Management April 2011 by mediaweb

Two major new series

Responsible governance • Finance & the economy

management.co.nz

KEA’S WORLD CLASS NZ AWARDS

Kea’s World Class NZ Awards PAGE 18

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Sir Stephen Tindall’s bold vision

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Mediaweb, publisher of NZ Management and AdMedia, congratulates DDB and its CEO Sandy Moore, winner of the Agency of the Year and CEO of the Year awards at this year’s Fairfax AdMedia Agency of the Year awards. The judges noted Moore’s energy, hands-on management style, ability to lead from the front, immense personal popularity, business acumen and crucial relationships with key clients – all the qualities of a successful leader.

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Agency of the Year: DDB Indie Agency: Special Group Media Agency: DraftFCB Direct & Interactive: Affinity ID CEO of the Year: Sandy Moore (DDB) Wild Card Special Award: Geoff Ross (42 Below) NZ Post AdMedia Advertising Hall of Fame: Ross Goldsack

Leaving a legacy

he sobering events of recent months serve as salutary reminders that we are but passing travellers for a very brief moment in time on the surface of our planet. No matter how clever we’ve become, ultimately Mother Nature will have her way – as she has for many millions of years. People search for meaning in the wake of the catastrophes our fellow inhabitants are experiencing. We may simply have entered a period of environmental instability that could shape our existence for some time. This is not a palatable concept after several thousand years of a relatively stable environment – give or take a major volcanic eruption or two. In the face of events beyond our control, we can adapt; that is our greatest survival tool. But for those of us directly untouched by any of the recent disasters, and even those who’ve survived them, it behoves us all to make the very best of our time here. Great examples of Kiwis who live that mantra are the recipients of the Kea World Class New Zealand Awards – the subjects of this month’s cover story. Kea, the global expat network, celebrates its 10th birthday this year, and the awards, their eighth anniversary. Co-founder Sir Stephen Tindall (page 18) used his early commercial success as a platform for philanthropic work and to establish Kea and nurture its impressive growth through its first decade. Kea has turned a negative statistic – New Zealand’s world-leader status in the number of highly-skilled expats per capita who’ve travelled and remained overseas to pursue career opportunities – into a positive. The Kea network has claimed 30,000 of these expats as ambassadors – of whom at least half plan to return to New Zealand someday – promoting Kiwi products, services and connections.

This is a potent, well-connected resource, across almost every conceivable sector and discipline, to have at our disposal. The World Class New Zealand Award winners are not all household names here (pages 21-29). Several have had distinguished careers overseas, but all have maintained close links to their homeland and feel a responsibility to promote its interests. As in previous years, they cover the gamut from science, technology and medicine to commerce, academia and the creative arts. It’s an impressive line-up. Their stories are exemplars for all who aspire to leave a positive legacy. In this issue you will find the first in two significant new series for NZ Management magazine. On page 32, Reg Birchfield’s article on Abano Healthcare introduces the series on Responsible Governance, addressing the issues that are examined during the judging of the Kensington Swan Responsible Governance award for the annual Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Companies Awards. And in response to market feedback that there is insufficient thoughtful and in-depth analysis of financial and economic issues that impact the management of businesses, we introduce our Finance and the Economy series. The first is a provocative piece, again by Birchfield, on page 36, examining the poor personal investment skills of managers. We hope you find this month’s package an interesting read and, as always, welcome your feedback.

Toni Myers, Publisher

www.management.co.nz a mediaweb magazine publisher Toni Myers ACTING EDITOR Ruth Le Pla editor@management.co.nz CONSULTING EDITOR & WRITER-AT-LARGE Reg Birchfield CONTRIBUTORS Steve Best, Bob Edlin, Nick Grant, Libby Gudmundsson, Colin James, Peter Neilson, Peter Tynan, Amanda Fifield Advertising Manager Clara Iqbal 09-271 3711, 021-930 887, admanager@management.co.nz DESIGNER Fran Marshall COPY & WEB EDITOR Gill Prentice production MANAGER Fran Marshall franm@mediaweb.co.nz NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS www.management.co.nz/subscribe Subscription enquiries subs@mediaweb.co.nz

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Vol 58 No 3 • ISSN 1174-5339 (Print), 1179-3910 (Online)

APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 1

contents 18 Cover Story

Kea’s World Class NZ Awards The Kea global network acknowledges the bold vision of co-founder Sir Stephen Tindall at this year’s World Class New Zealand Awards and celebrates the passion and patriotism of the 2011 winners. By Steve Best. 1

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

INBOX: News and views

AS I SEE IT: Divya Dhar

FOCUS: The Asia New Zealand Foundation hosts a preview of the Auckland Lantern Festival and The 2011 Leadership New Zealand Programme Launch.

NZIM: Stumped for answers – Management’s MCI score still too low. Reg Birchfield

Execs on the move

50 EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT

OPINION 11 SUSTAINABILITY: Shocking times, great opportunities. Peter Neilson 14 POLITICS: How to mix old and new friends. Colin James 15 ECONOMICS: Quakes’ economic aftershocks. Bob Edlin 17 BOOKCASE: Decision Points; Macrowikinomics: Rebooting business and the world. Reg Birchfield, Ruth Le Pla

ADVICE 48 EXEC HEALTH: The importance of resilience. Peter Tynan

APRIL 2011 • Vol 58 No 3

features 32

Launching two major new series: Responsible governance Finance and the economy

➨

32 Responsible governance: Abano Healthcare – A healthy concern for strong governance

➨

Global statistics suggest New Zealand’s top companies are behind the eight ball when it comes to meeting accepted global criteria for ethical and responsible governance, and senior management practices. The chair and managing director of Abano Healthcare explain to Reg Birchfield what responsible governance means to them.

36 Finance and the economy: Good managers – bad investors Many very accomplished New Zealand managers make a poor fist of handling their personal investments. Reg Birchfield reports.

40 Keith Reynolds: People-centric manager

An engineer’s mindset underpins the management philosophy of Keith Reynolds, group CEO of Beca, the 2010 Deloitte/ Management magazine Company of the Year. Nick Grant reports.

43 Presentation technology: Get smart

Smaller, lighter, faster, more cost-effective. Presentation technology continues to improve, reports Libby Gudmundsson.

46 Taste of success

Multiple award-winning food manufacturer Tasti Foods believes calculated risks are the secret to strong growth, Amanda Fifield finds.

51 NZIM’s Focus On Management The changing role of the H&S manager; Member comment from Andy Graves; Regional news; Upcoming management courses.

inbox Skills training boosts business

n 24 months Hamilton-based engineering firm Longveld Engineering has doubled milk tanker production through workplace literacy training. King Salmon’s Nelson plant took just a year to increase first-grade salmon production by 25 percent

with skills training. Two of the country’s largest construction firms, Fletcher Construction and Downer, have boosted business productivity and performance across the board after four years of literacy training. These are just four examples of many Kiwi companies using

workplace literacy training to improve their bottom line. Research shows about four in every 10 New Zealand employees have difficulties with reading, maths and communication. The country’s poor adult literacy rates have long been considered a serious issue that costs business through accidents and injuries, high wastage, mistakes, missed deadlines and low productivity. Longveld managing director Les Roa (pictured) is a strong advocate of workplace literacy training. “I’ve made it top priority at Longveld – and I’d encourage other business leaders to do the same. “You just need to get your head around it as a business and make it work. I believe businesses can’t afford not to do it. They need to see it as an investment, not a cost. That’s because the payback is enormous,” he says. Longveld introduced training in 2008 for employees who speak English as a second language. Migrants from Sri Lanka,

Bangladesh, South Africa, Fiji, Wales and India make up a third of the company’s workforce. The programme taught form filling, matching safety signs with words and simple numeracy. It was later adapted to suit the company’s New Zealand-born employees, particularly tradesmen who missed out on the basics at school and staff keen to become leaders. “Before training we would have found it difficult to build more than three milk tankers a week. In the past year, we’ve built seven per week – an improvement I attribute to better communication among my staff and improved literacy and numeracy skills.” Today, all Longveld employees undergo a literacy and numeracy skills assessment before starting an apprenticeship, industry-based training or going on to tertiary-level business training. M • For more information on skills training see www.skillshighway. govt.nz/ind

good things for its people and customers.” Professor Zorn’s paper “Meaningful work and workplace wellbeing” is one of a suite of five part-time university papers with a practical focus, aimed at graduates who are already in the workforce. Each is taught through a two-hour

weekly lecture, scheduled for late afternoon or early evening to suit working people. The papers are being offered throughout the year by the Waikato Management School’s Department of Management Communication. M • For more information contact Professor Zorn on tzorn@waikato.ac.nz

Positive practices

ptimism, compassion, hope and gratitude are not typically what come to mind for managers in thinking about strategies for organisational success. But recent studies show that these and other “positive practices” not only enhance workplace wellbeing, but can also help the bottom line. Waikato Management School’s professor Ted Zorn (pictured) is offering a postgraduate paper that focuses on these issues, and says it makes sense that if people are more fulfilled in their work, they’ll be more engaged and committed to the organisation. “Two recent international surveys show significant effects of these sorts of positive practices on a whole

4 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

range of organisational effectiveness measures, including staff retention, customer satisfaction and financial performance,” says Zorn, who’s an international authority on management communication. In the paper, he won’t just focus on how to get people to work harder. He says he plans to dig deep into what people are really looking for – what they consider meaningful work and what role that plays in life satisfaction. “You can’t start with the premise that you’re looking for ways to manipulate people,” he says. “Authenticity is one of the key things people are looking for in meaningful work – an organisation that they believe is sincerely trying to achieve

On a lighter note

ow you light your workplace can boost productivity, staff engagement, and health and safety performance. So says a “Lighting, Wellbeing and Performance at Work” study commissioned by Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (Philips). Carried out by City University London’s Centre for Performance at Work, the study is the most comprehensive review ever undertaken of research into the impact of lighting on workers. The review found: • Workplaces need to be redesigned to cope with the extensive use of technology, the growing emphasis on knowledge-intensive work, and rapid increases in globalisation and workplace diversity.

Confused about carbon?

elp is on the way for anyone who is still hazy on the details of what carbon units will mean to them. The Greenhouse Policy Coalition has produced a brochure describing how carbon units work under the NZETS. It’s written for business people and members of the public who are trying to understand how the ETS works. You can download the brochure from the coalition’s website: http:// www.greenhousepolicy.org.nz/Site/ Information/ M

• Lighting is one of the critical factors that combine to create healthy work environments that in turn help promote employee engagement, wellbeing and measurable productivity gains. • Worker-controlled lighting and lighting solutions tailored to the individual needs of workers have considerable potential for enhancing employees’ work satisfaction and retention. • Investing in workplace lighting can contribute to greater employee wellbeing and performance as well as a reduction of employee stress, absenteeism and industrial accidents. • Discussion and decisions about the role of lighting on employee wellbeing and performance need to be central to strategic decisions

about organisational performance, and therefore need to be initiated at board level in order to secure the commitment of the senior management team. Philips specialises in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting. At Gateshead Council in the UK, the company has set up a dynamic lighting system that mimics natural rhythms. Throughout the day, the lighting changes in brightness and warmth, to ensure employees’ biorhythms stay in tune with the natural cycle of the world beyond the office walls. When the same system was trialled in schools in the UK, it showed that different lighting options can increase classroom performance, enhancing reading speed, and decreasing concentration-related errors and hyperactive behaviour. M

Calling all leaders

he Sir Peter Blake Trust is looking for nominations for the 2011 Leadership Awards. These identify the achievements of leaders who add value to our nation. The Blake Medal celebrates a New Zealander who has made an outstanding contribution to the country. The Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award recognises and encourages six younger leaders of considerable potential. The Awards will be presented on 1 July, the first day of the Sir Peter Blake Trust Leadership Week (1–8 July). For more information and to request nomination forms, contact programme director Siobhan O’Kane on Siobhan@ sirpeterblaketrust.org or check out www.sirpeterblaketrust.org. Nominations close on 26 April 2011. M

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inbox Readers with drive

ew Zealand Post’s Fiona Woolley got to test both her nerve and her driving skills after winning the BMW driving course competition which ran in the December issue of NZ Management. Woolley, who is NZ Post’s manager – market engagement, targeted communications, joined a group of drivers at the Hampton Downs race track checking out a fleet of BMWs including 3 Series, Z4 and M3 sports vehicles. She says hurtling around the course on the Hot Lap gave her a whole new respect for race drivers. “I didn’t realise until I was actually in the car with one just how impressive their timing and skills are. It also put my earlier amateur efforts on the track firmly in their place. “Highlights included being asked to drive at 80km/h, take my hands off the wheel and trust the car to go in a straight line while I stamped down on the ABS brakes: a leap of faith that paid off.” For Woolley, the course reinforced the interconnect between driving speed and braking distance required. “There have been enough ads and articles telling us this but we don’t always allow safe distances. Being in a car at speed and trying to stop within a prescribed distance on this course certainly drove that point home to me.” BMW Group New Zealand communications manager Ed Finn says NZ Management readers are “sophisticated and discerning individuals who know quality and refinement”. “They’re a perfect fit for BMW.” M • For one executive’s personal experience and some great pix go to www.management. co.nz.

World Economic Forum spots Kiwi

iwi entrepreneur Mitchell Pham has been selected as a World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Global Leader. He says that when he fled Vietnam as a young refugee, he didn’t expect to one day gain this prestigious annual award. Pham is co-founder and director of technology group AUGEN, and the international development director for the group’s AugenASIA and AugenHEALTH/ NGO divisions. He’s also a board member of Refugee Services Aotearoa, a member of the Action Asia Advisory Group of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, and an Asia 21 fellow and associate fellow of the Asia Society. The WEF’s Global Young Leaders must be under the age of 40, have a record of extraordinary achievement in leadership roles and have demonstrated their commitment to society. The award also recognises recipients’ potential to shape the future of the world through inspiring leadership. M • www.weforum.org • NZ Management featured Pham in its As I See It column on page 11 of last month’s issue.

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Deals on wheels

axi billing solutions provider TaxiCharge NZ has completed the largest mobile point of sale (POS) project in the country with the installation of the latest state-of-the-art terminals to 800 taxis in the Auckland area. TaxiCharge is New Zealand’s only specialist taxi billing solution for companies and their managers and employees who use taxis on a regular basis. The installation included the technology and protocols to comply with international EMV (Eurocard, MasterCard and Visa) standards for credit cards which must be met by June 1 this year. The fleets will also be fully prepared with the latest payment facilities to cope with the large influx of visitors to the country for the Rugby World Cup later in the year. TaxiCharge chief executive Mark Lines says the technology brings multiple benefits, including greater visibility to transaction reporting and the ability to process total mobility cards. “All POS transactions are processed in real time which provides the customers with the security of knowing that the opportunity for any fraudulent activity is greatly reduced.” The terminals also have the potential to accept radio frequency ID (RFID) technology cards such as access and other chip cards. The Auckland project follows 56 terminal installations in Invercargill and in 675 vehicles in Wellington. M

Nominations please

Z Management and global management consultancy Hay Group are launching this year’s search for our country’s most reputable organisations. Conducted in May by Hay Group, the survey gathers input from business leaders across New Zealand to identify what makes an organisation reputable and why. Participants are asked to nominate organisations and rate them on reputational factors. These range from having strong and effective leadership, to the role they play in contributing to the wider New Zealand community. To find out more about the survey and how you can participate, contact Hay Group on 09 921 5900 or visit www.haygroup.co.nz The results will be published in NZ Management’s September issue. M

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inbox Executive Pulse

Bend it like a Kiwi

usiness decision makers are 12.8 percent more likely to have more than two passenger vehicles at home. Some 65.3 percent of business people have two or more vehicles in their households, compared with 58.4 percent of all New Zealanders surveyed. How many passenger vehicles (cars and light vans) are owned in your household? SENIOR Business All New Zealand decision makers A. 1

36.6%

33.5%

B. 2

39.3%

44.1%

C. 3

13.8%

15.3%

D. 4

3.3%

3.1%

E. 5

0.8%

1.8%

F. 6 or more

1.2%

0.9%

G. none

5.0%

1.2%

Source: ShapeNZ Dec 14, 2010, to February 11, 2011. National online weighted survey of 2094 respondents and sub group of 537 business executives, managers, professionals, proprietors and self employed. Maximum margin of error +/2.1%. www.shapenz.org.nz, www.nzbcsd.org.nz ShapeNZ is operated by the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development.

riday night drinks are fine, but what working Kiwis really want is flexible working hours. So say the 1139 people who responded to the latest Watercooler poll on seek.co.nz. An overwhelming 61 percent of respondents listed flexible working hours as their favourite non-monetary job perk. The poll, which asked respondents what their favourite non-monetary employment benefit would be, found that after flexible working hours, 28 percent of Kiwis would like the chance to take training and development courses, six percent want Friday night drinks, and just five percent chose subsidised lunches. “Kiwis particularly value having a degree of flexibility in their working hours. In many cases, this allows them to combine a career with other aspects of their life that are important to them,” comments Janet Faulding, general manager of Seek New Zealand. Technology has enabled employers to offer more in the way of flexible working. Portable workstations, smartphones and remote access mean that employees are now able to log on and work from home or in different offices. “Firms that tailor their employee benefit schemes to meet the individual needs of their employees are also likely to see increased levels of engagement and motivation,” says Faulding. “The perfect package is not just about pay and the more firms recognise this, the more they are likely to succeed in attracting, retaining and motivating good staff.” M

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AS I SEE IT M

Divya Dhar Last year’s Inaugural Young New Zealander of the Year Dr Divya Dhar believes we must better harness our talent for innovation. What’s the one big thing that today’s leaders could do to make a real difference for tomorrow’s New Zealanders? Simply, more R&D. New Zealand is a small country but full of capable, smart and talented people. Best of all, we have an incredible attitude to innovation. I think we need to formalise this, and streamline science and business. Since we are small I believe for us to keep a pace with a strong growth rate we need to get serious about research and development, and generate some niche markets. We need to create a R&D hub, where innovative, creative and scientific-minded people want to live, work and play. And then we need to pick some industries for them to do this in. I think we should be backing the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. With the rise of Asia, there is a huge role these industries could be playing there. I don’t believe this role will peak for another 10 to 15 years. But if we want to benefit from it, we need to be strategic, and start to develop the infrastructure and hubs for it now. What needs to change for them to do this? We need to start thinking collaboratively and strategically. We need to rethink our partners and areas of growth and realise if we are to engage with Asia old methods of interactions won’t work. This requires competencies in a collaborative leadership style which can manage cross-sector and trans-national conversations. We need serious funding in creating this hub which brings in key players from overseas to New Zealand and uses this to attract our highly educated and talented recent graduates to stay in New Zealand. How hopeful are you that you will see such changes in your lifetime? Very hopeful. I certainly believe if we don’t make these changes, we will continue to fall down on our OECD rankings and lose our best talent overseas. M

APRIL 2011

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M focus

The Asia New Zealand Foundation hosts a preview of the Auckland Lantern Festival: 1. Ben van Delden (KPMG) and the Rt Hon Sir Don McKinnon (Asia:NZ trustee). 2. Elizabeth Thomson (Auckland Girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Grammar School), Vanessa Lee (Asia New Zealand Foundation) and Christopher Hawley (AUT University). 3. Greg Roebuck (New Lynn Primary School), Alice Wang (Asia:NZ young leader) and Charlie Gao (Asia:NZ young leader). 4. Louise Pether (Auckland Art Gallery) and Hanna Scott (independent curator).

The 2011 Leadership New Zealand Programme Launch: 5, 6. Talented young opera singers Marlena Devoe and Darren Pene Pati. 7. Bob Harvey (Leadership NZ). 8. Sir Paul Reeves (Leadership NZ). 9. Louise Marra (Ministry of Economic Development). 10. 2011 programme participants. 11. Leadership NZâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Megan Barclay, Bob Harvey, and Jo Brosnahan.

10 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

peter neilson MANAGING SUSTAINABLY M

Shocking times, great opportunities

he best of business came out at the worst of times. As Canterbury and the country shook off the shock of the $16 billion February 22 earthquake, business immediately showed the vital role it can play in society, and society for business. Companies donated millions of dollars, trucked in water, and worked around the clock to secure power and water supplies, restore services, and re-establish supermarket and fuel supply lines. They trucked hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubble and sand to landfill. They took care of the sick and accommodated those displaced in a city which may lose 10,000 of 190,000 damaged homes. To keep staff in work some firms relocated them to centres as far north as Auckland. The not-for-profit sector helped thousands to cope and is passing out millions of dollars in donations and other services, caring for both body and soul. Meantime, the Government, by week two, was topping up salaries for more than 6500 firms to keep alive the vital connection between employers and employees. These extreme circumstances gave us a stunning view of how central and local government, the community and business can work together. Some would argue they must work together: that here is massive potential in having the three sectors work together to overcome, and prevent, the suffering and costs that stem from social failure. Recently, the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development published three reports arising from its two-year research project into the social role of business. Since then the Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett has agreed with one of its main findings: there can be a better way to ensure business plays a greater role in setting social

investment priorities, and to coordinate the efforts of Government, business and the not-for-profit sectors. As the reports said, the cost to taxpayers of a single chronic adolescent male is $3 million over his working life. As the minister told Business Council members at a March breakfast, about 12,000 of the 65,000 five year-olds who went excitedly to their first day at school this year will emerge, still illiterate, as teenagers. The cost of poverty and deprivation is high: the Government is spending about 75 percent of its $43 billion a year in social sector spending on “social protection”, providing income support and services for those unable to look after themselves. The number of people of working age on a benefit has risen from two percent in 1960 to 13 percent in 2010. New Zealand ranks 29th of 30 OECD countries for youth unemployment and almost 30 percent of the jobless here are aged 15 to 19, compared with 12 percent in OECD countries. Yet people moving from benefits to work enjoy real earnings growth over time. New Zealand ranks bottom in the OECD on child poverty. While New Zealanders’ health and life expectancy are good, males in the least deprived areas could expect to live 8.9 years longer than those in the most deprived areas and the single most important determinant of health is income. A child growing up in poverty is three times more likely to get sick. It would be far better that some of

this spending goes to “social investment” to tackle these issues and that a way is found to allow more businesses to, as the minister says, “do no harm, do good and take part in society”. While firms might be uneasy about getting directly involved in helping organisations deal with tough social issues like child abuse and family violence, a clearing house service which allowed them and their staff to be more hands-on in providing time, skills and management experience might be worth considering. So the Business Council has secured funding from the Tindall Foundation which will now be used to scope what form such a coordinating service or organisation might take. Paula Bennett says she doesn’t think the Government should run it or legislate for it. That would send the wrong signals. But join it, support it and work with it? She says yes. We may indeed unleash the power of business to do even more good in our society. M Peter Neilson is chief executive of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development. www.nzbcsd.org.nz

APRIL 2011

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NZIM / PERFORMANCE

Stumped for answers

Management’s MCI score still too low NZIM’s latest Management Capability Index survey suggests that after seven years of less than average performance, we may at last be heading in the right direction. Reg Birchfield reports.

here are some interesting similarities between New Zealand cricketers and managers. Individually they offer so much promise. Collectively they struggle to consistently give anything like 100 percent of their potential. For our managers, however, world competition is an everyday event. Even the prospect of a challenging struggle out of recession proved insufficient motivation to stir the nation’s managers from their corporate complacency this year. Or at least, that is what the New Zealand Institute of Management’s 2010 Management Capability Index (MCI), a kind of executive skills, abilities and competencies scorecard, suggests. As the name indicates, the MCI provides an annual tracking and assessment of management capability in New Zealand. It was developed in 2003 by former NZIM national president and author of two best-selling books on corporate governance, Doug Matheson. It has been conducted most years since and is now also used by other countries, including India, Canada and

12 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

Malaysia, to measure their management performance. The MCI reflects the chief executive’s assessment of his or her organisation. And, as Matheson points out, by measuring capability rather than just an individual’s ability to perform in a particular job or position – competency – “we move up a level in our measurement of what organisations are capable of”. In six of the original nine criteria measured in the index, Kiwi managers slipped on 2009 scores. The overall score NEW ZEALAND MCI

was salvaged only by the inclusion of a new category, integrity and corporate governance, in which the nation’s companies scored very well indeed. But even with that score, the MCI lifted only infinitesimally from 73.23 in 2009 to 73.33 last year. The capabilities measured by the MCI include visionary and strategic leadership; performance leadership; people leadership; financial management; organisation capability; the application of technology and knowledge; external relationships; in-

% WEIGHT 2003 2006 2007 2009 2010

1. Visionary & Strategic Leadership 15 2. Performance Leadership 10 3. People Leadership 10 4. Financial Management 10 5. Organisation Capability 5 6. Application of Technology & Knowledge 5 7. External Relationships 5 8. Innovation – Products & Services 10 9. Integrity & Corporate Governance 5 10. Results & Comparative Performance 25 NZ MCI – (Note: Cat 9 added 2010)

65.27 69.11 64.94 74.42 62.63 67.15 72.79 63.69 – 63.75 66.23

67.07 69.56 67.50 78.49 66.90 69.67 73.10 64.50 – 66.83 68.59

68.16 68.05 71.99 76.56 70.14 70.60 73.62 65.21 – 65.60 68.80

73.01 75.71 74.58 80.87 73.57 71.52 76.64 68.75 – 70.82 73.23

MCI totals have been adjusted to reflect some differences in the survey sample used in previous years.

70.93 72.56 74.65 82.65 72.44 71.40 75.33 70.00 86.05 69.77 73.33

novation – products and services; integrity and corporate governance; and results and comparative performance. Together, these rankings provide the overall capability index. Matheson’s rationalisation for measuring these particular activities is embedded in his belief that they drive profitable business growth or the equivalent in noncommercial organisations. The drivers have different weightings depending on importance and each measure is scored on a scale of 100. A score of less than 80 suggests management of that particular capability needs attention. (See chart.) Taking the long view, New Zealand managers have lifted their game since NZIM started compiling its index. Scores were generally well below par, settled in the 60s. This year, only the collective results and comparative performance category failed to make it into the 70s. Why bother with an index? Because, says Matheson, New Zealand needs to benchmark its management performance. And, as last year’s government-sponsored Management Matters research showed, to compete more effectively on the world stage New Zealand must lift its management capability. When NZIM started compiling the index the results showed that Kiwi managers performed at little more than two thirds of their potential. They have lifted that performance closer to 75 percent in the past seven years but, the margin between potential and actual is, according to Matheson, still too great to deliver significantly improved economic and social benefits. Reviewing this year’s results, Matheson says he thought leadership and management would refocus their capability to ensure results and performance as a counter to the economic downturn, and global financial and general market uncertainty. The 2010 Index covers the impact of the financial recession on management capability. But things didn’t improve much between 2009 and 2010. On the other hand, a lift from 66.23 in 2003 to 73.33 last year is solid progress. It is a new plateau, even

if it is still some way from the 80 level Matheson thinks will start to make an impact nationally. The fact is, New Zealand slipped in six of the 10 categories now included in the index and “while the improvement in capability over the seven years is good”, says Matheson, “a score of 70 is just too low. And we must be concerned that visionary and strategic leadership, and performance leadership both declined in 2010.” Financial management has always scored highest in the MCI. At 82.6 it is still up there. “New Zealand management continues to be weakest in results and comparative performance, innovation – products and services, and visionary and strategic leadership,” says Matheson. “And these three are critical capabilities for the future. There is real potential to improve New Zealand’s performance by focusing on these.” NZIM Northern chief executive Kevin Gaunt says the feedback NZIM got while compiling the index this year was mixed. “The general impression seemed to be that management energy went into survival rather than stimulating new ideas and innovation,” he said. Gaunt thinks the recession seriously impacted management confidence and performance. They had to grapple with uncertainty of a magnitude they had not encountered before and, “when the chips are down the bottom line becomes the essential focus”. He suspects this reality is reflected in the 2010 survey results. He says the decision to include integrity and corporate governance in the MCI was prompted by the need to examine factors which caused the recession. “It is also a move to meet the needs of generation Y managers who want to work in an environment they find engaging.” Like Matheson, Gaunt warns that the overall MCI message is that New Zealand management is still “too comfortable” and must lift its game. “Otherwise New Zealand will continue to slide toward third world status,” he adds. M Reg Birchfield is NZ Management’s consulting editor and writer-at-large.

LEADERS BUILDING LEADERS Our aim is to build management capability through Research, Learning, and Recognition. Our focus is to: • Research leading management trends and practice and promote a constantly developing model of best management capability for New Zealand. • Enable managers and aspiring managers to participate in learning programmes, mentoring, and events that provide the information and experience they need to develop their capability. • To identify leading management role models and provide awards that recognise the career and educational achievements of managers. NATIONAL BOARD Phillip Meyer FNZIM (Chairman) BRIAN SOUTAR AFNZIM Gary Sturgess Life FNZIM Lloyd Davies FNZIM John Sandford FNZIM Cheryl Doig fnzim Lynda Carroll AFNZIM OFFICES National Office Acting ceo phillip meyer fnzim Box 67, Wellington 6140 Ph 0-4-473 0470, Fax 0-4-473 0479 Email national_office@nzim.co.nz National website http://www.nzim.co.nz Northern President: John Sandford FNZIM CEO: KEVIN GAUNT FNZIM, FAIM Box 6600, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141 Ph 0-9-303 9100, Fax 0-9-303 9109 Email kevin_gaunt@nzimnorthern.co.nz Website www.nzimnorthern.co.nz Central President: Phillip Meyer FNZIM CEO: Karin Callaghan FNZIM, FIPAA Box 11781, Wellington 6142 Ph 0-4-495 8300, Fax 0-4-495 8301 Email karin_callaghan@nzimcentral.co.nz Website www.nzimcentral.co.nz Southern President: BRIAN SOUTAR AFNZIM CEO: Joseph Thomas AFNZIM Box 13044, Christchurch 8141 Ph 0-3-379 2302, Fax 0-3-366 7069 Email joseph@nzimsouthern.co.nz Website www.nzimsouthern.co.nz

NZIM Foundation Chairperson: David Moloney FNZIM Secretary: Jim Thomson PO Box 67 Wellington, Ph 0-4-473 0470 national_office@nzim.co.nz

APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 13

M politics colin james

How to mix old and new friends

pril is Australia-New Zealand month, with China thrown in – a variation on February, which was Australia-New Zealand-United States month. That highlights the external priorities which New Zealand has to balance in the 2010s. New Zealand has regular “track 2” forums with Australia (the oldest, formed in 2004), the United States and Japan. They bring together business and other sector leaders, officials and ministers. They are unofficial, aimed at deepening connections and building a joint constituency for action on bilateral matters and combined actions abroad. The United States forum was meeting in Christchurch on February 22, the day of the devastating aftershock. Bonding took a novel turn at lunch: under the table. Also interrupted were the third trilateral talks at high official level, including Australia. The first – and only – topic covered was a rundown of the United States’ latest analysis of China. The Australian forum next meets on April 8-9 in Auckland. It will be preceded by a semi-academic conference on China, Australia and New Zealand: the different interests, perspectives and outlooks. Last year’s Otago University’s annual foreign policy school conference was on China and the bilateral relationship. Now there are ambitions to put together a “track 2” forum with China. This China syndrome illustrates the sea change in New Zealand’s external relations. It will require tricky navigation. First, there is the close relationship with Australia, affirmed by Julia Gillard’s February visit. The economies and societies are deeply intertwined. Anzac Day this month reminds us of that. But there is also a big difference. Australia’s strategic policy centres tightly on its military alliance with the United States, an alliance which plugged it automatically

14 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

Deeply intertwined: Australian PM Julia Gillard visits New Zealand.

into the Iraq invasion. It thinks itself a serious power. Its defence white paper two years ago called China a potential threat. Australia cannot get traction in its bid to match New Zealand’s free trade agreement (FTA) with China. That FTA owes much to New Zealand’s multilateral, non-alliance-based foreign and strategic policy. In turn, Australia has an FTA with the United States (although a heavily qualified one) which is attributable to the goodwill forged by their alliance. New Zealand lost that goodwill when it went anti-nuclear. The United States took that as a grave affront and threw New Zealand out of the then three-way Anzus alliance. The gush from the Christchurch forum in February was that the United States connection is back to deep and cosy. Except for a formal alliance and for not being granted annual ministerial meetings, the rift is completely healed. A good part of the reason is the United States’ need for friends with like values in the South Pacific, where China has long been buying and building influence. New Zealand’s special relationships in Polynesia and easier acceptance than Australia in Melanesia are valuable to a power play Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has

labelled “unbelievable” competition. From New Zealand’s (and Australia’s) perspective, the United States’ reengagement in Asia – it is now a member of the East Asia Summit – is important and, John Key says, very welcome. New Zealand shares Singapore’s desire for a counterweight to China in the region. But factor in China’s greater importance as a trading partner than the United States. Add that China’s heavyweight buying of Australia’s minerals keeps that country rich and its exchange rate high which boosts our manufacturing sales in Australia. Then note that the big advantage of the FTA is access to the people behind the border who can sort out problems. That adds up to a caution: getting snug in bed with the United States, especially if as a cuddly threesome with Australia, might blow a light chill through our door into the world’s No 1 economic superpower in the making. Singapore’s positioning is carefully calibrated. Is New Zealand’s? It’s great to be back with an old friend – just so long as it doesn’t miff the new one. M Colin James is New Zealand’s leading political commentator and NZ Management’s regular political columnist. ColinJames@synapsis.co.nz

Bob Edlin economics M

Quakes’ economic aftershocks

he Christchurch earthquake imparted the greater shock – by far – for the economy in FebruaryMarch. But uncertainties about oil supplies resulting from political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa were having adverse repercussions, too. The Institute of Economic Research accordingly predicted sparse growth this year because of a “noxious mix” of spiking global petrol and food prices along with the impact of the second Christchurch earthquake. It revised down its 2011 growth forecast from 2.3 percent to 0.3 percent. Around half the revision was from underlying weakness in the economy. The Reserve Bank rightly reminded us that the full economic impact of the earthquake will be much larger than GDP statistics show. GDP measures production, and makes no allowance for damage or depreciation to an economy’s capital stock. In Christchurch’s case, much of that stock had been destroyed. The Treasury, meanwhile, was reckoning the costs of the earthquake would run to between $10 to $15 billion. The impacts, however, will be felt for years. Among them will be the effects of reprioritising government spending plans. These could be a blessing in disguise. The reprioritising gives good grounds for looking again at the benefits from hefty public investments in, for example, the Auckland rail loop, the Transmission Gully project and faster broadband. But, more immediately, output from Canterbury is being lost and reconstruction from the previous earthquake delayed. Consumer and business confidence will be bruised. Forecasting (a dubious business at the best of times) becomes much more complicated in these circumstances. An American study of the long-term business recovery from the Loma Prieta

earthquake and Hurricane Andrew, found the long-term recovery experiences of businesses were affected by various factors. Among them: the economic sector in which a business operates, its age and financial condition, and the scope of its primary market; direct and indirect disaster impacts, including physical damage, forced closure, and disruption of operations; and owner perceptions of the broader economic climate. Uncertainty has been heightened by political events in the Middle East and North Africa. These were lifting commodity prices generally and oil prices in particular, while dragging down equity markets. The Treasury, in its analysis of February economic indicators, warned of a risk of prolonged higher oil prices (along with high commodity prices, especially for food) slowing the global recovery and increasing inflation pressures. Hence “considerable uncertainty” surrounded any set of economic predictions. Those rising prices will constrain demand and erode consumer confidence, not only in this country but among our trading partners just when we need their export revenue to help trim our huge overseas debt. Some commentators recalled how oil hit US$147 a barrel in 2008 and food prices soared, then, too. Famine and food riots spread to several countries, prohibitive prices triggered the recession

(the collapse of financial markets followed), and oil prices fell only when the recession stifled demand. The Reserve Bank’s response to the earthquake and the slowdown it instigated was to lower the official cash rate. The resultant exchange rate easing made oil imports even more expensive. But Finance Minister Bill English was untroubled. The impacts of fuel price rises on the New Zealand economy, including impacts on GDP, consumer spending, and the current account, would be adverse, but it was too early to say by how much. The rise in prices at the pump had been boosted by recent weakness of the New Zealand dollar, but that weakness generally was beneficial to the economy. True, a sharp rise in oil prices would put pressure on households and take more resources from our economy to keep petrol and diesel flowing. But a general lift in commodity prices meant better returns for our commodity exporters as well as for imports. The net impact is measured by terms of trade. Overall, our terms of trade have lifted 25 percent in the past decade, English noted. New Zealand accordingly had been a net beneficiary from the significant increase in commodity prices, including the price of oil. M Bob Edlin is a leading economic commentator and NZ Management’s regular economics columnist.

APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 15

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BOOKCASE M

Bush fails again Decision Points By George W. Bush • Virgin Books • RRP $75

If ever a head of state needed to explain himself, the immediate past president of the United States of America, George W Bush, does. Sadly, he is as little up to this job as he was to the one he writes about. Decision Points is a biographical approach to recording Bush’s time in the White House that Bush himself says was inspired by America’s successful unionist general and 18th president, Ulysses S Grant. That he should have looked to Grant is, it seems to me, entirely appropriate. After all, when Grant was president, according to the White House’s own historical reflections on the man, he “provided neither vigor nor reform. Looking to Congress for direction, he seemed

Macrowikinomics: Rebooting business and the world By Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams • Atlantic Books • RRP $39.99

When, five years ago, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams penned their earlier book Wikinomics they were arguing that open-sourcing and mass collaboration would transform the way businesses design, manufacture and market their products and services. Now, in this latest volume, they’ve throttled ahead to apply their ideas of networked intelligence to everything from government, education and science to energy production, the media and healthcare.

bewildered. One visitor to the White House noted ‘a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms’.” It is perfectly understandable that a man who left his job with as much residual ill will as George Bush, would soon set about the process of self justification and vindication. But he fails even to do a good job of this – thus almost ensuring that the eventual verdict on his presidency will rate down with the great blunders of American presidential history. He is, on the other hand, “comfortable with the fact that I won’t be around to hear it [the verdict]”. The world, in the meantime, must grapple with the trash left when he exited the White House. The book is more infuriating than disappointing. It provides evidence of an administration that consistently failed to make the connections

between self-serving policies and farreaching global impacts. But for business readers, perhaps the most telling chapter comes near the end where, in an almost dismissive manner, he spends a little time discussing the financial crisis for which the world, and the west in particular, is paying a premium. Bush, as others have so often observed, is no intellectual, though it might be reasonable to expect that in the leader of a nation as significant as the US his people might expect just a little more nous. More importantly, and in this book it shows through, he is not much given to doubts and self-reflection either which was a problem. At the end of his book, however, he reflects on how he, as the former President of the US, is now reduced to picking up his dog Barney’s poop when he drops it on the neighbour’s lawn. Sadly, the rest of the world is left to tidy up a much greater mess. All this aside, it is important to read really bad books sometimes. So give a it go. Reg Birchfield

As they see it, many of our ‘crumbling institutions’ in these fields are straining at the seams as their hierarchical, commandand-control management systems fail to provide fast, efficient and meaningful service to large numbers of people. Why, for instance, do research papers languish unread when they could be openly shared, and learnt from, in free forums? Why does our healthcare system condemn people to suffer in isolated ignorance when they could better marshall their collective resources through sharing their ideas and experiences?

Tapscott and Williams believe we are on the cusp of adopting more effective, less proprietorial, models of collaboration in many more aspects of our lives. This, in turn, raises concerns over the ownership and reliability of information, continuing momentum, funding, sustaining levels of interest and accountability. If collaboration, openness, sharing and interdependence are your thing, this is a book for you. If they’re not, this book will unsettle your world. Either way: read it. Ruth Le Pla APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 17

COVER STORY

Kea’s Kiwis world-class

The Kea global network acknowledges the bold vision of co-founder Sir Stephen Tindall at this year’s World Class New Zealand Awards and celebrates the passion and patriotism of the 2011 winners. By Steve Best.

ir Stephen Tindall’s initial impulse to create a global network to connect expatriate New Zealanders – and harness the potential of their experience and contacts to further the success of this country – has been realised by the size and quality of Kea New Zealand’s membership today. As one of New Zealand’s most recognisable business leaders, Sir Stephen has utilised his own skills and contacts to move into spheres beyond the operation of one of our largest retail chains. He is now deeply committed to philanthropy through the Tindall Foundation, and to advancing the visibility and impact of New Zealand globally through Kea.

18 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

Dr Sue Watson, recently-appointed global CEO of Kea New Zealand, says the network aims to create a wealth of knowledge and contacts that will ultimately increase New Zealand exports, and create a more robust economy. “Over the past 10 years, Kea has built a strong network of 30,000 Kiwi expats and friends of New Zealand in 180 countries around the world,” she says. “Our key focus now is to realise the full potential of this network to help grow New Zealand’s economy, particularly through the export SME sector. “One of the ways we will do this is to extend our service offerings to inspire, fund, connect and educate New Zea-

land businesses through our network of highly-skilled, highly-experienced and well-connected expats.” Watson acknowledges that the Christchurch earthquake has fundamentally reshaped the context in which we are now all operating. “The effect it has had on New Zealanders throughout the country is evident,” she says, “but for Kiwi expats, being away from home at a time like this only magnifies the feeling of helplessness and concern. “The way in which we have seen expats take action and mobilise themselves to fundraise and support Christchurch has powerfully demonstrated the value of

the Kiwi diaspora. It has also shown me that they want to stay connected to New Zealand and they want to help.” Watson says she feels fortunate to have come to Kea at a time when the previous CEO and global board had been through an internal review and developed a global strategy designed to take the organisation into the next 10 years of its development. “This year we have a number of initiatives planned to further mobilise our network. In the coming months, we will run a census of our offshore population to gauge the level of engagement they wish to have with New Zealand. This will help us as a nation make strategic decisions about the

diaspora as a valuable national asset.” The World Class New Zealand programme, created by Kea in partnership with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, is one of the longstanding initiatives. Established in 2001, it aims to advance innovation and boost the competitiveness of the country by bringing together the many ‘world-class’ New Zealanders – and friends of New Zealand – around the world. The World Class New Zealand Awards is a core part of this programme: recognising the contribution of Kiwis overseas to the success of New Zealand, and honouring the best and brightest of those who make up the Kiwi diaspora.

This year’s winners, celebrated at a black-tie event at the Langham, Auckland on April 6, are a true reflection of the quality and diversity of New Zealanders engaged in many different endeavours. They have many things in common. All world-class figures in their various fields, they are passionate about this country and want to do all they can to leverage their unique experiences to help New Zealand grow and prosper. When NZ Management spoke with them, several referred to themselves as ‘ambassadors’, and said how honoured they were to be in a position to increase the financial and social wellbeing of this country. Their stories follow on pages 21 to 29. APRIL 2011

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COVER STORY

The power of global

connections

ea New Zealand has just turned 10 – and there is much to celebrate. Our 30,000 expats now connect back to, and engage with, New Zealand from across the globe. In the past decade there have been numerous examples of New Zealanders based offshore supporting Kiwi businesses. The power of the network is illustrated by the story of two Dunedin doctors who realised that there were not resources to explain medical conditions to young patients, so they created a series of comic books called Medikidz. The doctors approached Kea to find investors and quickly raised nearly £2 million despite the global recession. The network also provided a wealth of business contacts around the globe. And when the filming of The Hobbit looked to be in jeopardy it was a comforting sight to see New York-based New Zealander, and World Class New Zealand award winner, Mark D’Arcy was one of the movie executives who negotiated the deal to keep the movies in New Zealand. The idea behind the network came from a conversation I had with Professor David Teece at the Knowledge Wave Conference in Auckland. David is based at the University of California, Berkeley and has spent more than 30 years in the United States. It seemed to us that there was a huge amount of New Zealand human capital residing in different parts of the world who didn’t feel as engaged as they could in helping New Zealand grow and prosper. New Zealand leads the world in the number of highly-skilled expats per capita who have travelled and live in different countries because of our wonderful education system and the lack of business

20 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

opportunities at scale here. The good news is that when we surveyed our members we found that well over half of them intend to return to New Zealand. Eight years ago the government decided to acknowledge World Class New Zealanders. The first few events were modest affairs but since Kea was asked to handle this programme the gala awards ceremony has become a significant event on the New Zealand business calendar. The network of World Class New Zealanders has grown to just under 200 people who are contributing in a meaningful way to the country’s prosperity. Award recipients Professor Alan MacDiarmid, Dr Richard Mander, Andrew Lark, Dr John Hood, Peri Drysdale, Richard Taylor and Professor Richard Faull are all true leaders in their fields globally. In the next 10 years Kea and the World Class New Zealand network aims to make a measurable difference in taking export companies global. We recognise our country depends heavily on creating scale businesses that will produce a surplus of income over expenditure. Already we are seeing evidence of smart New Zealand technology companies showing signs of potential scale, but it is imperative that we use every means available to grow New Zealand goods and services businesses in foreign countries. Asia has the biggest potential of all. It is an exploding market and with more than 200,000 New Zealand-educated Chinese alone, the opportunity to form deep and substantial relationships with people who have lived in and loved New Zealand is enormous. M Sir Stephen Tindall is chairman of Kea.

DR HOWARD HARPER SUPREME WORLD CLASS AWARD

t is astonishing that Dr Howard Harper is not one of New Zealand’s best known figures. But that speaks to the humility and quiet reserve of a man who has dedicated his life to improving and restoring sight to tens of thousands of people in Central Asia and the former states of the USSR. For the past 60 years Harper has realised the dream he had as a 15-year-old at Auckland Grammar School. “[I wanted to] find the neediest people who weren’t being helped,” he says. He found the subjects of that search while on a motorbike tour through Pakistan in 1953 when, with the little medical training that he had at the time, he was able to alleviate the suffering of people who had leprosy and who were also afflicted with various eye ailments. “What I found at that point was a way into Central Asia, in which I could do something people wanted and something I could do myself. I chose going into surgery,” Harper says. He went to England to study medicine and ophthalmology and returned to Central Asia where he encountered two men who were instrumental in the early part of his life’s work. One was a mathematics teacher who had access to Afghani contacts and the other was a US eye doctor who had perfected a way of doing quality eye surgery on a mass scale. “I thought, ‘I’m going to master this’ and I got into eye surgery. I saw that as a way to help a large number of eye patients,” Harper says. “In the first year I did over 1000 cataract surgeries – I got a huge amount of experience you normally wouldn’t get in one year.” Further study in England – becoming a qualified Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons – positioned Harper to build his first dedicated eye clinic at the behest of the Afghani Minister of Health, who was aware of his work in

Sponsored by BDO

Provost of King’s College Cambridge and, until its takeover in 2008, the only non-American on the main board of Merrill Lynch in New York. Born and educated in New Zealand, she graduated with an LLM from the University of Otago, where she lectured before moving to lecture in law at King’s College, University of London. In private practice as an employment lawyer, she became special adviser to the chairman at Clifford Chance, the world’s largest law firm. Dame Judith was elected to the City of London Corporation in 1986 and became chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee in 1996 which, in essence, made her leader of the City of London Corporation. She held that position for six years. She is still active in London and is currently chair of the New West End Company, an organisation set up to drive forward the commercial opportunities for one of the world’s top shopping destinations, London’s West End. In 2008 she became chairman of the Independent Schools’ Council and in 2009 was appointed to the Mayor of London’s Promote London Council. She now chairs the new economic development company London & Partners, which is the tourism and inward investment company for London. She is also a trustee of The Imperial War Museum. Dame Judith was described as one of the “tide of reverse colonisers who have been so crucial in the rejuvenation of Britain in the past few decades”, when she was named a Fellow of Birkbeck College at the University of London. In the same year she was named New Zealander of the Year in Britain. She was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire in the 2002 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to the City of London. APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 29

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RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE

A healthy concern for strong governance

Abano Healthcare This is the first of NZ Management’s major new series of articles on responsible governance. Each year, the Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards and Kensington Swan, sponsor of the Responsible Governance Award, acknowledge companies that practise responsible governance.

32 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

“W

hen it comes to the governance of Abano Healthcare,” says Alison Paterson, the company’s high profile chair, “our overriding concern is to comply with the New Zealand Stock Exchange’s (NZX) listing rules and to keep the market fully informed of the company’s activities. That focus drives much of what we do.”

Alan Clarke, Abano’s managing director, agrees. “We are the stewards of our shareholders’ funds and we are charged with making sure the market knows everything that we know about the business. Trickling off that go all the codes, policies and behaviours that we need to follow to achieve that,” he adds. There is, however, nothing incompatible with meeting NZX rules and governing re-

sponsibly. The demands of both are, to their minds, part and parcel of being a responsibly governed and managed business. But given that all NZX 50 companies comply – at least most of the time – with listing rules, why are so many New Zealand corporates seemingly somewhat cavalier about meeting the kinds of global measures of ethical and responsible governance performance that companies in other

countries, such as Australia, more willingly embrace? In some cases, New Zealand’s corporates seem little bothered about even complying with the New Zealand Securities Commission’s Principles and Guidelines of Corporate Governance. Duncan Paterson is chief executive of Corporate Analysis Enhanced Responsibility (CAER), the Canberra-based organisa-

tion that measures the governance and senior management performance of the NZX 50 for institutional investor AMP Capital. According to him, no NZX 50 company has an “advanced” environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk rating, only 19 percent are rated “good”, 23 percent qualify as “intermediate” and a solid 57 percent provide limited or no evidence of making APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 33

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE

any commitment to an ESG performance measure. The criteria for measuring board and senior management risk and opportunities performance is set by Experts in Responsible Investment Solutions (EIRIS), CAER’s London partners. As Duncan Paterson puts it: “According to research by the world’s leading ESG analysis firm EIRIS, less than half of New Zealand’s listed companies can supply reasonable evidence of senior corporate accountability for ESG risk.” At the heart of responsible governance measures are questions such as: • Does the company have an approved code of ethics? • Is the code published? • Does it include measures for dealing with breaches of the code? • Is employee and management training on the provisions and practices of the code provided? • Is implementation of, and compliance with, the code monitored and reported on? • Does the company provide whistleblowing procedures? • Are their procedures for implementing and reviewing the code? • Do board policies describe the company’s relationships with significant stakeholders? • Does the board regularly assess compliance with these policies? Both Alison Paterson and Clarke accept that Abano’s reputation for being governed responsibly is critical to its success.“A board that is recognised and respected goes directly to the company’s ability to transact business,” says Clarke. And Paterson believes that responsible governance involves, at least in part, creating a board that “has the range of individual director skills necessary to make it fit for purpose”. They interpret “responsible governance” to mean having captured both organisational competence and, as a result, market confidence. “You cannot have responsible governance if there is no confidence in the company,” says Clarke. “We are in the business of investing shareholders’ funds and providing a good return. That will not happen unless inves34 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

tors and market analysts alike are confident that the company is governed and managed responsibly.” Paterson accepts that there is an important principled component of responsible governance. And while she has some reservations about the performance of the Securities Commission, she thinks that its nine corporate governance principles are “about right”. Those principles call on boards to: • Observe and foster high ethical standards; • Comprise a balance of independence, skills, knowledge, experience and perspectives; • Use committees to enhance effectiveness but retain board authority; • Demand integrity in financial reporting and timeliness in reporting company disclosures; • Remunerate directors and executives transparently, fairly and reasonably; • Verify processes that identify and manage potential risks; • Ensure the quality and independence of external audit processes; • Foster constructive relationships with shareholders; and • Respect stakeholders’ interests. Clarke sees the principles as “simply an expression” of the behaviour that his company follows innately. “There should never be a need to rush off and consult a list of principles to tell you how to behave,” he adds. “If you have to consult a code of ethics before you make a business decision then something is already long since broken in the organisation.” The Abano board’s policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and, it has a formal and published code of ethics. It does not, however, formally review its ethics

code. “It would be an oxymoron to say you were going to review your code of ethics,” says Clarke. The code is, as Paterson points out, published as part of the company’s annual report and statement on Abano’s governance. “And all directors sign off on that statement,” she adds. The company does, however, have an annual board review process by which Paterson talks individually with all directors. The results of those personal encounters are then reviewed and discussed by the full board. Abano is not ruled by a tick-the-box approach to governance or management. “We are,” says Paterson, “a relatively small company. We have a board of six: four independents, and the senior management team of Clarke as managing director and Peter Hudson, a non-independent executive director. It is a tight team that knows each other very well.” The company has annual revenues of around $200 million but, as Paterson says, its governance and management processes are designed to fit. Clarke doesn’t advocate proscriptive behaviour codes. “Get proscriptive and you invite the lawyers in,” he says, drawing analogies between American and British financial market regulations. “The more proscriptive, the more you can manipulate decisions through the proscription to take an outcome,” he warns. Appropriate or inappropriate behaviour is not, in Clarke’s opinion, determined by the imposition of inflexible, tick-the-box rules. “You cannot be proscriptive about ethics,” he says. “Having said that, we accept and effec-

tively comply with the detail outlined in the Securities Commission’s ethical standards guidelines,” adds Paterson, who is a stickler for compliance with the well-established gamut of governance rules on matters such as directors’ conflicts of interest and insider trading. The Abano board receives a quarterly risk management report which reviews the company’s compliance with all applicable statutory regulations – from the Treaty of Waitangi to the Taxation Act. “This provides a regular pause point for us to review how we are complying with these regulations and to ask if there have been any breaches or drifts off target. That review is reported to the board,” says Clarke. The company doesn’t formalise ethical training of its employees either. It relies instead on example setting to get its behavioural messages across. “We select our partners – both business and employee – on the basis that we believe their behaviours will fit within our moral and ethical code,” says Clarke. “Our business model comprises a series of different business organisations – dental, audiology, radiology, orthotics – and each has a board that runs the business. It, in turn, is part of Abano. The individuals in the businesses and on the boards must be values-aligned with Abano’s board and senior management.” Abano is, however, expanding globally. It now operates in six countries. Can it maintain its responsible and ethical gov-

ernance standards across more countries, boards, businesses and individuals where conflicting interests, customs and cultures will inevitably exert new pressures? “I hope so,” says Clarke. Paterson is a little more circumspect. “We will need to adjust the management style in some markets to accommodate differences. I do not, however, mean we must tolerate anything that is out of sync with our standards,” she adds. Clarke is equally clear that they will seek partners in new markets that are commercially and culturally aligned. “If we are operating in a black market where no tax is paid, we will not accept that,” he says. To assist with its expansion, particularly into Asia, Abano invited professional director and investor Danny Chan on to the board as an independent director. “Danny has made a dramatic and positive contribution to our understanding of the Asian markets we are now operating in,” says Clarke. The move to appoint Chan is, according to Paterson, an example of responsible governance that reflects the board’s need to understand the nature of the challenges ahead. “We have come through acquisitions, investment and take-overs in order to expand into international markets,” she adds. “Now we need a board to meet the new demands.” Abano is acutely aware of the risks that expansion brings to its responsible govern-

ance principles. “But we have clear whistleblowing policies,” says Clarke. “There is a formal whistle-blower. It is a fundamental truism and it is communicated right through into the organisation.” The policy gives employees direct access to both Clarke and/or the chair of the board’s audit committee if they believe issues should be raised. Because Abano operates in the sensitive and often high-value, high-tech medical products and services market, the company has its own set of rules on what constitutes conflicts of interest, or bribes and inducements to do business. “We have our own tried and tested processes for ensuring that we effectively manage and monitor these issues,” says Clarke. There is, of course, a distinctive aspect of the healthcare business that keeps Abano on its ethical toes, according to Clarke.“The most rigorous due diligence we enter in a business relationship is the due diligence that health practitioners impose on us. We are pummelled to articulate and demonstrate our values.” “It comes with being a service industry,” adds Paterson.“The health professionals we serve are less interested in their personal return and much more in their calling and whether our solutions will benefit their patients. You have to govern responsibly to meet those demands and deliver those services.” Reg Birchfield is a writer on leadership and management.

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| management.co.nz | 35

personal INVESTMENT

Good managers:

bad investors This is the first in a major new

NZ Management series on finance and the economy.

Many very accomplished New Zealand managers make a poor fist of handling their personal investments. Reg Birchfield reports.

he investment services sector has long lamented the lack of sophistication and financial literacy of the New Zealand investor. Investors, for their part, have suffered at the hands of financial charlatans and careless industry regulation and policing. The global financial crisis may have sparked some positive changes. It seems that many New Zealand managers would be wealthier and more secure if they stuck to their day jobs – managing the nation’s workforce. The generalisation inevitably has its limitations, but the negative commentary on managers’ personal investment prowess is surprisingly prevalent and consistently similar. “The problem with managers who handle their own investing is that they often think they know what they are doing simply because they are senior managers and, as a consequence, believe they should be good at it. They are frequently not,” said one investment advisor whose summary reflected the experiences of others. Managers seem too “proud” to pass control of their investment decisions over to others. They also want to be “hands on” when few of them have the time or expertise to make good decisions. “Delegation” may be a well-worn word in the general management lexicon but, when it comes to personal investment advice and portfolio management, managers appear unable to heed their own best advice. “They should free-up their time for managing things they are good at,” came the oft-repeated suggestion. That particular strain of professional disability aside, the profile of New Zealand’s personal investment landscape is changing. And attitudes toward investing appear to be changing along with it. The greed-driven finance company sector has, in large measure, been lanced. The property market, the perennial

36 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

distorter of the nation’s investment economy, is re-positioning and investment risk expectations across the board are seemingly more aligned with reality. As Asia Pacific Risk Management director Roger Kerr puts it: “Investors are significantly more risk averse and their [investment return] expectations are changing.” Systematic theft The combination of shattered investor confidence and systematic theft on both a local and global scale has, suggests Kerr, now created “perhaps too many overly cautious” investors. Given this reality, Government bonds are the first port of call for the shell shocked. And while the term ‘safe as houses’ might seem a tad insensitive at present, these bonds are about as secure as investment options get, paying around five percent for 10 years and quite a bit less for five. Bank deposits are the next most secure option. But at four percent or less, they may not seem very attractive – particularly to older investors. Any expectation that investors will get five to six percent over the next 12 to 24 months has disappeared, says Kerr. However, Forsyth Barr’s director of private client services, John Owen, thinks investors are now better rewarded for their risk. “Many fixed interest returns were actually very low, even though investors didn’t realise it at the time,” he says. “The pricing of investment assets is now more user-friendly. Debt products offer better yields and margins than existed two or three years ago. Investors now understand risk better and consequently they are better rewarded. Interest rates may be lower, but the margin is greater. “Fixed interest securities’ margins before the crisis were often less than one percent. Margins now range from one to three percent, depending on the credit rating. It’s the margin

that matters,” says Owen emphatically. “People forgot to look at the fine print before.” This said, the banks aren’t lending much and the economy won’t pick up much before 2012. The major banks’ deposit offerings aren’t, therefore, likely to exceed four percent this year. The four Australian-owned trading banks’ investment products and services still seem to be suffering a general market waryness – a lingering after-effect, perhaps, of the lashing they delivered many small businesses following the GFC. There is one exception. A relatively new player into the local wealth management space, the HSBC Bank launched its first unit trust offerings in August 2009. These “emerging market” trusts, covering the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, have proved popular. According to the HSBC’s Auckland-based head of personal financial services, John Barclay, this is because they were unique in the marketplace and Portfolio Investment Entities (PIE) compliant – offering better tax treatment. Last August the bank launched three more diversified products, including what it called a world selection fund that offers a diversified global exposure to a mix of asset classes and best of breed fund managers around the world. “These are really the only products we provide for personal investment,” says Barclay. The bank does not offer an advisory service at the moment. The products are only available to the bank’s premier clients who are high-net-worth clients.” You need either a minimum combined home loan of $500,000 or $100,000 in savings and investments to qualify. Given the bank’s size – it’s the world fifth largest player in the wealth management industry – and its strategically relevant history – it was established in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865 – HSBC could become a key player in New Zealand. Kiwi managers wanting a global look and feel for some of their fixed interest investments have turned their heads. “Our offerings are off-the-shelf HSBC products which are tried and trusted,” says Barclay. “We won’t be first cabs off the rank in terms of testing the market down here. We do, however, see the Asian and Pacific region as the engine room for future world growth and we are well placed to offer products and exposure to those markets.” Corporate bondage With interest rates seemingly, if not necessarily actually, so unattractive, Kerr thinks investors might look for corporate bonds and their rates of around seven percent. “But, there won’t be too many of them coming to the market in the immediate term,” he warns. “Large corporates turned to the United States’ private placement market last year where they got 10- or 15-year money. Much of that potential investment opportunity has disappeared from the New Zealand market. Contact Energy, Mighty River Power, Transpower and Auckland Airport won’t be issuing bonds to local investors this year.”

Roger Kerr: Learn from the GFC and move on.

John Barclay: Region is engine room for world growth.

That means a shortage of investment options. And investors are cautious. When media company ACP Media tried to sell a bond issue last year it failed and had to be picked up by the underwriters. “The personal investment market did not recognise the name – despite the fact ACP is well known in Australia and publishes some high-profile magazine titles here,” says Kerr. The opposite happened last year when The Warehouse, our home-grown retail chain, took its non-rated bond issue to the market. Investors took it up because it was a household name. The Christchurch earthquake has, for the time being, changed the name of the investment game. And the Japanese tsunami won’t help. The depressive impact on fixed investment rates may last for some time. Long-term interest rates, determined largely by the US market are, however, still going up. So individuals wanting higher yields may have to lock their money away for 10 years and abandon their previously more popular two- or three-year investment strategies. Long-term investors, such as family trusts, might be wise to think in terms of 10-year investments for a significant part of their portfolios. New Zealanders have traditionally scanned only short-term investment horizons, which is understandable given that for the past 20 or so years, short-term rates have looked more attractive. The lesson of the past two or three years suggests this approach has ended – for the time being at least. So what about equity investment? Sharebrokers, bankers, investment advisors of every reputable house and hue agree that New Zealand is, and has generally always been, short on quality or exciting sharemarket offerings. And there’s little sign of anything much new coming onto the market, unless of course the Government moves to sell off all, or portions of, some State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Globally suspect The same investor nervousness that impacts the fixed interest market applies to equities. And a recently released study by investment research company Morningstar showing that New Zealand’s managed funds are globally suspect, doesn’t help. The researchers evaluated 24 countries on regulation and taxation; disclosure; fees and expenses and sales and media. And on the two key criteria regulation and taxation, and disclosure, Kiwi funds managed only D ratings. APRIL 2011 management.co.nz | 37

personal INVESTMENT

Carmel Fisher: New lessons are old ones.

John Owen: There is good and bad debt.

New Zealand might, on the other hand, find itself with some “blue chip” – forgive the pun – options if the National Government gets its cautiously announced state-owned enterprise sales of energy companies and other large scale infrastructure enterprises across the line. It would, however, be dangerous for enthusiastic investors to hold their collective breath waiting for this political hot potato to cool down – no matter how much it might release in muchneeded capital for re-building the economy. More Kiwi equity investors are, understandably, looking to Australia for more personal investment options. An increasing number of Kiwi equity funds are now Australasian equities. The diversity of new initial public offerings (IPOs) in Australia is significant. And the population of trans-Tasman business is increasing rapidly. But as Kerr, and other investment and risk professionals point out, pragmatic investors should pick up on the GFC lessons and move on. They should, in other words, be seriously considering New Zealand’s equity investment opportunities. “The albeit slowly improving economy, lower interest rates, and a reducing exchange rate collectively offer some good

reasons to invest in carefully selected New Zealand equities,” says Kerr. Property investment is, for the moment, a less attractive option. Taxation changes, limited bank lending and a market unlikely to show much capital growth all militate against it. With finance companies hopefully, as commercial mortician Michael Stiassny recently put it, “dead forever” there are fewer vehicles to take property investors for a ride. On the other hand, commercial and industrial properties in the right locations will always have something to offer. The family truss (sic) Family trusts are particularly property prone. They frequently find themselves with large sums invested in one or two properties in locations which, for many reasons, won’t grow in capital value or attract reasonable rental rates. For investors who insist on property, the advice seems to be to “sink it into more than one” – perhaps through a reputable and conservatively structured property trust. On the other hand, some investors are nervous about the way in which some big name property trusts froze their funds during the GFC. It will take many investors time to forgive that kind of action. So what are the lessons investors and their advisors have learned? Carmel Fisher, the highly-regarded head of investment company Fisher Funds, thinks the key learnings are “actually very old ones”. And they are, she says, to “ensure that your assets are properly diversified, know where your money is and who is looking after it, and only invest funds that you can afford to lose”. Fisher says the world’s financial and economic turmoil has not impacted the advice she gives her investor clients. It has, however, “changed the way investors think about their investments”, she says, joining the chorus of similar comments

Abano Healthcare Group, the company behind Ascot Radiology’s new PET/CT scanning centre In partnership with doctors and patients in their fight against cancer

38 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

from others of her calling. “There is more thought going into investment decisions, less of an appetite for risk and a general reluctance to do anything unless absolutely necessary,” she adds predicting that it “might be a few years before investors are really willing to consider higher risk assets to capture higher returns”. Fisher’s recommendations are not, she says, “wildly different from what they were five years ago”. Investors’ need both growth and income assets, the proportion of which depends on their risk appetite, timeframe, income needs and other existing assets. “The world may have been turned upside down, but the fundamentals of building wealth have not.”

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Debt reducing On one thing all investment advisors agree. The focus of the moment is on personal debt reduction. But investors should not, says Forsyth Barr’s Owen, be myopic about their debt reduction strategies. “There is good and bad debt,” he warns. “Reducing personal debt is unquestionably the number one priority – but that should be credit card and maybe mortgage debt,” he says. “There are some good types of debt where you might leverage to invest in the market. That debt can fund something that makes money for the investor. Good debt is where you put the funds into productive assets and get a return from it.” Fisher agrees that debt reduction is wise. “But some debt can be maintained alongside the accumulation of an investment portfolio,” she says. “In a low interest environment investors can afford to invest regularly along with their debt repayment and so accumulate assets.” As with Hamlet, the question of whether to be (an investor) or not is, for some at least, easier to answer than the next question: do I make my investment decisions on my tod or with someone else? There is residual and not entirely unjustified scepticism of professional investment advisors lingering in the marketplace. Long overdue regulatory attempts to tidy up the industry notwithstanding, investors who opt for professional assistance should, without exception, research and check out the advisor’s bona fides and, never fly solo unless they have the time and depth of knowledge to keep above the clouds. Always put time and effort into ensuring that the promised returns and management fees are fair, reasonable and attainable. And, finally, choose conservative advisors. If you go it alone, you should understand yourself. What is your personal pain threshold when evaluating risk? Are you willing and able to invest the time? Do you really comprehend the market, the options available and the matrix of permutations when things turn custard-like? The investment industry is attempting to tidy itself up but, when it comes to personal investment decisions there is only one truth: caveat emptor.

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APRIL 2011 management.co.nz | 39

FACE TO FACE

t’s the day after the devastating 22 February earthquake in Canterbury, and Keith Reynolds is preoccupied with the welfare of his Christchurch-based people. “I’ve just come away from a disaster management meeting,” he says. “We’re coordinating our response from this [Auckland] office and just getting in touch with everyone. “So far I think 95 percent of our Christchurch staff members are accounted for – certainly everybody who was in the office at the time of the quake is safe. But there are a few who were out on sites, out on projects, out with clients that we’re still trying to track down. We’re very anxious to hear from them…” The company was already involved in aiding Canterbury’s recovery from the 4 September quake. Reynolds is at

40 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

pains to note that “whilst engineering is at the heart of our business, I’d prefer to call ourselves a professional services consultancy, in that there’s a suite of other advisory consultancy skills we have built around the core business that makes us much broader than pure engineering. “Our structural engineers were on the ground immediately – they were out there helping Jim Boult and his team get Christchurch Airport up and running again within a few hours, for example,” he says of the initial seismic event, “and we’ve been involved in the longer term recovery and infrastructure support in more recent months.” He declines to give a prognosis for the prospects of the Garden City now – “it’s too early to tell” – beyond the fact that this fresh disaster is “obviously going to set the city back on its haunches in terms of getting back into the position

that Christchurch was in”. One thing Reynolds is adamant about, however, is that Beca will be there to help – in fact, that’s something the company’s already in the process of providing. “We’re deploying staff to get down to Christchurch to help support the rescue and recovery efforts, and we’re also supporting Civil Defence in their request for more engineers to be there helping them. So there’s a lot of coordination going on at the moment. “From our point of view, though, our first priority is to look after the safety and welfare of our people in Christchurch and the Canterbury region, and that of their families.” The attributes that led Reynolds to take up the profession of civil engineer were evident in childhood. “Probably like most engineers, I re-

People-centric manager

Keith Reynolds An engineer’s mindset underpins the management philosophy of Keith Reynolds, group CEO of Beca, the 2010 Deloitte/ Management magazine Company of the Year. Nick Grant reports.

ally used to enjoy building things out of Lego and Meccano when I was a kid,” he chuckles. “Engineering is basically just an extension of that early excitement in creating things.” This passion evolved into an abiding interest in creativity and problem-solving, as well as a desire to make a tangible difference to the world around him. “I guess my natural mindset tended me towards engineering while I was at school and then entering college. And early on in my career there was the obvious excitement of seeing things you’ve created, and of the travel opportunities that come with the worldwide requirement for engineering. “Then there was the appeal of all those positive attributes and advantages of engineering, whether it’s around the water, the power, the transport, the buildings … Engineering touches every-

thing we do, really, and it’s a wonderful privilege to be in a career that plays a part in shaping our planet.” Reynolds’ move into the managerial ranks was, he thinks, prompted by the same qualities that attracted him to engineering. “When you take the engineering mindset and apply it to business,” he says, “many of the same thought-processes are involved. So solving problems within a business, helping to shape the business, putting in place strategies – that’s all very appealing.” While one might be forgiven for assuming an engineer would favour the purely quantitative aspects of a manager’s duties, in Reynolds’ case at least the greatest interest lies in dealing with the qualitative quirks of human beings. “In management and leadership,” he says, “the most appealing factor for

me is that you’re working with people – helping to build people, encouraging them and putting in place appropriate frameworks and structures to help them be the best they can be.” Asked whether his affinity for the ‘soft’ skills required for managing staff is the product of nature or nurture, Reynolds plumps for a bit of both. “I think there are certain competencies we are born with and are intrinsic, but at the same time we learn behaviours and fresh skills. For me, I’ve been blessed to have worked with some wonderful mentors over my career, as well as to have an appetite for learning, I guess. “A lot of my people skills, if you like, have been born of observing others, listening to others, and seeking input from others. One of my key management philosophies is to surround myself with great people – much greater than I am APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 41

FACE TO FACE

Beca Group was a finalist in NZ Management’s 2010 survey of New Zealand’s Most Reputable Organisations. The survey was conducted by Hay Group.

42 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

– and by so doing I know we’re going to be successful.” Another of Reynolds’ key philosophies also pivots around people. “My belief is that you have to ensure you have a focus on what the business is seeking to achieve and a compelling vision and goal for the business, and then you try to put in place measures to simplify the business so it’s not distracted. “I’m referring to ‘the business’ in the third-person there because the business is the people that form and shape it. So it’s really a matter of understanding how the people drivers work. “As such, my first compass bearing would always be my own motivation and my own excitement around my roles in my career – just understanding and reflecting upon my own values, and then checking in with the business and its values and ensuring the two are firmly aligned. If they are, you know you can go places. If there’s a disconnect, then it’s not going to work very well.” Reynolds notes that, while “there’s certainly a huge motivational appeal in the blood of many engineers around the excitement of actually creating things and having a positive impact”, and there are many similarities between large engineering and design consultancies in terms of the types of clients and projects they’re involved with, he believes Beca has an edge thanks to its particular style and culture. “We are very relationship focused as a business and very values focused,” he says. “Much more so than I’ve witnessed with similar businesses in our industry. Many companies paste their values on their website and then pretend that’s that.” If corporate values are to be authentic, and therefore effective, he suggests, they can’t simply be conjured from a vacuum. “Our values were identified a few years ago and crystallised,” observes Reynolds, “by really reflecting on the style of personalities, mindsets and competencies of our people and how those were reflected in the way we do our business. “And I’ve been blown away when visiting our various offices to see those values

really burning alive within people – values around tenacity, partnership, care and enjoyment, the four key values that really hit the heart of the culture of Beca.” Reynolds is in a good position to identify what’s unique about Beca, being the first externally recruited group CEO in its almost 100-year history. Ask if this indicates the company – which has a headcount of 2500 and offices dotted about the globe – was seeking a change agent when it tapped him 18 months ago, though, and he good-naturedly declines to speculate. “It’s a very good question but I’m not sure I’m the right person to answer it,” he laughs. “I know the company looked at a variety of candidates, internal and external. I think the key driver was not necessarily looking for change, but being open and mindful of the possibility that change would be required to take the business onwards and upwards.” Noting that he’s “hugely respectful of the business that had been built up before I came, and of my ‘forefathers’, if you like”, Reynolds says his drive is “to build upon Beca’s wonderful base; not divert radically from it but put in place appropriate framework and structure and ambition to take the business on to its new heights”. This “mainstreaming”, as he calls it, is aided by “two wonderful benchmark sets of data” in the form of recent surveys of employees and clients, and involves “ensuring we’ve got good, simple processes and systems that are meaningful, and that everybody sees the bigger picture, so no matter what your role is in the business, there’s a visible and transparent alignment between what you do and what the business is seeking to achieve”. This will result in “growth across our various countries”, says Reynolds, “growth that’s not the driving objective, but the consequence of what I mentioned earlier – values, and doing the best we can for our people and our clients, in a way that also serves our community.” M Nick Grant, a former deputy editor of NZ Management, is a freelance journalist. nof.grant@gmail.com

PRESENTATION TECHNOLOGY

Get smart Smaller, lighter, faster, more cost-effective. Presentation technology continues to improve, reports Libby Gudmundsson.

hen it comes to office technology, businesses would be foolish to think they can rest on their laurels. The only constant in the field of presentation products is that there is always new technology available or in the pipeline. While striving to have a competitive edge over other businesses is an obvious driving factor to keep up to date, companies are also seeing benefits in terms of cost cutting, and engaging clients and staff. Dave Gee, Canon’s manager – visual communications, says executives are continuing to see the benefits of up-to-date technologies – “effective presentation means less time revisiting the same topic which saves costs to the company”. Canon is the largest reseller of Cisco telepresence technology in New Zealand, says Gee, and companies are using the latest technologies to deliver presentations as well as streaming presentations live on demand and storing them for people unable to be present. One such product released through Canon is the Codec C60. The 1080p HD video collaboration engine is based on similar Codec designs and delivers full HD video, HD collaboration and superior audio. The C60 was designed with the inte-

grator in mind, giving users the ability to connect up to four HD video sources and four microphones. Ideal for team-based collaboration, boardrooms, meeting rooms or special industry projects, the C60 is sold in an integrator package or in a profile. “These products give presenters the ability to create a truly interactive environment encouraging the audience to participate and allow presenters to illustrate information visually in a much more interactive way,” says Gee. Panasonic’s KX-VC500 is ideal for video conferencing for companies with

staff in remote locations. The visual communication system offers high-quality sound, visuals, a strong connection and easy-to-use programmes. It offers content sharing and the option of closeup views with a sub camera. The advances seen in a range of projectors available continue to stretch further away from the loud oversize machines they once were. Projectors are continuing to get smaller, brighter and while more complex, they are very simple to use. The APRIL 2011 management.co.nz | 43

PRESENTATION TECHNOLOGY

portable aspect of projectors now sees them small enough to fit in a notebook computer bag, while the need for wires is no longer an issue. Epson has recently released the thinnest 3000 lumen 3LCD projector on the market, which stands just 25mm high. Nika Maltseva, marketing manager at Epson, says the need for brighter, smaller and better resolution projectors sees its Epson EB-1700 series leading the way. “Brighter projectors allow you to run your presentation in a room with lots of ambient light. The small size makes it a flexible and portable solution while better wide screen resolution will assist with projecting detailed images from your laptop [WXGA resolution],” says Maltseva. The range of projectors is user friendly, with automatic vertical keystone correction, auto detection of RGB/ component connections and projection in native WXGA widescreen format, allowing presentation designed on a laptop to display in full size without the edges missing. The EB-1700 range eliminates the often unprofessional and complicated problem of multiple cables with an 802.11b/g/n wireless network and the ultra-short throw designs can be mounted within 60 centimetres of the wall and therefore reduce eye glare and shadows. The series conforms to the European Directive on Eco-Design, which is aimed at improving the environmental performance of energy-related products. Panasonic’s latest range of business projectors also comes fitted with the latest technologies. Boasting a dual 355 watt lamp it is capable of producing 10,600 lumens of brightness. New dynamic iris technology does not affect this brightness despite offering a scenelinking aperture mechanism to achieve an impressive 10,000:1 contrast. The projector has an auto cleaning filter and network function which allows users to control and monitor multiple projectors at the same time over a wired LAN. 44 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

As a technology interactive whiteboards have been around since the early 1990s. Now they combine your computer, projector and whiteboard for a truly interactive working, training or learning environment. Again they are now designed with ease of use as a key marketable point, so the ability to use both pens and fingertips is a must. Users have the ability to create a screen shot of board

Panasonic UB-T880 Interactive WhiteBoards

work, and many products collaborate with programs that allow them to edit and save their work for later distribution. The two versions widely available are the interactive boards and the boards for flat panel display – an overlay that attaches to a plasma display or LCD panel. The SMART board 680, released through Canon, has kept the classic whiteboard design but touts some of the latest developments in related technology. Without having to use buttons or on-screen menus users can write with a pen, erase with their hand and move images with a fingertip. They are able to write with either the digital ink pens or fingers. The Panaboards from Panasonic

are a similar product offering both colour and black and white versions. The Slim Design Standard Panaboard has an endless screen design, simple data display and editing functions, long-term storage and thermal paper output to help with cost cutting. Presentation technology is trending towards interactive, cost-saving, highquality solutions that are unobtrusive and flexible. Value for money will be found in good quality office presentation equipment with staff increasing their use for both internal and external presentations, and enabling productivity with no time lost travelling to meetings. M Libby Gudmundsson is an Auckland-based journalist.

I@HF5 G@=A I@HF5 6F=;<H Mcif bYlh dfYgYbhUh]cb ]g ]b h\Y VU["

The thinnest 3,000 lumen 3LCD projectors in the world. At just 45mm high – less than the height of a credit card – and weighing a mere 1.7kg, the Epson EB-1700 series of ultra-portable projectors deliver striking, bright presentations that are as professional as you are. All this from a projector that’s small enough to fit in one bag along with your notebook. Your next presentation is literally in the bag.

For more information visit www.epson.com.au or www.epson.co.nz

61734

company PROFILE

Taste of

success Multiple award-winning food manufacturer Tasti Foods believes calculated risks are the secret to strong growth, Amanda Fifield finds. Innovations manager Melissa Barclay releasing a kiwi chick during a team-building Operation Nest Egg trip to Hawkes Bay.

“

’ll make you a coffee – how do you like it?” Impressed that Bryce Howard, chief operating officer of Tasti Products is making his own coffee, as well as mine, I place my order. It becomes obvious that Howard’s barista efforts show the type of ship he helps run, alongside three senior directors (the chairman, sales and marketing, and finance), and six key managers. It’s decidedly accessible, capable and unpretentious. “The company’s very flat type of management structure, compared to competitors, has been key to our Waitakere Enterprise Awards successes.” The company scooped the awards for best large business, top exporter, and employer of choice, then went on to take the supreme winner award. Chairman Simon Hall agrees: “The management structure means easy access to decision makers and little corporate nonsense.” Even the buildings are “no nonsense”.

46 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

In a one-storey, modest block that’s more converted house than company HQ, Tasti and its adjoining factory sit surrounded by heady baking smells in suburbia, at the end of Te Atatu Peninsula. It is one of West Auckland’s largest employers with around 240, mainly local, staff. Tasti is a privately owned, New Zealand-based food manufacturer, in business for 70 years, starting out processing glace fruit and supplying dried fruit and nuts to the grocery industry. More recently investment has been made in the more dynamic added-value breakfast cereal and nutritional snacks market, including muesli bars and fruitfilled bars. The nutritional snacks market came into existence only in the late 1970s to meet the need for portable, convenient and healthier options for lunch boxes and snacking. “New Zealand was an early adopter and Tasti launched the first, and still existing, muesli bar called Snak Log, in

New Zealand,” Howard says. “It’s still on supermarket shelves and selling well.” Tasti has become one of the largest suppliers of muesli bars in New Zealand, supplying products under its own brand as well as Weight Watchers and Private Label brands. It is also a significant player in Australia. The company stays true to its mission statement, “We are resourced for growth,” says Howard, launching a staggering number of new products into the market – 60 this year alone. “This mission statement was developed by the directors several years ago, and reflects investment in two key areas of the company’s successes – manufacturing and staff capabilities,” he says. “We do things a little differently at Tasti,” says Hall, “and while we take calculated risks, the rewards are there. Our private shareholders encourage us to think long term, and not be driven by immediate returns on investment or shareholder dividends. We can also move

The Tasti team at the Waitakere Enterprise Awards.

quickly – our speed to market with new products, or redeveloped ones, gives us our competitive edge. “In 2003 we recognised the nutritional snack bar market would continue to grow. With confidence in the market and using Bryce’s engineering and technical skills, we invested in a purpose-built food factory and travelled to Europe to purchase the ‘best’ muesli bar technology.” To give Tasti a competitive advantage in Australasia this robotic equipment had to meet two important criteria – it must have the lowest waste, and the highest flexibility. The line was installed in 2004 at a cost of $10 million – even though the company had no orders at that time. “So we produced a variety of samples, gave them to our sales team, and 18 months later the line was full. Two years later we installed a second line twice the size of the first, and they are both now running 24 hours a day, five days a week,” Hall says. Why only five days a week? “It’s all very well to purchase high-

tech equipment and install a second line, but if you don’t have happy, motivated staff who feel valued and enjoy some sort of life-work balance, then production will always be poor. So that’s why we close on the weekends and have only a skeleton staff on over Christmas, so our team can enjoy time with their families.” Tasti’s philosophy is to have all employees trained with the right skills and knowledge to succeed in their roles. Alongside on-the-job training, employees are also encouraged to broaden their skills by attending educational courses and, if appropriate, move up the ranks. The support starts with the basics, like literacy and numeracy programmes, and progresses to leadership courses and in-house training that includes financial support for study or qualifications related to the job, including learning overseas. Other strategies designed to make Tasti a good place to work include a rewards and recognition programme, to increase productivity and lower absenteeism, and team-building and conservation

trips to an associated 25,000-hectare native forest in Hawkes Bay. “We also value open and honest communication with our employees,” says Hall. “We have a culture of no shame, no blame, to encourage honesty and ownership of outcomes.” Information about the company is regularly shared with staff, at face-toface meetings, a TV ‘noticeboard’ in the cafeteria and at celebrations. “After the awards we celebrated with all 240 staff by putting on a BBQ lunch. We handed the awards around and many staff took the opportunity to have their picture taken with them. They are now proudly displayed in our reception area,” says Howard. “We were so humbled about this recognition from our peers. Our focus over the years has been growing our business sustainably and profitably, while being good community citizens. Our success boils down to ‘We do what we say we are going to do,’ and our customers know that.” M APRIL 2011 | management.co.nz | 47

EXECUTIVE HEALTH

The importance of resilience

Just like our bodies, our minds can benefit from strength training, says Peter Tynan.

n the wake of the devastating Christchurch earthquake, the bravery, community spirit and strength of Cantabrians has been extraordinary. From the Prime Minister to health experts, their resilience has been cited as an important quality that will help Christchurch and its people pull through and eventually rebuild their lives. However, for many the personal stress resulting from this event will be immense and may continue for a very long time. Specialist and intensive support may be required to help employees and workplaces recover psychologically from the disaster. (A useful website for those seeking information on disaster stress is http:// disasters.massey.ac.nz/index.htm. Click on “Advice about disaster stress”.) Though maybe never to the degree of what is being experienced in Christchurch, at some stage in our lives we can all expect a test to our mental fortitude. For some, it will not come in the form of a major event or personal loss. Rather it may be a small event that causes distress – a failure, a change of circumstances, or simply a gradual ‘grinding down’, where small stresses build on top of one another. Our ability to manage these challenges depends largely on how resilient we are. The term resiliency refers to an indi-

vidual’s capacity to adapt to adversity or change. Resilient people are characterised by their flexibility and sense of perspective. They are able to accept disappointment or failure, and to learn, and move on, from a difficult situation. Increasingly, organisations are recognising the importance of personal resilience in the workplace. Resiliency training and workshops are now a common feature in many organisations’ health, safety and wellness programmes. The increasing demand for resilience training is largely reflective of the pressures in today’s tough economic climate. Restructuring and redundancy are commonplace, and many businesses recognise they may be asking a smaller number of employees to do more with less. Without the necessary support in

place, businesses may face the high costs of staff absence, employee turnover, and low productivity that can result from stress in the workplace. Workplace stress can have many sources – a high workload, organisational or role change, conflict, performance expectations, the way work is organised or environmental factors. But the problem with making changes to the “work” or the workplace itself is, as the Department of Labour notes in its handbook on managing stress in the workplace, “no two individuals will be affected in the same way by either the work requirements or the work environment”. Resiliency training works by addressing an individual’s emotional reaction to a situation, rather than the situation itself. Each employee is equipped with a mental ‘toolkit’ to use when faced with challenges in the workplace. An example of where resiliency training might be of benefit is for frontline staff that may have to deal with anger from customers upset by a price increase. Another might be for a team that has been required to share the workload of a redundant employee. Peter Tynan is chief executive of Southern Cross Health Society.

Healthy staff means higher productivity 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

1. TNS research 2004.

Healthy people healthy business Southern Cross Medical Care Society, Level 1, Ernst & Young Building, 2 Takutai Square, Auckland 1010

48 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

execs on the move M

Catherine Taylor

The Human Resources Institute of New Zealand has elected Catherine Taylor, group manager, people and business services for Kiwibank, as its new president. A multi-award-winning HR professional, Taylor has worked with Kiwibank since its inception in 2006, following a career with employers such as the Reserve Bank, Mitsubishi, Sun Alliance and Land Information New Zealand. As president, Taylor says her vision is to see the growth of HR professionals and specialists who can add value to organisations at many levels.

Darren Steinberg

Kiwi Income Property Trust has appointed Darren Steinberg to its board as a non-independent, executive director. Managing director, property for Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM), Steinberg has more than 21 years’ experience in the property industry.

Jody Kaye, Craig Stent, Oyvinn Rimer

Greg Coffey

George Weston Foods has promoted Greg Coffey to the role of general manager of the baking division in New Zealand. He was previously finance director of the baking division Australia and New Zealand, and has also had a variety of roles with Diageo.

Fred Van Der Tang

Specialist recruitment & HR services provider Randstad has appointed Fred Van Der Tang as the new CEO of its Australian and New Zealand operations. He succeeds former CEO Deb Loveridge, who has accepted the newly created role of managing director Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.

Ken Brophy

Business consultancy Grafton Consulting Group has promoted Ken Brophy to the newly created position of managing partner. Brophy currently leads Grafton’s organisation development division and has over 15 years’ experience in organisation strategy and design.

Greg Peebles

Dorchester Pacific has appointed Greg Peebles to its board as a non-executive director. Peebles has had a career of over 35 years with Westpac rising to chief credit officer for New Zealand. He holds a number of directorships in private companies and trusts including the Hospice South Auckland Charitable Trust.

Barbara Chapman Wellington fund manager Harbour Asset Management has promoted three team members: Jody Kaye (left) as director and chief operating officer; Craig Stent (right) as director and research analyst; and Oyvinn Rimer (middle) as research analyst.

Currently Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s group executive, HR and group services, Barbara Chapman returns to New Zealand late April to take over as the new chief executive and managing director of ASB Bank. She will also become a nonexecutive director of Sovereign Assurance Company’s parent company, ASB Group (Life).

To Drive Your Organisation Forward You’ll Need Portfolio and Programme Management Leadership. We lead in the application and development of these core competencies to todays business environment. Contact us at 04 495 9100 to hear more.

www.projectplusgroup.co.nz

APRIL 2011

| management.co.nz | 49

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50 | management.co.nz | APRIL 2011

APRIL 2011 VOL 06 NUMBER 02

ISSN 1177-5815

ON MANAGEMENT

NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT IN ACTION

The evolution of H&S To manage safety you need to know the DNA of your organisation: D – Dangers and Dynamics N – Normals and Needs A – Attitudes and Activities Companies today need to move beyond the “ticking boxes” approach to health and safety management. By examining the DNA of their organisation they can focus on developing a superior compliance attitude which goes way beyond the simplistic “box ticking” approach. Superior compliance uses legislation as the minimum start point, then adds what is good for the business relative to the type of work and the capabilities required. Safety management is the future of a company’s wealth creation and competitive advantage. Yet in many organisations production, accounting, finance and human resources do not talk to each other to recognise firstly, collective employee intellectual property and secondly, the real value of training and competencies. Safety as an “atmosphere at work” To help develop and manage all the above, the key person in any business is either the H&S adviser or consultant, or the person in the business charged with the responsibility for H&S and its management. This person must not only be able to sell the values of safety, but also at a practical level be able to educate the business in the importance of safety planning, assigning responsibility, commensurate training and employee involvement. Not just a discount on your premium In the medical world a prescription without diagnosis is tantamount to malpractice. Just as a doctor needs to diagnose a patient’s symptoms before prescribing medication, a good H&S adviser needs to determine the organisation’s risk profile prior to any treatment. The adviser should also understand an organisation’s unique needs and objectives, then recommend the most suitable systems, guides and processes. This should be based on good business practice not an “off the shelf” solution, what is available “on the cheap” or on the historic safety models. Safety is like any other investment – a return is needed and that return must be the protection of employees, business assets and the business. Organisations often look for the quick fix to get immediate results. This may take less effort and fewer in-house resources but, in the end, is often very costly. Quick fixes are often based

on a one-size-fits-all process, or an off-the-shelf programme that was someone else’s and now has your company logo on it. Each organisation’s DNA is unique, and so too are its needs, depending on its management, business framework, safety management status, appetite for improvement, employee culture and the understanding of the business value of managing safety. An organisation’s DNA is also influenced by variables including responsibility, training, priority setting, and resource availability. The role of the H&S adviser has changed dramatically in the past couple of years. As regulatory requirements become clearer through legal precedent, the H&S adviser’s role requires mature and knowledgeable commitment. The role has evolved from one of conducting inspections, developing procedures and collecting stats, to being an important, credible and trusted partner of the business, its future and its management. He or she must not only have excellent safety knowledge but very good business acumen, the ability to consider management capability and practices, and systems and processes to protect employees and advance safety as a business value. An extensive awareness of local and international management and safety management is therefore vital. Education and training will often be required before the H&S adviser can assess an organisation’s DNA and manage the findings. The NZIM Diploma in Health and Safety Management is recognised as providing a valuable option to employers looking to achieve all of the above, through its innovative learning environment and advanced assignments that deliver immediate workplace value. While the employee receives a ‘business respected’ qualification, the employer gets the payback of a comprehensive H&S management system tailored specifically for their organisation’s risk profile as measured by their DNA assessment. The NZIM Diploma qualification has also gained widespread industry respect because it requires participants to complete a “graduate skills test”. This assesses the participant’s learning alongside their existing knowledge and experiences. The next NZIM Diploma in Health & Safety Management will be held on 12-25 June in Wellington. For more information contact Victoria Purdie on 04 4730 470 or national_office@nzim. co.nz. For a template to develop an H&S regime specific to your business, email her at victoria_ purdie@nzim.co.nz. – by Gavin Johnson

Message from NZIM Southern

First and foremost, we wish to extend our deepest sympathy to all who have lost loved ones as a result of the 22 February earthquake in Christchurch. This has been a very traumatic time for all. Our thoughts are also with those who have personal and/or business property that has been damaged. It will take courage, determination, cooperation and support for each other to recover and rebuild. Thankfully our team at NZIM Southern and their families are safe and well, but with various degrees of personal property damage. Our offices and training facilities on Madras and Kilmore Streets have been seriously damaged. Our team is currently working in temporary quarters at the Christchurch Engine Centre, who kindly offered us office space within their compound at the Christchurch Airport. This provides a base from which to operate while we have our properties assessed by civil engineers. Our website has up to date information and advisories, refer to: www.nzimsouthern.co.nz Our 64th Annual General Meeting will be held at The Russley Golf Club on Memorial Avenue in Christchurch on Thursday 28 April 2011 from 6.30pm. We are pleased to advise that our guest speaker is Jim Boult, Chief Executive Officer of Christchurch International Airport Ltd. Guests are invited to arrive from 6.00pm for drinks and nibbles. We are ready and able to coordinate and deliver our customised In-Company learning and development programmes. Our public programme is being reviewed to determine how best to deliver these courses in light of current circumstances. We appreciate and respect that the personal and business priorities of participants have changed. Participants and clients are being contacted and we are considering various options for how we can meet your current needs. If you have any questions, please phone us on (03) 379 2302 or email us. (Updated information and a list of key contacts can be found at www.nzimsouthern. co.nz/Misc/EQ.pdf.) Joseph Thomas Joseph Thomas, CEO, joseph@nzimsouthern.co.nz Focus on Management

IAG personnel who completed the National Certificate in Adult Education & Training (Level 4) and the NZIM Diploma in Frontline Management (Level 5). From L:R – Ben Peterson, Anna Hills, Olivia Wilson, Michayla Richards, Paula Williams (Frontline Management), Sonya Cornwall, and Sonia Webb.

Looking to move up the corporate ladder? Gain a recognised qualification W NZIM Northern bids farewell to L & D Consultant A

pril 2011 sees the end of Tania Bailey’s position as a Learning and Development Consultant at NZIM Northern. Tania has been a valuable member of the team since 2006, a fresh university graduate who has proved instrumental in building key clients with her professional, friendly manner and willingness to meet client needs. During her four years, Tania has taken charge of her professional development and has aggressively looked to better herself. Not only concerned with her own development, Tania has been a guiding hand to new team members, showing them the ropes and being generous with her advice. This has resulted in a close knit team that works well together with a unity of purpose. After four years of professional contribution, Tania Bailey has finished up with NZIM Northern. Tania’s influence has spread throughout the team and she will be sorely missed. Tania is leaving her post as Learning & Development Consultant to pursue her passion for travelling. The NZIM Northern team wish her all the best with her future endeavours and our appreciation for her hard work over the years. Focus on Management

ith 2011 well under way, many of us are looking to broaden our horizons, along with our income and job prospects. The past year saw some drawbacks with the flow-on effects of the economic downturn including lower disposable income, unemployment and a general sense of insecurity. In 2011, we are looking to move forward to a better and brighter future. For some this might be a promotion which sees them take on new challenges. If you have been itching to move up the corporate ladder and take your professional development to the next step, a nationally recognised qualification may be the opportunity to increase your knowledge and skill base and further your career. At NZIM Northern we have a suite of programmes that will suit your requirements and will give you the tools to develop yourself further. Ranging from Level 3 through to Level 6, there are qualifications to suit the new leader/manager through to the executive and CEO level. National Certificate in Business – Levels 3 & 4 These qualifications are for people who are, or are looking to become, first line managers, such as team leaders and supervisors. In these roles, they are likely to be responsible for managing

people, resources and work operations. The National Certificate in Business is the ideal starting point, which then staircases to the NZIM Diploma in Frontline Management (Level 5), and on to the NZIM Diploma in Management (Advanced) Level 6. Covering essential skills, building effective teams and operational management, the National Certificate in Business is the logical step to moving into a managerial position. With intakes starting shortly, secure your promotion by booking now. NZIM Diploma in Frontline Management (Level 5) This qualification is designed to benefit middle to senior managers who have been in their roles for at least five years and are looking to develop their skill set further. More than ever before, managers need to have highly-developed interpersonal, conceptual and managerial skills. The NZIM Frontline Management programme focuses on the importance of developing specific competencies to enhance the efficiency of managers in all aspects of their role. Contact the NZIM Learning & Development team today to secure your booking on 0800 800 694. Alternatively, visit our website, www.nzimnorthern.co.nz. NZIM Diploma in Management Advanced (Level 6) graduates. From L:R – Brendon Pett, Lyndon Hallinan, Mary-Jane Sherard, Lyn Wardlaw, Andrew Baker, and Vaughn Maaka.

NZIM Mentoring Programme eight years on

Effective Business Writing T

he Effective Business Writing programme provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to write highly effective business communications. Become an effective business writer and increase your personal productivity, saving precious time and money by increasing the clarity and power of all your written communications. This is a programme for participants who wish to improve their business writing skills in order to impress and influence their readers. It is especially suited to managers and individuals who are required to frequently write business correspondence. On successful completion of this programme, it is expected you will have the tools to be able to: • Develop a writing style that is clear, concise and effective, and that achieves your communication objectives. • Create documents that are easy to understand and comprehend after only one read. • Use a consistent and structured approach to convey your message effectively. • Understand the different types of written communication and the appropriate time to use each one. • Properly apply the current accepted approach for punctuation, grammar and syntax. • Maximise your ability to effectively proofread your written communications and evaluate results. Dates: Cost: Facilitator:

July 6 Members $600.00 + GST Non-members $700.00 + GST Sarah Maclean

Introducing Sarah Maclean Sarah writes: “I’ve been a freelance writer and editor since 2005. My background is in education and sales. I have a Bachelor of Arts, a Diploma of Adult Teaching and a Diploma of Maori Studies. “I like turning gobbledygook into information that is easy to use and I’m committed to plain English. My speciality is writing and editing material for audiences who use both English and Maori. Clients include the Families Commission, Te Papa Tongarewa, Quay Corporate Ltd and Competency International Ltd. I am also the

Sarah Maclean

coordinator for the Wellington branch of the Technical Communicators Association of New Zealand (TCANZ). “My career has been a series of leaps from one interesting project to another. I’ve worked with young children, with families and in the field of adult education. Commercial work ranges from organic market gardening and selling indigenous fashionwear to promoting corporate services for retailers. “Through all this, experience has taught me that language is a powerful tool. I bring that to my work, helping people convey their thoughts effectively through the power and beauty of words.”

Dates for your Diary NZIM Central presents the 2011 Cullen Law Series. These lunchtime seminars are free to all NZIM members and held at the NZIM office, Level 7, 3-11 Hunter Street, Wellington. For more information on these seminars including dates, time and registration details please visit our website www. nzimcentral.co.nz

“Having a mentor can be one of the most powerful personal development relationships an individual ever experiences,” says Professor David Clutterbuck. This has been reiterated time after time by both mentors and protégés during the eight years that the NZIM Mentoring Programme has been operating. Since the Mentoring Programme began in January 2003 over 200 managers have taken part in the 12-month programme to achieve their mentoring goals and aspirations. Managers have come from all areas of central and local government, commerce and not-for-profit organisations. The programme has a structured matching process, with each potential protégé submitting their mentoring goals and aspirations and a copy of their CV. The mentoring manager will then meet with the protégé to discuss their needs and build up a profile of a potential mentor. If the protégé and mentor are happy to proceed, the final step in the matching process is a “no obligations” meeting between the two parties, initially chaired by the NZIM mentoring manager. To date, the matching process between protégé and mentor has had a 95% success rate. An additional service introduced into the Programme in 2008 was support for organisations to set up their own internal mentoring programmes. To facilitate this project NZIM holds a one-day workshop which covers the “dos and don’ts” of mentoring and explains the differences between mentoring and coaching. The content of the workshop, which includes role-plays, is customised to take into account the needs and requirements of each particular organisation’s mode of operation. The success of this programme is in the main due to the support from our NZIM mentors and mentoring facilitator Phil Hartwick; their efforts are appreciated by NZIM. Our mentors have given their time and knowledge, some on numerous occasions. Phil Hartwick has facilitated mentoring workshops throughout New Zealand customising workshops to clients’ requirements. If you would like more information about the NZIM Mentoring Programme, please contact David Brown FNZIM, mentoring manager, on 04 235 6570 or 027-483 9167 or email david-brown@ xtra.co.nz. Alternatively you can contact Susan Mckibbin, Membership Services, on 04 495 8296 or email susan_mckibbin@ nzimcentral.co.nz. Focus on Management

Business Training Building Leadership + Management

Capability

Karen Purdue, chairperson NZIM Southland.

pplications are open for the NZ Institute of Management Southland members’ fund. This fund was established in December 2008 with the objective of building management and leadership capability within Southland and the Lakes District. Funds may be approved for: • Development and promotion of management and leadership capability • Delivery of unique events in Southland, and / or • Developing new initiatives. Funds are available to NZIM members who reside in Southland or the Lakes District. Applicants should provide as much information as possible including learning outcomes, benefits to you and/or community, and quotes (if applicable). All applications must be future focused. Please submit your application in writing to: NZIM Southland advisory committee PO Box 1159 Invercargill All applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis and the NZIM Southland advisory committee has complete discretion in the allocation of funds. Focus on Management

ZIM Learning and Development is committed to building excellent management, leadership and organisational capability in Otago and Southland through learning and development, says executive officer Joanne O’Connor. “We’re delighted that as an approved Joanne O’Connor, executive training provider in officer, NZIM Learning and Otago and Southland Development. for the new nationwide New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) Capability Development Voucher Scheme, over 35 NZIM professional development training programmes, courses, workshops and qualifications have qualified for this new scheme, and are eligible for voucher redemption.

Under the Voucher Scheme, small businesses (less than 50 FTEs) may qualify for vouchers to help pay for services such as training workshops, courses and coaching that build the management capabilities of their owners, operators and key managers. NZTE Capability Development Vouchers are only available through Regional Business Partners. Regional Business Partners will assess local businesses to determine what their needs are, and assist them with a plan to help them develop, grow and innovate. Vouchers may be allocated as part of the plan to help businesses pay for up 50 percent of the cost of services (up to a maximum value of $5000 excluding GST) from registered training providers that improve management capabilities in targeted areas. For a full list of NZIM programmes that have qualified for the NZTE Capability Development please visit http://www.osea.org.nz/news.php or contact your Regional Business Partners, Venture Southland and Otago Forward.

NORTHERN

CENTRAL

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

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

APRIL

Writing an Effective Business Plan

11-12 Resolving Conflict (prev Conflict Management)

MEX Communications

13-14 Facilitation Skills

11-13 Leadership, Motivation and Team

SOUTHERN

For 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

APRIL

11-12 Strategic Marketing C 12-14 Team Leader – Leading the Work Group C

Building

13-15 Team Leader – Essential Skills

Stress Management C

Lean 6 Sigma – Yellow Belt

13-15 Professional Administrator Skills

Basic Budgeting

18-19 Negotiation Skills

18-19 Introduction to Marketing C

18-20 Team Leader – Building Effective

18-19 Building a Business Case 20

Microsoft Projects

26-27 Leading Your Organisational Culture 28

Demystifying the Financial Machinery of Government

28-29 Women in Management

MAY 2

Effective Use of Time

2-3

Project Risk Management

3-4

Strategic Management

Speed & Power Reading

5-6

Coaching and Mentoring

5-6

Consultative Selling Skills

Effective Business Writing

11-13 Introduction to Management 11-13 Team Leader 2 – Building Effective Teams

11-13 Accounting for Non-Accountants 16-17 Interpersonal Communication Skills 16-18 PMP Preparation 18-19 Advanced Project Management 19-20 Developing a High Performance Team

Implementing Effective Performance Reviews

23-24 Business Process Improvement 23-24 Problem Solving & Decision Making 26-27 Presentation Skills

JUNE

Facilitate Continuous Improvement

1-2

Needs Analysis & Programme Design

Facilitate and Capitalise on Change and Innovation

Conducting Effective Meetings

7-8

Change Management

8-10 Project Management 9

Effective Use of Time

Demystifying the Financial Machinery of Government

Understanding a Profit & Loss

12-25 Diploma in Health & Safety 13

Effective Business Writing

15-16 Assertiveness Skills 15-17 Team Leader 3 – Operational Management

Lean 6 Sigma – Yellow Belt

Diploma in Project Management

Teams C

(starts)

Manage Quality Customer Support

Protecting your Business from Internal Fraud (new) I

Service (DFM Modular)

27-28 Strategic Thinking Tools

19-20 Accounting for Non Accountants 1 C

28-29 Interpersonal Communication Skills

MAY 2

NZIM Diploma in Management

in the Workplace Q

27-28 Lean Six Sigma – Continuous Improvement C

Advanced (starts)

2-3

Operational Management (Dip in Management Advanced)

2-3

Presentation Skills

4-6

Introduction to Management

Advanced Facilitation skills

How to Manage Drug & Alcohol Risks

28-29 Work Place Law C 28-29 Leading Virtual Teams C

MAY 2-3

Negotiation Skills C

2-4

Team Leader – The Essential Skills C

Business Ethics C

Building Your Brand C

9-11 Project Management

Effective Use of Time Q

10-11 Human Resource Management (Dip

5-6

Accounting for Non Accountants 1 I

Organisational Development C

9-10 Coaching and Mentoring Skills for Managers

in Management Advanced)

Emotional Intelligence

Successful Event Management C

Managing Your Time

Effective Use of Time C

Speed & Power Reading (starts)

9-10 Coaching for Performance C

Memory and Mind Mapping

16-17 Advanced Project Risk Management

Persuasive Business Report Writing C

Professional Reception Skills Q

(new)

17-18 Problem Solving & Decision Making (Cert in Mgt)

19-20 Leadership (Cert in Mgt) 23-24 Dealing with Difficult Behaviours 25

National Certificate in Business (starts)

25-27 Team Leader Skills – Essential Skills (Cert in Business)

Ensure a Safe Workplace (DFM Modular)

Essential Skills for the Administrator Q

11-12 HR for non HR People C 11-12 Assertive Behaviour Strategies C 12

The Art of Minute Taking Q

14-21 ESCO – Personal Discovery C 16-17 Essential Selling Skills (new) I 17

Interpersonal Communication C

SBG Machinery of Government (new) I

Governance in Practice D

JUNE

23-25 ABCs of Win-Win Relationships C

1-3

Introduction to Management

Introduction to Facilitation (prev

24-26 Franklin Covey The 7 Habits of Highly

Facilitation Skills)

Neuro Linguistic Programming

8-9

Contract & Procurement Management

9 10

Effective People D

26-27 Organisational Change Management C 30-31 Practical Project Management C

JUNE

Essential Leadership Skills

1-2

Accounting for Non Accountants 2 I

Managing Professional and Personal

7-8

Project Management D

7-9

Team Leader – Leading the Work

Art of Minute Taking C

Email Etiquette C

Change (new)

23-25 Four Quadrant Leadership C

Group C

Stress Management Strategies NZIM Diploma in Health & Safety – Level 6 (starts)

Focus on Management

LEADERS BUILDING LEADERS Our aim is to build management capability through Research, Learning, and Recognition. OUR FOCUS IS TO: • Research leading management trends and practice and promote a constantly developing model of best management capability for New Zealand. • Enable managers and aspiring managers to participate in learning programmes, mentoring, and events that provide the information and experience they need to develop their capability. • Identify leading management role models and provide awards that recognise the career and educational achievements of managers. NATIONAL BOARD Phillip Meyer FNZIM (Chairman) Brian Soutar AFNZIM Lloyd Davies FNZIM Cheryl Doig FNZIM John Sandford FNZIM Gary Sturgess Life FNZIM Lynda Carroll AFNZIM OFFICES National Office Acting CEO Phillip Meyer PO Box 67, Wellington 6140 Ph 0-4-473 0470, Fax 0-4-473 0479 Email national_office@nzim.co.nz National website www.nzim.co.nz Northern President John Sandford FNZIM CEO Kevin Gaunt FNZIM, FAIM PO Box 6600, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141 Ph 0-9-303 9100, Fax 0-9-303 9109 Email kevin_gaunt@nzimnorthern.co.nz Website www.nzimnorthern.co.nz Central President Phillip Meyer FNZIM CEO Karin Callaghan FNZIM FIPAA PO Box 11781, Wellington 6142 Ph 0-4-495 8300, Fax 0-4-495 8301 Email karin_callaghan@nzimcentral.co.nz Website www.nzimcentral.co.nz Southern President Brian Soutar AFNZIM CEO Joseph Thomas AFNZIM PO Box 13044, Christchurch 8141 Ph 0-3-379 2302, Fax 0-3-366 7069 Email joseph@nzimsouthern.co.nz Website www.nzimsouthern.co.nz

M E M B E R COMMENT:

Andy Graves

Andy Graves started his career in telecoms, working for Siemens in the UK. But he soon realised his real passion lay in helping people achieve their potential.

was a professional engineer, and felt I had the technical skills and something to offer, so I did a six-month Open University course that helped people work out where to head in career terms. By the time I finished I’d not only realised that training was the way to go for me, but I’d sent a letter off to our training manager, who offered me a secondment for a couple of weeks. So I did some training (without any kind of training myself!) and while I was doing that they offered me a position. So within a six-month course I’d actually identified what I wanted to do, and got a full time role. I think that’s probably one of the reasons why I am so passionate about learning and development, because I can see that if you can support people in identifying what they really want to do, then you’re helping people realise their potential and deliver high performance back into the organisation. It’s always stuck with me and it’s why I do what I do... my passion is making people succeed, I enjoy helping people realise their potential and doing something about it. I went from a training role with Siemens into a consultancy role and that’s where I started looking at new technologies, learning management systems, and blended learning. Most organisations deliver classroom training but few actually look at true blended learning as a model. It’s based around the 70:20:10 principle, a best practice model in which 10% of training is delivered in the classroom, 20% through peers outside the course, and 70% in the workplace. The shift is from traditional classroom training to only learning what they need to in the classroom, for instance induction or similar, then using your peers and your coaches or managers to embed that and then, more importantly, applying it in the workplace and demonstrating your competence. This drive towards a blended approach is something I’ve built on through all my different roles. At Norwich Union I had a team of 10 developers and we set up in-house online learning for about 36,000 staff. I came to New Zealand just over seven years ago to work at IAG in a similar role, setting up blended learning and new technologies. Then I moved to Tower Insurance, where I built on my people management expertise, working with NZQA, and setting up contact centre qualifications. My next challenge was Toll (now KiwiRail). This was quite different – we were training train drivers, Interislander and trucking employees. One of my biggest achievements there was to initiate the NZQA qualification framework for the maritime industry. Now I’m back with IAG. Our big challenge is the new regulations that will come into effect under the Financial Advisors Act on 1 July. Our industry training organisation, the ETITO, approached us because they knew we were very keen. We’ve developed the first Level 4 qualification for the financial services industry, the

National Certificate in Financial Services L4, and were the first company to become a registered training workplace, accredited by the ETITO to train, deliver and assess that qualification. It’s a big thing for IAG because it’s totally aligned to our jobs as well. We are following the 70:20:10 model, taking that 10% of knowledge that they learn in induction, then applying it through their peers and then in the workplace. Because these new financial regulations are all about the protection of the customer we must be able to prove our staff are trained and competent to deliver to those standards. The regulations are split between financial and non-financial advisors. Even if you’re not customer-facing you still need to be trained not to give advice, and therefore need to know what financial advice is. We’ve created two fantastic online courses and implemented a learning management system so we can track and prove that a person has completed the learning and achieved the assessment score that proves they’ve understood it. We’ll also collate evidence through calls and emails from customers, etc, to ensure that what they do in the workplace is to a high standard. The first contact I had with NZIM was at Tower when we were looking at contact centre qualifications and leadership training. I asked NZIM for a reference site and they put me in touch with Toll – and before you knew it I had a job with them! We built a whole Level 3, 4, 5 leadership framework at Toll with NZIM, which still continues. I did the L6 Managerial Excellence programme myself, not just to walk the talk and prove to myself that I could do it, but also to show senior managers that it’s a great programme. The following year we had managers complete the programme. IAG now uses NZIM as a preferred supplier so once again I am working with them to provide leadership and all types of training. NZIM has focused on qualifications, which provide excellent transferable qualifications for employees – and they’re doing a great job. They’re also trying to do more using new technology. This is definitely an area where training suppliers need to focus on, I believe, because as we move to the 70:20:10 model, there’s definitely more technology required. At IAG we’re now purchasing e-readers for our managers so we can download books for them and they can develop while on the move, when and where they like. All these things are now reality. We’re looking for forward thinking companies doing anything like this, so I think NZIM needs to recognise it’s a real area of opportunity. You can’t afford to sit still... in 10 years 95% of the workforce is going to be Generation X and Y and the use of technology will reflect this.

The experience of being the YEYA regional winner has been thought-provoking, inspiring and exciting. I am amazed at how much interest and support there has been not only in my organisation and sector, but also from media and leaders in the broader community. The validation that the award represents has been felt by those I work with and for. It has also raised my own proﬁle and opened up new possibilities. For example, I was the after-dinner speaker at a recent Red Cross conference, and a keynote speaker at the not-for-proﬁt sector conference in March.

Will you be New Zealand’s NZIM/Eagle Technology

Young Executive of the Year

Claire Szabó Young Exective of the Year 2010

2011?

Young Leaders • Innovators Team Builders • High Achievers

Step forward, be recognised Are you 35 years of age or younger as at 31 December 2011, and a New Zealand citizen? Have you been employed by your organisation for more than 6 months, and hold a middle or senior management position? Now in its 16th year, the Young Executive of the Year was established by NZIM and NZ Management magazine to recognise stand-out individuals who are prepared to go beyond perceived limitations and strive for personal and organisational excellence. Regional winners – Southern, Central and Northern – are announced at New Zealand Institute of Management functions in July. The three regional winners then become ﬁnalists for the NZIM / Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year Award, announced in Auckland late November.

Entry details, including the prize package, may be found at: www.nzim.co.nz or www.management.co.nz/top200/youngexec.asp Contact Victoria Purdie at NZIM on 0-4-473 0470, national_office@nzim.co.nz

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