Remember to check out the What's Hot page for topical items to interest to managers, including:
David Chapman, for 17 years the New Zealand Institute of Management’s National chief executive and its indefatigable advocate for better management education and training in New Zealand, died in Wellington on January 14 aged 75.
Chapman took up the NZIM leadership challenge in 1992, bringing to it an impressive public sector background and an impeccable public and private sector network of contacts, colleagues and decision-makers. He had, said the Institute’s national president of the day Lindsay Fergusson, the diplomatic skills NZIM desperately needed. And, true to form and his hallmark personal dedication, Chapman put them to work with considerable effect.
“David was a very good leader,” says former NZIM National chairman Doug Matheson who worked closely with him on several important organisational and management development initiatives.
“He was committed to establishing relevant management qualifications and all credit should go to him for what exists today. His contribution is well understood and recognised by those who know and understand what is involved in lifting management capability.”
Much of Chapman’s contribution to NZIM was built on his deep understanding of the critical role political policy-making plays in promoting or impeding better learning standards and practices. He was, after all, a private secretary to several key ministers in both the National and Labour governments of the 1960s and ’70s, including Finance Minister and subsequent controversial Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon.
Despite offers, Chapman declined to become a permanent private secretary, opting instead to become a successful travel commissioner for the New Zealand Tourism Department, heading up its offices in Australia and North America.
The personal respect he garnered in the public sector helped him enhance government understanding of the economic importance of better management education. “He knew the right people to talk to in both the corporate and public sectors and they listened to him,” says Robin Dunlop, former NZIM National chair and top-level public servant.
Chapman won important skirmishes with government authorities over the implementation and nature of Unit Standards and learning programme content and accreditation.
Matheson also acknowledges that Chapman’s determination drove him to create NZIM’s Management Capability Index (MCI) which Chapman then started promoting both at home and abroad. The MCI is increasingly recognised offshore as a meaningful measure of a nation’s level of management performance.
“It was also David’s idea to establish the NZIM Foundation and its management education scholarship programme,” says Matheson.
Chapman left an important legacy at NZIM, but none more than his leadership role model as a caring, committed and people-focused leader.
“My management style is to work through people,” he once told me. “I focus on integrity, respect and trust.” He thought these critical management issues were too often forgotten by leaders and managers operating in today’s self-focused world.
“Valuing and recognising people and building trust are critical to meaningful and effective relationships,” he said.
David Chapman is succeeded by his wife Ann, daughter Kae, son Grant and their families of seven grandchildren. – Reg Birchfield
CEO Online - 1 February CEO News is brought to you by CEO Online, in association with the New Zealand Institute of Management.
Members of NZIM are entitled to complimentary subscription to the CEO Online website and its fortnightly e-newsletter.
"If business managed their money as carelessly as they manage their people, most would be bankrupt" - is a deliberate attempt to compare talent management with financial management. "The great majority of companies that control their finances masterfully don't have any comparable processes for developing their leaders or even pinpointing which ones to develop. How did this come to be? …Talent is the leading indicator of whether a business is headed up or down. Everyone agrees it's the company's most important resource. But a spreadsheet full of numbers is a lot easier to parse than the characteristics unique to a human being." …talent is the one competitive advantage that can be relied upon to differentiate companies.
Talent is attracted to opportunity… Consider these three principles for creating opportunities to allow others to develop:
MCsikszentmihalyi… whose work on happiness and creativity led to the concept of "flow" - that optimal state of productivity through immersion and engagement in an activity. To achieve a flow state:
What opportunities can you create this week?
If you're considering new goals or opportunities this year, NZIM is pleased to bring you these details of a scholarship offer for the MBA course at Cranfield School of Management in the UK:
Cranfield School of Management, just north of London, is pleased to offer a scholarship exclusively for New Zealanders for the full-time Cranfield MBA course starting in September 2012.The scholarship is open to anyone of New Zealand origin (citizens or permanent residents) anywhere in the world. The scholarship covers full tuition fees for the full-time MBA course (GBP33,000). The NZ-UK Link Foundation will pay for the airfare from New Zealand to the UK, and a contribution towards living expenses of up to NZ$10,000 may also be available.
One full-fee scholarship will be awarded. Other outstanding candidates may be awarded partial bursaries.
Maori applicants: Cranfield offers additional part-fee scholarships exclusively for Maori candidates.
Application requirements and process. Scholarship candidates must first have been offered a place on the MBA course. For entry onto the MBA course, candidates will need to take the GMAT exam or the Cranfield Admission Test. The deadline for these applications is 30 April 2012.
Applications for the scholarship are due by 31 May 2012. For further details: www.cranfieldmba.info/NZscholarship
Scholarship applicants will be short-listed and interviewed in June 2012 in Wellington. Interviews may be arranged in London or Cranfield for UK-based candidates; other venues or telephone/Skype interviews may be possible, although face-to-face contact is strongly preferred. A decision will be made in June 2012.
This is the sixth year that the scholarship has been offered. Past scholars have come from all sectors and are typically aged in their late 20s/early 30s.
Further information, please contact David Ryan, MBA 2001, in New Zealand on +64 (0) 21 543 449 or at ryangomez@xtra.co.nz, or David Thompson, MBA 1969, in the UK on +44 (0) 1296 682384 or at dct@dct.eclipse.co.uk

NZIM Central has updated its training calendar to include course dates for next year. Take a look and begin planning early: 2012 Planner. New to Management? - Fly out of the starting blocks
Are you a small business owner? Did you know that some of the NZIM courses qualify for the NZTE Capability Voucher Scheme. NZIM has been approved as a training provider across our region for this scheme, which provides a discount of up to 50% of the training fee. Please contact Grow Wellington to see if your business qualifies.
Did you know that any of the public courses listed on the NZIM Training Planner can be tailored to your organisation's needs? We can even send a facilitator to run the training at your premises anywhere in New Zealand. So if you need to train between 8 - 12 people, think about running your training in-company at your premises. Our in-company courses are charged at a daily rate and so it becomes really cost effective for you when training a group of at least 8 people.
Did you know that you can now build your own qualification in your own time - module by module?
Course Calendar. Courses for the next six months in all our regions.
NZIM NorthernLiving and working meaningfully - Is it just a pipedream? Could this be an answer to true engagement and productivity for our organisations and society in general? with Lani Morris on 22nd February 2012 .
In 2012, NZIM Northern are focussing on qualifications and professional short courses in THESE key categories:
Now is the time to act and book on programmes to get you and your teams ahead and skilled up for the new year. All NZIM programmes can be customised to be delivered in-company so contact the team on 09 303 9100 or 0800 800 NZIM
Leading and Development Courses: February
NZIM Qualifications
A recent report by Kenaxa High Performance Institute on employee reward and recognition highlights the needs of staff/employees. The top seven needs and percentage responses are:
Article: 'HR strategy on Target" in Human Capital Magazine Issue 9:12, pp. 15- 21.
Promoting constructive conversations is an important skill in leading and managing staff. In a recent article on improving the performance of employees, Norah Breekveldt proposes some excellent questions to facilitate personal and professional growth. They are:
Article: 'Hardwired for fight or flight' by Norah Breekveldt in HR Monthly, November 2011, pp.40-43.
According to Dr John Sullivan, Professor at San Francisco State University mobile platforms will become the dominant communications and interaction medium by best-practice organisations in 2012. The use of smart phones and tablet devices will grow immensely. Smart device users could see all incoming e-mail, social messaging, text messaging, and voice and video messaging in a single place.
Tablets will become the virtual classroom, and an emerging class of tools will let employees manage almost every aspect of their professional life digitally. During 2012, talent management leaders need to invest heavily, supporting execution of talent management initiatives across mobile platforms.
To read about other trends visit: http://www.ere.net/2011/12/05/10-predictions-for-2012-the-top-trends-in-talent-management-and-recruiting/
According to Simon Dell, the director of TwoCents Group, eight things can be learnt from the remarkable contribution of Apple and Steve Jobs to smarter, better business. They are:
Reference: 'Eight things Apple and Steve Jobs taught us' by Simon Dell, in Marketing, December 2011/January 2012, pp. 64-65.
During 2011, I read many books that assisted my understanding of how to be smarter about managing change and making progress on complex challenges. My personal highlights were:
5 – 7 MARCH 2012. Wellington & then Christchurh
CALLING ALL CEOs, LOGISTICIANS, GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES AND DISASTER PLANNING STAFF, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS
Come and hear what worked well, and what didn’t work so well. Learn from the experts who bore the brunt of the work during the two natural disasters – the Queensland Floods and the Christchurch Earthquakes. You cannot afford to miss this important event.
Visit specific sites in and around Christchurch on Wednesday 7 March, infrastructure and services that were vital to the recovery efforts. If you can only afford to spend one day, we have a specific package for Christchurch, and you can join us there.
Those who register for the full conference, including the day in Christchurch, will be transported from Wellington to Christchurch and back by air at no extra cost over the full registration fee. We have 171 seats on the aircraft, so be quick to book and secure your place. If you are coming to Wellington by air, you can make your onwards plans from Christchurch at the end of the conference if you wish.
CoursesChristchurch
Dunedin
Invercargill
NZIM Qualifications
NZIM Southern's Training and Development Consultants are available to tailor education, training, advice and support to best meet the needs of your business. They are able to provide training needs analysis, executive coaching and advice on organisational effectiveness and transformation.
Course Calendar. Courses for the next six months in all our regions.

February's Training Courses