Achieve success through your People.

In the world of business, your employees are both your greatest asset and your biggest challenge. Successfully attracting, developing, and retaining top talent doesn’t just happen—it demands a deliberate investment of time and resources.

Conversely, neglecting to address performance issues or other challenges with your team members can erode both your team’s effectiveness and the culture you’re working to build, leading to potentially significant consequences.

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Getting the structure and culture right

REVAMPING YOUR BUSINESS STRUCTURE, TEAM AND CULTURE TO ALIGN WITH YOUR GOALS AND VALUES, CAN BE A GAME CHANGER.
Given the ever-evolving business landscape and shifting customer demands, adapting is necessary to maintain competitive edge. Without the right resources or skills within your team, initiating these changes can be tough. Whether the adjustments are minor or significant, a project-oriented approach can facilitate a quicker and more effective transformation.
Aligning your organisational structure, roles, and personnel with your core values and objectives is crucial for enhancing productivity and achieving desired outcomes, enabling better management of individual performance and contributions.
Hiring and Firing

THE DECISION YOU MAKE TO HIRE, RETAIN OR PART WAYS WITH EMPLOYEES ARE CRUCIAL TO YOUR BUSINESSES SUCCESS.
The principle 'hire slowly, fire quickly' highlights the importance of a well-considered hiring process, which should involve a clear need, a thorough interview process, reference checks, and suitable trial or probation periods.
Similarly, letting go of an employee should be done correctly and promptly, especially if they are not meeting expectations during a trial period. Keeping unproductive or unprofessional employees in a role can prevent a more capable individual from thriving.
Embedding this approach into your organisational culture, rewarding performance, and holding employees accountable for underperformance reflects best practice in business.
Induction and Training

EFFECTIVE INDUCTION AND ONGOING TRAINING OF YOUR EMPLOYEES IS CRUCIAL TO THEIR CONTRIBUTION, GROWTH AND RETENTION IN YOUR BUSINESS.
Small to medium-sized enterprises often handle this poorly due to limited resources and the belief that 'staff can learn on the job.'
The downside of this approach is that employees may learn inefficient or incorrect methods, leading to reduced productivity, production issues, or customer service complaints.
Investing in thorough induction that covers the business, its culture, the team, and their roles will enhance productivity, performance, and retention.
By setting your staff up for success from the start, you maximise their potential as your greatest asset.
Performance Management and Remuneration

Performance management focuses on assessing staff performance, providing feedback, and setting goals for development and improvement. These evaluations, alongside the business's performance, should guide your compensation decisions.
Effective performance management starts with clearly defined roles, detailed job descriptions, and key performance indicators that outline the expected outcomes and results for each role. This should be backed by induction and training programmes that ensure employees have the skills and tools needed to meet their performance objectives.
The performance review process should be designed to be structured and thorough, evaluating achievements and identifying any performance gaps that may require further training or strategies to address significant underperformance.
Compensation decisions should be influenced by individual performance, business outcomes, employment market trends, and the broader economic climate.
A well-implemented performance management process can significantly enhance employee performance, support informed decisions about your workforce, and ensure that high performers are recognised and retained, while underperformers are either developed or moved on.
HR Policies and Systems

Ensuring that staff and management have easy access to the business’s staff policies is essential.
These policies should align with the business’s mission and values and support the desired company culture.
They should be referenced in employment contracts and regularly updated to reflect the business’s current operations and any changes in legislation.
Your policies should be thorough, covering areas like health and safety standards, drug and alcohol policies and testing (if necessary), sick leave guidelines, dress code requirements, holiday leave conditions, cell phone use, use of company vehicles or property, and any staff purchasing privileges etc.
Many businesses either lack these policies or have outdated versions that are not effectively communicated, leading to confusion and potential conflict with employees. Enforcing these policies becomes difficult in such situations.
Leveraging technology to manage and make these policies accessible is best practice and will greatly contribute to effective employee management.

Steve has been part of our team for over 15 years and has helped us hugely with both of our businesses. He is now one of our Trustees. We can call on him at any time for some guidance or where needed, and get him involved with things we need more help with.

Brad and Moana Williams, Halswell Butchery and Body Fix Gym
Starting our new business and buying another one was made easy with Steve’s help and guidance. The guidance on how to go about evaluating the business, working out how much it was worth and then negotiating the terms was invaluable.

Stuart McIlwain, Embark Solutions
Steve very quickly impressed us and drove, what at times, what was a difficult development project. His tenacity and attention to detail helped us navigate a path to put the project in a position to be successful.

Julian Bowden, CEO Mainland Football (past)
Steve constantly thinks outside the square, and looks at obstacles as challenges to overcome. He is a clear and logical thinker and is able to impart his wisdom in an open way and with clarity and precision.

Chris Rodda QSM, Retired Board Member, Christchurch Netball Centre
As a consultant Steve is thorough and highly professional. He is also one of the better Directors I have worked with. His financial and commercial background is supported by a rare mix of detail consciousness and big picture strategic thinking.

Stewart Mitchell, retired Chair of NZ Rugby, and Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association

Achieve success through your People.

Getting the structure and culture right

Hiring and Firing

Induction and Training

Performance Management and Remuneration

HR Policies and Systems

Steve has been part of our team for over 15 years and has helped us hugely with both of our businesses. He is now one of our Trustees. We can call on him at any time for some guidance or where needed, and get him involved with things we need more help with.

Starting our new business and buying another one was made easy with Steve’s help and guidance. The guidance on how to go about evaluating the business, working out how much it was worth and then negotiating the terms was invaluable.

Steve very quickly impressed us and drove, what at times, what was a difficult development project. His tenacity and attention to detail helped us navigate a path to put the project in a position to be successful.

Steve constantly thinks outside the square, and looks at obstacles as challenges to overcome. He is a clear and logical thinker and is able to impart his wisdom in an open way and with clarity and precision.

As a consultant Steve is thorough and highly professional. He is also one of the better Directors I have worked with. His financial and commercial background is supported by a rare mix of detail consciousness and big picture strategic thinking.