Business planning workshop helps locals gain clarity

Napier Family Centre’s CEO, Kerry Henderson, began 2021 with a fresh perspective and clear vision for her organisation’s future thanks to a planning workshop she attended, hosted by The Icehouse and facilitated by leading Icehouse coach, Michaela Vodanovich.

Funded from Napier City Council’s Pandemic Recovery Projects Fund, the one-day workshop, which was followed up a month later with an “action day”, assisted 14 business owners and managers to redefine a clear view of their organisation’s future and purpose post-COVID-19.

Kerry is new to the role of CEO at the Napier Family Centre, which has been a key social service provider in Napier for more than three decades. Its services change depending on community needs, but the most common services sought currently are financial capability mentoring/budgeting, family services including social work, education courses for children and parenting programmes, counselling and early childhood care and education.

Kerry says she found the workshop “spot on”.

“It was exactly what I needed to take a fresh look at our strategic plan.

“Being new I was able to take a helicopter view to the questions around ‘why we are in business’ and ‘what are we trying to achieve’ and to look at that with the changing environment of COVID-19. 

“The workshop has helped my team have better conversations around what our key strategic drivers are and our focus areas, rather than the day-to-day business as usual.

“We are using the framework from the workshop to help us prepare for our next annual budget and operational plan and to help us plan across each business unit with emphasis on our key drivers.  It has also helped us think further around how we can be more successful in our funding applications.”

The Icehouse delivers its programmes at the Hawke’s Bay Business Hub, in Ahuriri, to grow businesses, owners, their staff and teams.

The Icehouse Operations Manager, Kate de Latour, says the business landscape was looking uncertain and bleak for some following COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown, so the workshop enabled participants to stop and think about how they can capaitalise on the business opportunities that do exist.

“Michaela helped them concentrate on the future needs of their business by taking them through a structured process where they were able to spend time thinking about the opportunities ahead, rather than worrying about what they had just been through,” Kate says.

“We focussed part of the conversation on ‘supporting local’ so many of the businesses have decided to change suppliers to local specialists so the can contribute even further, to the local economy.

“It was great to have a couple of not-for-profit organisations attending too, including the Napier Family Centre. After writing their business plan they went away feeling clear about how they can positively engage with their community, as well as a refreshed view of the service they need to provide to remain relevant to the community and their clients.  Not for Profits appear to fall into a hole where business support is concerned so we were pleased to be able to support them.”

The next Icehouse Post-COVID-19 Business Planning Workshop will be held on Thursday, March 11. Enrolments are essential and can be made by emailing k.delautour@theicehouse.co.nz

15 February 2021

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