The Resolution Institute's NZ GM discusses his vision for the organisation
Last month, Elton Goonan was announced as the Resolution Institute’s new GM for New Zealand – a seemingly big shift given his background as MotorSport NZ CEO. In the first part of NZ Lawyer’s interview with Goonan, he outlines the similarities between the two organisations and shares the “prime lesson” he’s bringing to the Resolution Institute from his tenure at MotorSport NZ.
Yes, I can imagine from the outside that it looks like a step in a very different direction from the sports sector. However, like any competitive person, I was looking for a new challenge and keen to explore new environments and push the boundaries of my knowledge and ability.
My interest in the role was really piqued by the opportunity to utilise my skills and experience to leading and grow a not-for-profit member-based organisation and the chance to support and expand a sector that provides tangible benefits back to the community.
Ultimately, the core skills required to run a membership-based organisation along with the synergies, goals and strategic direction of the Resolution Institute and MotorSport NZ are quite close. When you break in back to basics the aim of two organisations is to continuously enhance the support for their existing members, attract new members by being able to demonstrate value and support and provide a quality, recognised training and accreditation process so the members and their clients are comfortable in knowing that best practice is in use.
There’s probably a number of key lessons that I learned during my time at MotorSport NZ that will be relevant to my new role here at Resolution Institute, but I think the prime lesson is that as a leader of a member-based organisation, you need to listen, support and communicate with your members as they are the ones who are on the ground living and breathing the work.
By ensuring you provide both the platform and the opportunity for communicating with us, it then allows us to try and understand the challenges they are facing in the field and hopefully develop strategies to support them with those challenges. It also allows us to be able to celebrate the wins that they are experiencing and with those celebrations, it gives us the opportunity to promote the Resolution Institute and the value and worth it provides its members. That will then allow us to grow by enhancing confidence about the organisation and demonstrating to potential members that we are actually there for our members.
My vision is to cement the Resolution Institute New Zealand as the top provider for training, accreditation and member support in the New Zealand resolution sector. You could say, setting the gold standard for dispute resolution professionals here in New Zealand. To be able to do that, we, as a team need to work with the members to develop our connections with the users of dispute resolution services, including government bodies, corporate bodies, key stakeholders, and law firms.
It's important we maintain a strong community network in all areas of the resolution sector and ensure that our members and the professionals who undertake this work have the resources and support they need to succeed in their roles. By doing this, we can advance the industry and solidify the Resolution Institute's position as a leader in the resolution sector.
In the second half of this interview, Goonan reveals what he wishes more managers would learn from sportspeople.
