The Perfect Storm: Why people strategy is every executive’s job
A whitepaper by Debbie Francis, Change Consultant
I recently watched a discussion on workplace performance in New Zealand featuring Jarrod Kerr from Kiwibank and former All Blacks manager Darren Shand. It was fascinating, raising a number of issues I’ve recently been reflecting on. This is my take on the Challenges we face in New Zealand.
The world of work has been upended. We’re no longer talking about shifts on the horizon. That was last year. We've arrived. This is our operating environment going forward. Technology, economics, workplace expectations, politics and social pressures colliding with each other in ways that make leadership more complex than at any time in human history.
Technology Acceleration
AI is already embedded in everyday workflows. It isn’t replacing people wholesale, but it is compressing the half-life of skills. A qualification that once lasted a decade may be redundant within a couple of years. Leaders now face a workforce that is more capable, anxious and disillusioned than ever.
Economic Volatility
Supply chains, inflation, interest rates, and geopolitics shift in months, not years. Five-year planning cycles feel like relics of another age. Today, resilience and agility aren’t 'nice-to-haves' - they’re critical to our survival.
The Workplace Renegotiation
Remote work was only the beginning. Employees expect both pay and purpose, flexibility and growth. Traditional management systems - built for hierarchy and predictability - are breaking down with no end in sight.
Social and Political Fragmentation
Polarisation and misinformation add new dimensions to leadership. Issues once considered 'non-core' now affect continuity and reputation directly. Executives must navigate not only markets, but cultural minefields.
These forces don’t operate in isolation. They reinforce each other, creating an ever tightening loop: volatility accelerates technology adoption, which fuels anxiety, which drives social strain, which undermines trust - the foundation of effective organisations - leaving little margin for error.
This is a Leadership Team Challenge
It’s tempting to say ‘people are the responsibility of the CPO so let them deal with it.’ That’s no longer tenable. People issues are not HR’s job alone; every executive is responsible. The CPO is the custodian of the employee touchpoints, just as the CFO oversees finances, but without an operating model or way of working that ties everything together, success in the future will be impossible. Leadership requires every player to step up and engage;
- CFOs: Financial outcomes are inseparable from people performance. Turnover and disengagement carry costs that can dwarf efficiency gains.
- COOs: Operations fail when people can’t adapt under pressure or deliver the outcomes the business is after. Resilience is human before it is technological.
- CROs: Growth depends on customer trust and confidence, which only deeply skilled, engaged teams can deliver.
- CMOs: An organisation’s brand is what’s lived, not broadcasted. Employees who don’t engage in the story undermine it faster than competitors ever could.
- CPOs: The brief under existing systems is verging on impossible - culture, capability, and delivery - things the executive needs to co-own.
To treat people as the remit of a single executive is not only outdated - it's risky. People are the core of every team, function and department - the foundation on which everything depends.
The New Zealand Reality
In New Zealand, global pressures collide with sharp local constraints:
- Talent is scarce - with five million people, every departure matters. Development and retention are non-negotiable.
- Strategy doesn’t cascade - linking people’s roles to the organisation’s strategy is critical but continually falling short of what’s required.
- Reputation is fast - failures become industry gossip in weeks; successes set benchmarks just as quickly.
- Scale is limited - imported 'best practice' rarely fits. Leaders need approaches that are sophisticated enough to matter, yet simple enough to execute.
- Productivity lags - every person counts more in this day and age than any other as misses and inefficiencies come with a heavy cost.
- Change is delicate - move too fast and talent walks; move too slow and the market does.
Why Traditional Solutions Fall Short
The tools most leaders inherited weren’t built for today’s fast paced environment:
- Point solutions add complexity.
- Imported models miss local realities.
- Episodic programmes create fatigue, not transformation.
- Compliance systems keep you safe but don’t lift or improve performance.
- Technology-first approaches miss the mark as its people we need to influence.
To many organisation’s are measuring what’s being done without mechanism to improve their performance - tracking the problem while leaving the causes untouched.
The Systems Performance Gap
And it gets worse.
Most organisations have sophisticated HR systems - Workday, PeopleSoft, Culture Amp, BambooHR, LinkedIn Learning, etc - the media is awash with solutions. Dashboards and reports track everything from time-to-hire to turnover, from engagement scores to succession planning.
In fact, organisation’s have spent millions on such infrastructure. And yet:
- Tracking isn’t transforming.
- Recording isn’t resonating.
- Measuring isn’t motivating.
Why, because they are systems of record - digital filing cabinets for managing ‘assets’ which strikes me as odd: if people are truly assets, why do they appear as liabilities on the balance sheet? But that is a different story. Systems of record are essential for compliance, but they don’t align people with purpose, build emotional commitment, or develop leadership capability. Compliance keeps you safe, it doesn’t improve your performance.
What You Actually Need
What’s missing in the workplace is a system of engagement - something that brings meaning and energy to your existing systems of record.
Systems of Engagement don’t replace systems of record - they make them powerful, connecting the data to drive human alignment, engagement, and performance. Instead of another survey, they create conditions where engagement emerges naturally. Instead of another form in the HR system, they ensure your people understand why their role matters.
You need an approach that:
- Works with your current systems rather than replacing them
- Addresses the human psychology of performance
- Scales without massive consulting spend
- Fits the New Zealand context with proven results
- Delivers measurable outcomes fast enough to justify investment
- Turns compliance data into performance insights
The Shared Imperative
The future is uncertain, and pressure on leaders is intensifying. But one conclusion is unavoidable:
- CFOs can’t achieve financial performance without productive, engaged people.
- COOs can’t deliver operational excellence without committed and adaptive teams.
- CROs can’t grow revenues without cultures that support and instill trust.
- CMOs can’t grow brand values or reputation without employees who believe in it.
- CPOs can’t optimise the value or return of human capital without the full support of their colleagues.
People are not a function. They are the connective tissue of every enterprise.
Organisations that thrive in the future will be those where the leadership team sees them as their point of difference, not a cost to the business.