Paewai Mullins: Building Leadership and Management Capability

Industry Leadership through Planning and Innovation

The company

Paewai Mullins Shearing Ltd is a fourth-generation shearing contracting business based in the small rural town of Dannevirke. The company services more than 150 wool-grower clients, handling in excess of two million sheep per annum. Their clients are spread from the Hawkes Bay to Wellington and over to Taihape and Wanganui. They employ close to 40 staff with this number expanding up to 120 for a four-month period from December to the end of March. Directors Koro and Mavis Mullins purchased the business in the mid-1980s from Mavis's father.

You wouldn't walk out and leave your sister sweating in a hot shed on her own. You would stay, even if you didn't want to. That whanau feeling thing for us is quite integral, quite key and we work hard to keep it. Koro Mullins, Director

Productivity challenge

Over recent years the focus has been on succession planning for the smooth transition of management of the business from the third to the fourth generation of the family. While Koro and Mavis Mullins remain closely involved as Directors, their daughter Aria is now General Manager. The challenges faced include ensuring continued growth of the business, transfer of knowledge, building leadership skills, upholding their reputation as an industry leader and preservation of key systems and networks.

Meeting the productivity challenge

Establishing and maintaining strong leadership for the business is integral for good teamwork. Paewai Mullins operates under a flat structure where everyone is part of a dynamic team offering and delivering services to farmer clients. Leadership is very much about 'walking the talk' and enacting the core values underpinning the business: Whanaungatanga (family), Matauranga (life-long learning), Manaakitanga (unity) and Tino Rangatiratanga (self-empowerment and leadership). People at all levels lead by example. Even the Directors will get out of bed at 5am to go shearing.

"If staff don't see you doing that, you lose your mana very quickly," says Koro. "Because if you say, hey, you are not doing it right, they will look at you and say, 'ok, how do we do it right?'"

The company achieved ISO 9002 in 1996, a world first for this industry. "It was a total team effort," says Mavis. She learned about Toyota's customer service and ISO systems during her study for an MBA. "It changed our perceptions. We now see complaints from clients as valuable feedback asking us to rectify a situation as opposed to receiving no feedback and no call to come back!" ISO provided them with systems, and although they have let their ISO certification lapse they have kept many of these in place. Now they are working to become accredited for the ACC Workplace Safety Management programme.

Paewai Mullins Shearing was one of the first to be involved in the development of BMS (the software system), which has helped them to keep a closer eye on their bottom line - a critical indicator of success.

Koro, Mavis and their children Aria, Tuma, Punga and Korina have been prominent figures in the greater industry, particularly in the agribusiness and agri-sport sectors. Koro is also well known as a commentator at the AMP shearing shows.

Other staff have demonstrated industry leadership through their participation in national and international competitions. These have provided excellent opportunities for benchmarking and networking, and for measuring success. Competing and succeeding at the competitions gives staff a feel-good factor. "Helping people to step up is just so satisfying; when you see people who couldn't even get School C who then are able to compete at world championships and win titles, well, it lifts everything," says Mavis.

Key networks include Institute of Directors, Tectra, NZ Shearing Contractors Association, Shearing Sports New Zealand and The Federation of Maori Authorities (FOMA) who have a Maori perspective on business. Mavis is on the Massey University Council, and holds a number of Directorships with SOEs, and public and private companies. She was part of the original Wool Harvesting Group that worked with NZQA to set unit standards for the industry. Some of the leading wool handling staff at Paewai Mullins have been sponsored to do their Wool Handling Diplomas through Massey.

While the average age of a shearer is increasing each year, and shearing remains very physically intensive, the company has maintained productivity due to innovations in equipment, which enable staff to work smarter. One example is a piece of equipment called a 'bungee', a sling that supports a shearer's back when shearing. This means that older shearers have been able to stay in the industry longer without sustaining back injuries, boosting workplace productivity.

Staff and clients have developed other innovations such as the 'bale clipper'. Previously many pressers were using dangerous bale hooks resulting in some nasty accidents. A farmer client developed a bale clip for pressers at Paewai Mullins to use. An innovation developed by staff was a 'presser's bag'; a kit containing everything a presser needs. Having available a presser's toolkit containing all the tools a presser needs demonstrates to them recognition of the importance of their role and the need to be properly equipped. It instills pride to have their own kit rather than having to hunt for equipment each day.

Succession planning has enabled the strengths of the organisation to be retained and passed on to future leaders. Aria is committed to fostering the strong networks and maintaining the company's position as innovative industry leaders. Her grandfather, Punga Paewai, and parents Mavis and Koro remain close to the business to nurture her development as a leader by imparting their wisdom and experience.

Key learnings

• Succession planning is crucial for developing and training future leaders in an organisation.
• Strong leadership means 'walking the talk'.
• Collaborating with industry stakeholders builds networks and reputations.
• Benchmarking is important for business learning and raising standards.
• Investment in innovation improves work processes and health and safety performance.
• Engaging in quality accreditation provides workplace learning beyond a specific programme.
  

Becoming more productive

Lifting productivity involves exploring all the ways that your workplace could do things better and smarter. No matter what your business does, or how big or small it is, there are a range of ways you can improve its productivity:

1. Building Leadership and Management Capability (Organisation's drivers)
2. Creating Productive Workplace Cultures (Organisation's drivers)
3. Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology
4. Investing in People and Skills (Organisation's drivers)
5. Organising Work (Organisation's drivers)
6. Networking and Collaboration
7. Measuring What Matters

The Paewai Mullins: Building Leadership and Management Capability case study is also available as a pdf [PDF, 2 Pages, 927kB]