Written by Anya Satyanand, Chief Executive - Leadership New Zealand
As Matariki rises in our skies this year, Leadership New Zealand marks a new phase in its journey to support, equip, inspire and connect leaders across the public service, private sector and communities.
For the last 18 years, our leadership programme work has been uniquely grounded in the work of imagining and creating a more hopeful, just, equitable and prosperous future for Aotearoa, together. We believe this work has never been needed more than right now. The complex challenges that leaders face are urgent. They require capabilities and competencies that differ to those needed prior to the emergence of COVID-19.
Leadership New Zealand (LNZ) has a proven track record of delivering learning outcomes that equip leaders to navigate uncertainty and lead teams, organisations and businesses well through difficult times. We are laser focused on building on our organisation’s strong foundations to meet the needs of leaders, businesses and organisations right now.
Our heartbeat programmes, The New Zealand Leadership Programme and The Mana Moana Experience are well underway with 56 incredible leaders from across the motu. You can read reflections from each programme on our website. In addition to our heartbeat programmes, we’re in the process of prototyping leadership development projects in partnership with organisations and companies, and we’re delivering powerful online offerings which benefit senior leaders seeking a fresh lens and practical tools to add to their leadership kete. We’re also partnering with the Superdiversity Institute to catalyse shifts in governance through the 100 Board-Ready Chairs and Directors initiative, which you can read more about here.
In addition to our new work and me taking up the role of Chief Executive, there are a number of changes happening in our Board and Ambassador network.
Firstly, the founder of LNZ Jo Brosnahan will become Chair of the Ambassadors, and Sir Bob Harvey is stepping into the role of Patron.
We have a number of trustees who have departed over the last few months, as part of the succession planning undertaken by the board. These trustees are George Riley (NZLP 2009), Steve Ferguson (NZLP 2013), Imogen Parry (NZLP 2016) and Peter Garnett (Independent Trustee and past LNZ Chair). We acknowledge the contribution that each of these special people has made to our organisation over the years.
We have welcomed two new independent trustees onto the board, Simon Jones and Nigel Little. And we are delighted to announce that Judy Nicholl (NZLP 2010) and Iani Nemani (Mana Moana 2018) are now Co-Chairs of LNZ. They succeed Nick Astwick (NZLP 2010) who has been a Trustee since December 2011 and Chair since 2018. You can read about our current board here: https://www.leadershipnz.co.nz/about/our-trustees-ambassadors
Judy, Iani, the wider board and ambassador network, Dr Karlo Mila, Louise Marra, the LNZ team, and I are working to evolve and grow the ways in which LNZ emboldens, equips and resources our community of leaders. I believe that Leadership New Zealand's work and purpose has never been needed more than at this time. I’m excited to serve and grow our leadership movement in the coming years as we build on our successes, and as we work to build a hopeful, just, inclusive and equitable Aotearoa New Zealand, together.
Ngā mihi mahana,
Anya