Turning our economic potential into reality

We should turn to 'crisis-like' innovation to get more competitive.

Monday, September 05 2011 || Comment || BY Chris Quin

It’s often reported that New Zealand is a chronic underachiever in the productivity stakes.

Just last week my fellow Unlimited columnist Julian Smith argued that our focus on living the good life may be holding us back economically – that perhaps we don’t aspire to enough.

In fact OECD figures show that in 2009 Kiwis worked on average 41 more hours than our Australian cousins - only to earn US$10,500 less.

Little wonder the government wants to close the gap between the two countries and is investing in new infrastructure such as roads and ultra-fast broadband to help lift our productivity.

The big question, however, is what we need to get done to capitalise on this investment in infrastructure to really grow our economy.

Brilliant people like 2011 New Zealander of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan are telling us innovation is the way to a prosperous future.

Kiwis are certainly no strangers to doing things differently. As Ray Avery, New Zealander of the Year last year, said, "We are a country of geniuses."

The trick to turning our innate genius into a pipeline of innovation is to encourage entrepreneurial spark.

Ironically, the way we might get this spark was demonstrated in how we rallied in response to the unfortunate surplus of crises we’ve faced in the past year or two.

If there is good to come out of situations like the Christchurch earthquakes and the ongoing global financial pressure, it is the opportunity they provide to expose the qualities of leadership and teamwork that can help us shine at any time.

The leadership qualities most evident during these crises were high accountability, improved collaboration and a willingness to 'play in position'.

In a time of crisis you get high accountability because people feel a real personal responsibility to do what they said they would. Also, collaboration is strong as siloed thinking and territoriality disappear.

Also people realise not everyone can jump on a plane and grab a shovel – and that the best contribution they can make is to do their jobs really well.

There is nothing about these qualities that couldn’t exist all the time.

To give this country a lasting lift, we need to get such ‘crisis-like’ leadership and engagement happening all the time on things that matter and aspire to more.