Kerridge & Partners

NZ - a good place to be

2012-01-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

2012 has well and truly arrived, and for many of us this will be the first week back at work after a relaxing – if somewhat rainy! – three week break. The holiday feeling may be quickly fading as you face the mountain of emails in your inbox, but here are a few facts to help bring a smile back to your face now you are back in the office:

Top quality of life:
New Zealanders living in the country's two largest cities experience some of the best quality of life in the world according to the Mercer Quality of Life Survey. Auckland took the third spot for the fourth year in a row, earning the highest ranking in the Asia Pacific region, while Wellington came in at 13th place.

The friendliest place to live:
New Zealand is the friendliest place on earth according to a 2011 HSBC survey of expats – with our healthy work-life balance representing a big attraction to many of the expats settling here.

Excellent education and high personal freedom:
In the 2011 Legatum Prosperity Index, New Zealand was rated the 4th most prosperous place in the world to live. The rating is based on 89 different variables grouped into eight sub-categories such as economy, health, and safety and security. Of these sub-categories New Zealand is rated second for education and personal freedom.

Least corrupt country in the world:
New Zealand is perceived as being the least corrupt country in the world according to the Transparency International Corruptions Perceptions index.

The Index, which ranks 182 countries across the world, has consistently shown New Zealand as a country with a strong reputation for clean government.

Combined these ratings paint the picture that New Zealand is a special place to live – but right now you might argue you could enjoy life in New Zealand more if you were still on the beach and not back at your desk! However according to the professional network site LinkedIn, Kiwis are among the world's happiest employees – coming 4th out of 16 countries for optimism, with more than two-thirds of the 900 Kiwi respondents saying they were happy or very happy in their job 1.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10767025

And on that happy note, I'll leave you to get back to your work!

Catherine Lloyd

Identity and the organisation

2011-11-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

What do you do for a living? One of the first questions you’re often asked by any stranger you meet for the first time, and a question that can be complex in what kind of impression you leave on them. Like it or not, I think it’s fair to say that your job is effectively a measurement stick in how others judge what kind of person you are. We all know the stereotypes different careers carry.

If we’re asked this so regularly, what is the effect of other people’s questions on how we define ourselves?

We are truly social beings and inevitably affect and are affected by others in our environment. Being a social worker or a teacher in one place and time can carry a whole bunch of values and stigmas. I think the views of others can, as dependent on our peer group, play a large part in defining our aspirations in our careers as well as the decisions we make in life at a wider level.

In my limited experience, I’ve been lucky enough to travel and work abroad and see ‘how the other half lives.’ Having grown up and lived in one place for the most of my life, I found it interesting and surprisingly refreshing to live and work from a different perspective; an essential part in my trying to be ‘well-rounded.’

The topic of the ‘Big OE’ has been done to death but I think for good reasons. Having known friends before and after their travels overseas, I think there have been significant differences in their worldview both personally and professionally.

Being more open-minded and making decisions with more awareness and maturity to some larger context are some benefits noticeable in the short term. Over a longer period of time, it will be interesting to see the differences (or sameness) in career trajectories and achievement of life milestones.

Terence Teoh

Leadership: It Takes Focus

2011-10-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

Jim Collins, in the book Good to Great, researched why some companies excel and others fail, even if they provide the same offering. He concluded that a successful organisation cannot be all things to all people and by using his Hedgehog Concept he concludes that rather than doing multiple things averagely, be “great” at one thing/offering. His research focused on 11 companies such as Kimberly-Clark and Wells Fargo highlighting his theory that success occurs when excellence is focused.

While many of us have received the message that for a business to thrive we have to be Hedgehogs, many of us fail to focus in our current roles and attempt to multitask into productively. However, for the acclaimed multitaskers what you may not realise is by doing two things at once, it’s taking twice as long to achieve results.

If you still believe that you are a true multitasker test yourself with the “Stroop Test” where you attempt to read words that are in a different colour than the word itself. For example .RED. (say the colour not the word). On average it will take you twice as long to read, process the information and react with the correct colour... your mind can only focus on one thing at a time: reading the word or recognising the colour.

Consider further how multitasking can affect your leadership role in the workplace. Research shows that if you work in an office you’re probably interrupted an average of once every eight minutes AND it can take four to five minutes to refocus after each interruption. Therefore on an average 8 hour workday you (and your employees)are interrupted 60 times a day and therefore losing up to 240 minutes or 4 hours a day of potential productivity!

In New Zealand, where most executives wear multiple hats and switching focus on a daily basis it seems inevitable not to multitask. However, given that multitasking can reduce productivity by approximately 40-percent according to some researchers, are you trying to read the wrong colours instead of focusing on the actual task?

Challenge yourself for one week to try a few of these tips and see if you’re more efficient.

• Turn off your automatic email notification, reduce interruptions
• Only check your email 3 times a day and respond according to priority
• Make your daily schedule and stick to it, include time for impromptu conversations with your team
• Take regular breaks, it will actually help you focus better

(to read more on the Stroop Effect, take the test)

Carrie Clarke

Death and Leadership

2011-10-06T17:01:00.001-07:00

With the death of Apple’s Steve Jobs, it is humbling to ponder the amazing legacy that an individual can create through his ability to mobilise the efforts of thousands of people around the world around a very compelling vision.

It’s also interesting to reflect on the ‘what does this mean for me?’ question. In many ways death is, whilst 100% inevitable, all too infrequently discussed in leadership circles. How many Chief Executives have a ‘legacy plan’ – articulating the difference they’d like to make to the world?

It’s also interesting to ponder how many people go to work each day proud of the organisation they work in, feeling it to be completely consistent with the kind of contribution they might like to make to the world. I can’t help but wonder, if more time were given to a few moments of inward reflection, how many staff would be left in, say the tobacco industry.

Peter Kerridge

Calling all engineers

2011-10-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

It’s been predicted there will be a huge demand for skilled engineers in New Zealand over the next five years, particularly with the rebuild of Christchurch (1). The earthquakes have led to a “mini-boom” for the engineering industry.

Hays, the biggest recruitment company in New Zealand for engineers, have reported that the rebuild of Christchurch will have a considerable impact on the construction and engineering sectors, with increased demand for CAD drafters, highway design engineers, civil engineers, structural engineers and geotechnical engineers. To fill this employment void, they have been recruiting engineers from overseas; as engineers will often have international careers and their qualifications are universally recognised.

One challenge of attracting engineers to New Zealand from overseas is that salaries here are considerably lower than they are in the same sector in other countries such as Australia or the UAE. A further challenge presents itself in the form of the booming mining industry and, in particular, in the form of BHP Billiton who have recently posted a net profit of US$21.7 billion ($27.8 billion) for the 2011 year - an impressive 73% increase on last year’s profits (2).

They are expanding their output to meet increased demand from China and India, and to support this growth they are looking to do some serious recruitment:

“Mining giant BHP Billiton has released new forecasts, predicting the nation's resources sector will need 170,000 extra workers over the next five years. The prediction is almost 60% higher than figures given by a government forecast last year. The new figures come amid concerns the resources industry will face major skills shortages in coming years.” (3)

Putting that figure into some context – that’s larger than the population of New Zealand’s 4th largest city, Hamilton!

It’s likely that BHP Billiton will have to look to other sectors to meet their employment needs and the chances are the engineers will be the first to go.

Competition for “top talent” retention in New Zealand just got a whole lot harder.

Catherine Lloyd

Tackle the issue now or be prepared to be ‘All Black’ and blue in years to come?

2011-09-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

As a nation we’ve grown to be relatively proud of our resourceful and sharp thinking and it’s no surprise that we’ve thrived on our ability to innovate and try new things with little more than an oily rag and our No.8 wire mentality.

With that said and with all eyes on New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup, do you think we have our ‘A game’ on for the world to see, or have we simply missed the boat when it comes to impressing the global village?

With such a willingness to strive for a greater and more reputable presence on the world stage, to what extent do you feel we have managed a successful conversion when it comes to engaging and leveraging the business opportunities the World Cup has presented us with? What particularly forward thinking and sustainable initiatives have you or your business executed to advance the agenda of NZ Inc on the global playing field in the longer term?

With a recent article featured in the NZ Herald citing New Zealand as being amongst the top five nations enjoying a positive global reputation, how do we ensure we are maintaining and advancing this position on the global stage in the long run? Keen to hear your thoughts!

Deborah Wong

Gender Equality Lacking in New Zealand Boardrooms

2011-09-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Women’s Suffrage Day - In 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing nation to extend the right to vote to all adult women. How has this ground-breaking move translated into women’s representation in the most senior levels of business?

Today in New Zealand, only 9.3% of the top 100 publicly listed company directors are women (Beehive Article March 2011). In the UK Lord Davies has recommended that listed companies in the FTSE 100 should be aiming for a minimum of 25% female board member representation by 2015 (BIS Article Feb 2011), and Australia is moving to mandatory reporting of gender balance in the boardroom.

Why is it that New Zealand is not making enough of women’s experience and leadership skills? Why are we falling behind in women’s involvement? The recent NZX announcement to consult on plans to report on or disclose on the gender and other diversity makeup of board and management is progress, but isn’t it a shame that mandatory reporting is required to force a shift in an area that is generally accepted as making sound business sense anyway?

At Kerridge & Partners, we have been challenging our clients to think about diversity in its broadest sense for some time. In fact, since 2005, 32% of our appointments have been women into senior management roles. Follow this link for more information on our annual Deloitte audited findings.

So, as we mark this historic day, perhaps it is an opportunity for us all to ask ourselves, what more we could be doing to promote greater diversity in business and reap the benefits this provides?

Ahead of the Curve - Release of data from independent statistics review

2011-09-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

As you know, we’ve been striving to achieve a bold vision and applied some robust science to fuel our journey. For the third year in a row now we have tracked the key hard measures. We are pleased to share our annual Deloitte findings with you. Follow this link to the full media release.

The highlights are:
- Improved performance in all areas, including a Stick Rate metric of 98%, compared to the next best globally of 93%
- Diversity statistics: confirming an overall 32% of our appointments are female.
- We have the ONLY executive search practice in the world who invites a quality global CA firm to independently review ALL of our assignments to validate our key metrics.

Thanks for your support!

Flexibility for Women in the Workplace

2011-08-24T17:10:00.001-07:00

When I was returning to work after my first child I wanted flexible hours, a company I could feel challenged in and grow with and one that would understand my personal and professional needs. Kerridge & Partners offered me all of the above plus fun!

After having children some women like to return back to work part-time. Unfortunately they already face an uphill battle as there are not many part-time options out there for the working mum. It has been proven that those companies that provide more support for female executives are the more desirable employers and get the pick of the litter. Whether it’s working from home or in the office it has been proven that people can produce high-quality work even when they don't see their teammates every day. If the client and employer are happy, it shouldn't matter where they're doing their work.

It has been shown that workplace flexibility can improve employee engagement and job satisfaction, reduce stress, improve overall business performance, enhance customer service and position the company as a desirable employer.

http://www.familiesandwork.org/3w/tips/downloads/companies.pdf

Penny Mark

The role of leaders in setting an example

2011-08-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

The recent riots in the UK have attracted worldwide media attention. In many ways, it shows the danger of running a nation on a limited set of metrics and ignoring some of the long financial key performance indicators of the country. Some commentators would argue that some of the trends have been heading south for a while but they have been largely ignored.

The purpose of this blog isn’t to comment on how a Government should run a nation, more to reflect upon the challenge that UK politicians have in claiming any moral high ground. What is worse from a moral / ethical perspective: an opportunistic thief who steals a plasma TV from an open shop or a politician who claims for their own purpose a plasma TV through the UK Government? Hard to distinguish!

In a world looking for shining examples, we need more! Then we need the media to celebrate them .... an even bigger challenge.

Peter Kerridge

Choice

2011-08-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

A recent article in the Economist ‘measured’ history in terms of global economic output and cumulative number of years lived across the global population. It concluded that “over 28% of all the history made since the birth of Christ was made in the 20th Century” alone. As a result of people leading longer lives and global population growth, cumulative years lived was last century also at its peak.

It is arguable this exponential explosion in growth of economic output roughly translates to more jobs across more industries across more locations. There are more products and services being offered today that you never knew you needed – but at the same time doesn’t this mean there is also a greater diversity of jobs available for Generation Next?

A plausible idea I think.

But with a greater choice of things to occupy ourselves with employment wise, we are faced with new and possibly unexpected forms of cognitive dissonance. This RSA video takes a light – and creative – view on choice today and the cognitive dissonance that comes with increased possibility. In my opinion, incredibly relevant for twenty-somethings entering the workforce and trying to rationalise their career and life-goals. Today we have a greater amount of choice in what we do, and are more enabled to fill our working lives with jobs that give us meaning rather than just a means to survive. Despite all this, I think our lack of knowledge/understanding and an inability to decide holds us back.

We are better educated today than any time in history, but how useful is this knowledge if we don’t know what to do with it? This report, when released will be an interesting read!

Terence Teoh

10 reasons for leaders to consider relocating their careers to NZ

2011-08-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Research conducted by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise found that globally New Zealand is respected and admired for the strength of the country’s human values. These include an openness and directness which makes dealing with New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses straightforward and agreeable. There is also a refreshing honesty which engenders rapid trust and finally, New Zealand is admired for its resourcefulness, innovations and flexibility.
Fantastic natural environment and breath taking scenery – see NZ, Australia and the South Pacific
New Zealand is English speaking and the air is clean – a fantastic place to raise and educate children and it's an opportunity for your children to become global citizens.
Globally New Zealand is also respected for wider cultural elements such as an harmonious relationship with Maori, respect for the land, environmental awareness, and nuclear-free policy
New Zealanders place a high emphasis on quality of life and success of the family
Career development –the lack of scale of NZ organisations creates different challenges for senior leadership roles – meaning organisations have to be smart. It also means senior leadership roles have greater depth than they might have in large organisations.
Big fish small pond – the opportunity to influence a sector or a nation even is far greater in New Zealand. Relationships are key to being successful in your career in New Zealand, perhaps more so than any other country in the world. Relationships are valued in New Zealand meaning relationship based interaction as opposed to transaction nature of business in larger economies. Fortunately this is made easier by the ease of access to senior people – its not unusual to meet Government Ministers, CEO’s of New Zealand’s largest companies and the prime minister even at networking events.
NZ has centres of excellence in dairy, entrepreneurship, hi tech manufacturing and agriculture and New Zealand currently has a strong agenda on science and innovation and greater collaboration with research and business
NZ is well positioned to benefit from the Asian growth.
Get a head start on the world – NZ’s timezone is ahead of Europe and the US!

Refer to www.keanewzealand.com and www.immigration.govt.nz for more reasons around why you should place New Zealand high on your agenda for your global career.

Jo Baxter

Kerridge & Partners 6th Anniversary, StarJam and Lessons for Business

2011-07-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

This week saw us celebrate our 6^th anniversary with over 100 clients and friends of the business. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the growth of the business over the last 6 years, what we’ve achieved, and what’s in the plan to achieve.

The event also afforded us the opportunity to host a fantastic organisation called StarJam and be entertained by the extremely talented performers of the “Velvet Vocals” group. StarJam offers young people with disabilities the opportunity to stand proudly in the performance spotlight. As one friend commented, “I couldn’t believe the way in which the individuals on stage were transformed while singing; there was even a physical transformation. If ever proof was sought that art and music are food for the soul, we witnessed it last night.”

The group touched the hearts of everyone in the room, provided huge inspiration and certainly gave us food for thought – we can certainly learn a lot from the ‘Jammers’ in business. Their visible passion and excitement was infectious; their focus, confidence and self-belief was absorbing; and their support of each other as a group demonstrated a real understanding of individual strengths and limitations, and was wonderful to witness.

How often do we catch ourselves ‘going through the motions’ without that sense of purpose which really motivates us to get out of bed in morning? Or not tackling that new challenge or opportunity, in case we fail? If we could apply a fraction of the ‘can do’ attitude and approach to teamwork displayed by the ‘Jammers’ on Monday evening, we could really surprise ourselves by the possibilities of what we could achieve. These kids give it a shot, display true courage and certainly approached the performance they gave to us with great enthusiasm - a performance from which we all benefited.

Claire Denison

Former members of EMA

2011-07-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Wanting to distance ourselves from the comments made by the CEO of the EMA, we have cancelled our membership. We felt that there was no other action we could take that would be consistent with our values.

We continue to work actively to champion diversity in its broadest sense in our work with boards of directors and senior management teams.

Getting the right balance in a support function

2011-06-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

In thinking about the appointment of a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer and so on, an organisation is often challenged as to the kind of leader they’re looking for.

One way of considering the flavour of an appointment is to reflect on the needs of the business and, in particular, to balance this with the individual’s needs in terms of leading the function between inspiring, informing and doing.

It is likely that all three elements will need to be included, however, matching the leader’s attributes, and indeed motivations, with the needs of the organisation at the time are important. Some organisations will require the Head of Human Resources to inspire the business unit leaders to embrace the succession planning and talent development - processes that the organisation already has in place. Another may require a Chief Financial Officer to inform and educate business unit leaders and help them to drive their business units in a more commercial manner. This may require a Chief Information Officer, for example, to drive major systems implementations.

Once again, it all comes down to the clarity of the brief.

Peter Kerridge

Good news versus bad news

2011-06-23T18:44:00.001-07:00

In planning a trip to visit a client in Vancouver I referred to the recent post ice hockey unrest. The client enquired as to whether the good news had also made it to New Zealand. Whilst the “bad news” spread far and wide and almost instantaneously, the major media organisations had all but failed to communicate the astonishing good news – that the following day 20,000 volunteers had descended upon central Vancouver to tidy their city up.

The reason for mentioning this in a leadership blog is a reminder for us all to accentuate the positive and emphasis the “good news” in those we are charged with leading. Remember that the bad news may travel further and faster, hence the importance of emphasising the good.

Peter Kerridge

Impression Management – What does your email address say about you?

2011-06-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

It’s often touted that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to pose an analogous question, have you thought about what makes you “beautiful” to an employer? I’m not talking about being the next Rachel Hunter, Brad Pitt or George Clooney, but rather how are you managing your personal brand to reflect the perception of who you are and why you should be employed? In a typical “Trinny and Susannah”-like fashion, I wondered whether perhaps we should look at “what not to wear”, in terms of managing the link between contemporary technology and the impression it can convey.
With the introduction of social networking and media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter it might be worth asking yourself a few key questions: What does my profile say about me? Just how secure or private is my profile? Did you know that each time a social media website updates their layout and design your privacy settings could be changed to their ‘default’ settings? This could mean that whilst you normally have a pristine impression with those in your network, you have no control over who views the events you will be attending or any embellished stories that your friends post onto your page, or as part of their updates.

Furthermore, given the lack of tone and context in a short tweet or Facebook post, how do you ensure what you say is not being misinterpreted? This begs the question. Given the shift in technology for those we interact with, as a potential candidate for an organisation, would you appreciate knowing that your profile is not private or that others can view this? To what extent do you think an executive search firm should provide you with advice in regards to managing your impression in a constantly evolving technology savvy world?

Here are a few links that serve as a weary warning blended with an element of satirical humour when it comes to keeping up with the Joneses in the contemporary technology environment.

1) When using contemporary technology be aware of acronym use.

2) Social media is a tool but have you considered the effect your etiquette in this environment has and how you can avoid you or your organisations chances of being involved in personal grievances and/or defamation law suits?

3) What does your email address say about you? In his article ‘Know What your Email Address Says About You’ Jason Fitzpatrick wrote that “The username you select is vastly more important than the provider you use. Firstname.lastname@aol.com is preferred to and more respectable than sexkitten2010@aol.com—cutesy, offensive, or unprofessional nicknames are big mistakes.”

Equally the same can be asked of organisations. What more can your organisation do as an employer to present the best impression when it comes to the appointment and induction process of candidates?

Using psychometrics effectively

2011-06-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia psychometrics “is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits, and educational measurement. The field is primarily concerned with the construction and validation of measurement instruments, such as questionnaires, tests and personality assessments. It involves two major research tasks, namely: (i) the construction of instruments and procedures for measurement; and (ii) the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement. Those who practice psychometrics are known as psychometricians and although they may also be clinical psychologists, they are not obliged to be so and could instead be (for example) human resources or learning and development professionals. Either way specific, separate, qualifications in psychometrics are required.”

A key part of candidate evaluation in a recruitment process is psychometric assessment together with interviews, validations, and references. Widely regarded as best practice, assessment is integrated with the interview process to offer robust and comprehensive reporting before, say, client interviews. Psychometric assessment informs the decision making process for leaders. It does not make the decision but guides the interview process and reference checking to ensure a full and robust assessment of suitability is made. Psychometric assessment should be used only as a tool not as an overriding principle.

It has come to our attention as professional executive search consultants that the more senior the individuals are, often the more hoops they are expected to jump through in terms of the interview process and psychometric assessment.

Of late, some psychometric assessments have regressed, going back to banal in-tray and out-tray exercises of the 80’s and face-to-face interviews with celebrities. They seem to be contrived to get specific results. This does not succeed in winning over a senior candidate for a potential appointment. Indeed it almost has the reverse effect. Candidates who have met a search consultant and have attended many client interviews, who are then requested to spend up to six or seven hours, in assessments, often are put off by the whole process. Endorse what the client already knows and they are over onerous and burdens a candidate who has already given up extensive time.

I’m not against psychometrics by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, some of the tests available in the market are exceptional tools and provide valuable information to the search consultant and to the potential employer. They can help to probe an area which was not explored during the interview process. Where psychometric assessment really comes into its own is the ability of the clinical psychologist or the consultant in interpreting these tests and feeding them back to both the executive search consultant, the client and to the candidate. They need not be onerous and when top talent is in very short supply, employers should really examine their own navels about whether or not they would be prepared to go through an additional six or seven hours of assessment that really will add little or no value to the process and ultimately turn candidates away.

Vikki Maclean

Immigration Conundrum or Failure to Import Talent?

2011-06-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

With constant talks in the media about the “economy” and how to help New Zealand excel in the global marketplace is New Zealand really doing its best to bring in key talent to grow our businesses?

While I support strict immigration laws that limit the ability for those seeking handouts from foreign governments and I also recognize that there is immigration reform to protect refugees, asylum seekers, and family members, where are the immigration categories and reforms that protect and encourage experienced executives to come to New Zealand? Yes, I’m aware that there is an “investors” category if you have $10million dollars to invest in a New Zealand company, but what about the qualified overseas Chief Executive, Lawyer, or consultants that are not millionaires but could still bring heaps of knowledge and talent to our economy supposed to do? Yes there is also a “skilled migrant category” which invites panel beaters, bee keepers and chefs to enter into NZ, but again, what about Managing Directors and Commercial Managers? The third option is to have a company sponsor a visa on your behalf if you gain successful employment with them. However, first this means you must have a job before you can move here and secondly it is a onerous process for employers as well, so do they always want to look offshore?

A recent NZ Herald article discussing the “skills shortage” in New Zealand interviewed a successful IT firm that stated “its biggest headache was Immigration NZ” in finding new talent especially at the mid-management level. One owner of a business stated “the biggest handbrake on its plans for growth is a lack of skilled staff. . . and the issues with dealing with immigration. ” So even the company-sponsored visas are not always the solution.

As a global search firm we are in contact with executives all around the world and we are often asked what the immigration requirements are to enter the country. Many qualified candidates that we talk with are not able to get a visa until they get a job and they can’t get a job until they get a visa. I personally fell into that category, as an American, even though I am married to a Kiwi and we have a daughter I can still only qualify for a two year work visa (not permanent residency). Unfortunately my PhD and experience as an attorney in another country did not qualify on the skilled migrant list, nor do I have a spare $10million to invest and since I’ve already began the process of getting a partner visa I can no longer change to get a company sponsored visa.

I am not alone, our firm recently interviewed a very skilled South African senior manager with experience in global sales and IT management who was unable to get a visa and he is now the CEO of a medium size enterprise in the UK. He recently told us he had to “Look outside of NZ for opportunities due to immigration challenges in NZ.” This professional suggested that there could be a new immigration category allowing qualified immigrants like himself to come into the country without access to the country’s benefits (health care and unemployment benefits) until they are able to secure work or other types of visas? What suggestions do you have?

I am reminded of the ethical question we were all asked in our criminal law class in Law School “Is is better to let 10 guilty men roam free rather than convict one innocent man?” What do you think? Should the New Zealand immigration policies be relaxed to allow for more talent to move here, or is it a bigger risk to have individuals come and take advantage of the wealth of resources offered to residents?...even if some of them could help support and grow the New Zealand economy?

We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Carrie Clarke

Assumptions

2011-05-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

Every day we make assumptions around our work, our families, the situation we’re in often without too much reflection and thought. I recently spent some time in Egypt working with some Egyptian leaders and one of the most interesting things that occurred was the importance of religion and the way that it impacts the normal day to day work of leaders. I fell in to that trap that many of us do that I made an assumption that religion probably wouldn’t cross over into the work place yet having spent some time there and working with different people you realise how wrong you can be. Despite all the news, despite all the press coverage of recent times I found that I’d made an assumption. The assumption here was to underestimate the depth by which either the Coptic Christianity and the Islamic faith have on day to day challenges at work.

Assumptions occur in many ways and each of us every day make an assumption about a situation, other examples include people won’t return our phone calls when they are in senior positions that’s an assumption, another example would be what’s worked for me in the past will work for me in the future, another, you’re starting a new job but the company will organise your induction. My simple observation from my trip to Egypt was that it’s all too easy for us not to challenge ourselves and to think through what assumptions I am making about this situation and what impact is that likely to have. The question is - what assumptions have you made today and what do you intend to do about them.

Chris Johnson

What is the value of the Kiwi?

2011-05-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

We are not discussing here our volatile foreign exchange rates – but about the value of Kiwi executives. Or more specifically, the relative merits of promoting New Zealand domiciled individuals into CEO appointments against hiring experienced offshore talent to fill the role. Should boards appointing a Chief Executive Officer be looking to promote from within the organisation, or search outside it? If searching, to what degree should that search be a local one or go international?

A recent report “Homegrown CEO: The Key to Superior Long-Term Financial Performance is Leadership Succession” throws the spotlight on the value of internal appointments. While the research is based on US companies, there appears to be relevance to New Zealand business also. Damningly, the Chairman of report co-author A.T. Kearney states:

“Boards of directors often fail when it comes to CEO succession planning. Rather than focus on leadership development and creating a qualified stable of internal CEO candidates, boards too often end up going outside the organisation to fill the top spot. Unfortunately, their stakeholders more often than not pay a big price for their star search.”

Various factors are identified within the report has having an economic influence on firm performance based on whether CEO selection is made from internal ranks, or externally. Most significantly it is identified that there is no advantage to company financial performance attributable to the appointment of external CEOs – to the contrary, on average companies with ‘home grown’ CEOs significantly outperformed others. At the same time, searching externally for a CEO has additional cost, and then once in place an external appointment is often on a package that is more expensive to the business than an internal appointment would have been.

In considering the New Zealand market, these factors are likely to be exaggerated. In a relatively small economy large companies searching externally are more likely to have to look overseas at potentially greater cost. In addition the gap between local executive remuneration and that overseas will only accentuate the premium package earned by external appointments. This has led the NZ Shareholders Association, as reported in a recent NZ Herald article “Promote from within and save”, to advocate a move towards more internal promotion of senior managers as a cap on executive remuneration.

Naturally strong counterpoints to this argument could be raised, particularly in regards to demand for the specific skills and experience required in each instance. If a company is seeking to innovate or transform under new leadership, internal appointments may be much less likely to bring the fresh thinking and ability to lead change that is required. Even if an internal candidate may have the ability to produce step-change in the business, their personal brand may be associated with the companies past position. The 2007 appointment of Paul Reynolds as CEO of Telecom is a case of bringing in an individual with unique experience relevant to executing a specific strategy, with Chairman Wayne Boyd noting that Dr Reynolds had unique experience in leading change in a telecommunications company through a regulatory reform process similar to the one New Zealand was then embarking on.

It could also be argued that in a continually globalised world where New Zealand needs to constantly improve its international connectedness and create export success, appointments from offshore will bring valued global perspective, international experience and skills, and new networks to bear.

So – provide your comments and let us know, what is your perspective? Should we be moving to promote more internal candidates to senior positions? What should be the basis for a company to make the decision to search externally or even offshore? What is the value of the Kiwi?

Jonathan Drake

Sources of Leadership Inspiration

2011-05-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Late last week I had the privilege of attending the launch of the Be. Institute, an extraordinary organisation dedicated to the leadership development of people with disabilities.

The fantastic sense of goodwill in the room amongst visiting dignitaries, participants in the programme, leaders in the disabled community, corporate leaders and other interested parties made for an incredibly rich and diverse conversation.

Listening to the speakers, and talking to many of those present, was an inspiring reminder as to the courage of many of those in the disabled community who, despite having some very real and practical difficulties, overcome so much and, in doing so, provide real inspiration to many.

Peter Kerridge

Succession Planning

2011-05-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Succession planning - of the professional nature as opposed to William's and Kate's plans to continue the royal line - seems to be in the news a lot at the moment. Arguments both for and against.

An article in the New Zealand Herald yesterday was promoting the idea of succession planning, stating that New Zealand research has demonstrated:

"Most successful companies promote from within... If you look at [the listed] companies in New Zealand that haven't promoted from within, you'll notice the pay to get them into the company is substantially higher but performance is actually lower."

The article then went onto discuss how similar research in America has demonstrated that where companies exclusively sourced new chief executives from within their own ranks - including McDonald's, DuPont, Colgate-Palmolive, Nike and Microsoft - they consistently outperformed other corporations in return on assets, equity and investment, revenue and earnings growth, earnings per share growth and share price appreciation.

Which is all well and good... But what happens when succession planning goes wrong? Take this recent article from the BBC:

"David Sokol, heir-apparent to Warren Buffett, has resigned unexpectedly. His departure from the billionaire investor's Berkshire Hathaway firm comes just days after it emerged that he had bought shares in a firm before convincing his boss to buy it out. The transaction - which Mr Buffett has publicly supported - earned Mr Sokol an estimated $3m profit."

... But left a gaping hole in Mr Buffett's succession plans – and also calls into question his judgement.

So it seems it's not always ideal to groom a successor from within the ranks. This may be an extreme case, but succession planning can also fail for other reasons.

Sometimes an internal candidate may genuinely be the best person for the role, but don’t leave their successful succession to chance. Don’t assume they will naturally fall into the role. Successful succession planning requires active management; put a plan in place to “groom” the individual to smoothly take the step up. And if circumstances change, then flex the plan accordingly.

Do you really get what you pay for?

2011-04-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Steve Ballmer’s recent announcement of a company-wide pay increase has featured in news headlines of late. The Financial Times describes “competition for talent from big rivals such as Google has long challenged Microsoft’s ability to hold on to its top engineers.” Microsoft appears to be moving to match the benchmark set by Google’s 10% increase in salary across the board in January. But are they doing enough to retain their best assets?

Microsoft might have matched the market rate for talent in dollar-terms, but a recent McKinsey study suggests that pay alone is not enough. Financial rewards create “short-term boosts of energy” as opposed to longer-term benefits of employee motivation and retention. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs dictates that non-financial motivators such as praise, commendation and opportunities to lead are more effective ways to show employees they are valued. On top of paying the market rate, Microsoft should place equal emphasis and investment in non-financial motivators if they want to prevent competitors attracting their talent.

Perhaps there is a tendency for top-management to measure value in monetary terms. This is fair enough, but if we’re well aware that it’s not only money that motivates us, shouldn’t we be rewarding top-talent a little differently? The following video discusses a few interesting ideas; “The surprising truth about what motivates us.”

Terence Teoh

Why is it getting increasingly difficult to identify the best talent in the market?

2011-04-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

According to a recent McKinsey Global Survey more than half of companies hiring in Asia’s developed countries say they can’t find all the employees they need, and that managerial and technical staff are the most difficult to find. Competition for talent in Asia has reached an intensity not seen in the western world. Take one Asian company which hired 50 graduates and a year into the programme found they had retained only one of them.

In doing some research for a conference talk a few weeks ago I discovered that despite booming economies and huge populations, today China and India are confronting a shrinking pipeline of skilled workers.

One reason is related to the conversion rates from graduate to the commercial world which are shockingly low. According to a recent McKinsey study, under 13% of graduates from Chinese universities in a pool of 9 million were considered as suitable for employment by multinationals. In India, it was still only at 25%. It is a paradox of shortages amid plenty.

If there was ever a drive to thinking innovatively about how to attract and retain talent. It’s a known fact that competition and adverse times often act as triggers for new innovations. What we’ve started to see from our research at Kerridge are some innovative approaches to HR and to talent attraction. Companies are questioning everything they have used in the past to attract high quality people. Traditional talent models and common assumptions about how, where, and by whom work gets done are being challenged.

Jo Baxter

America versus Asia

2011-04-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

Having recently travelled to both North American and parts of Asia, the contrast between the two continents is stark. Immediate impressions are of a North American continent that is somewhat tired with ageing infrastructure. In contrast, the physical impressions of many Asian cities are quite the opposite; they present as being modern, vibrant, and fast growing.

This difference also extends to the people. In a food court in Singapore, it would be common to see school children doing their homework at 7am, while their parents read the newspaper. It would be difficult to identify anywhere in the Western World where the hunger for academic achievement would be as strong.

Comparing Singapore now with something a little closer to home; travelling from a home base in New Zealand, the differences in billboard advertising content are obvious. In New Zealand advertisers try and convince us to drink more beer. In Singapore the majority of billboards appear to be promoting some form of educational services, be they pre-schools, tuition services, private schools and so on.

It doesn’t appear to be too hard to work out which part of the world is going to progress at the expense of the other.

Select a leader – randomly!

2011-04-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a very interesting programme on the radio the other day which discussed the random selection of leaders and why it makes sense. I’d love to attribute these thoughts to the source, but have been unable to track them down.

The idea, presented very credibly, was that of selecting a leader for a team on the basis of purely random selection, rather than a far more scientific approach that 99% of organisations would employ. An interesting concept!

So why might this be a good idea? Well firstly it eliminates any sense of jealousy amongst colleagues. If the process for the appointment of the leader is purely random, no one can complain about politics or any other bias in the process. Another fascinating reason is the fact that the leader, once appointed, is under no illusion that they are any smarter than anyone else. This may helpfully lead to a positive leadership style which embraces others’ ideas, relative to a leader who basks in the illusion of their own superiority, having prevailed in highly scientific assessment process.

But perhaps the most interesting point here is the idea that a random process will almost automatically result in employee diversity amongst the senior management team. Bad news if you are a “Chief Diversity Officer” but good news perhaps for diversity!

Leadership lessons from a toddler

2011-03-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

A semi frivolous thought - what can an organisational leader learn from a two year old?!

Firstly most two year olds are very cute. The lesson in that - be likable. Leaders are forgiven for many weakenesses if their staff genuinely like them as human beings.

Toddlers are determined. Watch any (ankle biter) on a mission and you can see what real determination is. Failure is not an option for a two year old who wants something to happen.

Focus. Ever watch a two year old play, you'll see them engaged in one task single-mindedly then leave that completely behind before focusing on the next task. They don't waste any energy trying to multitask or dilute their energy and efforts in any way. In a world where multitasking is valued, often leaders risk forgetting the value of focusing on certain activities on perhaps certain days and leaving the ubiquitous blackberry or iphone somewhere else during important conversations.

Standards in schools... the best way forward?

2010-11-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Much in the media of late about standards in schools. Will it help....?

I offer a different perspective. Let's begin with an analogy. You are the CEO of a multibranch business. Say, retail, or equipment hire or contracting.... it actually doesn't matter.

Quick question: what is the first thing you do if you have a poor performing branch? Answer: take a look at the leader of that branch. If they can make it - support them; if they can't move them on fast and find someone who is better able to lead the branch into the future. A long way down the list of things you might do would be to roll out a set of standards!

So is it so much harder for the education sector? Maybe. There are a lot of 'branches' or schools and some would claim that performance is hard to define. Well, I would suggest that 'everyone' knows who the bad Principals are... ERO could tell you. Teachers could tell you. Education support workers, psychologists could tell you. Parents would also have a view...

Our challenge to the sector is simple. Would it not make sense to focus on the leadership of the school. Celebrate the great Principals; develop the promising emerging leaders in the sector and exit, swiftly and gracefully, those that are unable or unwilling to improve and are holding everyone back.

Simplistic and naive, maybe. Would it work? Very likely!

Peter Kerridge

Managing immigration as an opportunity not a risk

2010-10-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

We thought long and hard about the huge opportunity that getting the right kind of talent into New Zealand could represent. Our submission to the 2025 Taskforce centered on a national talent strategy of which inward migration would play a key part.

Looking from the outside, it would appear that we take a risk approach rather than an opportunity approach to getting talent into the country. All of the processes are designed to mitigate against the risk of getting a criminal into the country (and we should absolutely not embrace the criminal fraternity!) However, one wonders if philosophically the nation adopted an approach more akin to that of a business.

A business will accept that in reaching out to external talent they will make the odd mistake but will engineer their processes in such a way that they make a lot more good hires than bad and that will overall be an advantage to the business. Many clients of ours would be very pleased with a 9/10 success rate for their overall hiring. We can’t help but ask, if we were to make it much simpler and much easier for organsiations to get talent from overseas and for such talent to penetrate the immigration in days rather than months, what the commercial value of “opportunity” would be versus the potential incremental increase in risk to the nation.

Peter Kerridge

Leadership musings from TEDx Auckland

2010-09-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Wonderful day at TEDx ... a year after the inaugural event, the TED environment does create a superb breeding ground for new ideas and connections...

From forays in the 'youthful mindset' - maintaining the hunger for learning = a 'must' for leaders... the challenge.... score yourself on courage, openness, risk taking, eagerness and energy.... and see how 'youthful' you are....

Onto education... why if Nobel Scientists are 20 x more likely to be involved in the arts do we not build arts into the science curricula at schools/universities?! Good question!

What if... we valued inexperience [at least intelligent naievity] over experience? Challenger brands overturn the status quo by state of mind.. they change the terms of the game.. often starting with no experience in the industry.. so they don't know what the rules are.... And how to you remain intelligently naieve? Difficult! You have to work at it...conformity and expertise have a gravity associated with them! Ideas borrowed from the world of improv [improvised comedy]: let go [of our stories/assumptions]; notice more; use everything [all offers/ideas!]

For those interested in following the link http://www.tedxauckland.co.nz/ takes you there... in summary a great day for immersion into non-typical Monday to Friday conversations... a good shot in the arm and reminder of what an amazing country we live in and the remarkable opportunities that are within our grasp.

Finally a special mention for the remarkable group from Starjam - see http://www.starjam.org/ - a truly uplifting performance from a very special group indeed

Governance tools – fit for purpose

2010-09-06T16:06:00.001-07:00

The needs of boards continually evolves. Therefore it makes good sense to ensure that the advisors that the board works with are fit for purpose to suit the needs of the day.

For some boards, compliance issues weigh heavily. The board will seek answers to questions like “is the audit committee doing its job?” or “have the risk management strategies of the business been adequately tested or reviewed?”

On other boards, the key questions centre on “can we work together better?” or “we are high performing but what would an improvement look like?” or “what do other high performing boards do that we don’t?”

If these questions are top of mind, we’d love to hear from you.

Website for practical ideas

2010-09-06T16:05:00.001-07:00

We are always on the lookout for interesting resources on the web. There are a good many to provoke thinking and debate about the issues confronting leaders today…

This site www.mindtools.com offers something different – a real practical and worthwhile resource for the practically minded. From project management tools to decision making tools, it serves to bridge a gap that exists in many teams – the gap between strategy / idea / inspiration to the critical execution. In short, well worth a look.

Rich data to fuel the appointment process

2010-09-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

“How much [information] is enough?” is a question often ahead by appointment committees… The aim, of course, of the process is to optimise the result by de-risking. And when time is of the essence, it may not be possible to have 20 interviews… so what can be done to make sure that the “preferred” candidate is up to the job?

The following is a list of ideas. Implement them all and you will certainly improve your chances!

1. Think creatively about the “interview process. On its own it is a poor indicator of success – but you can do things differently. Think of some real-life examples of challenges they will have in the job – and create a simulation in the second interview to test. Give them some data to analyse and present, a facilitation to manage, a coaching session to run or a customer to impress…and watch carefully!
2. Use psychometric testing. And get a very sound psychologist to deliver independent advice.
3. References – you choose the referees, don’t simply accept the candidate’s own referees without questioning.
4. Do all the checks you can – police, credit history, job history.. doing this properly is a very small investment compared to the costs of getting it wrong.
5. Involve a team and make sure you create an environment where anyone can voice any concerns they have. Have them all sign a document saying that (a) they support the decision to appoint 100% and (b) they will commit to doing whatever they can to ensure that the appointee is successful in the role!

Do 1-5 above and you will have ‘rich data’ to inform the decision to appoint. Appointment mistakes are preventable; they represent failures of process.

Business as a force for good in society

2010-06-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Given the huge talent available in many of our businesses, one wonders how it might be better leveraged for the common good. This alongside the obvious financial resources lead to the question - for what end?

Why does business exist? The old adage, 'to increase shareholder wealth', is an anachronism. Not only that, it is a shallow, some would say 'soul-less', definition that ignores the full spectrum of human potential.

To draw an analogy from the wonderful book, 'Man's Search for Meaning', businesses can re-purpose themselves to align with a higher goal.

Whilst they may well be some convincing evidence to suggest that 'meaning' based organisations are more financially successful [which is helpful], let's face it - we are set for a pretty sad future unless businesses view their futures as inextricably linked to the fortunes of their communities, nations and indeed the world.

Peter Kerridge

The ethical questions in leadership advisory work

2010-06-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

With so much debate on the here and now, it may be worth speculating as to what the future might hold. With much debate centred on 'can we judge someone on the content of their facebook page?' or 'is it right to proactively promote the interests of underrepresented groups?', what might be the issues in the coming decades?

We suspect that key questions might be:

1. If you could predict someone's leadership ability from their DNA, will organisations try to build up data on their employee's genes and use such data to determine who is able to access which development opportunities? Will they use DNA to judge who they hire?

2. Taking the age of transparency to another level... will organisations of the future be open to viewing by shareholders/stakeholders? We already have cameras installed in third world factories of our major brands to assure consumers that children are not being exploited and so on; what about live feeds from the boardroom to see how the leadership behave? I wonder how many would embrace that?

Peter Kerridge

Generosity as a Key Leadership Value

2010-05-03T14:43:00.001-07:00

It was interesting to reflect on a recent fundraising effort that involved knocking on doors in the neighbourhood to raise money for Surf Life Saving New Zealand. Armed with buckets and stickers and give away key rings, I set off with my daughters for the evening effort.

Interesting observation: We raised by far the most money when visiting the most modest houses; conversely the larger houses with late model cars in the driveway most typically provided only a few silver coins for the bucket.

Given that, for the most part, our corporate leaders populate the larger rather than the smaller residencies, I do worry about the spirit of generosity. Generosity is not simply about giving money to a not for profit cause – it is about seeing yourself and in turn your enterprise or organisation as being a part of the community.

Businesses do not exist in isolation; they exist with the blessing of the communities in which they are based.

Peter Kerridge

Productivity revisited

2010-02-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

For a really insightful piece on our NZ’s productivity, this link takes you to a lecture by leading economist Prof Phil McCann. The session was hosted by the Motu group.

Well worth a look for anyone interested in understanding more!

The world post recession is a world of opportunity.

2009-12-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

In the antipode the experience of the global recession has not been as acute as North America or Western Europe for example. Many of our clients in Australia would claim to have barely noticed the recession. In New Zealand, jobless figures which are still under 7% are “painful” for all those concerned, are none the less considerably less than the figures in other geographies.

The business landscape will look different in 2010. We certainly believe that the recession has been “cleansing” some businesses which lacked the robustness of a solid customer base and a desirable product or service in the market and many more will continue to do so next year.

The result will be a business landscape populated with the “survivors”, those whose business culture has “resilience”, intellectual property captured in its procedures and good risk management systems.

Raising our literacy levels

2009-10-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

NZ needs to aim for long term human capital enrichment and to really engage its skilled people in the future. We can mobilise New Zealanders to get behind the future of the nation by voicing these big aspirations and creating interest, pace and energy.

Major international businesses move to where the skills are. We must ensure our youngsters are leaving school with the kinds of skills that will attract future investment from such companies.
Consider the increasing numbers of unemployed. Consider at the same time the critical need to raise basic literacy levels amongst our youngsters. It would be very simple, we suggest, to set up a scheme whereby the unemployed skilled ‘willing’ would assist the ‘underperforming’ in pre-schools and schools.

For graduates this might represent a welcome break from daytime TV and might be wrapped up into some kind of qualification or certification. Not unlike the social service that many Germans have chosen over military service in the past. The beauty of this scheme is that the results would be totally measurable – given the levels of testing in schools – and furthermore would increase the employability of those giving their skills to the scheme.

Chris Johnson and Peter Kerridge

Codifying a way to get things done

2009-10-13T14:14:00.001-07:00

By codifying a way to get things done, a shared knowledge can be facilitated across Government and not only will this ease the movement of leaders across Government but it will also lessen confusion, be able to be well defined and keep all employees on the same page.

Embrace Standards

2009-10-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

If everyone has two elements to their job, maintaining the standard and improving the standard then we need to standardise - and to achieve this we need a common language of improvement across Government. Looking at creating improvement processes, Toyota is a great example. It is a large business, employing about as many people as the public sector in NZ and yet they have common standards and practices across all areas such as their standardised business case reports and methods for improving work processes. Consequently all their improvement decisions are made on a common platform.

As this example shows size does not have to be an issue and so there is an opportunity for the NZ Government to standardise on the language of improvement.

Generation F

2009-10-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

This also has importance in relation to talent. Leaders need to be celebrating the success and acknowledging the difference that talent can bring. They need to embrace it, no matter what the age or generational differences. The new "Generation F " (MLab, Garry Hamel.)will be a challenge to the accepted ideals of businesses because they see that power comes from sharing information and not hoarding it. They will see things such as hierarchies as not being prescribed and that groups are instead self defining and self organising. They will consider that all ideas compete on an equal footing, that contribution counts for more than credentials and that leaders serve rather than preside.

Support women en route to the boardroom

2009-09-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

The public sector has led the way in NZ in terms of diversity. However, there is still the issue of boards having the ‘old boy network.’ However, changes can be made here through establishing quality, open mentoring systems for aspiring directors and utilising the plentiful databases available for directors in NZ. Creating an annual award for excellence in organisations with diverse boards is also a good way to stimulate change.

Given our lack of critical mass of women leaders here, we could set up a mentoring programme for up and coming women in NZ to link with ‘those women who have already trodden that path’ in parts of Scandinavia for example.

Peter Kerridge and Chris Johnson

Rebrand 'productivity'

2009-09-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Productivity needs to be rebranded. It has come to mean working harder when it should mean me getting greater result from my efforts. No government worker [and all too few private sector workers] will leap out of bed in the morning in response to a call to be more productive if this it all it means. Its name needs to be changed to engage the real vision it sets.

If you look at the example of government workers, they may not understand all the technical details behind productivity and process improvement but they would certainly know what ‘better’ looks like, particularly because ‘better’ [= more productive] means they can enjoy the satisfaction of delivering more to their clients and wasting less time on things that add no value.

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

Using our empty office space

2009-09-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

The headlines fall of stories of excess capacity in our major centres. Vacant office space in Auckland could accommodate some 60,000 workers. The figure in Wellington is around 17,000.

There is potentially a huge opportunity to be grasped. Modern communications technology allows for very effective telecommuting. We have two of the most desirable places to live on the planet in our nation. Why not set up "state-of-the-art" offices in our major centres that allow executives to work from New Zealand for companies based in Japan, China, India and Australia for example?

Given the obvious benefits of new migrants moving to New Zealand, this might be one area where government could sponsor at a national or a regional level. The payback would be promising; the income tax take alone would surely make the idea work. Something for NZTE, government and city councils to move ahead with?

Upside-down Thinking on Immigration in a Recession

2009-09-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

Many countries around the world are tightening the rule on inward migration in order (they think) to protect those currently in work.

Our assertion is that completely the opposite should apply. In New Zealand we would do well to make ourselves the nation of choice for skilled migrants, in order to give the economy the best possible chance of emerging in a strong position as the recession subsides.

Let’s face it, not many skilled executives will move to New Zealand without income and especially those in senior roles will be creating more jobs for New Zealanders and “paying their way” in a more than adequate fashion.

As protectionism increases, let’s make sure that we don’t become protectionist – especially with respect to skilled migrants.

Peter Kerridge

Ideas Into Action

2009-09-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

If we were to think really big and consider aiming to engage every New Zealander, an online forum could then be established to get the nation’s opinions on how to improve the way NZ works and a body could be set up to champion the portfolio of innovation and see these ideas into reality. A ministry of innovation?

Leaders can be weary of new ideas, even though these can ensure more employee engagement. Ideas can be harnessed successfully if there is a common practice and mechanism for surfacing, evaluating and implementing them. Imagine how many ideas could be generated by 250,000 state sector employees reflecting on those things that could be improved in the tasks with which they are the most intimate. Even if only one in 1000 employees created an idea that would be 2500 ideas, not to mention employees feeling that through their work they make a difference. It is fact that only 20% of employees feel highly engaged, but what if this was improved to 25%?

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

Embracing ideas from offshore government experience

2009-09-13T17:06:00.001-07:00

This is an excerpt from our presentation to NZ Treasury on"Bridging the Productivity Gap: the Human Capital Perspective" in August 2009

One new notion is that the public and private sectors share ideas and there are successful examples of this around the world. One main example is WIG, an organisation in the UK that covers both industry and Whitehall with the aim of building and sharing cooperation. We believe there are huge benefits to be made from public and private sector collaborative thinking and that there would be great interest and scope to introduce this idea into NZ.

Improved results require improved approaches and deployment and this has been captured in the UK where different councils have made decisions to merge resources. When there is not enough work generated or financial backing for one council to make use of certain resources, councils such as that in Havering, Barking and Dagenham have looked to share one main well resourced laboratory. Similarly, the councils of Sutton and Merton have merged their human resources.

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

Setting our sights high

2009-09-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from our presentation to NZ Treasury on"Bridging the Productivity Gap: the Human Capital Perspective" in August 2009

We believe there is a very real possibility of the state sector leading the productivity agenda in NZ! What if the Government became the source of ‘improvement talent’ in NZ? NZ should be setting its sights high and aspiring to make some big improvements within the public sector.

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

Standards in Human Capital reporting

2009-08-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from our presentation to NZ Treasury on"Bridging the Productivity Gap: the Human Capital Perspective" in August 2009

New Zealand could lead the world on Human Capital reporting in both the public and private sectors. To stay ahead we could look to publish a human capital report as part of company annual reports to give confidence that NZ organisations are managing their most important assets, their people, in the best way and better than the rest.

Shareholders have a legitimate interest in how human capital is being utilised. The best in the world are already doing this: sharing information on leadership development initiatives, data on turnover of key staff, confidence in leadership, levels of engagement in the workforce and so on. We advocate creating a standard for Human Capital Reporting that could be applied across the country. The standard defines what ‘good’ looks like and serves to raise the level of conversation on this key area of business.

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

Make it easy for senior leaders to move here

2009-08-18T14:02:00.001-07:00

This is an excerpt from our presentation to NZ Treasury on"Bridging the Productivity Gap: the Human Capital Perspective" in August 2009

We must make it easier for these senior leaders to get into NZ. The point to remember here is that by making it hard for these skilled people to enter and work in NZ, our current "policy is trumping common sense".

Yet, there are ways to respond faster. We already outsource the immigration medical tests; why not allow a private sector business to make the ‘suitability’ calls and validate the backgrounds of senior skilled migrants?

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

Leaders – spend one day per week on talent

2009-08-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from our presentation to NZ Treasury on
"Bridging the Productivity Gap: the Human Capital Perspective" in August 2009

Leaders – spend one day per week on talent

Leaders really need to take their talent resources seriously. In fact leaders of world class organisations spend about 20% of their time nurturing and developing talent. The real challenge then, is for leaders to move talent up their agenda and effectively clear the equivalent of a day a week to foster and develop it. In terms of looking after talent, an international mentoring programme could even be established to support the growth of up and coming leaders.

Leaders need to be surrounding themselves with an engaging this talent. But mostly they need to have the confidence to let go and acknowledge that it is ok for others to be successful and in fact their own success can only really come through the success of their protégés. This way they will be creating reasons for talent to stay and showing that it is ok to shine. We as New Zealanders, have to learn to back ourselves and our leaders need to be focused on performance, alignment, delivery and less on relationships.

Peter Kerridge & Chris Johnson

No pain, no (long term) gain

2009-07-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

My fear is that New Zealand business experiences only a moderately painful downturn. Upside-down thinking. Maybe. Why?

Pain is, like it or not, a powerful motivator for change. The bigger the experience of that pain, the greater the motivation to avoid that pain in the future.

The experience of this recession could, if sufficiently painful, propel us into the top end of the world league tables. It could also see other economies, currently more adversely affected than ours, overtake us in the medium term. Why? Their current generation of business leaders might just be more determined to ‘never let that happen again’.

In any civilised country we look to the government to protect the most vulnerable in our society. The media have a role in celebrating at least, of the many business success stories that are out there right now. Yet, there is a delicate balance to be struck, however, we must not cushion businesses too much from the recessionary forces – if we do, we miss a huge opportunity.

Peter Kerridge

The opportunity in our midst

2009-06-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

It is sometimes awkward to be the optimist in the face of the onslaught of negative data we call a recession. Yet maybe it is essential.

There are opportunities everywhere. Just as a new sport represents the chance for an athlete to prove him or herself in a different environment, so a shift in the external economic conditions offer business the ultimate challenge: not just to survive but even, dare we say, to thrive.

In many ways, this recession is too good to waste. Rarely in any of our lifetimes has there been such a 'burning platform' for change. For all those agitators in our businesses who have been yearning for the leadership to take 'improvement' in all its forms seriously, your time may have come. For all our leaders, now is the time to invite these agitators into the 'inner circle' and liberate them to perform.

For some businesses it will mean sticking to the basics. Let's face it, many sector leading businesses just do that, not much more. For others it will mean re-inventing the rule-book.

I, for one, don't want to be remembered as someone who looked at the recession and did nothing new. I would far rather be remembered as someone who challenged our business and business generally to do things much much better than we do today.

Peter Kerridge

What’s different this time?

2009-06-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Over the next decade boards will be forced to change.

We all know that most of today’s boards and leadership teams are disproportionately composed of the male baby boomer generation. The next decade will see unprecedented change. 50 year olds will be sitting on the boards next to 30 year olds, and they might be women! As we emerge from the current economic doldrums will we see boards embrace diversity of talent in their leadership teams or will their heads firmly stuck in the sands of yesterday?

Who will be the winners? In the last few months we’ve already seen the positive impact that diversity has had on the commercial fortunes of companies like LVMH (the global luxury goods business) & some of the Icelandic businesses. For us, this is a long journey, the platform is burning, there are signs of the few first steps but we must embrace the opportunity now, not when last baby boomer turns the lights off!

Jo Harrison/Chris Johnson

Boardroom of the future

2009-05-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Currently our boardroom teams are really missing out – notably on the perspectives and insights from women, younger directors and ethnic groups who are largely excluded from the boardroom debate. This is not about quotas – it is about contribution.

What will the boardroom of the future look like? Quite different to the boardroom of today…. They will collaborate online, have transparency of information by access into the companies measurement systems, be a balance of men, women, different ethnic groups and encompass a range of ages… 30 year olds alongside 80 year olds. They may not always meet in the boardroom. Much like some of the world's most successful companies do today, they will choose venues that are much more conducive to creative unconstrained thinking. The Chairs of the board will be expert facilitators – skilled at drawing out the varied contributions from their directors who in turn will be handpicked for their particular backgrounds perspectives, contributions and insights.

View our contribution to the debate on TV3 business news.

Peter Kerridge

Boardroom diversity

2009-05-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Whilst I agree that diversity in board selection involving a balance of men and women can add value through thought leadership, I would be extremely cautious about saying women have got it right in this recession and men have got it wrong. My belief is that it is extremely important to have equality in leadership roles but what is more important is ensuring that the right skills, attitude and behaviour (with the dominant factor being the right values) are the major criteria and that the correct fit is found with the needs of the organisation. As for women being too subservient in requesting what they need and want, I do not think there is enough evidence suggesting that this is the case. Women who do and want to succeed in the world today are not afraid of asking and demanding what they want. Now women are more confident and are well supported in standing up for what they want. Ongoing work in the field of coaching will assist in resolving conflicts and arriving at solutions as opposed to settlements.

As it is the older generation who has got us unto this recession – maybe it will be the younger generation that will get us out. Perhaps it will be the next generation of both women and men who will lead the way, underpinned by strong values which will be more about adding value and less about greed and what’s in it for me. Personally I have learnt a lot from both men and women over a career of nearly 30 years.

Let’s also not forget that the diversity debate goes beyond gender – ethnicity and age are two other critical areas to address.

Follow this link http://www.btob.co.nz/cms/news/2009/05/art10004155.php to read about the launch of Women On Boards / Pansy Wong

Vikki Maclean

Annual CEO succession

2009-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

So, facing the worlds deepest recession since the Great Depression, business headlines which change daily, job losses and financial pressures, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that a few more of the world’s business leaders might be thinking about their future career. Apparently not. This weeks global survey of CEO tenure by Booz&Co* shows only a slight increase in CEO turnover over for 2008 compared to 2007 and what’s more in those countries hardest hit by the recession, CEO turnover actually declined! Sure, when you look by sector Financial Services has had more than its fair share of change, but in general it appears boards of companies are hanging onto their CEOs. An interesting take on “perception” verses “reality”.

* Source Booz&Co Annual CEO succession

Chris Johnson

Inspiring your culture

2009-05-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

A fascinating address to the Kerridge & Partners community in Auckland was led by corporate anthropologist Michael Henderson.

Michael Henderson is a Corporate Anthropologist and award winning author of three books on corporate culture and believes organisations are the new tribes. Michael has travelled extensively and studied tribes and cultures in over 50 countries. His powerful and timely insights for business people on leading a culture (not just a business) are critical in tough times! Michael has worked with Corporate, Government departments, Professional and Olympic sports teams, and not for profit groups.

Further information can be found on his site http://www.valuesatwork.org/

Michael’s challenges to the CEOs, directors and senior managers present was to engage in thinking about culture and see it as a critical part of the business – perhaps the most critical thing for a leader to get right. For some it was common sense – or ‘uncommon good sense’! – to others a real wake-up call. We look forward to working more with Michael.

Peter Kerridge

Adapting to the times

2009-04-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

The best firms in the world are going to great lengths to keep the talent in whom they have invested so much. For them, forced redundancies are a last resort.

This link connects to an interview Peter Kerridge gave to TV3’s business programme in NZ where he comments on innovative schemes from around the world and furthermore offers some ideas that could advance the talent agenda in New Zealand.

Quality in executive search

2009-04-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

With benchmarks so hard to come by in the world of executive search, it was interesting to read this piece in the Financial Times.

For those who don’t wish to read the whole article, an interview with Kevin Kelly, CEO of global executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. Paragraph 6 reads:

“Since taking the helm in 2006, Mr. Kelly, 43, has sought to move the firm away from pure recruiting to offering a suite of services that help its clients attract, retain and promote top management. The work was sparked by a recent internal study of 20,000 Heidrick searches, he says. “We’ve found that 40 per cent of executives hired at the senior level are pushed out, fail or quit within 18 months. It’s expensive in terms of lost revenue. It’s expensive in terms of the individual’s hiring. It’s damaging to morale.”

That translates to a 60% ‘stick rate’. We track the same measure – our long term trend for this measure is in the high 90s%.

Clients must ask executive search firms the hard questions – related to their actual performance. Stick rate is the most basic of measures related to the number of executives that stay in the role. Our measures go beyond that to track the actual in-role performance of placed candidates. More of that another time.

Peter Kerridge

Diversity on boards

2009-04-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

A recent article from the UK’s CIPD captured the issues of the day – what is wrong with boards?

“The problem is that a challenge from within is lacking,” said Linda Holbeche, the CIPD’s head of research and practice. “A few years ago we at Roffey Park studied this area with 50 organisations, looking at which people got to be on the board. We found that nothing was changing: directors recruited people like themselves and all the headhunters fished in the same gene pool. No one was asking: ‘What does a really effective non-exec need to do?’ I think one lesson that has been learnt is that they shouldn’t come from the same pool.”

Peter Kerridge

Choosing a search firm

2009-04-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Given the importance attached to getting the right people at the right jobs at the most senior levels, it is sometimes extraordinary to see how little attention is given to the selection process of the right search firm.

The Association of Executive Search Consultants has some excellent guidelines to assist a client in making such a selection.

The link to their site is http://www.aesc.org/ and the link to their "client will of rights" can be found here.

Peter Kerridge

Productivity

2009-03-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Leaders and organisations must manage processes as well as people. An executive team of any organisation must understand exactly what the core processes of the organisation. Furthermore they must understand who is accountable for the performance of each process and what the performance measures are. The best organisations in the world have a formal problem solving methodology/quality improvement process for improving their business. This forms part of the organisational DNA.

So how can a director make a difference? Firstly by asking insightful questions in the boardroom such as:

How many staff are involved in quality improvement initiatives? What improvement methodology is used?

What do we define as our core processes? How do we measure their performance? And how does this performance compare with that of our competitors?

Peter Kerridge