Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2018 i NZBusiness+Management

Over the past 14 years I’ve had the good fortune to attend a number of awards evenings, each one special in its own way. Many award-winning businesses and entrepreneurs, deserving of additional recognition, have in turn sparked stories for this magazine. It blows my mind to hear so many incredible stories – inspiring stories that make you proud to be living in the same country as these business heroes. In June I was lucky enough to be invited to the 2018 Kea World Class New Zealand Awards in Auckland and it truly was a night of celebration. It was another revelation too – to learn what great things Kiwis are doing offshore to promote this country’s talent, goods and services. I was reminded that there are around one million expat…

You want out of your current employment. You’re determined to start your own business; follow your passion. But there’s one thing stopping you: a lack of funding and a reluctance to risk the family home. Why not do what Sam Montague has done in Wellington: keeping his ‘day job’ and building a business at night in his spare time, before diving in full-time? In fact, he’s now done just that. While we were putting this article together, Sam informs us he’s now the full-time business owner. For the past nine years, Sam has been a commercial team-leader for a large door-manufacturing company; looking after tenders, pricing projects and running a small team. He has a BA and a BCA from Victoria University. Married to Deb, with three children, including twins.…

AT THE 2018 Kea World Class New Zealand Awards held at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre, Peter Beck was one of ten outstanding Kiwis and friends of New Zealand acknowledged for their help in defining this country’s reputation on the world stage. In his acceptance speech Beck paid tribute to the other winners, and to the unique ways New Zealanders solve problems. The innovative way his team designed Rocket Lab’s rocket engine quickly caught the attention of the world’s largest rocket manufacturer (Lockheed Martin), he told the audience. He recalls the time they sent a team to New Zealand to perform due diligence on how the engines were produced. All was going well, but then the visiting technicians requested one final test to see how the engines would perform in a…

The Business Mentoring Programme provides 12 months of confidential one-on-one advice for owners of small and medium-sized businesses who want to grow or need help to solve specific business challenges. They also offer a six-month Start-up Business Mentoring Programme. Business Mentors New Zealand was established in 1991 with approximately 2000 volunteer mentors across the country. In 27 years of operation, Business Mentors New Zealand has mentored over 72,000 SMEs. For more go to www.businessmentors.org.nz…

Service stations no longer operate fuel accounts, and having your employees buy their fuel, then claim it back, or use a company credit card, presents all sorts of challenges around admin and trust. Fuelcards are the obvious answer, and while choosing between the various card providers is still predominantly about the discount, the discerning professional buyer needs to ask the question – what about the price? What is the discount from? As Mobil Fleetcard manager Glen Wallis points out, not even off-pump discounts are a good comparison, as the base price before the discount is applied can vary. “Don’t forgot about those card and transaction fees either – they soon eat away at any discount you may receive.” Once a business has chosen a fuelcard the secondary issues become key…

THE 1970s were a fertile time in Formula 1 motor racing. Designers were desperate to find the next big thing that would give them an advantage over their competitors. They moved the radiators from the front of the car to the sides (and even to either side of the nose), experimented with four wheels at the front and two at the back (and vice versa), turned gearboxes sideways, added turbochargers, tried gas turbines, and found ways of sucking cars to the ground via scoops, skirts and even vacuum fans. No-one knew what was coming next and whether it would work. Of course, it couldn’t last. By the end of the decade, the cars were becoming too fast for the circuits, costs had escalated and science was taking over from inspiration.…

THIS COLUMN WAS written during a recent five-week visit to New Zealand, preceded by a week in Australia and my first visit ‘down under’ this year. The first thing that struck me was the ease of doing business. This may come as a surprise to many in the SME sector but New Zealand really has the most benign environment I’ve ever come across. Whether it is registering for tax, forming a company, getting planning permission, or virtually any other potential impediment, doing business here is a breeze compared with anywhere. Take telecommunications as one small example; on my visit to Australia I personally watched my daughter attempt to transfer her telecoms links from one central Melbourne location to another and was staggered to learn that it would involve a period…

New Zealand companies are not assiduous enough in checking resumes and claims, the New Zealand-based principal of executive search consultants, Dr John Peebles of John Peebles Associates, says. He is consistently surprised how people, of whom he knows from previous searches, who have not done what they say they have done “and then they pop up in a prominent role” because the hiring organisation has not done their due diligence. And he is certain CV fraud or embellishment is a fact at a senior level. His company does around 40 assignments a year at the top end of the market for CEOs and C-suite executives globally and about 20 board appointments. He estimates 23 percent of CVs resumes that reach his desk have false or misleading content. A 2017 United…

Kaizen. It is a word synonymous with improvement in organisations around the world. While the Japanese word literally means ‘improvement’, in industry and business the focus is on small, continuous steps to better processes. It is embedded in the management thinking of many organisations. Japanese businesses developed Kaizen practices around the 1950s, most notably Toyota as part of their Toyota Production System. After studying why the company was so successful at high-volume production of high-quality vehicles in the 1960s, Masaaki Imai wrote several books on Kaizen and formed the Kaizen Institute, spreading the knowledge and practice around the globe. However, there are times when Kaizen is not enough. Worse still, a small improvement can often hold an organisation back, perhaps even stifling significant development. THIS IS THE KAIZEN PARADOX In…

SINCE I PUBLISHED Talking With Your People: A Roadmap to Achieve Better Employee Communications in the Corporate World (Murex Press, 2018), I’ve been asked many times who it’s for. My short answer is: everyone who’s employed (or employable), since I feel there’s something in the book for anyone who spends time in a workplace. But clearly an organisation’s management team stands to gain most from the learnings, given its members lead, manage, drive, or influence employee communications and have the greatest stake in the organisation running well and profitably. So what is my message to the person at the top, and the team charged with running an organisation? It’s in the title. First and foremost, top management needs to make the most of the opportunities to communicate face-to-face with…

HAVING RECENTLY returned from a couple of weeks in the sun, I can vouch for the difference a holiday can make. I’m pretty sure I have returned with a greater degree of equanimity than some of my colleagues who have worked right through since Christmas time. Annual leave is supposed to be good for us – a kind of recovery and recharge period. That’s provided we don’t design in too much stress. We should obviously avoid holidays to places we don’t like with people we struggle to get on with and doing too many things we don’t want to do. Plan a good rest and not too much travel-related angst. Clearly the benefits of time away are not all equal. Sometimes what we need is a stay-cation – a vacation…

This issue, quite coincidentally, two of our columnists have written about mindfulness and the role it can play in improving not just our emotional well-being but our actual physical well-being too. As Sarah Pearce notes, on page 20, research has found that in the longer term the regular practise of mindfulness produces permanent changes in the brain such as increased grey matter density, quicker action and better quality of neural connections. This can lead to improved memory, cognitive functions, innovative thinking and emotional balance, she says. For IMNZ’s Jane McCarroll (page 14) on a personal level mindfulness is about reducing stress and improving her own resilience and ability to build genuine connections with people. It also helps create mental space around a difficult issue and influences the response to that…

CHANGES AT THE TOP FOR BMNZ BUSINESS MENTORS New Zealand (BMNZ) has appointed a new CEO and two new board members “to ensure the continued implementation and success of business goals”. BMNZ is a not-for-profit supporting the success of small businesses in New Zealand by connecting them with the right volunteer mentor. Craig Garner (pictured) is its new CEO, having taken over from GM Lisa Ford in mid-June. Garner previously held senior management positions, has survived self-employment and was a volunteer for BMNZ for eleven years. “I enjoyed being a mentor immensely and want to do more to help support the sustainability and prosperity of small to medium sized businesses in New Zealand. “I see this new role as an opportunity to utilise the skills I have built to date…

Kim Evans, author and founder of seven-day-a-week café operation Little & Friday was ‘cover girl’ on NZBusiness six years ago. Looking back, “it was the turning point – then it exploded” Kim recalls, referring to a publishing deal with Penguin that pushed her profile out nationally. However, Kim’s trajectory as a self-taught cook, business owner and published author has been far from textbook – her ‘snakes and ladders’ storyline is definitely a tale in creative resiliency. As a solo mum of two she’s made many hard calls – from “fire selling” her beloved first cake business due to staff “fingers in the till”, to an “isolating move” to Christchurch for two years, then starting from scratch at the Takapuna market selling fudge to keep debt collectors at bay. In recent…

Most of us know that in 2018 businesses need a content strategy to stay relevant in the digital world. Having just read Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin (the founder of MOZ and possibly one of the best SEO content marketers alive) I thought I would collate some actionable strategies that entrepreneurs and marketing managers can adopt to improve their content strategies. To follow are some tips for ensuring that your content is not only read, but seen by the people you want to reach and helps you achieve your business goals. HOW CONTENT CAN BE USED FOR SEO AND WHERE TO START One example that shows the value of content for SEO involves a small business developing and wishing to promote thermal leak-detection technology in 2010. Normally, a business…

IS CUSTOMER experience integrated into every one of your systems? That’s the question we’re currently asking businesses. In this day and age, customers aren’t interacting with your brand through just one channel – they could be coming to you in-store, buying from you online, taking part in your loyalty programme, or engaging with you in a plethora of other ways. So, do you know what your customer experience is like across every one of those channels? UNDERSTAND THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY Your business is more than one interaction. It’s more than the transaction as someone buys something in-store, or the time they complete a purchase of an item in your online store. It’s also the smile that your employee gives them as they leave, or the amount of time that their…

A fledgling New Zealand agritech company has raised $8 million from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Data Collective, for a product which is expected to result in massive changes to the nation’s dairy industry. Waikato company Halter will use the $8 million boost to help farms guide and manage their dairy cows by using IoT and artificial intelligence which NZ IoT Alliance says will sustainably increase production, save money in labour costs and improve environmental compliance and animal welfare. NZ IoT Alliance executive director Kriv Naicker says in a statement that Halter will commercialise its patented technologies that shift and manage livestock, starting with cows, using an AI and IoT powered system which steers cows around the farm. “Halter’s solar powered GPS-enabled intelligent neck band directs cows, so farmers can…

So what type of CV embellishment might a senior executive do that could backfire on them? Professor Ian Williamson, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Commerce at Victoria University’s Business School, Victoria University of Wellington, suggests someone applying at a senior level may take more credit on a project than deserved, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they are being malicious. An individual applying for a senior role may talk about how important their leadership was in delivering a project or launching a new product. But in a large organisation they will have had a team working alongside them, good resources and technical support. The challenge is what leadership means when you have a lot of hands on deck. If they join a smaller organisation in a CEO role they will be…

WITH NEW ZEALAND entering into the new financial year (usually an April or July start), now is the time for business leaders to address potential issues for the upcoming 12 months. The new financial year is always a time of change. New projects start, new recruits are hired and new budgets are passed – all resulting in a fresh atmosphere and goals for the future. Of course, during this period, it's critical for business leaders to keep abreast of what's happening outside their enterprise. While it's easy to focus on internal events as we pass into the new financial year, keeping an eye on wider issues is also key. So, what are the key remuneration issues to consider in the new financial year? THE LABOUR-NZ FIRST-GREENS GOVERNMENT The Government is…

OVER THE LAST 20 years, we’ve seen an exponential growth in the number of peer-reviewed journal papers about mindfulness. Scientists all over the world have been examining the effectiveness of mindfulness in various contexts, including the workplace, healthcare, education and more. And while some might dismiss it as the ‘buzzword of the day,’ practicing mindfulness can result in incredible benefits, especially for those working in high stress situations. Simply put, being mindful means to invest all of our focus in the present moment, rather than distracting ourselves with thoughts of the past or worries about the future. At its essence, it is a heightened awareness of self, surroundings, and internal dialogue. This focus can be especially important given that the average worker reportedly wastes approximately 60 hours every month through…

While the TV adverts may say they have the best accommodation deals in New Zealand, there is a high chance that the hotel’s own website will be offering a better deal for you. Here are five reasons to book your accommodation direct with the hotel. Best Price Guarantee is what hotels should offer you when you book your stay direct with them. This means their website should have the best price available. It may need you to give your email address to access a better rate, but you shouldn’t get that room cheaper anywhere else. Recognising Your Loyalty shows hotels appreciate their guests who book directly with them. They are more likely to offer these guests upgrades or complimentary inclusions as a way to say thank you. Access Preferred Rates…

“A client development worksheet should help you ‘temperature check’ your relationship with any given client, at any point in time.” I’VE MET A lot of business people who lament the small sales. You know, those ones that took ages to win or get across the line and were worth less than you hoped in the initial transaction. A quick calculation of cost of acquisition at this stage can be disappointing, sure. But this is a short-term view of customer value. If you consider that your marketing costs, sales costs and general costs of doing the initial business are heavily weighted against your first transaction you are missing the real opportunity. And that opportunity is to throw the ‘kitchen sink’ at ‘wowing’ the customer in their first experience of what you…

Three local social enterprise groups, Fresh Desk (a sustainable cleaning company whose cleaners earn the Living Wage); Lifewise (a community social development organisation) and Rākau Tautoko,(community engagement and empowerment) are getting a helping hand to improve the lives of more people through an SAP volunteering programme, the SAP Social Sabbatical. The social enterprises were being joined for two weeks by teams of experienced professionals as part of the volunteering programme and groups of employees from SAP New Zealand and Australia and DB Breweries will apply their business expertise to solve strategic challenges facing the social enterprises. In New Zealand, the programme is run in conjunction with Ākina Foundations a charity focused on growing social enterprise in New Zealand. It helps identify organisationally mature social enterprises and prepares them to take…

A 2015 Canadian online survey by CareerBuilder of more than 400 hiring managers found the most common CV lies to be around skill sets, responsibilities and job titles. A media release from CareerBuilder says the most common were: • Embellished skill set: 58 percent. • Embellished responsibilities: 53 percent. • Job title: 32 percent. • Academic degree: 31 percent. • Companies worked for: 31 percent. • Dates of employment: 27 percent. • Accolades/awards: 20 percent.…

The rise and rise of AI promises immense rewards but the unrelenting pace of the new technology can put us under immense personal pressure. If we buy into the ‘hurry up’ culture of today we can be overwhelmed. If we are to hang in there and ride the wave we need a good dollop of ‘calm down’ strategies to help us cope. MINDFULNESS I practise mindfulness to help me be the best version of myself. Mindfulness helps me manage my busy life and to avoid responding to stress and pressure with a ‘fight or flight’ response. Taking care of myself and my mental well-being is my responsibility. Mindfulness allows me to keep boxing on with a long-term goal of making sustainable efforts to make me a great colleague, mum, daughter,…

I RECENTLY RAN four sessions at a conference for a large Australasian corporate. I covered “Why the way you look matters” for two groups, a smaller break-out workshop with some of the men and a “How to look fabulous every day” with all of the teams. I’d also spent some time giving two of the female team-members a makeover: new clothes, a cut and colour at the hairdresser, along with make-up. It was great fun. Events like this are also a bit of a goldmine for ideas for these columns too, as the questions I get asked can often be the seed of an idea I can expand on. One particular question was posed by a member of the senior management team. She wondered how to deal with the dress…