November 7, 2001

The Auckland Regional Council is ranked three times better than the average New Zealand organisation and is well on the way to world-class performance according to its NZ Business Excellence Award presented today.

The ARC was one of only two organisations in the country to receive a Commendation Award from the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation. The ARC topped the field alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy.

According to the definition of the Commendaiton Award, “the organisation demonstrates a sound understanding of the principles and practices of performance excellence. These organsiations have management systems that are three times better than the average New Zealand organisation and are over half way on the way to world-class performance.”

For Council Chief Executive Jo Brosnahan, the ARC’s entry into the internationally aligned awards is all about the Council’s desire to become world-class and the key aspect of the award is that it benchmarks the ARC against top performing organisations worldwide.

“Obviously I’m thrilled that this award recognises and defines us as three times better than the average New Zealand organisation and that we are the first local body in the country to achieve this status,” she says.

“But those are not the motivating factors for us. To be truly successful we must measure ourselves against the best in the world. That is the beauty of these Business Excellence Awards, they benchmark organisations against a consistent set of international criteria and the result is a true indication of where you stand.”

The awards are judged according to seven competencies: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management and business results.

“The award process also has real significance as a measure of how we are doing in our efforts to deliver outcomes to the regional community that they really value and that make a difference to the quality of life in Auckland,” Jo Brosnahan says.

But while encouraging her management team and staff to celebrate the award success, the chief executive is quick to point out that there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

“Our challenge now is to use this award as the catalyst to increase our efforts, continue to improve performance across the organisation, based on the needs of our customers throughout the regional community, and strive for world class status.”

Ends

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