Beyond Consultation

Introducing Breanna McQuade Bright, curious and always evolving, Bre is one of our most prized assets here at Business Lab. We can often get so bogged down with the pressures of everyday work that we can forget to ask the bigger questions. But Bre's always asking them naturally - and that has a lot of power. She's constantly digging deeper. Even in her job interview, she asked us , ‘What's your fu...

Introducing Kara Nepe-Apatu Passionate about community, social justice and having the voices heard of those who are often overlooked, Kara Nepe-Apatu is outspoken and clear about where she feels the social conversation should go next. Kara, who works at NZ Treasury, states on her LinkedIn bio that "My opinions are my own and do not reflect the position of the public service." But her opinions are...

Do you want to take meaningful action on inclusion and belonging? Well, you’re not alone. Organisations up and down the country have realised the huge impact of creating diverse and inclusive workplaces and communities. But there’s a gap between good intentions and good practice. That’s where Zoe and the team from AllHuman can help. They help organisations to take meaningful action on diversity an...

Introducing Becky Hirst Becky Hirst is a skilled community engagement practitioner who is willing to tell it how it is.  And she has grave concerns for the future of public participation. To have a thriving society, we need people and communities who are actively involved in civic life. For politicians, public servants, corporations, or planners to engage with communities in any positive way,...

Introducing Israel Hawkins Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Tuwharetoa Israel’s passion for serving people can leave one blown away. He may not take himself too seriously (get ready for some laughs). But his mahi (work) has serious impact in the lives of people. And the approach is unorthodox. Starting about 20 years ago when Israel and some friends went to help people in slums in the Philippines, they e...

Introducing Megan Shove As a self-proclaimed “research geek” Megan has quite the experience sinking her teeth into grunty research and methodologies aligned to social value. Pair this up with the history of social conscious action where she would join her sister in protests. And then add on her work in charities, international development, and local government with a healthy splash of travel and i...

Introducing Holly Bennett Becoming a professional lobbyist may not be the most expected career path for… anyone. Even Holly Bennett thought she’d be a Criminal Litigator. Until her career took a political turn and her interest in lobbying turned into a business. Holly leads the way for what it means to be a professional lobbyist in a world that sees it as a dark art. Her mission is to “unmask the...

Re-Introducing Paul McGregor If you want to get Paul fired up, send him to a 3 hour online meeting where nobody says anything except for one or two presenters. Watch him squirm as the presenter reads from Powerpoint slides with size 10 font and clip-art illustrations. See him grit his teeth as everybody else pulls out their phones to find a distraction. As the presenter acts surprised at the lack...

Introducing a cheeky Bonus Episode In Episode 13 we were joined by the empowering Helen Grant from Auckland City Council. We went through the Council’s journey shifting their culture of engagement. From how things used to be and what the culture of engagement with their community looks like now. Behind the scenes, Helen discussed even more about what it took to develop the culture of engagement in...

Introducing Dr. David Wilson From owning a surf shop to being involved in the $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund Dr. David Wilson has been on quite the economic development journey. As a surf shop owner, David felt how New Zealand’s small businesses could be at the mercy of bigger social trends. This led him back to university to study social policy and psychology. And he didn’t stop there. With a...

Introducing Kelly Ann McKercher Kelly Ann was partway through facilitating a codesign workshop when the group asked them to sit down and stop facilitating. Ouch. But this experience proved to be a pivotal moment. It showed Kelly Ann the limitations of their design training and kickstarted a journey of personal and professional discovery. Fast forward a decade and they are now leading the next evol...

Introducing Helen Grant A driving force for citizen value and engagement within Auckland Council, Helen has played a lead role in shifting the Council’s culture of community engagement over the last 7+ years. You’ll find this won’t come as a surprise…. as community engagement has always been a big part of Helen’s life. From her childhood running amongst local markets where her family were stallhol...

Introducing Sean Audain Growing up Sean wanted to be a chef. Fortunately for Wellington City, he instead became obsessed with how you can use technology to create thriving cities. He’s all about leveraging data so communities can make smarter and faster decisions. Today Sean is part of the Innovations team at Wellington City Council. His approach? Pushing boundaries of how we can use technology to...

Introducing Paul McGregor and a New Model Beyond Consultation’s very own host, Paul McGregor, is leading us into 2021 with a new transformational model being developed at Business Lab (currently at the prototype stage). When he's not delving deep into going beyond consultation with incredible guests, Paul is bringing energy through his facilitation and leading exciting projects, establishing model...

Introducing Matthew Crozier After years of working in and around government in both Australia and the UK, Matthew co-founded Bang the Table to apply technology to the problem of connecting people with the issues that affect their lives. He had seen how the same people would respond to government consultations, time and time again. And he figured that technology must be able to help scale up commun...

Introducing Atawhai Tibble Atawhai Tibble has the superpower of building partnerships between Māori and the Crown. He developed a framework for engaging with Māori, called the 5 Wai's framework. It’s all about how you engage with Māori in a way that works for Māori. Atawhai has been involved in the development of Te Kupenga, Stats NZ's first survey of Māori wellbeing.  When the COVID lockdown...

Introducing Alicia McKay Alicia McKay is New Zealand’s leading voice in strategy, change and leadership. Former strategy consultant and facilitator, she has worked with New Zealand and Australia’s most senior leaders in government, business and community as a coach, trainer and mentor. She’s watched people go around in circles, burn themselves out, and waste their time on bullsh*t for years - and...

Introducing Mike Reid Mike began his career in local government in 1985 with a community advisor role in Christchurch City Council, not anticipating HOW interesting it would be. Fast forward 35 years, and Mike is New Zealand's leading expert on everything local government. Mike obviously has a big brain, and you can hear that in this episode. He's quoting studies and reports as if he rea...

Introducing Paul Brown Paul Brown doesn’t shy away from challenging the status quo. His parents passed on values of kindness and compassion. As he put it… It’s better to be a big heart than a big shot. And this led him from a successful corporate career to CEO of Child Fund New Zealand. For the last 15 years he led the rejuvenation of Child Fund, continuously pushing the boundaries on the norm of...

Introducing Fran McEwen Fran McEwen isn’t one to do things by half-measures. With a strong awareness of how she experiences bipolar, she has learned to use this to her advantage. She sets bigger than normal goals. We’re not talking marathons… we’re talking ultra marathons! Several years ago, Fran saw a gap in young women participating in organised sport. This led her to found Shift , which focuses...

Introducing Jo Cribb Jo Cribb first came across our radar in 2017 when she stepped down as the CEO of the Ministry of Women. She could have stayed the course with her secure public sector career.  Instead, she leaped into a portfolio career with three key areas of focus: Increasing gender diversity and inclusion. Increasing the impact and profile of the NGO sector. Exploring the future of wor...

Meet Nazanin Jenkin, Collaborations and Partnerships Strategist Nazanin Jenkin couldn’t believe it when her big idea was featured alongside Jacinda Ardern in Vision Week 2020. But it should come as no surprise to you if you’ve been following her work on cross-sector collaboration. She is a fierce advocate for moving collaboration beyond a buzzword. And she has the practical experience to back this...

Meet Zaynel Sushil, Systems Innovator Zaynel Sushil is not one to dream small. He's all about growing the conditions that enable people to live healthy lives. Whether that's in their community, their workplace or their home - he's up for pushing the boundaries to challenge what people think is possible. In 2019 he stumbled across Business Lab in his search for a savvy systems change facilitator. S...

Welcome to the first episode of the podcast, recorded in week 2 of the COVID-19 lockdown. It’s a different world out there - one where you cannot walk out the door to engage your communities or collaborate with other organisations. Today’s guest: David Hammond If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be the CEO of a local council, ask David. He’s taken that role in three different local councils,...

Welcome to the podcast: an ‘explainer episode’ with host Paul McGregor Are you listening to the Beyond Consultation podcast for the first time? Start here with this short explainer episode with host Paul McGregor. In it, you’ll learn: What do we mean by calling the podcast "‘Beyond Consultation’? What will you learn in the coming episodes? How can you interact with or contribute to the podcast? Si...