DEBBIE SIMISTER – ACCOR HOTELS

I’m a big believer in happenstance or chance events. A few years ago I was at a conference in Sydney. I’m an introvert by nature and at lunchtime my instinct was to get away from the crowd. I found a table at the back of the room where I could eat my lunch in peace and quiet. I didn't want to interact with anyone.

Next thing, a lady asked me if she could share my table and we ate lunch together. We started chatting and her name was Debbie Simister, the head of Learning and Development at Accor Hotels. She obviously liked some of the things I was talking about in terms of the 10 Behaviours and invited me to run a pilot programme for the Accor Academy in Sydney. The academy is their in-house university for the different hotels in the Accor brand including Pullman, IBIS, Novotel, Movenpick, Sofitel, MGallery, and many others.

I ran the pilot and they loved it and Debbie asked if they could take the 10 Behaviours and integrate it into their existing Learning Development Programme for leaders. I’ve since certified six of their trainers to run the 10 Behaviours programme for hundreds of their people across the APAC region. They’ve got over 400 hotels and I get emails out of the blue all the time from Accor hotel managers and heads of department thanking me for the tools and behaviours they’ve learned from the programme.

That relationship was all down to meeting Debbie and happenstance.

These days, Debbie is the Accor Global Vice President for Talent Management taking care of the Sofitel and MGallery brands.

LEIGH-ANNE BUXTON – GREATER WELLINGTON REGIONAL COUNCIL (GWRC)

I was speaking at a HR conference in 2008 and a lady in the audience named Leigh-Anne Buxton approached me and said this is something we can use in the council. Again, as with most of my corporate programmes I initially ran a pilot. Pilots are great because there is minimal risk involved for both parties and generally if I can get my foot in the door, organisations see the value in the programme.

Since I met Leigh-Anne in 2008, I’ve run 2-3 workshops every year for Greater Wellington Regional Council. That’s 50 workshops over 16 years.

Anyone can attend those workshops. We’ve had the CEO and receptionists in the same room. One year this super-strong and athletic looking guy arrived at the workshop and turned a few heads when he walked into the room. Turned out he was a possum trapper in the Animal Pest Management Team. I loved that and it proves my point that at a human level everyone's the same when it comes to success. Their circumstances may be different but they have the same concerns that the 10 Behaviours programme helps to address.

Now the 10 Behaviours are ingrained in the culture of GWRC. Someone starting out in the council does the programme and as they move into more senior roles they send their junior people along to the programme. Hundreds of people have been through the programme, in fact most employees at GWRC will have graduated from the programme and they use the language of the 10 Behaviours in everyday conversations.

While Leigh-Anne has moved on from Greater Wellington many years ago, her influence lives on.

STUART ANDERSON – MINISTRY FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES (MPI)

I’d been trying to get my foot in the door with MPI for about five years because it’s such a big organisation in New Zealand. I did everything I could to convince the decision makers in the organisation but couldn't find a way in.

One day, I was speaking at an event in Wellington and a recently promoted Director from MPI came up to me afterwards and quizzed me about the 10 Behaviours. It really captivated him and he started implementing the 10 Behaviours in his life and career. He stayed in touch with me and really applied himself to the process.

His name was Stuart Anderson, and not long after he started doing the 10 Behaviours he asked me to run a workshop for his team of ten people in the forestry division at MPI and it went really well. In 2020 he was promoted again, this time as the Director of the Mycoplasma bovis programme to eliminate this horrific disease that affects cattle.

No country in the world has eradicated M. bovis but New Zealand made the decision a few years ago to try to eradicate it. Stuart was in charge of the programme and he led a team of 160 people around New Zealand. It was a tough job because his team had to work with farmers to eliminate entire herds. Stuart wanted to give his team some tools to handle the stress of what they were going through, and he asked me to come and do my magic with his team.

New Zealand is now well on the way to eradicating M. bovis, and while I’m not claiming any credit for that, it was nice to be involved in some small way with the team who made it happen.

Today, Stuart is a Deputy Director-General at MPI and is responsible for all biosecurity in New Zealand.

I still stay in touch with Stuart. He continues to use the 10 Behaviours in his own life and works hard to maintain balance between his professional and family life.