We’re making great strides in achieving diversity in the boardroom, but we’re still not there. One would think it’s a no brainer. But every time an announcement is made around diversity in the boardroom, I always get asked for comment about why this is important which makes me wonder: Is this really not self-evident or…
We all know that HR has fundamentally been about helping enable culture and driving performance. But in order to do this effectively in today’s world, we need to recognise the key role HR plays in enabling innovation. There is an innate tension within high-performing leadership teams, a product of the diverse and (partially) non-overlapping goals…
Surprisingly, this appears to be the case according to research recently released. An interdisciplinary team involving researchers with backgrounds in engineering, intercultural communication, and applied linguistics from universities in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, and Japan conducted the research. They analysed written materials with intercultural communication as the subject, as used in engineering education. They…
The biggest single industry in New Zealand for waste is building and construction. So with commercial construction at record levels, residential building consents peaking at 1970’s levels, massive housing shortages combined with anticipated additional demand from Kiwibuild – we must find a better way. The solution is adopting circular economy thinking. Not only does this…
What do you ACTUALLY do? Your answer can help our industry better promote itself. There is no doubt that heavy engineering has an image problem. We’re consistently hearing how hard it is to attract and retain quality staff. Students are not choosing it as a study focus. Apprentices are hard to find. Women are not…
If you think you’re safe from disruption, then think again. Because by the time a disruptive change has overtaken us, we won’t have time to react. If recent history is anything to go by, our future will be full of change. Innovations in the digital space have already transformed us, and the rate of change…
It’s not often you’d expect a heavy engineering research association to talk homelessness to their membership. But, having recently discovered that three homeless people were sleeping in the undercover area at the back of HERA House – here we are. The discovery led to some really challenging discussions amongst HERA House tenants on how to…
Sitting for long periods is thought to slow the metabolism, which affects the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat. This makes it a serious health and safety consideration with emerging awareness of its impacts. A range of studies show growing evidence for the serious consequences of pro-longed sitting.…
New Zealand’s R&D and innovation performance – can we do better? The answer is yes! NZ’s expenditure on R&D is benchmarking alarmingly low. This is the key takeaway from MBIE’s recently released 2018 Research, Science and Innovation System Performance Report. But why does this matter? According to the OECD and Treasury, low R&D investment…
That’s a good question and one we have been asking ourselves. So much so, that we’ve been working with our team to define them. Initially, by getting our lead team to propose what we think are the really important values we want to live by, and then having discussions with our full team to see…
