Four Wairoa District Council staff have been selected by the senior leadership team to represent Wairoa in a national leadership programme.

The development programme is part of SOLGMs (New Zealand Society of Local Government managers) leadership pathways programme and leads to a NZQA Certificate in Business approved course in First Line Management.

The Wairoa staff who are taking part are Luke Knight, Mike Hardie, Kylie Bradley and Annalena Atzwanger.

The programme began last Friday at the Hastings District Council with a presentation of the first module, ‘A leadership mindset’.

A further four workshops will be held including one being organised by the Wairoa District Council in June for all 22 participants

The programme is a highly interactive, practical, and designed to allow participants to discuss and debate the qualities and behaviours of great leaders, including how to be an authentic leader, make a difference in their role, and deliver results for their councils. Participants can expect to have access to highly relevant local government sector expertise, including Chief Executives who will be invited to participate as guest speakers and discuss ‘leadership in practice’ as it applies to each topic.

Wairoa District Council chief executive Steven May said this highlights his and the Senior Leadership Team’s desire to identify potential and provide an opportunity to develop.

“This type of interaction allows our staff to mix with colleagues who are at a similar level while highlighting their own skills and experience.

“We are always trying to give our staff the best opportunities possible to help them to be the best they can be, and this is an ideal way of delivering that.

“It is also an ideal way of nurturing a natural progression of leadership through our organisation which serves our community.”

Operations Engineer – Roads, Mike Hardie, said the first module allowed them to interact with people from different councils dealing with the same sort of issues.

“The potential benefits are pretty great, it will give us mechanisms to manage our teams and be inspiring leaders for those around us.

“One thing that stood out for me was around focusing on improving strengths instead of focusing on improving weaknesses.

“I also enjoyed working through personal values and how they can be applied to your day-to-day life.”

Customer Services Team Leader, Annalena Atzwanger, described the course as amazing.

“All the participants are from councils in this region so we have the chance to build great relationships which will help us in our jobs, and we can also learn a lot about processes and how other Councils work.

“The content of the workshop is extremely practice focused and links directly with our work and how we can improve our work and leadership skills.”

Library Services Team Leader, Kylie Bradley, agreed there were a lot of benefits and is looking forward to the second module which is particularly relevant to her work.

Property Manager, Luke Knight said it is ideal having a group of four people from Wairoa on the course as it provides a chance for them to bounce ideas off each other and look at changes that could be implemented in Wairoa.

13 March 2019

Back to Archive