More than 45 National and Regional Sport Organisation and Regional Sport Trust Chairs and Board Members attended a
recent Chairs’ Roundtable on Diversity organised by Aktive - Auckland Sport & Recreation (Aktive), and opened by Hon Grant Robertson, Minister for Sport and Recreation.
Co-hosted by Aktive and Simpson Grierson, the event included a panel discussion with professional director Geoff
Ricketts; Aktive’s Chair and newly-appointed Co-Chair of the International Working Group on Women and Sport Raewyn
Lovett; and one of the foremost commentators on diversity in New Zealand, Director of the BNZ Board, Chair of the
Superdiversity Centre for Law, Policy and Business, and author of the Superdiversity Stocktake, Mai Chen.
Dr Sarah Sandley, CEO, Aktive says diversity in organisations and the impact on sport and business governance were the
key focus.
"Our distinguished panellists offered significant experience and expertise in the value of diversity of thought and
representation but also sounded a clear warning to sport and business to catch up with a rapidly diversifying New
Zealand society," says Dr Sandley. "We are also very grateful to the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Hon Grant
Robertson, who spoke on this important issue and emphasised that "we all have a role to play" when it comes to embracing
diversity."
This was echoed by Geoff Ricketts who said "embracing diversity in the workforce and on boards is simply the right thing
to do and benefits the organisation" by drawing in and motivating talented employees, enhancing decision making, and
improving employee satisfaction.
Mai Chen advised that boards need diverse thinking directors to get the full range of perspectives needed to effectively
challenge, spot opportunities and risks and to find solutions to increasingly complex problems; but the chair and the
other board directors need to be prepared to value diverse thinking and to adapt board processes to maximise the
benefits for the company or organisation.
"Significantly, both the Minister and Ms Chen noted that business and sport boardrooms need to transform to reflect the
changing nature of New Zealand’s population," says Dr Sandley.
"A number of practical tips on how to boost diversity on both business and sport boards were discussed, including
ensuring that appointment panels are themselves diverse. In addition, Ms Chen talked about the use of a "diverse
thinking matrix" when recruiting for boards - a key recommendation from her inaugural diverse thinking capability audit
of New Zealand boardrooms."
Aktive launched the Chairs' Roundtable in 2016 both to recognise the importance of chairs as leaders in a challenging
sector, to help their development, and to connect sporting chairs.
ENDS