HPSNZ General Manager Wellbeing and Leadership, Emily Downes, says feedback from the HPDs of Rowing, Canoe Racing, Equestrian, Yachting, Snow Sports, Triathlon, Basketball and Netball highlight the programme’s significant impact on their professional growth, confidence and ability to inspire and lead their teams effectively.
“Without exception, HPDs highlighted the fostering of valuable relationships and importance of facilitating cross-sport learnings, contributing to a more collaborative and supportive environment,” says Emily.
Yachting NZ HPD, Ian Stewart, adds that the programme provided a chance to reflect, assess and boost the core capabilities needed to lead in what is a changing high performance environment.
“Identifying key areas for growth has been significant,” says Ian. “Also, the cross-sport learning is so purposeful and has been invaluable, despite different contexts of scale and resourcing.
“It was a rare opportunity to learn from the other sports and hopefully put us in a stronger position to manage our own programmes.”
For Snow Sports NZ HPD, Luke Hetzel, the biggest impact of the I2I programme has been the relevant and practical information provided to help him improve at his job. “The focus on skills such as our work on performance conversations, especially challenging ones, has been very positive and practical.
“The quality and collaborative approach to performance conversations has enabled the creation of a positive leadership climate, something I was able to immediately take back to my role at Snow Sports NZ.”
“Very clever at taking complex concepts and making them into simple models to take into the practical world” is how Equestrian Sport NZ General Manager of High Performance, Jock Paget, describes one of the biggest impacts he took away from the I2I programme.
“It is really difficult to pinpoint one big impact as I found all the topics relevant to an HPD role,” says Jock. “What was really powerful was the experiential nature of learning, something which I can take into my day to day role and really lean into.”
The three HPDs all say the programme must continue and they encourage HPDs from NSOs to take the opportunity to learn new tools, techniques and frameworks to improve their leadership and decision-making skills.
“We want to continue our own learning and we see a lot of value in HPSNZ continuing to facilitate the group that has come together,” says Luke.
The next I2I cohort is planned for later this year with communications for nominations going out to NSOs via their Performance Team Leaders in the coming weeks.
