COVID-19: Leading Through A Crisis

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. In our second Leading Through A Crisis webinar with principals, we speak with three school leaders for whom COVID-19 was far from the first crisis to deal with. Drawing on experience from the Christchurch earthquakes, 2019 mosque shootings and more, Springboard CEO Dale Bailey speaks with: Shane Buckner, Principal at Wairakei School, Bryndwyr Blair Dravitski, Principal at Linwood Avenue School, Linwood Suzi De Gouveia, Principal at St Teresa's School, Riccarton About our principals Shane Buckner – Principal of Wairakei School, Bryndwr, Christchurch Kia ora. I am husband to Sarah and father to two young men; one an engineer in Nelson and the other starting his tertiary education at Victoria in the NZ School of Music. I have been teaching for 30 years, and a Principal for 13.  I absolutely love my school, where I have been principal for the last 10 years. Wairakei School is in the northwest of Christchurch and currently has around 250 children. I am deeply passionate about inclusive education and in developing holistic educational pathways through a responsive and relevant localised curriculum.  I am honoured to be the current president of the Canterbury Primary Principals Association and enjoy the many challenges that this responsibility brings. I love good coffee and enjoy cooking and competing in low and slow bbq competitions, and generally sharing bbq with friends and family. Blair Dravitski, Principal of Linwood Avenue School, Christchurch Blair Dravitski has been in education for the last 15 years working in schools from Ashburton to Papatoetoe and is currently the principal of Linwood Avenue School. This is Blair's second principalship after spending 3 years as principal of Ohakune Primary School in the Central North Island. Blair started at Linwood Avenue School in October 2016 and currently has a school roll of 420. Linwood Avenue School was the first school to go into lockdown on March 15th 2019, and is located approximately 350m from the Linwood Avenue Mosque. This was Blair's second experience in lockdown after previously going into lockdown in Ohakune for 8 hours.  Suzi de Gouveia, Principal of St Teresa's School, Christchurch Suzi de Gouveia has been at school since she was 5!  Education is in her blood and she is passionate about educating the whole child in an ever-changing world.  She is principal of St. Teresa’s School in Riccarton, a state integrated Catholic school with a maximum roll of 175 multi-cultural, delicious children.

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. For our second webinar with Dave Wilson, Director Community Lifelines at Gisborne District Council, he speaks with Springboard CEO Dale Bailey about strong team building during a crisis - how it happens, and how it sticks. About Dave Ngati Porou, married to Sarah, three children under 10 with two dogs - Honey a golden retriever and Ivy, a British Bulldog pup. Currently, he is the Director for Community Lifelines at Gisborne District Council The Community Lifelines Hub is responsible for the effective management of the Council’s $1.9B capital and infrastructure assets and the provision of all associated service operations – including roads, bridges, roading, footpaths, rivers and flood control system, land drainage drinking water, storm & waste water and wastewater treatment. The Hub provides strategic direction for the future needs of our community in these essential lifelines. Providing professional and integrated activity planning to ensure the capital works and maintenance programmes meet the infrastructural and service level needs of the community as determined by Council. Prior to starting with Council, Dave had a number of roles within Central government in Wellington and within the private sector. Dave has a background in law in particular international and environmental law, Dave has over 20 years’ experience in the construction and infrastructure sector. Dave has been involved in a number of crisis response roles including the Christchurch Earthquakes where Dave was involved in the All of government response to the Christchurch earthquakes, in particular the Construction and demolition sector initial responses. Since being home in Tairawhiti he has led responses to multiple flood evacuation and events in region including Uawa/Tologa Bay 2018 flood He is currently the Group Controller for Civil Defense and is Leading the response for COVID-19 in the region, including Coast regions which isolated themselves.

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. For Billie-Jean Potaka-Ayton, principal at Kaiti School, the COVID-19 lockdown went almost as well as it could have - considering the time frame and resources available. She speaks with Springboard Trust CEO Dale Bailey about preparing for a crisis, fostering manaakitanga from a distance and developing whanau leadership. About Billie-Jean Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton is Principal at Kaiti School in Te Tairawhiti. She has been principal there for 11 years and has brought the school from a 10 year trend of roll decline with a roll in 2009 of 130 to a roll of 380. Kaiti School is a decile 1 kura that caters for years 1-8 students in Bilingual and Mainstream education pathways. Billie-Jean has led the school through several phases of change in property, revisioning, curriculum design, whanau engagement and partnerships. Her leadership style comes from her grandparents who were instrumental in her early life and education. Billie-Jean was part of the first cohort of Principals in Te Tairawhiti to work with the Springboard Trust in 2016.  Billie-Jean was a recipient of the Woolf Fisher 2019 fellowship award. Her travel included visiting schools in Hawaii and Los Angeles and a week programme at Harvard University on leadership.

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. Good culture makes good practice. In our next Leading Through A Crisis webinar, we speak with Gus McIntosh. As CEO of leadership consultancy Winsborough, Gus has a wealth of experience in all things organisational culture. He speaks to his insights with Springboard Trust CEO, Dale Bailey.

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. Values, vision and visibility. In the final of our three webinars with the University of Auckland's Professor Carol Mutch, she discusses the core tenets of distributed leadership in a crisis with Springboard CEO Dale Bailey.

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. Principals as pillars in a crisis. For the second part of our three-part series of webinars with Professor Carol Mutch, she speaks with Springboard Trust CEO Dale Bailey about what specifically principals can do - and have done - during a crisis.

This video forms part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. To continue our Leading Through A Crisis series, we spoke with the University of Auckland's Professor Carol Mutch about finding yourself in the midst of a crisis, understanding the big picture and what you can and can’t anticipate.

This video forms part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. Leading through a crisis, one scenario at a time. In the second video of our Leading Through A Crisis series, Springboard Trust CEO speaks with David Trim, a business development specialist and second-year Capacity Partner about scenario planning and bringing your team together. About David Trim Horticulture was David’s first trade, and he had 15 years of leasing orchards to developing new apple cultivars under Hort Research. David then spent 10 years in the dairy industry, including several senior management positions for Kiwi dairies and Fonterra based around the Lower North Island.    Currently, and for the past 15 years, David has been a Business Development Specialist. David works with many different businesses, organisations and leaders to create better businesses, and equip leaders to be dynamic. This includes strategic planning, coaching and training.  David’s passions are in leadership, creativity in business strategies and moving people to achieve what they really want in life.   In amongst the business work David is a prominent event manager; Napier Christmas at the Park and the Cancer societies Relay for Life are two of the annual events that he manages.   In the community David is the president of the Hawkes Bay Chamber of Commerce, Executive board member for the Hawkes Bay Cancer Society and trustee on the New Zealand Singing School Trust. 

This video is part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. Helping people with strong communications and clear decisions. In the third part of our Leading Through A Crisis series, Springboard CEO Dale Bailey speaks with Dave Wilson - Director of Community Lifelines at Gisborne District Council and second-year Capacity Partner - about communicating and making decisions in a crisis environment. About Dave Ngati Porou, married to Sarah, three children under 10 with two dogs - Honey a golden retriever and Ivy, a British Bulldog pup. Currently, he is the Director for Community Lifelines at Gisborne District Council The Community Lifelines Hub is responsible for the effective management of the Council’s $1.9B capital and infrastructure assets and the provision of all associated service operations – including roads, bridges, roading, footpaths, rivers and flood control system, land drainage drinking water, storm & waste water and wastewater treatment. The Hub provides strategic direction for the future needs of our community in these essential lifelines. Providing professional and integrated activity planning to ensure the capital works and maintenance programmes meet the infrastructural and service level needs of the community as determined by Council. Prior to starting with Council, Dave had a number of roles within Central government in Wellington and within the private sector. Dave has a background in law in particular international and environmental law, Dave has over 20 years’ experience in the construction and infrastructure sector. Dave has been involved in a number of crisis response roles including the Christchurch Earthquakes where Dave was involved in the All of government response to the Christchurch earthquakes, in particular the Construction and demolition sector initial responses. Since being home in Tairawhiti he has led responses to multiple flood evacuation and events in region including Uawa/Tologa Bay 2018 flood He is currently the Group Controller for Civil Defense and is Leading the response for COVID-19 in the region, including Coast regions which isolated themselves.

This video forms part of our Leading Through A Crisis series. To view the rest of our interviews and webinars, head this way. An introduction to leading through a crisis. As the first part of our Leading Through A Crisis series, Springboard CEO Dale Bailey and board chair Ian Narev discuss the core elements of leadership in the current environment. Focusing on three key areas - yourself, your team and your plan - they provide insight into how leaders can function when so much is unknowable.