The Latest News from PlanA

"Good governance is not a luxury. It is essential for meeting the challenges of the 21st century and for ensuring that development is sustainable and equitable." – Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Cyclone Gabrielle, which hit Hawke’s Bay on February 14, is going to have significant impacts on local businesses and communities, and the wider economy, for a long time to come.  The cyclone brought heavy rainfall and strong winds, causing widespread damage to infrastructure including roads, bridges, and power lines.

Running a business is no easy feat, especially when you are trying to navigate the challenges of a constantly changing market, customer demands, team development, supply chain, cashflows, health & safety, compliance, the list goes on!

Kia ora folks. I live in one of the areas worst-affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and for a couple of weeks we had no power (still no water 14 days later but that’s a different story). Anyway, that meant in the evenings, before it got dark, I was able to get a bit of reading in. And I managed to work my way through Steve Hansen: The Legacy, written by Gregor Paul. Here's my review ...

I was chatting to someone the other day and they asked me if my role is to hold people to account? It was a good question and made me think about the way that I work with folks, be it boards, senior leadership teams or directors. My answer was that it’s not so much my role to hold them accountable but rather help them develop a structure that allows them and their team to keep themselves accountable. Because in my view, building a culture of accountability is essential for success in business.

I was chatting to someone recently about them acquiring another business which they are looking at integrating into their current business operation. In the scale of things it would represent about a 25% growth for them.

Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke's Bay overnight on Monday 13 February and in the early hours of Tuesday 14 February 2023. This video simply acknowledges those that have suffered, those that have and are still helping, and the community at large.

I was recently chatting to someone who’s team was facing in my view, what could only be described as significant dysfunction. Not where you really want to be as you start into the new year. They are a typical small Hawkes Bay business with no more than ten folk working there.

If you want to improve implementation, don't just look at the nuts and bolts, look at the wider picture and think how can you can actually grow your team, grow your ability to implement, and reach the business outcomes you're after.

It is currently cyber smart week so a good time to be thinking about cyber security and what's happening in your business and is your data safe. Here are two bits of information that may assist you at a board, director or management level to help manage your cyber risk.