Developing future capability
Our science is strongly focused on both current and anticipated future environmental issues, a number of which have been highlighted earlier in this report. Our Science Managers maintain human capability plans for their research areas to prepare for and monitor the development or recruitment of the skills we need.
New capabilities
Two examples of staff recruited to fill capabilities identified by Science Managers are Eva- Terezia Vesely and Nigel Jollands, both of whom add the economic dimension to areas of our environmental research.
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| Eva-Terezia Vesely. Image - Stephen Moore |
Eva-Terezia Vesely was employed to enhance our environmental and ecological economics capability in assessments of stormwater technologies, a need identified by our urban research plan.
‘The interactions that I have had with stormwater engineers and
managers from local government improved my knowledge of the
issues faced by practitioners in this area. This has enabled Manaaki
Whenua to focus on important knowledge gaps, the comparison of
life cycle costs of low impact and conventional stormwater systems.’
Eva-Terezia Vesely
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| Nigel Jollands . Image - Alison Fordyce |
As part of our strategy to be able to advise on the socio-economic impacts of eff orts to manage and mitigate climate change impacts, we recruited Nigel Jollands to the New Zealand Centre for Ecological Economics (NZCEE)—a joint venture between Massey University and Manaaki Whenua. We identified that this skill set was lacking in New Zealand’s ability to assess the integrated socioeconomic impacts of climate change on the crucial services played by infrastructure in New Zealand. No other agency is providing this advice.
"Our work is very exciting. For example, one of our aims with this
work is to assist New Zealand infrastructure managers to increase
the resilience of their assets to climate impacts. This will have huge
benefits for New Zealand as a whole."
Nigel Jollands
As well as identifying research requirements, capability plans are also used to identify particular commercial and people
management competencies required in some areas of our
business.
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| Sirtrack CEO Mike Kelly (left), with Chris Milne, Production Manager. Image - Rowan Buxton |
"In February 2005, Mike Kelly joined Sirtrack as the new CEO. His
arrival was much anticipated by the team and he very quickly
fitted into the Sirtrack culture. Mike’s background is in electronics
engineering, production, and more recently in sales and marketing.
His tertiary eduction in engineering and business administration
backed with his practical work experience bring a wealth of
knowledge, expertise and know-how to the business. His leadership
skills, drive and passion have quickly earned him respect amongst the
team, and the future looks very positive and bright for Sirtrack’.
Mark Cleaver, Chief Operating Officer—Commercialisation
Developing our people
Much of our future capability will come from retaining our current “top talent” and developing new science leaders. Monitoring retention of skills in key areas, and mentoring suitable candidates for leadership, are part of our core science capability planning. Our success in retaining key skills is evidenced by a turnover of our top talent of only 3.6%, two staff , this year (average 4.8% per year for the last four years) compared to an average of 9.3% per year for all staff.
We are also pleased with our staff development into leadership positions. As a result of both programme restructuring and
normal attrition, we recognised two new Team Leaders and
thirteen new Programme Leaders, including Intermediate
Outcome Leaders during 2004/05. All but two of these were
internal promotions.
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| Bev Clarkson Image - Robbie Price |
Some of Manaaki Whenua’s future capability will come from today’s staff developing new competencies, re-training into areas of interest, and undertaking post-graduate education. We are currently assisting 10 staff towards post-graduate qualifications. Bev Clarkson, who has led freshwater wetland research in Manaaki Whenua for eight years, recently completed her PhD on raised bog development and plant-nutrient dynamics.
‘"I am pleased that my PhD has been supported by Manaaki Whenua, as part of its ongoing commitment to training and upskilling middle
career scientists. I believe it has now paid real dividends in helping
achieve our recent success in the FRST-funded wetlands aquatic
project, which will further develop new skills and methodology in
plant –environment relationships."
Bev Clarkson
Going forward, we will be continuing work on the process, which began this year, of identifying key competencies at all leadership levels. We will be putting training and resources in place to develop the areas where we are weakest. The most significant new area in our capability planning is developing new competencies to business development and commercialisation.
Ko tou rourou, ko tāku rourou ka ora ai te tangata.
With your basket and mine, mankind will survive.