A fast-changing industry needs more adaptble and capable leaders.
Horticulture is fast-changing. It has big goals, such as doubling the farmgate value of production. The industry wants to do this in a way that lifts the prosperity of its people while also protecting the planet.
The environment horticulture now operates in is more complex than it has ever been. It will need a pool of high-performing, current and potential leaders with the confidence and skills to take the industry into the future.
The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) are partnering with HortNZ to deliver the highly regarded and in-demand HortNZ Leadership Programme.
“A sustained flow of capable and self-aware leaders is critical to the Food and Fibre sector remaining vital and vibrant into the future. The Sector needs leaders that are continuously developing themselves and the teams they work with.
This addition to Rural Leaders’ suite of programmes, fully realises our intent to include an operational level programme as part of a wider leadership development ecosystem.
We are pleased to be working in partnership with HortNZ to deliver this important piece of a horticulture leader’s development journey”, Said Lisa Rogers, CEO, Rural Leaders.
The programme is designed to help leaders capture the opportunities and address the challenges offered by the industry’s expected growth and change. Participants will be fruit and vegetable growers, their employees, or from organisations closely associated with growing. They will join the more than 300 leaders who have graduated from the programme since 2002.
A key piece of the Food and Fibre sector’s leadership development ecosystem.
The HortNZ Leadership Programme took a break in 2023 to be reviewed against the current industry landscape. An additional evaluation was completed by Scarlatti, funded by Food and Fibre CoVE.
Food and Fibre CoVE also commissioned Rural Leaders to undertake research to define, design and develop an integrated approach tailored for Food and Fibre to help establish leadership development pathways for our people to grow and succeed.
The research outputs include the Capability Development Framework, introduced in the report, ‘A path to realising the leadership potential of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Food and Fibre Sector’. Key elements from the Capability Development Framework were also reviewed alongside the HortNZ Leadership Programme.
HortNZ Leadership Programme timetable.
The Programme is delivered by Rural Leaders in two phases and over nine weeks starting 13 August 2024 and finishing 19 October 2024:
- Phase one: five days (13 –18 August 2024 in Auckland)
- Phase two: three days (17-19 October 2024 in Wellington)
- Personal leadership plan – six weeks over the Programme.
Designed to build participants’ confidence to take the lead and to create influence, the programme will also develop business skills, such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving.
It includes sessions that aim to generate an awareness of strategy, how to use it,
as well as developing a personal plan. A key feature of the programme is the opportunity to network and grow relationships with other like-minded emerging and current influential leaders.
