Media Release
New Zealand behind the eight ball in leadership development
New Zealand’s investment in leadership development is massively lacking – and schools are not exempt, says international
business consultant Harry Mills.
Harry Mills is a keynote speaker at the New Zealand School Trustees Association’s annual conference being held in
Auckland this week. He is the chief executive of an international consulting and training firm Mills Group, which
provides guidance to corporates and educators both in New Zealand and overseas.
About 650 delegates are attending the conference, which has the theme Celebration of Governance – Where all Kids
Achieve, and runs from June 30 to July 3.
He says when compared to the investment in leadership being made by other countries, New Zealand is lagging behind. This
under-investment is an indictment of New Zealand development at all levels.
“The top performing companies in New Zealand will spend one or two or maybe three days in total on their leaders in
terms of intensive development. Most of my American clients are spending two or three weeks a year. When you add that up
over a decade, someone who is the equivalent of a principal could have had anything up to six months to a year of
management or leadership development.”
Harry Mills says schools would also benefit from investing more into leadership.
“The world is full of good schools, but there are few great schools. Great schools are about leadership, and business
research shows that most institutions become great internally by having some sort of sustained leadership.
“That is exactly what boards have to do. Boards think they can make a difference and the big thing is that the
leadership of the board has to provide the governance and framework for the principal to go from good to great.”
He says there has been a huge pick-up in investment in leadership in New Zealand business, however the country is still
behind the eight ball.
“I think we have the same issues with leadership on boards. There are a lot of training programmes starting to come but
we have got to take it seriously and we have to do it for at least a decade and probably beyond.
Gaining a basic degree takes three years in New Zealand and four years in most overseas countries, he says. It doesn’t
make sense to think that schools and boards can be transformed in a couple of hours.
“We think we have ticked the box under governance when we have a school trustees' programme that comes in for two or
three hours. Governance is a serious process and you have to take it deadly seriously.”
“There also needs to be serious support, which, I might add, also includes some serious funding for this purpose by
central government.”
The annual conference is being opened by Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard, while Minister Trevor Mallard will also address
the delegates.
ENDS