrated with the situation”. Do not say, “I understand how frustrating it is”.

4Reframe Reframing is the ability to get people

to see a situation from a different view. This can be done by changing the words that are used so that the context of the statement is more positive. It attempts to put the speaker in the frame of mind that is required to resolve the dispute.

It takes time to master this skill so practise by selecting words that are viewed as negative and try to think of the positive version of that word. An obstacle, for example, can be viewed as a challenge. Someone who is described as impatient can also be described as keen.

Once you have a handle on this try reframing whole statements.

“‘My mother consistently interferes in my life: she won’t let me do anything,” can be reframed into, “It sounds like you have a very protective mother”.

5Test the reality The two most important tools

that any quality mediator utilises are WATNA and BATNA: short-form for ‘Worst Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement’ and ‘Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement’.

One of the biggest myths about conflict is that the larger the issue the more difficult the resolution. In truth, the complexity of the conflict is mainly governed by the people involved and not the issues. I’ve seen million-dollar disagreements settle far more easily than

disputes over a few hundred dollars. WATNA and BATNA get people to see

the likely consequences of continuing their current path of disagreement. They help them decide if they need to change their position.

6Summarise Summarising not only allows the

speaker to feel heard but also enables transition to a new topic. It assures the parties involved that progress has been made. The key is to be concise, remain neutral and only paraphrase if it’s a sensitive issue as the precise wording is crucial. If you are unsure, the following phrases will help:“Let’s see where we are...”“We’ve resolved these issues...”“You’ve agreed on...”“What you are saying is...”“We are left with the issue of ...” M

Mark Wager is a leadership coach with Elite LD.

[email protected]

Mark Wager.

TOP TIPSM MARK WAGER


Focus on Management

Exciting opportunities for closer trans-Tasman relationship

NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT IN ACTION

NZIM and the Australian Institute of Management New South Wales are

building closer ties, exploring initiatives that could conceivably see the two institutes aligning training offerings more closely, and sharing expertise and resources.

The move to closer relations was triggered when NZIM CEO Kevin Gaunt attended an Asian Association of Management Organisations (AAMO) council meeting last year, and heard a presentation by David Wakeley, chief executive of AIM NSW.

“What struck a chord was that three years ago AIM NSW was at the stage NZIM is at now,” says Gaunt. “The Institute took bold steps to transform itself, but it has taken a couple of years for the changes to become visible and start to deliver results.”

The first step was to ensure the right people were on board, and build capabilities. The second stage identified (amongst other things) that customers wanted to be able to participate in an ongoing development journey, enabled by AIM NSW, and that they saw AIM’s unique point of difference as “helping” not “making money”.

Several initiatives have been launched since. All course attendees are now given a six month trial membership, after which they are invited to sign up for full membership. AIM NSW has invested A$2 milion in developing its course offerings, and has conducted a radical curriculum review. The result, says Gaunt, is an attractive, modern, and effective framework for

personal development, with blended learning a feature of most of their courses.

AIM NSW has also invested significantly in research into management trends and best practice. It has taken up NZIM’s Management

Capability Index (MCI), and also conducts an annual management salary survey. A distinct brand – Octant – has been established

specifically to invest in the development of personal assessment tools and systems to work with senior managers and enable personal transformation and high-level development.

In December NZIM’s Northern business development general manager Tait Grindley and membership and communications general manager Nardine Sleeman visited AIM NSW to identify initiatives that could assist NZIM Inc.

“It was an amazing experience just talking with like-minded people,” says Sleeman. “... very invigorating and really encouraging to see where we could be by looking at what they are doing. Their way of thinking, their way of doing things, their vision and goals – everything is very much what we are talking about and trying to move towards.

“They have about 125 staff, and bring in just over $20 million a year, so their critical mass is obviously a lot greater than ours. The partnership could really expand our critical mass, our knowledge base and our capability across the board.”

Tait Grindley’s priority has been exploring what forms of blended learning and delivery models AIM NSW has implemented to connect with people who cannot physically attend courses.

“Like us, they had a curriculum that was pretty tried and true. There wasn’t a lot of diversity in there and, like NZIM, it was all face to face learning. With NSW being such a massive state and AIM only having a single presence in north Sydney, it was very difficult to get people to travel to attend programmes. It’s something that we’re facing too – feedback from our members is that they want regional opportunities for training for people who can’t complete an extended programme or qualification because they can’t travel.

“We need to be more dynamic and leading edge, and also make our curriculum and delivery models a lot more flexible and accessible to people who are not in the main centres, or who

are on the go, using technology such as i-pads and smart phones, working from hotels and the like. They’re not always going to be able to come to NZIM and do a programme either. AIM NSW has provided us with opportunities to look at the strength and robustness of our own programmes and also something of a road map as to how to go about tackling this, and a lot of it is hinged around technology.

“We don’t want to reinvent the wheel and rewrite everything we’ve ever done, there’s a lot of good strong existing material that will be adapted into a more modern delivery approach. When we start our own curriculum review in the next few weeks, it’s going to be a very collaborative approach. We will talk to AIM, obviously, about how they’ve implemented their process, but we will also be talking with our own members, because there are some pretty significant challenges ahead in becoming a differentiating force in the New Zealand training market.

Nardine Sleeman says that while NZIM is a little behind from an organisational standpoint, in terms of membership the two organisations are moving at the same pace. Nor will it be a one-sided relationship.

“For example, AIM NSW is looking at taking up the NZIM mentoring programme and that’s definitely something we can share with them, so it can be a two-way process.”

Kevin Gaunt has come away from further discussions with David Wakeley heartened at the strong sense of partnership that is already evolving.

“It’s early days yet, but we both agree it makes sense to work together to support an Australasian stakeholder base, not a separate New Zealand and Australian one. We see the benefit in aligning our training offerings as closely as possible so that we can provide a similar experience to the same client situated in both countries.

“We can share research and double its value by doing this. We can also contemplate having common IT and web systems, again to reduce cost and establish an Australasian service.

“From NZIM’s point of view this makes a lot of sense as it attaches us to a greater critical mass which gives us significant leverage – from AIM NSW’s point of view it adds the opportunity for them to service Australasian clients and members effectively. It’s a win-win really.”

ON MANAGEMENT

JUNE 2012 VOL 07 NUMBER 03 ISSN 1177-5815

Focus on Management

the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. Whether learners have done academic study before, or started a qualification but not completed it, NZIM can also assist in recognising a candidate’s current competency (RCC) or recognising prior learning and achievement (RPL).

NZIM specialises in delivering a range of competency and unit standard based management and essential skills programmes that deliver the right learning outcomes for professional and adult learners with maximum flexibility for individuals and clients looking to demonstrate real return on investment. Practical learning that is designed for maximum and immediate impact in your business and the chance to pick up a nationally recognised qualification is a major benefit for all involved.

For a full list of NZIM’s accredited qualifications and short courses visit www.nzimnorthern.co.nz or request a copy of the 2012 programme planner by calling 0800 800 694.

Clients, both corporate and individual, are placing greater value on achieving

academic recognition when investing in the professional development of their staff.

NZIM has always offered a wide range of NZQA-accredited qualifications in the management and leadership arena, but first quarter results show that the importance placed on this by leading managers is certainly on the rise. With programmes such as the NZIM Diploma in Frontline Management, Diploma in Project Management and Diploma in Management Advanced, the registrations for these programmes in particular have exceeded expectations against this time last year and previously.

Feedback received from NZIM’s key client base in the Auckland and Wellington regions in particular, reveals a major emphasis on learning practical management skills that can be delivered, and then recognised, on

Facilitator profile: Robyn Walshe

NZIM & ACE – COMMITTED TO CONSTRUCTING EXCELLENCENZIM and the Academy of Constructing Excellence NZ have re-signed

their partnership agreement, which sees the two organisations committed to delivering a relevant, practical management qualification for the construction and engineering industries. Many commercial and government organisations are poised for significant building and construction growth in New Zealand. Multiple commercial and residential developments have already started, many of them dedicated to the Christchurch rebuild.

The NZIM Diploma in Managerial Excellence in Construction and Engineering is an advanced management diploma that has been accredited by NZQA at level 6.

This programme has been designed specifically for the industry’s up and coming project professionals and business leaders. Many leading New Zealand organisations have been directly involved in the continuing development of this qualification, including Fulton Hogan, Arrow International, BECA, Tonkin and Taylor, Naylor Love, Downer and NZTA.

NZIM has been working alongside the directors of the Academy of Constructing Excellence for over five years. During this time we have seen a steady flow of graduates who have all made positive impacts back in their workplace and industries. Designed for people in full-time employment, the programme covers subjects such as financial management, leadership, communication and tools for industry excellence, including lean methodologies and performance improvement. Also included are customer relationship management, supply chain management and project management, all customised specifically for the engineering and construction sectors.

NZIM and the Academy offer this unique programme in Auckland and in Christchurch. Registrations are now open for Auckland (start date: 28 June) and Christchurch (start date: 30 August). For a full programme schedule or further information contact the programme manager, Tait Grindley on 0800 800 694, or visit our website at www.nzimnorthern.co.nz.

Robyn Walshe is a leading facilitator at NZIM. She is passionate about helping people

and organisations build effective connections through top-notch communication. She links behaviour, communication and learning strategies so that people connect effectively and their business and teams grow and succeed.

Robyn works with a broad spectrum of organisations covering professional services, transport and travel, forensic science, infrastructure, health, education, insurance, food and beverage, and the former councils that now make up Auckland Council. She also coaches and mentors a range of clients, supporting their personal and professional growth. Feedback confirms she makes a real difference, enhancing organisational culture, customer service, and the personal and professional development of staff.

Robyn’s professional qualifications include an MBA from Massey University, a BA and Post Graduate Diploma in social sciences from Otago, and a Diploma in Teaching. She is a Fellow of NZIM. Robyn says she values her professional studies in the fields of training and communications and her membership of the New Zealand and American Associations of Training and Development, and National Speakers Association (NZ). In her role at NZIM Robyn has led many successful public and in-company programmes over the years, but more recently has worked on the design and delivery of programmes across New Zealand and Australia.

Qualifications playing key role in developing northern managers

NZIM

http://www.nzimnorthern

http://www.nzimnorthern.co.nz

Focus on Management

The Life Fellowship is the highest award that NZIM gives to its members. There are only 35 Life Fellows, so the Awards are only made after considerable consideration by NZIM, and

represent a great honour for the recipient.This year NZIM had the privilege of awarding two Life Fellowship awards.

DAVID MOLONEYDavid started his management career in the NZ Army, where he served with distinction, rising to the rank of Colonel. He was the Commanding Officer of the NZ Special Air Service (SAS) and led the New Zealand Team to Rhodesia in 1979. Since retirement from the Army, David has worked constantly to improve the capability of management in New Zealand and was closely involved with the NZ Staff Administration College. He was instrumental in establishing the NZIM Foundation, which awards scholarships to emerging leaders and managers in New

Zealand, and served on the Trust Board. He is currently the NZIM Foundation Chair.David has made a significant contribution to the development of management capability in

New Zealand and is a great ambassador for NZIM.

PHILLIP MEYERPhillip joined the NZIM Central Board in 2005 and became national chair in 2009. He brought his passion for good governance to the board table and a vision that NZIM should be a role model of governance best practice. Phillip has contributed significant personal time and energy to his vision for NZIM and to strengthening it for the future. In particular he committed totally to integrating NZIM into a single entity, with the result that NZIM Inc, NZIM Northern, and NZIM Central fully integrated in October 2011.

Finally Phillip has promoted NZIM widely and influentially and has even found the time to be a mentor in the NZIM Mentoring Programme.

Calling for nominations! 2012 Agricultural Leadership Programme

NZIM is welcoming three new staff to a growing Wellington-based

team. Shaun, Alan and Julie join a team who are committed to providing world-class management programmes, and an exceptional membership experience.

SHAUN SHELDRAKEGeneral Manager, Business DevelopmentShaun joins NZIM with extensive knowledge of the professional training industry in New Zealand. His previous experience includes director of e-learning solutions leader Inspire Online, and consultancy work. Shaun is passionate about providing learning experiences that make an immediate impact in the workplace, and increasing New Zealand’s management capability. His experience in change management and online experiences will be invaluable to NZIM as we continue to evolve in the way we provide development opportunities.

ALAN VAUGHANBusiness Development SpecialistAlan brings 20 years’ experience in account managing senior corporate and government relationships in New Zealand to NZIM. His passion is to provide clients with tools and opportunities for change and management development. Over the past few years Alan has particularly enjoyed building strong relationships and providing solutions to enhance capability.

JULIE TENNIEMembership ManagerJulie joins NZIM based in the Wellington offices as our membership manager. Julie has extensive experience in business, administration, marketing and design. Having previously worked in a membership organisation Julie’s input and knowledge will be invaluable as we extend our membership offerings and plan strategically for the future of the Institute.

Landcorp and NZIM are thrilled to announce that the Agricultural Leadership Programme

(ALP) is now open for nominations. Interest in ALP has been so high in previous years we have decided to offer the programme twice in 2012.

ALP provides a unique agriculture-based opportunity to develop management and leadership competencies. The mix of interaction with topic experts and with colleagues from the agricultural industry means the skills learned in this stimulating and innovative seven-day residential programme are immediately applicable on the job.

ALP is a joint Landcorp and NZIM initiative, specially designed to prepare and develop future leaders in New Zealand’s vibrant agricultural sector. The commitment to the sector extends to the awarding of a $5000

2012 LIFE FELLOWS AWARDS

scholarship to the most promising future leader from each intake.

The November course dates will be confirmed, based on demand.

ALP is held at Margrain Vineyard in Martinborough. All transport (to and from Wellington CBD), meals and accommodation are included in the course fee.

Call 0800 800 NZIM or email [email protected] for more information.

NZIM

Investment:• $7750 + GST (early bird rate) • $8250 + GST (normal rate)

Dates: • June 16-22 • November 3-9 or 10-16 (TBC)

Staff announcements

Focus on Management

The only constant is change.” In Christchurch the evidence of the truth in this old saying is

around us every day. However the phenomenon of change in the workplace is much more pervasive than one city and one major disaster. Worldwide, organisations need to shape up, reshape, morph and adapt to their changing environment. Being prepared for change is the hallmark of an effective leader in the 21st century.

A foundation stone for preparation in the workplace is to clearly identify the difference between business-as-usual and special projects. In a changing world this is not always apparent, but it is important to recognise a good opportunity when you see it, identify how to turn an opportunity into a project and acquire the skills to manage this well. Processes and systems separate essential work from busy work and enable leaders to track measurable results. Understanding project management is one way to enhance these opportunities.

The Diploma in Project Management has had over 200 graduates and has been highly effective in developing competent project managers. Participants agree that a nationally recognised level 5 qualification adds rigour, and completing assignments on practical work-based projects is the best use of their time. Diploma training emphasises the importance of both hard and soft skills, including project management leadership and its effective application in a challenging project environment characterised by uncertainty, limited resources, tight timeframes and demanding stakeholders. It is suitable for people working full or part time in project management in the private or public sector.

Feedback from the 2011 NZIM Southern graduates was that the qualification was highly applicable to their workplaces, and as a series of four workshops each of two days duration it was a manageable commitment.

Garreth Hayman of Dopplemayr Lifts says: “I have been able to apply my learning and am working on a project at the moment. Now we have a template to follow that is not rigid like other systems. Since both my boss and I did the course it has meant not having to explain what it is about. We both speak the same language in project management. I definitely recommend it.”

Ben McCambridge of Supply Chains Projects says: “The course was designed so tools can be made applicable across different disciplines. Some tools are used daily in managing multiple projects and priorities. I’m running projects smarter, so I’m saving energy. This energy can be made more productive elsewhere.”

Contact NZIM Southern today on 03 379 2302 or www.nzimsouthern.co.nz to enrol in the Diploma in Project Management starting on 24 July. Short courses in project management including Practical Project Management and Project Management for Administrators are also available.

The annual general meeting of NZIM Southern Inc was held in March at the Russley Golf Club. President Michael Weusten and CEO Joseph Thomas reported on the positive initiatives

implemented during the year to address the operational challenges of 2011. They were pleased to report that the financial result was the best recorded in the organisation’s 65-year history, a great outcome and a real credit to the Board and the team at NZIM Southern. The loyalty and support of members, facilitators and valued clients was also acknowledged.

The board acknowledged the valued contribution made by Brian Soutar as immediate past president and Bill Karaitiana, who retired as a director this year. Sue Brown (Christchurch) and Tony Guilliland (West Coast) were congratulated on being elected to the board of directors of NZIM Southern.

Certificates for advancement of professional qualifications were presented to Noel Chambers (AFNZIM) and Brian Soutar (FNZIM). Guest speaker Don Elder, CEO of Solid Energy NZ, provided a thought provoking and informative presentation that was appreciated and enjoyed by all.

Key skills in a changing world

NZIM SOUTHERN AGM

“

Guest speaker Don Elder.

Michael Weusten (president) presenting Fellows certificate to Brian Soutar (immediate past president).

Therese La Porte and Ann Hogan.


Focus on Management

SOUTHERNFor more information phone 03 379 2302 (Christchurch C), 03 455 5165 (Dunedin D) or 03 218 7451 (Invercargill I & Queenstown Q) or visit www.nzimsouthern.co.nz

CENTRAL All courses shown are in Wellington unless otherwise indicated. For more information phone 0800 373 700 or visit www.nzimcentral.co.nz

NORTHERNAll courses shown are in Auckland. For more information phone 0800 800 694 or visit www.nzimnorthern.co.nz

JUNE 7-8 Train the Trainer (Part 2) 7-8 Assertiveness Skills 11 Facilitate Continuous Improvement

(DFM) 11-12 Managing Performance (HR2) 11-13 Professional Adminstrator Skills 12 Facilitate and Capitalise on Change

and Innovation (DFM) 13-14 Presentation Skills 14 Effective Time Management 17-30 NZIM Diploma in Health & Safety

Management (L6) 18-19 Think On Your Feet 18-19 Operations Management (DMA) 18-20 Introduction to Management 20-21 Essential Sales Fundamentals 20-22 Project Management

Fundamentals 25-27 Operational Management (Team

Leader 3) 25-26 Coaching and Mentoring 27-28 Workplace Assessment 28 NZIM Diploma in Construction &

Engineering (L6 starts) 29 TetraMap: The Nature of Behaviour

JULY 2 National Certificate in Business (L4

starts) 2-4 Essential Skills (Team Leader 1) 4-6 Four Quadrant Leadership 10-12 Leadership, Motivation & Team

Building 12-13 Implementing Aligned People

Strategies (HR3) 16-17 Strategic Thinking Tools 16 Ensure a Safe Workplace (DFM) 18-19 Finance for Non-Financial Managers20 Lean Six Sigma – Yellow Belt 23-24 Facilitation Skills 23-24 Business Finance (DMA) 26-27 Negotiating for Results 30-31 Interpersonal Communication Skills30-31 Human Resource Management (HR4)

AUGUST1-2 Problem Solving & Decision Making2-3 Presentation Skills3 Effective Business Writing6 Emotional Intelligence6 NZIM Diploma in Management

Advanced (L6 starts)6-8 Business Ethics (DMA)7 Introduction to Social Media

Marketing with Linda Coles8-10 Building Effective Teams (Team

Leader 2)9-10 Key Account Management9-10 Dealing with Difficult Behaviours13-15 Accounting for Non-Accountants16 Risk Management (DFM)16 NZIM Diploma in Project

Management (L5 starts)16-17 Needs Analysis & Programme Design17 Manage an Operational Plan (DFM)

JUNE 11 Courageous Conversations D 11 Problem Solving & Decision Making C12-13 Project Management D 13-15 Four Quadrant Leadership with Wilf

Jarvis C15 Report & Proposal Writing D 18-20 Four Quadrant Leadership Stage 2 C10-22 Advanced Management Programme C21-22 Developing Effective Teams C 25-26 Negotiation Skills D 26 Emotional Intelligence I27 Managing Stress I 27-28 Lean Thinking D 27-28 Presentation Skills C 23-30 Excellence in Management C

JULY2-4 Team Leader-Building Effective

Teams C 5 Effective Use of Time C 9-10 Building Relationship Versatility C11-12 Accounting for Non Accountants

(Stage 1) C12-13 Change Management I 13 Courageous Conversations C 16-18 Team Leader:The Essential Skills C 18-20 Team Leader 1 Essential Skills D 19 Master Your Learning I 20 Speed Reading I 23 Core Business Writing C 23-24 Facilitation Skills D 24-25 Diploma in Project Management C25-26 Accounting for Non Accountants

(Stage 1) D26 Dealing with Difficult People &

Handling Conflict C 26-27 Negotiation Skills C 30-31 Accounting for Non Accountants

(Stage 2) C

AUGUST 1 Thrive on Stress C1-2 Human Resource Management D2-3 Coaching for Performance C 6 Business Ethics C 6 Professional Reception Skills I7 Effective Meeting Management I7 Email Etiquette I 8 Art of Minute Taking I9 Essential Skills for the Administrator I10 Event Management I 13-14 Introduction to Performance

Management C16 Courageous Conversations I 17 Mentoring in the Workplace C 17 Time and Self Maangement I 21-22 How to Manage & Lead Successfully Q21-22 Practical Project Management C 22-24 Four Quadrant Leadership C 28 Emotional Intelligence D 29 Managing Stress D

JUNE 7-8 Business Finance (Dip Management

Adv).12 Manage Projects (DFM Modular) 14-15 Key Account Management 14-15 Presentation Skills 18-19 Marketing, Planning & Control (Dip

Management Adv)20-22 Accounting for Non Accountants21-22 Developing a High Performing Team25 Managing Your Time25-28 Advanced Training and Facilitation

Skills26-27 Advanced Negotiation Skills27 Social Media: Big 4 Overview28 Training Evaluation (NCAET)

JULY2-3 Leadership (Dip Management Adv)3-4 Corporate Storytelling4-6 Team Leader Skills – Operational

Leadership (Cert in Business)5-6 Sales Management9 Memory and Mind Mapping9-10 Recruitment Frameworks for Success11-12 Facilitation Skills12-13 Coaching & Mentoring Skills for

Managers16-17 Conflict Resolution18 Diploma in Frontline Management

(Starts)19 Manage Personal Work Priorities &

Professional Development 23-24 Applied Management (Dip

Management Adv)23-24 Assertiveness Techniques25 Emotional Intelligence25-26 Budgeting for Non Financial

Managers27 Lean Six Sigma – Yellow Belt30-31 Problem Solving and Decision

Making30-2/8 Introduction to Management

AUGUST1 TetraMap: The Nature of Behaviour2-3 Dealing with Difficult Behaviours6 Managing Your Time6-7 Finance for Non-Financial Managers7 Diploma in Project Management

(Starts)9 Negotiation Skills13-14 Strategic Thinking Tools15 Peer to Peer Mentoring Skills16 Manage Quality Customer Service

(DFM Modular)20-21 Strategic Management (Dip

Management Adv)22-24 Four Quadrant Leadership23-24 Interpersonal Communication Skills27 Effective Business Writing28 Training Needs Analysis (NCAET)29 Programme Design (NCAET)


http://www.nzimcentral.co.nz

http://www.nzimnorthern.co.nz

MEMBER PROFILE:

Nici Hammer The HR partner at Healthcare NZ, Nici Hammer is also chair of NZIM Central’s Young Professionals group. She’s passionate about people, and helping them become the best they can be.

I’ve been really lucky throughout my career so far, with managers who have supported me and

given me some fantastic opportunities. When I graduated from Victoria with a B Comm in 2002, I was working at IRD. Knowing my studies they gave me a role in the HR training team, which kick started my career before I even finished uni.

So although I’m only 31 I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of experience through different organisations and areas of HR. I’ve worked in various HR advisor, project and management roles in public, private and not for profit organisations, including Shell in Australia and in Malaysia, and Wellington Zoo as the manager of people and culture. That was when I came on board with NZIM Central’s Young Professionals.

I love working with people, that’s my passion, and working in coaching roles where I can help people to reach their potential. In addition to working as an HR partner at Healthcare NZ, I am currently studying a Grad Diploma in Career Development at AUT to learn more about career development, with the ultimate goal of one day working as a career counsellor.

Healthcare NZ is a national organisation, New Zealand-owned, with about 6,500 dedicated and innovative employees. We provide community-based health and disability support, including home based care for people of all ages and helping those requiring injury related and disability support to live with more independence, make their own choices and do the things they enjoy. It’s an area that I’m really passionate about.

Our training needs are very diverse. Eighty percent or more of our staff are on the ground delivering a client focused service so we put as much effort as we possibly can into them, ensuring they have all the skills and knowledge to provide excellent service including nursing and clinical expertise and support. We also focus on developing management and leadership capability as we continue to grow the organisation.

I first came in contact with NZIM on a “Thinking on your feet” course when I was working at DoC. DoC was a member of NZIM, and we attended a lot of NZIM events. I was still quite young and for me the value was in the networks. Wellington is really a village and I was learning that networks are incredibly powerful. I made some very valuable contacts through those events and this is a theme that has continued throughout my career.

Following working overseas and returning to Wellington, I worked for Wellington Zoo. As the sole HR person, this is where I really appreciated NZIM’s networking events. Not only did I enjoy meeting people, it was a great forum to link with other managers and HR professionals, with whom I could bounce ideas around and stay in tune with the market place. That’s when I became involved with the Young Professionals

Network (YPN) as a committee member.YPN is still growing. Our events attract new

people and younger graduates who are interested in developing themselves in leadership and management. We run at least five events a year, aiming to bring people together from different walks of life and provide them with opportunities talk about the issues they have in common, because regardless of whether you’re in finance, marketing or HR, many of the challenges are the same. We’re exploring those challenges and trying to expose members to the skills they will need to be successful in future management or leadership roles.

YPN focuses on people in the first 15 years of their career, but we also want to build links between them and the more experienced NZIM members, who have so much fantastic knowledge to share. In Wellington there are lots of other networking groups but in the young professionals space a lot of them are socially focused. The benefit of our network is that because we are closely linked to NZIM there’s experience and structure to draw on, and members can get exposure to courses and other NZIM events.

Being part of the YPN and chairing the YPN committee is fantastic development for me personally. It fits with my interest in career development plus the things our members want to talk about are the things I want to hear about too.

Managers have been so influential in my career. A bad manager can be bad but a good manager can be amazing. I’ve really taken that on board in the management roles I’ve had, and been very conscious of the effect leadership can have on other people’s careers - and lives. My style of management has always been more of a coach, leading alongside people and fostering a team environment. You don’t need to be an expert in everything to be a good manager. It’s fine to hire people who are more experienced in some areas than you are... that’s a sign of a good leader, recognising people’s skills and using them.

Reflecting on my career journey so far, I’ve learnt that climbing the ladder isn’t always the only way to build your leadership/management skill base. For me it’s more than simply being in HR or in a certain position, it’s about being passionate about what you do and working in an organisation that will challenge your thinking and how you approach things. Focusing your career this way will ensure that you are not only always building on your leadership capability but will have a much more enjoyable journey.

INSPIRING MANAGERSOur aim is to build management capability through membership, development and research.

OUR FOCUS IS TO:•Researchleadingmanagementtrends

and practice and promote a constantly developing model of best management capability for New Zealand.

•Enablemanagersandaspiringmanagers to participate in learning programmes, mentoring, and events that provide the information and experience they need to develop their capability.

•Identifyleadingmanagementrolemodels and provide awards that recognise the career and educational achievements of managers.

NZIM Inc CEO: Kevin Gaunt FNZIM, FAIMEmail [email protected]

Auckland OfficesContact: Tait GrindleyPO Box 6600, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141Ph 0-9-303 9100, 0800 800 NZIMEmail [email protected] www.nzim.co.nz

Wellington OfficesContact: Shaun SheldrakePO Box 11781, Wellington 6142Ph 0-4-495 8300, 0800 800 NZIMEmail [email protected] www.nzim.co.nz

NZIM SouthernRegional Director: Michael Weusten FNZIMCEO: Joseph Thomas AFNZIMPO Box 13044, Christchurch 8141Ph 0-3-379 2302, Fax 0-3-357 8003Email [email protected] www.nzimsouthern.co.nz








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NZ Management June 2012

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Transcript of NZ Management June 2012