There are always two sides to every story

Paul Scouller is passionate about people. People in the Waitara community, which the WISE Charitable Trust serves, and his people making up the workforce behind the Trust.

Paul is a leader alright. As the CE, the key outcomes for upskilling his leadership team is to build leadership capability that the Trust can continue to grow, maintain key stakeholder trust and relationships and provide growth opportunities – no matter if he is CE or not.

Recognising this as giving back to the community, in line with the purpose of the WISE Charitable, Paul does not prescribe to the fear many organisation leaders have around training – “What happens if we invest in them and they leave?”

As Paul sees it, “If they leave working with WISE, we hope they benefit from the investment in them, as members of the community, and make a positive impact themselves. And as we are seeing, some do return to work for WISE, which means they bring back their experience for the community to benefit.”

Here’s what we have implemented so far:

• Blanchard Self Leadership – The leadership team. One day course focussing on developing personal influence, assumed constraints and taking the initiative to seek the leadership style they need to get the job done.
• Results Through Relationships – The leadership team, including Paul. One day workshop and SDI assessment to understand and develop team Relationship Intelligence – supercharge communication and reduce conflict.
• The SLII©️ Experience – CE Paul Scouller. Two day course giving Paul the skills to provide the leadership style to match his teams development level. The flip side to Blanchard Self Leadership.

Together, we will work hard to maximise the investment WISE Charitable Trust have put into training and implementing their Leadership Development Program.

Hear from from Petunia Twala, the Operations Manager at WISE on how these programs have helped her flex her leadership styles.

Hear from Jenna Yateman, Marketing and Communications lead on what has helped her acheive more in her day.

Shaun Fitzmaurice is the general manager for Auckland landscape designers Humphreys Landscaping.

Experiencing growth in the company with upwards of 120 staff, Shaun knew what he wanted as a foundation to bring the growing leadership team together. And it was 15 years in the making!

Here’s Shaun’s comments:

“I first came across the Core Strengths assessment (SDI) as part of my Bachelors Degree back in the UK, around 2007. It was a paper-based version then.  Since then the SDI model has been my default when it comes to wanting to improve team communication and understanding different communication styles. It’s what I fall back on because it has been so effective throughout my career.

“With the leadership team at Humphreys Landscaping, the opportunity presented to do something together during this high growth phase. The Core Strengths workshop gave us the space to respectfully and openly discuss areas we wanted to improve. The assessment results, along with the Compare and Teams functions gave needed insights into our dynamic. We were able to identify what was working well and where we could improve.

The SDI model enables everyone to speak openly, and the team continue to use the learnings from the assessment in driving performance across Humphreys every day.”

To add to Shaun’s comments,  I enjoyed facilitating the workshop and was encouraged with the willingness of everyone to speak openly- a sign this is a High Trust environment.

Now, the second group of managers have completed the assessment and program, Humphreys are well on the way to embedding Relationship Intelligence.

Someday Cafe, in the South Taranaki town of Hawera, is a funky urban eatery. Tricia Tasker is the owner, and like thousands of small business owners, faces the challenges that comes with territory, with confidence and grit.

Here’s what Tricia has to say about what helped her when, in 2020 B.C (Before Covid), she has been operating her cafe for a couple of years.

“Understanding how to communicate with my team and for them to know how to communicate with me is paramount. As a new business owner, two years in, I was looking for ways to create a cohesive working environment. Critically, I knew going into business, I lacked confidence in dealing with staff conflicts and any potential disciplinary issues.

Tim help guide me through some tough issues (well, they felt tough to me!) in a clear and concise way, by first helping me understand where my strengths are, and how I approach situations.

I completed the Core Strengths assessment, which gave me the tools to choose new ways of approaching situations and communicate more effectively with my staff.

I found coaching with Tim immensely helpful, helping me be more conscious of the way I respond to situations.”

To her credit, she and her small band of hospo warriors rose to the challenges of Covid, and Someday is still here – which we’re stoked about!

Tricia Tasker – Someday

Szilveszter Toth is a well traveled hospitality professional – he speaks four languages and is a very interesting guy!

Sly, as his friends call him, is well aware that at times when he comes across as direct, it can have the opposite effect he is looking for… So when he took a General Manager role in the heart of mining country, Western Australia,  he quickly saw his team needed to understand why he communicates the way he does. A smart man, and consummate professional, Sly doesn’t adhere to the “It’s my way or the highway” management style.

Here’s what he did about it:

“I’d seen Tim work with Core Strengths a few years ago in Auckland, and knew it would help me improve the communication with my team. As much as I wanted to communicate with them in a way that builds positive relationships, I wanted my team to have some insight into each other – and of course to understand my communication style!

Being across the ditch was no problem – the virtual session provided what we needed.

“One of the outcomes for Core Strengths is understanding when we might trigger one another into conflict unintentionally. With an internationally diverse team, I find the Core Strengths assessment and team day together discussing the implications very worth while.

If your team relies on quality communication like ours do in the hospitality industry, I recommend this one.”

Szilveszter Toth, General Manager; The Plaza Hotel, Kalgoorlie

Full disclosure here – Dylan is family, but don’t let that cloud your judgement!

Having built a successful sign writing business from scratch, Dylan and Rachel acquired a second business, Top Stitch and within months moved into a new high-profile premise with Sign Right. Now with both businesses under one roof, the reality sunk in that Dylan has a new challenge – managing a team, whereas 12 months earlier it was just himself.

Let’s hear from Dylan:

” I’ve never had any experience or training when it comes to leading a team, so when the rush of buying Top Stitch and moving premises died down, the reality started to hit me – and I realised I needed some guidance fast on how to build a strong team to meet business performance needs.

“It was a huge load off my mind that Tim understood where I was at in the process and helped me to understand too. The solution was to attend the Blanchard Team Leadership workshop. This has given me the insight into what my team needs from me to navigate the team stages of development, and the framework to support me and my team as we learn how to work together to be a high-performing team.

Keeping in touch with Tim as coach is great support, and I’m confident I can lead my team – what spins my wheels is seeing my business thrive, and now with the added dynamics of a larger team I’m learning how to involve them in making that happen.”

And don’t forget behind the scenes, fiance Rachel who supports the business looking after the finances (and Dylan):

“It was perfect timing…Dylan had just taken some time off to think about how he might face this challenge, and Tim called into the shop! Having clear direction on how to meet the challenge means Dylan can lead his team with confidence.”

Dylan Waite, Sign Right and Top Stitch

 

When a Team Meets Itself for the First Time.

At a Glance

The Client:  A young, fully remote business

The Challenge:  Leadership team had never been in the same room together

The Work:  Facilitated values and culture discovery session

The Outcome:  A connected, aligned team with a shared framework for how they lead

The Situation

They were a business that worked. Talented people. A strong product. A leadership team doing what remote teams do — showing up on screens, hitting their targets, keeping things moving.

But something was missing. And most of them couldn’t quite name it.

The Work

Tim facilitated a values and culture discovery session designed around one central question: not what does this business stand for, but who are the people leading it — and what truly matters to each of them?

That distinction matters. Culture documents don’t change behaviour. Understanding does.

Tim created a space that was deliberately structured and deliberately human. A framework that gave the group something to move through together — so the conversation had direction — while leaving enough room for the moments that can’t be planned. The pauses. The realisations. The things people say when they finally feel safe enough to say them.

The session focused on three things: learning how to genuinely listen to one another, understanding each person’s individual triggers and what they care about most, and building practical ways of working together that hold — not because they’re written in a handbook, but because they’re grounded in real understanding.

This wasn’t a team-building exercise. It wasn’t a workshop with Post-it notes and a nice lunch. It was the kind of work that asks something of people — and gives something back.

“Culture isn’t what you put on your values wall. It’s what happens between people when things get hard. That’s what we worked on.”

What Changed

The team left the session feeling something that remote work rarely creates on its own: genuinely connected.

Not in a surface-level, “great away day” way. Connected in the way that actually moves a business — where people understand each other well enough to challenge each other without it becoming personal. Where accountability stops feeling awkward because it’s built on a foundation of real trust.

They left with a shared framework for how they lead — not handed to them from outside, but discovered together from within. That’s the difference between a policy and a culture. One is imposed. The other is owned.

For a young business finding its shape, that kind of alignment at leadership level doesn’t just improve how the team works together. It ripples outward — into how they lead their own people, how they make decisions under pressure, and what kind of company they become.

“Tim created a safe, structured space where genuine connection happened naturally. The session left the team feeling connected, aligned, and better equipped to hold each other accountable without awkwardness. It was a powerful experience for our business.”
— Leisha Kilpatrick

When Anthea contacted me, she was looking for some help to manage her time. She is one busy lady!

Between managing her young family, supporting her partner in a new business, being a ‘people person’ wanting to help everyone, and studying for a degree – yes Anthea may have over-committed a little at times. What she was looking for was still to do these things – but in confidence that she wouldn’t drop the ball.

In her words:

” I came to Tim as I was overloading my plate and taking on too much, while trying to maintain a work/life/study balance. He helped me put strategies into place to prioritise the important things and to not stress about the unimportant things.

I especially found the Core Strengths Assessment revolutionary when it came to communications and working with people, both in the workplace and in my personal life. The insights it provided were eye-opening!”

Great stuff Anthea!

Anthea’s example highlights well the advantage Core Strengths has over many assessments – it crosses over into all relationships – not just our work ones.