March 2009 Update

As a result of its initial meetings, the working party examining the re-structure of the NZSTA has made a number of recommendations to the Executive Committee. Some of these recommendations will be implemented, while others require further exploration. These recommendations are discussed in more detail below.

Recommendations to be implemented

• Suspend current job description of the Executive Officer
• Appoint an administrator
• Offer current Executive Officer a development position
• Working party findings to be presented at the the AGM
• Initial findings from development position to be presented at the AGM

Other recommendations requiring further investigation

• Registration of the NZSTA as a charity
• Inclusion of a Treasurer's position on the Executive Committee
• Re-establishment of a Patron in order to assist with raising the association's profile\

Executive Officer's Position

Part of the working party's brief was to produce position descriptions for the new Chief Operating Officer and Administrative Assistant positions in relation to the strategic plan, current finances, and projected sources of revenue. After considerable discussion, the working party recommended the establishment of a "development position" to examine how the association can begin moving towards a re-structure before creating position descriptions. To assist in supporting this, the recommendation was also made that an administrator was employed to take over some of the day-to-day operational tasks.

This development position involves a number of key outcomes, including:

• immediate and sustainable increase in revenue streams
• development of a 1, 2, and 5 year operational plan
• development of a professional development strategy with consideration of the effect(s) of registration
• communication with employers, NZSTA membership, and all other interested parties

The Executive Committee agreed with these recommendations, and has since appointed Shona Powell to take on this development role. Shona begins working in this capacity from March 2nd, and will present her findings at the Nelson AGM.

January 2009 Update

A call for membership of the new re-structure working party in September last year led to the creation of this working party. The members of the working party are as follows:

• Carolyn Grace (Chair - Ministry of Education Special Education)
• Vanessa Jerome (Otago DHB)
• Brigette Larkins (Ministry of Health)
• Megan McAuliffe (NZSTA President)
• Helen McLauchlan (Middlemore Hospital)
• Justin Strugnell-Coombe (Consultant)

The brief of this group has been to produce position descriptions for the new Chief Operating Officer and Administrative Assistant positions.

The group have liaised via a teleconference late last year, and have recently held a planning day in Christchurch. Following this, a number of recommendations have been forwarded to the Executive Committee. Some of the dicussion and outcomes from these recommendations will be discussed in the forthcoming NZSTA Teleconference.

June 2008 Update

Following the NZSTA AGM in May this year, the membership have voted on and agreed to work towards a re-structure of the NZSTA Executive.

This new structure will see the disbandment of the Executive Officer position, and a creation of two new positions: a Chief Operating Officer and an Administrative Assistant.

Over the next twelve months, the new Executive Committee will be working towards implementing this new structure. The initial step will be a call for members of a re-structure working party.

Other goals within the Strategic Plan continue to be targeted by the Executive Committee.

October 2007 Update

Following the acceptance of the Strategic Plan at AGM earlier this year, the committee was asked to reconvene and was given a brief to provide more detail around the proposed new structure of NZSTA, define roles and responsibilities and provide a cost analysis for the new positions.

A meeting of three of the committee members was held in Auckland, unfortunately Julia Cantrell was unable to attend but did provide a detailed report.  Prior to the meeting consultation had occurred with Speech Pathology Australia and Siobhan Molloy -Executive Officer at NZAOT.  Both these discussions provided greater insight into how NZSTA’s proposed new positions could work within the existing structure.  Since the meeting we have had similar feedback from RCSLT in the UK.

Taking all this information along with information gathered from Ngaire – who probably knows how NZSTA currently and historically functions better than anyone – we were able to provide the Executive Committee with an overview of the roles and responsibilities of new positions, elected, voluntary and appointed and how this team can work together to achieve the objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan.

The Committee presented questions and issues for the Executive Committee to consider around terms and conditions, financial implications and recruitment process.  Once feedback is provided on these areas the next step is to finalise job descriptions and succession planning process before presenting them to members for approval.  Once this has been achieved we can begin the recruitment process and begin our journey to the development and improvement of NZSTA.

Strategic Planning Committee

The Strategic Plan Committee is currently made up of the following members:

• Simone Newsham (Chair)
• Helen Higgott
• Julia Cantrell
• Helen Rutledge
• Robert McIntyre
• Turid Peters

Strategic Plan Documents

There are currently two documents associated with the Strategic Plan. These are:

• the Strategic Plan Report (2007)
• the Strategic Plan Outline 2007-2012

More Information

For more information about the Strategic Plan, please contact:

Simone Newsham

Strategic Planning Committee Chair

simone@pelim.co.nz