TNS NZ annual meeting marks virtualisation

Submitted by Simon Harvey on December 2, 2010 - 9:04am.

A clear direction for TNS NZ over the coming year has emerged from the AGM and advisor strategy day held on 30th November 2010. With up to 20 people present, there was a diverse group of TNS NZ advisors, trainee advisors and special friends. “We were fortunate and very grateful to have the skills of Rosie Walford and Jana Lyn-Holly as facilitators,” explains Simon Harvey, Executive Director of TNS NZ. “Their facilitation provided good objectivity and teased out a lot of information that could easily have been passed over. And we got three clear priorities really clear around matching market needs, moving beyond facilitation and working better together across the network.”

The AGM was kept short. The accounts showed a slight loss this year, but given that it’s the first year TNS NZ has received no grant funding the result was positive in terms of increased self-generated revenue and a leap in the number of new advisors. “With the recent accreditation of Mardi Neumann, Jan Harrison and Ella Lawton, we’re now up to 11 advisors and we’re expecting to be up to around 15 within the next 12 months. We believe that’s the best way to get the message and skills out there effectively, and to get the TNS framework being used widely in communities, local government and businesses,” says Simon Harvey.

And there have been plenty of successes this year, as Simon points out. “We’re a lean organisation that runs on around NZ$30,000 a year, yet we’ve put almost 300 people across New Zealand through 1 and 2 day TNS based training courses in the last 12 months. Our network members have also attracted some big clients over the last few months including New Zealand’s largest life insurer, Sovereign; listed health products company Comvita, and the new Auckland super-Council’s property group which manages around NZ$8 billion of assets.”

Steve Henry, board member, senior advisor and manager of Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice, echoed the feeling of a very successful year. Steve beams with enthusiasm as he explains, “We’ve launched our graduate diploma in sustainable practice which is firmly based around the TNS framework for strategic sustainable development, and it’s being very well received. Providing education and graduate qualifications in the practical context of community and work-based projects is the new way for education. We’re using the internet to break down barriers of distance and to provide education when and where people want it. It’s that simple.” This year the Polytech won a judges’ commendation in the Government backed EECA awards for its biodiesel project, and its sustainable business courses have been growing steadily.

TNS NZ is also now more-or-less a virtual organisation. “We’ve worked hard this year to get all our key office functions set up on software-as-a-service platforms. We’re using Xero for online accounting, Eventbrite for online event management, a TNS NZ Linkedin group for sharing information across our network, and services like Survey Monkey as well as the usual social media sites. Basically, anyone can run the office from anywhere for very little cost,” states Simon Harvey.

Simon goes on to explain a little further detail about the set up. “I think our model is slightly different from other TNS offices, in that our growing network of advisors all operate independently – yet collaboratively – under a memorandum of understanding. We have our own robust accreditation process which we run in partnership with Otago Polytechnic; and the office is really laptop-based coordination and administration centre that takes just two days a week to manage.”

The network strategy sessions confirmed some key goals for TNS NZ over the coming 12 months. The three priorities identified by the advisor network were:

Matching market needs: ensuring our programmes and services are relevant
Beyond facilitation: providing a suite of services and tools that actually implement change
Working together: supporting and mentoring our advisor network so that we are the best

“This year, as well as the guys from PROBE, we’ve been talking to a couple of innovative local start-ups that have developed some really useful and practical tools that seem to be effective in accelerating change in organisations. We’re really keen to build relationships with these sorts of firms, share the TNS approach, and develop tailored tools that suit the organisations we’re working with,” explains Simon Harvey.

TNS NZ also hosted its first major event this year. Co-Create the Future attracted 120 people to hear a collection of success stories in sustainable practice. Read more about it here, and check out the photos here.

For photos from the TNS NZ strategy day workshop sessions, have a wee look here.

TNS NZ annual meeting marks virtualisation

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