The SME Stream

Mike and Scott take on meetings, why most of them waste time and money, and how to run them so they earn their place in the calendar. They cover the types of meeting, the Amazon method of reading a briefing note together in silence, and a listener Q&A on what to look for when hiring.

Drinking beer from: North End Brewery - Super Alpha Pacific Pale Ale (5%)
Eating a pie from: Orewa Bakery - Moroccan Lamb

You'll learn:
-Why you shouldn't mix "working in the business" and "working on the business" in one meeting;
-The different meeting types, how often you should have them and how long each one should take;
-How to frame every meeting before you schedule it;
-and why batching similar kinds of work, such as putting all your people-facing meetings on one day, protects the rest of your week for focused work.

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Elections at home and abroad may have a played a part in the latest rise in the number of people out of work.
Unemployment's hit 5.7%, up from 5.6% three months ago.
The unexpected rise has coincided with an increase in casual and fixed-term roles, and a move towards more part-time employment.
Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Kerre Woodham businesses appear to be holding off on making decisions.
He says they want to see both what happens in our election, but also how the mid-terms affects the war in Iran and global fuel prices.
LISTEN ABOVE
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What if the behaviours that helped you succeed in the past are the very behaviours holding you back now?
In this episode of HR Unlocked, Lisa Oakley speaks with Darren Levy and Justine Farrington from Human Synergistics New Zealand about leadership effectiveness, behavioural change, coaching, culture and preparing people for an increasingly uncertain future.
Justine describes her passion for helping people understand the patterns, mindsets and behaviours that shape how they lead. As pressure, ambiguity and expectations increase, habits that once worked can become default responses that keep people stuck.
Darren sees similar challenges in organisations, including increasing demands, depleted resources and burnout becoming a cultural artefact. He argues that leaders need to challenge the beliefs they treat as fixed truths, particularly the idea that “this is just who I am”. Behaviour can change, even when doing so takes real effort.
The conversation explores how Human Synergistics diagnostics can help make those patterns visible.
Darren and Justine explain why leadership tools need to be fit for purpose and supported by credible research, and why understanding the gap between how we see ourselves and how others experience us can create powerful opportunities for development.
Lisa, Darren and Justine also discuss the difference between intention and impact. A leader may genuinely intend to provide clarity, confidence and support while others experience control, manipulation or excessive pressure. Both perspectives can exist at the same time. The opportunity comes from understanding that gap and deciding what to do differently.
Through practical coaching examples, the episode shows how deeply personal motivations can drive professional behavioural change. From a leader learning to let go of perfectionism and rescue less, to another recognising that changing how he led could help him create better memories with his children, the conversation demonstrates why identifying “what’s worth changing for?” matters.
The discussion then turns to the future of work.
Rather than trying to perfectly predict what comes next, Darren identifies five areas leaders can start developing now:
AI capability, critical thinking, curiosity, change and culture.
Technology matters, but Darren argues that competitive advantage will also depend on what happens “between your two ears”: how well people think, question, adapt and shape the environment around them.
Change is another major theme.
Darren argues that simply having experienced change does not mean someone knows how to lead it. He advocates for a more human-centred approach built around readiness, willingness and ability, with people involved rather than having change simply done to them.
The conversation closes with culture and team performance.
For Darren, culture is something every person contributes to. Leaders need to intentionally cultivate the environment around their people, while high-performing teams need alignment, commitment and growth rather than assuming everyone is already on the same page.
What You’ll Learn
Why leadership effectiveness starts with understanding your own behavioural patterns

How habits that once supported success can become limiting over time

Why self-awareness alone is not enough without action

The difference between leadership intention and how behaviour is actually perceived

Why feedback from others is valuable even when you disagree with it

How diagnostics can help leaders identify blind spots

Why leadership and culture tools need to be fit for purpose

The role evidence and research should play when choosing leadership diagnostics

Why coaching works best when it goes beyond simply having a good conversation

How leaders can identify what is genuinely worth changing for

Why perfectionism, control and rescuing others can undermine both leaders and teams

How changing behaviour at work can positively affect life outside work

Why pausing creates more choice between reacting and responding

How leaders can reframe beliefs such as “that’s just who I am”

Why yesterday’s successful behaviours can become today’s constraints

Darren’s five Cs for the future of work

Why AI capability is only one part of future leadership capability

Why critical thinking becomes more important as AI makes information easier to generate

How curiosity helps leaders notice weak signals and challenge assumptions

Why psychological safety should not become an excuse to avoid difficult conversations

Why experiencing change is different from being capable of leading change

How readiness, willingness and ability influence successful change

Why leaders should walk alongside people through change rather than drag them through it

How shared vision and involvement can improve change outcomes

Why conflict can be productive when it is not automatically treated as negative

Darren’s perspective on New Zealand’s tendency towards avoidance

Why avoiding hard conversations can contribute to organisational inertia

How leaders can find a “third way” between being overly passive and overly aggressive

Why clarity and direct feedback do not need to become personal or hostile

What “above the line” constructive leadership looks like

Why culture needs to be intentionally cultivated

How leaders contribute to the culture they complain about

What constructive leadership looks like through achievement, self-actualisation, capability building and connection

Why feedback is essential for high performance

Why team performance begins with alignment before commitment and growth

How organisational culture is made up of multiple team subcultures

Why leaders should focus on what sits inside their sphere of control and influence

Key Takeaways
What got you here may not get you there. Behaviours that previously created success can become liabilities when the environment or leadership expectations change.

Intention does not equal impact. Leaders need feedback from others to understand how their behaviour actually lands.

Self-awareness is only the beginning. Real development happens when awareness moves into acceptance, experimentation and behavioural change.

Find what is worth changing for. Personal motivation can be far more powerful than simply being told to become a “better leader”.

Create space before reacting. A deliberate pause gives leaders greater freedom to choose how they respond.

Future readiness is not only about AI. AI capability needs to sit alongside critical thinking, curiosity, change capability and culture.

Change should be done with people, not to people. Readiness, willingness and ability are fundamental to sustainable change.

Being nice and being effective are not the same thing. Avoiding hard conversations can create inertia and undermine performance.

There is a third way between passive and aggressive leadership. Leaders can provide clarity, speak openly and challenge people without making the conversation personal or hostile.

You are part of the culture. Culture is not something solely created by the CEO or HR. Every person contributes to what is reinforced, tolerated and normalised.

High-performing teams start with alignment. Before focusing on delivery and growth, teams need clarity about why they exist and how they want to work together.

Leadership is about creating the conditions for others to become better. Darren’s closing challenge is for leaders to examine where they spend their time and whether they are genuinely cultivating the environment their people need.

About Darren Levy
Darren Levy works with Human Synergistics New Zealand, bringing more than 18 years of experience supporting frontline teams, executives and boards.
Known for his dynamically challenging approach, Darren focuses on asking strong questions, challenging conventional thinking and turning insight into practical action.
His work spans leadership development, organisational culture, behavioural change, team effectiveness and preparing leaders and organisations for the future of work.
About Justine Farrington
Justine Farrington brings more than two decades of consulting and coaching experience, supported by a background in psychology and a deep understanding of human behaviour.
Her work helps leaders and teams understand their patterns, mindsets and behaviours, identify what may be getting in the way, and find more effective ways of working.
She is particularly passionate about creating the space for leaders to reflect, challenge familiar stories and make meaningful changes that extend beyond work into their wider lives.
Why This Episode Matters
Leaders are being asked to navigate more change, more technology and more uncertainty, often while their own capacity feels stretched.
It is tempting to respond by searching for another model, tool or prediction about what the future will look like.
This conversation brings the focus back to behaviour.
How are you showing up?
What beliefs are driving that behaviour?
How are other people experiencing you?
What are you avoiding?
What are you willing to change?
And what kind of environment are you creating around the people you lead?
For Darren and Justine, those questions remain fundamental regardless of what technology comes next.
Resources & Links
Human Synergistics New Zealand: https://hsnz.co.nz
Connect with Darren Levy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenllevy/
Connect with Justine Farrington on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justine-farrington-9500829/
HR Unlocked: https://linktr.ee/hrunlocked
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New Zealand runs on American technology. But what happens when the country behind those platforms starts looking like a less dependable partner?
That question hangs over the latest episode of The Business of Tech, as Microsoft faces growing pressure to give governments and businesses more control over the systems they rely on.
My guests are Lewis Mills, Microsoft New Zealand’s Corporate Affairs Director and Special Counsel for National Security, and Blake Herzinger, Microsoft Asia’s Defence and National Security Government Affairs Lead.
Both recently participated in the Aspen Institute’s national security forum in Queenstown, where cybersecurity and public-private cooperation featured prominently.
The sovereignty debate is no longer just about where data sits. It’s about who can access it, which laws apply, and whether essential services can keep running when a supplier, network or international relationship comes under strain.
Microsoft is adapting. Its Sovereign Private Cloud offering, built on Azure Local, brings selected cloud capabilities onto customer-controlled infrastructure. Disconnected deployments can operate without a connection to Microsoft’s public cloud, moving the management layer inside the customer’s own environment.
Control, security and resilience
That offers more control. It doesn’t necessarily mean less dependence on Microsoft.
That distinction is drawing more attention as organisations weigh the benefits of global platforms against concerns about foreign jurisdiction, supplier concentration and geopolitical disruption.
Mills defines digital sovereignty around control, security and resilience. But those priorities can compete. Keeping infrastructure close may strengthen direct oversight, while using geographically dispersed cloud services can help organisations recover when disaster strikes locally. In an earthquake-prone nation, having offshore options could represent a digital lifeline.
Herzinger likens the choices to the sliders on a DJ’s mixing desk: turning one setting up can force compromises elsewhere.
Rebuilding everything locally carries a formidable price tag.
“If you want to spend, you know, two per cent of GDP, you could build a completely domestic AI technology stack, but very few governments are going to be able to achieve that,” Herzinger told me.
It underlines the scale of the challenge.
In the episode, I press the pair on US government access to data, the risks of relying on hyperscalers, and what sovereign AI could realistically mean for a small economy.
The answer isn’t simply to bring everything home or to double down on public cloud platforms.
It’s deciding which dependencies we can live with, which controls we need, and whether we have credible options when circumstances change.
Listen to this episode of The Business of Tech, streaming on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Icehouse's Olivia Blaylock outlines what New Zealand’s small businesses want from the next government
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