Today the Eastern Institute of Technology was privileged to have Sean Colgan onsite as a guest presenter to ‘Operations Management’ students. Sean owns the largest aggregates business in the world (annual revenue of NZ$1.2 billion). Website: https://www.irvmat.com/aggregates.asp It ranks as one of the 5 top American companies in respect of its scale/ performance; alongside entities such as Microsoft and Google, and has a customer base that spans 60 + countries. 

It was an exceptional presentation by an exceptional person. Because Sean was communicating with a class of Operations Management students this time around, he talked at length about effective “people management” practices. Some of the valuable insights he offered included:

  • Cause no harm – leaders/ managers need to concentrate on guiding, teaching and supporting.
  • Praise in public and discipline in private.
  • Have employees own the decisions for which they are responsible for making/ paid to make.
  • A good manager leads from the front, and doesn’t assign subordinates jobs that can’t be done (e.g. for safety reasons).
  • Good business owners/ managers share credit/ praise with others (e.g. favourable customer feedback).
  • Effective business owners/ managers lead by working “with” colleagues – not by “cracking the whip” working over the top of them.
  • Don’t stop people from making bad judgement calls – let people make their own mistakes to allow them to learn from their mistakes.
  • A business owner’s main objective should be to help people be happy and relaxed at what they do. Happy people are naturally productive people. Managing through the use of fear is counterproductive.
  • As a business owner/ manager help other people with their thought processes – teach others “how” to think, not “what” to think.
  • Always take people with you on the journey that you set for your business.
  • Engage the best people you can afford – don’t be threatened by talented people.

And on the last bullet point above, we discussed in some depth the tendency still of the general Kiwi psyche to “cut people off at their knees” or “shut them down” whenever a motivated/ driven fellow Kiwi shows signs of achievement/ getting ahead. Commonly known as “Tall Poppy Syndrome”. It was interesting to hear from one student that her grandparents spoke about this syndrome as she was growing-up in N.Z. – and therefore its beginnings can be traced back some 80 years.

My response to those who want to fell/ undermine “Tall Poppies” is….STOP IT ! These people are essential in order for New Zealand to achieve development and growth. They are the “path finders” and “game changers” that unlock magical chests of innovation. If anything START WATERING (supporting) these “Tall Poppies” so that they grow even taller.