Rural Leaders Newsletter Archives | Page 12 of 15

Where it started – The Global Tour of New Zealand.

The ‘Global Tour of New Zealand’, as it was quickly named by 2020’s Nuffield Scholars, gave a unique view of the country’s food and fibre sector value chains. This year, the programme will be made richer still.

The Value Chain Innovation Programme will begin in September 2022 and is now open to a larger number of people in the primary sector.

Building the value.

A lot of work has gone into building a collection of exciting and varied case studies across dairy, arable, horticulture value chains. Participants learn straight from the source. They gain unique insights into food and fibre innovation, in both domestic and international markets.

The new programme gives a wide view of established and novel value chains. Participants compare and transpose thinking at a time when the primary industries are going through the biggest period of transformational change since the 1980’s.

“If you’re in food and fibre, now is the time to be gaining a pan-sector view of as many successful business models as possible,” says Lincoln University Lecturer Prof. and Programme Co-facilitator Hamish Gow,

“Increasingly the most successful value chains are those with business models closely aligned to their customers, use protected IP, and provide innovative shared value structures.”

The programme runs over five weeks, two of these are spent on the road. The remaining time is spent on an individual research report. “It will be a busy few weeks, with the time commitment being 100 hours on field trips, guest lectures and networking, online lectures and discussions, tutorials, and another 50 hours self-directed learning,” said Prof. Gow.

The programme delivery team.

New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust CEO Chris Parsons remarked, “As a global leader and thinker in value chain design, innovation and entrepreneurship, Professor Gow is uniquely qualified to impart deeper strategic learning and insight into the September programme.”

Leadership and Strategic Development Consultant, and Programme Co-facilitator Phil Morrison, ONZM, further strengthens the team. “We are also fortunate to have Phil onboard. He brings a different leadership perspective, drawing on a career in military command, and in the delivery of innovation, strategic and leadership training as a consultant. We couldn’t hope for a stronger team”, added Chris Parsons.

Building leadership capability.

Once completed, the programme will give participants the competencies, confidence, and networks to influence change and lead transformation at an enterprise level and throughout regional New Zealand.

Chris Parsons says, “We hope this programme will lead to positive larger scale change as our graduates continue to grow and contribute to a fast-changing food and fibre sector.”

Rural Leaders are taking applications until Sunday 10 July.

Applications can be made at ruralleaders.co.nz/value-chain/

Lincoln University, Kellogg, and Rural Leaders – a collaboration spanning decades

Based on campus since 1979, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme has a long connection with Lincoln University, having been developed by the Kellogg Company as a way of enhancing global leadership capability.

In 2013, the programme was transferred to the newly-formed New Zealand Rural Leadership Consortium, which merged it with the prestigious Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship to create a single organisation. Four years later, the consortium became a registered charitable trust and changed its name to the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders).

A partnership known as the Pāhautea Initiative was announced in late 2020 between Lincoln University, Massey University, the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust (AGMARDT) and Rural Leaders.

The initiative focuses on lifting education levels across the sector and building deeper leadership benches in the regions, with the aim of creating a sustainable future for food and fibre. Accreditation of core programmes is key to delivering on the partnership’s purpose.

Kellogg accreditation strengthens the bond with Lincoln University.

Rural Leaders, Lincoln University and Massey University have further strengthened ties by offering academic accreditation for those who undertake the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

After completing the programme, Kellogg scholars can opt into a Postgraduate Certificate in Commerce.

Alternatively, they can allocate the 60 credits they can earn towards the 180 required credits for a Lincoln University taught master’s degree.

Scholars can also elect to use their 60 credits towards a master’s degree at Massey University.

Additionally, accreditation may soon be available for the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, although this is a work in progress, says Rural Leaders’ Programme Manager Lisa Rogers.

“Theoretically, it would be a diploma, or 120 points towards a 180-point taught masters.”

A dedicated Kellogg programme team.

The Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme team – including Rural Leaders facilitators Dr Scott Champion and Phil Morrison, Dr Patrick Aldwell and examiner Professor Hamish Gow – work hard to provide a varied and stimulating learning experience.

The programme includes two papers, the first of which requires the completion of specific assignments and is delivered by Scott Champion and Phil Morrison.

The second paper, delivered by Dr Patrick Aldwell, involves completing a research project and giving a presentation at the end of the programme.

Rural Leaders deliver three Kellogg Programmes a year, with two based at Lincoln University. The other, in alignment with the Pāhautea Initiative’s aim of growing flourishing regions, is regionally based. The next location, in May 2022, will be Whanganui.

Each programme is delivered to 20 to 24 scholars. Numbers are kept low to ensure a transformative experience, as the Kellogg journey is as much about learning from fellow scholars and developing a pan-sector network of friends as being exposed to industry leaders and new ideas.

A shared history and a shared future.

Rural Leaders have a strong presence on campus and increasingly share alumni with the university now that Kellogg scholars can gain a Lincoln postgraduate certificate.

Lisa Rogers says she is keen to see the long association continue to grow.

“We often get graduates from the Lincoln Future Leaders Scholarship Programme coming through to do the Kellogg. While we may not see recent undergraduates apply, it’s something we see happening later in their careers.”

Fun fact: Up to 50% of participants in any one Kellogg Programme have previously graduated from Lincoln University.

Whanganui and Partners and Rural Leaders serve Strategy for Lunch.

A collaboration between Whanganui and Partners and Rural Leaders, Strategy for Lunch, has been created to meet a need among business owners, to engage more confidently in business strategy discussions and design.

The programme consists of five neatly wrapped, bite-size, online sessions that provide the tools and knowledge to help Whanganui business owners build their strategic capability.

Some of New Zealand’s leading strategic facilitators have come together to deliver the five 90-minute, online workshops, from midday every Friday, starting 11 March.

Strategy for Lunch is designed for business owners from across all sectors and industries who are looking to advance their strategic skills, knowledge, and their businesses.

The programme will help business owners undertake their own strategic analysis, identify opportunities, and to evaluate their strategic choices.

From sharing frameworks and tools, to recommended reading, review and reflection sessions, and group discussions, this innovative programme gives business owners a strong knowledge foundation from which to tackle their own strategic challenges.

Here’s a brief week by week outline of what participants can expect to cover and learn in this smart and highly accessible programme.

Week 1: 11 March – Orientation.

An introduction to core strategy concepts. We’ll also outline the programme’s
5-week journey. We’ll answer questions like, what is strategy? What isn’t strategy? What are the forces influencing our world today? And tomorrow?

Week 2: 18 March – Strategic framing.

Aims to understand a business’s value discipline and maps its business model. Questions we’ll answer in this session are, what is your ‘value discipline’? How do you create customer value? What is your business model for delivering customer value?

Week 3: 25 March – Strategic definition.

Defines a customer’s “job to be done”. This session also aims to understand customer drivers of value. It will unpack what the best options are to increase value for your customers?

Week 4: 1 April – Strategic options.

This session aims to explore a business’s strategic innovation options. We’ll answer questions like, how might you design or adapt your strategy for a competitive advantage? How do you develop a blue ocean strategy?

Week 5: 8 April – Strategic action.

This final session brings it all together. We evaluate strategic choices, including key implementation considerations. WE answer questions like, how do you move from strategy prototype to market offering? How do you test and validate an MVP? What are the key considerations for scaling-up innovation?

Find out more about Strategy for Lunch, or to register, head to
https://discoverwhanganui.nz/news/strategy-for-lunch/

Two Te Puni Kōkiri Scholarships available for Kellogg Whanganui.

Te Puni Kōkiri is generously sponsoring two places on Whanganui’s Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, May start.

This is an extraordinary scholarship opportunity, covering programme fees and giving applicants the chance to develop leadership skills closer to home.
These scholarships are open to passionate Māori as part of their leadership journey in the Food and Fibre Sector.

Those wishing to apply for a scholarship, should include a cover letter with their application indicating why they should be selected.

In the cover letter, evidence should be shown of leadership in Māori Food and Fibre, along with discussing how the scholarship will contribute to personal leadership development.

How to apply.

To get an application underway, prospective applicants should register their interest through the link below. They’ll receive an application form to complete. When they return this form, include a cover letter indicating intention to apply for the scholarship, at the top.

For any questions about the scholarship please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Lisa Rogers, Programme Manager, at lisarogers@ruralleaders.co.nz

FMG Young Farmer of the Year – Tasman Regional Final.

Meet you Saturday night at Springston Hall.

Did you know Mary Bumby introduced honeybees to New Zealand in 1839? No? Incredibly, her name has nothing to do with the naming of Bumble Bees, or any bees. Quite possibly history’s greatest example of a surname impacting the course of a life.

The seven Tasman Region finalists for the FMG Young farmer of the Year hadn’t heard of Mary’s exploits either. Though they had answers to other questions during the four quiz rounds at Springston Hall, Saturday evening, 19th February.

Rural Leaders were fortunate to be invited by our strategic investing partner FMG to catch this thrilling conclusion to several days of competition, to find the Tasman Regional Winner. Competitors had given their all in three components of competition: Agri-business, Agri-skills, and Agri-Sports. They crafted a ‘chair’ from a wood palette, filleted (in some cases butchered) a salmon, they did the maths on the application of fertiliser, and competed in fencing too.

And so, it all came down to the Springston Hall for the fourth Agri-Knowledge component, to determine the winner and finalists for the national competition later this year.

Te Radar sounds the alarm.

After a BBQ dinner and some masked, socially-distanced mixing, long-time host Te Radar kicked off the evening with the housekeeping, which included the obligatory fire evacuation notice – and at that exact moment an actual fire alarm sounded. We all evacuated. The rural fire brigade eventually gave the all-clear and the seven finalists took their places.

The finalists were: Archie Woodhouse and Phoebe Smailes of Lincoln University Young Farmers, Andrew Allan and George Dodson of Lincoln Young Farmers, Jonny Brown of Dunsandel Young Farmers, Ash Foley of Waimakariri Young Farmers, and Blair Anglesey of Renwick Young Farmers.

Entering this final evening, Jonny Brown had the lead, with Andrew Allan in second.

Fingers on buzzers please.

The first round ‘Photo ID’ asked contestants to identify everything from a specific arable crop to a breed of pig, through to filling in a missing element on a familiar sector logo.

Round two ‘Rapid Fire’ gave each contestant 30 seconds of questions. Performances here were strong, with the highlight being an ability to anticipate the answer to a question cut-off by the timer. Contestants were allowed to answer despite not having the full question.

Best anticipation efforts were Archie Woodhouse’s ‘Marlborough’ to the cut question “What region…?” (What region is the mainstay of New Zealand mussel farming?”) And Phoebe Smaile’s ‘Four,’ to the cut question “What is the minimum clearance…?” (“What is the minimum clearance for equipment from overhead powerlines?”)

Round three was an observation round. Here a video was played with questions following. A hard round, though had this not been a dry event, it would have been harder still.

And the winner of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year, Tasman is...

The final round was a ‘quick buzzer,’ here big movers were Phoebe Smailes and Ash Foley, but not enough to break into the top three. After a focussed period of calculation from the judges, the final places were awarded.

The top female competitor’s prize went to Ash Foley. Third place, by just one point, went to Archie Woodhouse, second was Andrew Allan, and seasoned competitor Jonny Brown took the overall win, after missing out last year.

This was an expertly organised event and a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Thank you to FMG’s Michelle Stephenson for the invite.

The Contest series Grand Final is scheduled for Whangarei in July.

Keep an eye out for details here.

Changing the narrative – an online Kellogg session.

Kellogg has had to adapt during the Pandemic, to a hybrid model, working both online with tools like Zoom, and in-person when it is safe to do so.

One positive thing about video calls, and for some one might be a stretch, is being able to sit on the side-lines occasionally, with mute on and video off. You get all the benefits of the call, without needing to worry about asking clever questions.

So, muted and invisible we joined Scholars on Phase Two of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, to listen to Sam Halstead of Latitude Strategy and Communication. Sam works in Public Relations, focussing on the primary production sector.

Phase Two is important for Kellogg Scholars. It gives an economic, political, and environmental context. It zeroes in on how to engage and influence decision making at a local, regional, industry and central government level. And engaging means communicating effectively. Enter Sam.

The most scrutiny in a generation for the primary sector.

Sam began his presentation with a slide headed ‘The most scrutiny and pressure in a generation.’ Discussion moved easily from one example substantiating this, after another.

The next slide, ‘It’s not all bad,’ presented positive sector perception statistics, based on recent polls from UMR Market Research. The pendulum has been moving in the other direction through Covid – with a public realising New Zealand now has big bills to pay and that the primary sector might be the one to help. The numbers make interesting reading:

New Zealanders have a positive view of the primary sector.
New Zealanders remain strongly positive about horticulture (67% positive, 29% neutral, 4% negative).
Sheep and beef farming (58% positive, 29% neutral, 13% negative).
And dairy farming (55% positive, 29% neutral, 16% negative).

Changing primary sector narratives with human connection.

While sentiment is on the up, the big challenges remain. Challenges that continue to impact the way the public views the primary sector. Sam took scholars through how public relations is utilised to help address some of these.

‘Changing the narrative,’ Sam explained, is about human connection and building trust over time – to change the narrative over time. Briefly, that might mean:

Avoiding the echo chamber – telling our stories outside of the sector.
Enlisting champions, or advocates.
Collaborating – avoiding confrontation.
Better leverage of the sector’s points of difference.
Owning issues and improving performance – sharing those improvements.
Building high quality relationships.
Most importantly – strive for human connection.

These sessions, delivered both online and in-person, help scholars build a critical awareness mindset, build confidence, and empower scholars to create change – public relations is just one tool in the toolbox that can help.

Madison Pannett on GenZ in the primary sector.

Madison Pannett is a 2021 Kellogg Scholar who recently made the news with her Kellogg research on attracting Generation Z into the primary industries.

You can review her report here, Generation Z and the environment – how can we use their passion to attract them into food and fibre sector careers?

In a nutshell the report takes a close look at how and why the sector’s careers need to be more aligned with this influential generation’s values.

The interview with Radio New Zealand’s Jesse Mulligan is short and to the point. For anyone looking to bring new talent into their operation, it’s well worth the five-minute investment.

Madison speaks about the way the primary sector’s economic performance is the most common messaging theme in media, something GenZ are not generally interested in or motivated by.

According to her research, GenZ are motivated by environmental issues and their ability to make a bigger difference to them. She concludes, a job should be spoken about in terms of how it fits into the bigger picture, particularly regarding global warming – rather than in financial or economic terms.

Listen to Jesse Mulligan interview Madison below.

Radio New Zealand: Summer Times 2021/22: How to get Gen Z into our Primary Industries

You can also read an earlier article published in the Waikato Herald. In this article Madison also talks about how we might inspire young people into the primary sector.

Follow the link to read the article on nzherald.co.nz website.

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Building the value.

The programme delivery team.

Building leadership capability.

Kellogg accreditation strengthens the bond with Lincoln University.

A dedicated Kellogg programme team.

A shared history and a shared future.

Week 1: 11 March – Orientation.

Week 2: 18 March – Strategic framing.

Week 3: 25 March – Strategic definition.

Week 4: 1 April – Strategic options.

Week 5: 8 April – Strategic action.

How to apply.

Meet you Saturday night at Springston Hall.

Te Radar sounds the alarm.

Fingers on buzzers please.

And the winner of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year, Tasman is...

The most scrutiny in a generation for the primary sector.

Changing primary sector narratives with human connection.

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