Waikato Business News September/October 2018

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48 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS September/October 2018 MP’s goals for region’s growth I am passionate about the Waikato region. I have five goals that will contribute towards ensuring our region continues to grow and thrive. By JAMIE STRANGE Hamilton-based Labour list MP 1. Passenger rail Local councils are supportive of a passenger rail service between Hamilton and Auckland. NZTA have included funding in their National Land Transport Plan. I anticipate a further announcement after their board meeting on October 5. A key to the success of this venture will be having a café and reliable WiFi or hotspotting service available, which will enable passengers to be productive while commuting. This initial rail service will be a first step towards a modern passenger rail network that serves the golden triangle between Hamilton, Tauranga and Auckland. This rail service will build on the good work done by the previous Government to facilitate population and economic growth between Hamilton and Auckland. Transport leads growth: I expect half a million people will settle in this corridor over the next 30 years, as Government, developers, and tourism operators turn their attention to this geographical area. 2. Affordable housing Forty two percent of Hamiltonians are renting. Many would like to purchase a home, but have been finding it difficult due to rising house prices and related costs. I appreciate the work Hamilton City Council have done around Special Housing Accords (SHAs). SHAs are a short-to-medium term tool to bring more housing to the market through an accelerated resource consent process. SHAs must have a portion of housing less than $500k, making those houses eligible for KiwiBuild. Five SHAs have passed through Hamilton City Council over the past few months, consisting of around 3000 houses, and are currently being considered by Government. In order to encourage home ownership, this Government is proactively exploring a range of options including grants and shared-equity schemes. 3. Community policing Our police officers do a fantastic job in our community. I highly value the important work they do, often at the hard edge of our society. This coalition Government will fund an extra 127 police officers in the Waikato region. We will also support a community policing model. We currently have five empty police stations in our city, plus empty stations in Cambridge and Raglan. Adding police resourcing will enable our area commanders to do more in our communities, preventing crime through building strong relationships with local families and communities. 4. Māori tourism One of the goals of the Waikato Tourism Agency is around the Kiingitanga and New Zealand Wars. We are the sole region where the Māori King resides, and this creates huge tourism potential. The Kiingitanga treasures (taonga) are currently valued at $300 million. I believe this tourism potential is the largest un-tapped opportunity in our region. The Waikato River is our greatest natural asset. The Waikato River Regeneration Plan is an excellent piece of work, which identifies the key practical projects that will bring about environmental benefits for our water quality. I appreciate the work that has been done in recent years around opening this area up, as developers turn Hamilton to face the river. 5. Special projects World class projects elevate a region, creating uplift for everyone. As a Government MP I bring key stakeholders together around collaborative opportunities, ensuring Government Ministers are aware of regional projects, and assisting in applying for central Government support. I brought seven Ministers to our region in July/ August, and have a further eight booked in between now and the end of the year. I am actively supporting a number of local projects, such as: Tainui Inland Port, Pacific Hub, Te Awa Lakes (an exciting housing and tourism project by Perry Group), Northern Districts Cricket training facility, Waikato University Sports Hub, Waikato Regional Theatre, a $50m sheep milk dryer at Innovation Park, Rural Medical School, returning All Black test matches to Hamilton, Rototuna Hub (including a swimming pool complex), and a range of health, education, and tech projects. Such is the positivity and growth in our region, new exciting projects are emerging all the time. I have been working closely with the newly formed Te Waka (Waikato Regional Economic Development Agency), to pitch a number of key projects to Government for funding. I appreciate all those who are working hard to ensure our region is the best place to live in New Zealand. So, your CEO is leaving? What now? It’s enough to make the knees of board members tremble. Your CEO has announced they are moving on. Whether it’s to a new job or retirement, they are going and that means changes at the top. At this point, HR kicks in – all thoughts go to recruiting a new CEO. But it’s worth pausing and putting your PR hat on too. How are you going to communicate this announcement internally, to staff, and externally, to clients, stakeholders, the industry and wider public? What risks are there – will staff feel concerned about the future of the company or their jobs? Will clients wonder if their projects or contracts are at risk without your CEO at the helm? Is there a perception that the CEO takes a lot of company IP and reputation with them, and how do you manage that? A well-planned communications strategy can ease the leadership transition, and mitigate risk to the company’s reputation or projects. Here are seven things to think about when communicating about leadership transition at a company or organisation: GATHER YOUR INNER TEAM – You’ll want to get your board or key members of the leadership team together immediately to start planning next steps. Keep things confidential and limited to just those who need to know. MAKE A PLAN - Start with a communications strategy. This is your road map for communicating about the leadership change. You need to decide what to say and how to say it, who to, and in what priority order. It’s an involved process, and generally includes gathering information, considering audiences, setting strategic communication objectives, crafting key messages, looking at communication risks and mitigation, and planning a timeline for all communications. DOT THE I’S AND CROSS THE T’S – An effective communications strategy is incredibly detailed. To do it well, it’s important to be thorough and consider every possible scenario with your communications execution and delivery. PREPARE THE COMMUNICATIONS – Once you have your road map written, and signed off by leadership team, it’s time to ‘do the doing’. This may involve crafting bullet points for the CEO’s departure announcement to staff, with all the key messages you want to convey. This is typically followed up by an email letter that goes out to all staff, confirming the contents of the meeting. Another letter will be sent to other audiences, including clients and stakeholders. As part of this preparation, it’s worth spending time brainstorming questions you may get asked so you are not caught unawares. In any situation where there is change, it can be upsetting, and it’s best to be prepared and have responses in place to assure staff and clients if needed. Get your email databases ready in advance, so everything is drafted, approved and you are ready to press send on the day of the announcement. STAFF COME FIRST – In any announcement of this kind, talk to staff first before clients and other stakeholders, and do it in person where you can. If you need to make the announcement across multiple office locations, consider getting staff in on Skype or a conference call, and ensure the senior leaders at those locations have been briefed prior to that if there are questions. MEDIA/PRESS RELEASE – When a CEO retires or move on, it can be a great chance to celebrate their achievements and contribution to the industry, region or community. Write a media release for an industry publication, business paper or local media outlet. There is PR AND COMMUNICATIONS > BY KATE MONAHAN-RIDDELL An Account Manager at HMC Communications, a Hamilton-based, award-winning public relations agency. often a good story to tell, especially if it’s a long-serving or founding CEO. A media story can also help with recruiting the new CEO. SOCIAL MEDIA – Don’t forget about sharing the news on your social media channels, after your staff announcement and client meeting and emails. A post on your business Facebook page or LinkedIn may be appropriate.
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS September/October 2018 Tumultuous waters ahead for small business 49 With 53 percent of New Zealand businesses employing 100 people or fewer we are a nation of relatively small businesses. But as is often the case, even though we are a country of small operators by global standards, we punch above our weight. You only need to look at the Waikato companies which excelled in our recent export awards to see that innovation, determination and inspiration is alive and well in our country. I worry about the way business confidence is falling. Yes, the economic fundamentals are sound and the order books are looking healthy at present. But there are waves of legislation coming that business, particularly small to medium sized businesses, will have to navigate. We have been involved with shaping some of the changes coming our way, such as pay equity legislation. Working with Government and unions was essential to ensuring there was a reasonable protocol for how these claims would be managed. I think business owners can adapt to these changes. Pay equity has been well signalled, as have the increases to minimum wages. However, business owners will struggle with the long list of further changes in the pipeline. Even some changes in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill could be absorbed by business. But as many of you have stated, why change what is not broken? How is business to cope with simultaneous changes to the Employment Relations Act, how contractors are managed, changes in the labour hire industry and Fair Pay Agreements? No wonder business confidence is shaky. Add to this an unknown legal framework for reducing emissions, an electricity pricing review, a tax working group and lingering questions about costing/taxing of water. On their own, each of the above could possibly see most businesses finding a way HELPING BUSINESS SUCCEED > BY KIM CAMPBELL Kim Campbell is chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association kim.campbell@ema.co.nz through the complexity, and each change may seem reasonable. But in a cumulative and compounding way they add up to a significant rewrite of the landscape business operates within. The Employment Relations Amendment Bill was reported back to Parliament in September, with minimal changes. We were disappointed that all our efforts, and yours, had not been listened to in any substantial manner. It would appear ideology has over-ridden the practical realities of operating a business. Many of you took the time to consider the ramifications of the Bill and provided your feedback to Government, either by our Fix the Bill campaign or by your own efforts. We are grateful for your support and concern. This is what democracy is about. Government needs to hear from business otherwise it will make its public policy in a vacuum. We agree with the Labourled coalition’s aim to raise living standards with higher wages, but this must be achieved with productivity gains to compensate for the higher cost of compliance that legislative changes will incur. Lamentably, nothing we have seen in any of the proposed legislation will do anything to improve our productivity performance. But we live in hope that the current coalition will deliver pragmatic changes, as it has done in other public policy areas, and the EMA continues to appeal for the same sensible approach in regards to industrial relations. The Mighty Waikato – growing for the future It seems like every day we are being approached about a new development, commercial accommodation opportunity, major event or visitor attraction for our region. All economic indicators, growth projections and visitor forecasts are pointing towards the emergence of the Mighty Waikato as a tourism powerhouse over the next 5-10 years. The proposed developments for the northern corridor from Hamilton to Pokeno are significant and potential game-changers for north Waikato. Large-scale commercial hotel accommodation, new visitor experiences and improved transport connectivity are among those currently being investigated. There is now Māori cultural product in Tūākau, a skydiving operation at Mercer Airfield and glamping in Mercer. The story of the Land Wars is now actively being told through the Rangiriri Café, the private All these developments are fantastic to see, and they align well with the strategic direction of the Tourism Opportunities Plan developed two years ago by Hamilton & Waikato Tourism. museum and tours through the remaining battle trenches at the Pā. There is also increased activity at Hampton Downs with the addition of a visitor information centre, coffee roastery, go-karting and other high-speed thrills. New developments proposed for the area include TaTa Valley in Pokeno which encompasses an eco-themed hotel with an agriculture experience surrounded by a working farm, and the restoration of Lake Kimihia in Huntly (the old Huntly East mine) to create a 1.2km long waterway for use as an aquatic centre for non-powered watersports. There is also the Te Awa Lakes development in Horotiu which proposes a mix of residential, commercial and visitor activities like a water adventure park and a top golf course. In Hamilton, the development of the $73m Waikato Regional Theatre with seating capacity for 1300, an art gallery, boutique five-star hotel and retail spaces would transform southern Victoria Street, anchored by Embassy Square (the home of Riff Raff) and the Waikato Museum. The Hamilton City Council has also included in its 10-year plan the addition of new gardens at Hamilton Gardens and development of a joint entry precinct between Hamilton Zoo and TELLING WAIKATO’S STORY > BY JASON DAWSON Chief Executive, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park. Developments in Waipā include the newly opened Henley Hotel (previously Sarnia Park) which has undergone a major refurbishment and has 14-premium accommodation suites and a refreshed event centre. Hidden Lake Hotel and Apartments overlooking Te Ko Utu Lake domain will open mid-2019 with 33 rooms and apartments, a bar and restaurant, and Waipa District Council have also recently approved the build of a Discovery Centre in Te Awamutu to tell the district’s social, cultural and natural history. In the south of the region there is a $40m, 120-bed hotel proposed for the Waitomo Golf Club site and the $20m Waitomo Sky Garden proposal incorporating a 70m bungy jump, a helter skelter slide, restored wetland, hot springs and café. Opening at the end of the year, the new three-storey Waitomo Adventure Centre will house an organic café and one of the region’s largest day spas. There is also a redevelopment plan for Otorohanga Kiwi House and new iconic i-SITE visitor information centre planned for Tokoroa. All these developments are fantastic to see, and they align well with the strategic direction of the Tourism Opportunities Plan developed two years ago by Hamilton & Waikato Tourism. The overall goal of the plan is to leverage the volume of visitors to our region by growing the value of tourism experiences. The benefits of this type of growth also ensure our retail, hospitality, transport and event operators have a sustainable future, providing year-round employment opportunities to cushion the impact of seasonal fluctuations and disperse visitors to all parts of our region. 6 MARCH 2019 BAYPARK ARENA, TAURANGA Early Bird Closing Soon.. Don’t Miss Out! Early Bird Offer Available: PREMIUM AND SMALL BIZ HUB EXHIBITORS Till 31st Oct 2018 Organisers Sponsors Supporting Partners WHERE BUSINESS GETS DONE! • Supercharged one day event • Kick-start your year • Showcase your business • Seminars and masterclasses • Network with leading edge businesses • Find opportunities and solutions • Amazing Expo only offers and prizes • Free entry for visitors (9.30am - 4pm) SHOWCASE YOUR BUSINESS Book your stand for Business Expo 2019
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Waikato Business News September/October 2018

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