News Blog

The laws of natural selection are both brutal and necessary. All species on Earth must continually adapt to changing environmental conditions in order to survive. The brutal fact is that of the estimated 5 billion species that have existed on earth, 99.9% of them have become extinct. The good news is that the average lifespan of a species is between 1-10 million years, and at roughly 2 million years old, homo sapiens may still have some time left.

The same laws can also apply to organisations. Those who can improve their way of doing business in the face of changes in their environmental conditions will always be in a better position to succeed in the long term. Covid-19 has been a great example of one of those environmental changes forcing adaptations.

For the Charter, the environment has changed significantly since its inception at the beginning of the rebuild. Although the health and safety bar has been raised significantly in Canterbury, the aspirational goals remain unchanged. The question we must ask ourselves is how do we best adapt to provide the most value to our members and also improve the health and safety outcomes in the community?

Charter member Barry Wehi has provided some insight into this question when he used the Charter as the subject of his MBA Thesis. Barry interviewed numerous Charter members to try and quantify the “Value Proposition of the Charter”. That is, what value does the Charter provide and how is this value best recognised.

Barry’s report identified a comprehensive list of member values provided by the Charter, including functional values (events, resources), experiential values (engagement, collaboration, connection), symbolic values (branding, status, collectiveness) and cost values (value for money). Charter members believe in the work of the Charter, although they sometimes cannot articulate exactly what this is.

Barry gave 12 recommendations to ensure the sustainability of the Charter and delivery of its core business to provide leadership, advocacy, and support for its members. Many of these recommendations have been implemented in the last year (strategic plan, branding, digital marketing), while some require additional resourcing (site visits). Additionally, Barry recommended better communication of the Charter values and purpose, and a review of the pricing structure. At present, approximately 50% of our members (SME’s under 10 employees) pay no fees, and although this encourages membership, it also provides a dis-incentive to value the work of the Charter.

Final recommendations included expanding the Charter into aligned industries and increasing partnerships with corporate organisations. In the long term, increasing membership is critical to the survival and sustainability of the Charter. The best way to do this is to provide real value to our members, and then leverage this value to attract new members.

 Paul Duggan                                                                                                               General Manager

On a very fresh March morning, Waghorn builders teamed up with the Waimakariri District Council offering a breakfast for tradies from around the district to raise awareness of suicide prevention and mental health in general. Local social services were in attendance to offer a range of services from affordable counselling to help with housing and budgeting.

We all know or have experienced some sort of loss due to suicide, we wanted people to speak up and get the tools to help others or know how to deal with your own mental struggles.

Owners Jake and Luke Waghorn flew former police crises negotiator Lance Burdett down to be a guest speaker at the event.  The key points that were talked about were

• ‘the brain’ to understand how our brains process negative information, why emotions are intensified and why we overthink and worry.
• ‘safety’ situational awareness and safety, changing routines into rituals and the benefits of teamwork in health and safety.
• ‘resiliency’ simple tips and techniques to support wellbeing such as; how to stop waking between three and four in the morning, how to switch the brain off at the end of a busy day, how to stop worrying, how to boost energy when tired, how to sleep within nine breaths, and many more.

The feedback following the breakfast has been outstanding. It seemed to have made people sit back and think about what is really important, myself included. We all need to talk with each other more. “Be selfish to be selfless”

The Safety Charter supported this initiative by sharing details of the event with North Canterbury members. 

Lance has resources available on his website

Jake Waghorn, Director/Sales Manager

Waghorn Builders