On Tuesday 4 April the McGuinness Institute held a workshop for the Tasman District Council at the Headingly Centre in Richmond. We were invited to run a strategic planning day focusing on their long-term plan document. The document, which is required to be produced every three years under the Local Government Act 2002, discloses council activity and the desired community outcomes, and their financial strategy over the next ten years.

The workshop opened with a morning discussion about what the future might look like in the face of emerging global and national disruptions, such as technology. We explored various frameworks on public policy strategy and improvement of foresight that look at preparing communities for future disruptions. This was followed by discussions on how disruptions might impact the Tasman region and the strategies that are needed to strengthen long-term plans. Below you can view the slideshow used on the day and videos that discuss disruptive events shaping our future.

Links to videos:

It was great to meet Richard Kempthorne (Tasman District Council Mayor), Lindsay McKenzie (Chief Executive Officer), and the rest of the councillors and board members. It is always good to see Council and staff working together to ensure the best outcomes for their community. We were also lucky to have a patron of the Institute, Dr Morgan Williams, attending; he concluded the workshop with his own insights and reflections on the discussions that the council had that day.

The workshop tied in with the McGuinness Institute’s StrategyNZ project, which aims to contribute to a discussion on how to improve strategic decision-making, strategy stewardship and strategy implementation in both the private and the public sector. To learn about the history and methodology of this project, visit our website.