Enabling our people and culture

The University embraces its aspiration to develop, support, guide and empower its people to succeed together – for the betterment of society.

Our success will depend on reimaging how we access, align, engage, develop, reward and ultimately lead the workforce of the future. Societal shifts in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as automation and digitisation, are changing the capabilities and mindsets required for the University to thrive and prosper.

To respond, the University of Auckland will develop an inclusive workforce that is diverse, capable, innovative and flexible to fulfil our academic aspirations and respond to the challenges of the future. We will be a place where te reo Māori can flourish and where mātauranga Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are valued, fostered, protected and used responsibly by us all. Activating our values, we will develop a mana-enhancing culture that is outwardly focused and open, characterised by belonging, equity, a commitment to wellbeing, and the empowerment of staff to innovate and succeed.

We will take a values and purpose-led approach, recognising the need for aspirational inclusive leadership and empowered teams, to build insight, trust and confidence for change. The nurturing and development of a more diverse workforce, alongside the establishment of new adaptive career pathways, will strengthen our contribution to world-class research, scholarship and teaching. We will create a distinctive people experience in which our people’s wellbeing is vital and our place in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific is celebrated. They will be adept at broad and deep collaboration in transdisciplinary and cross-functional contexts, in and beyond the University, with an enduring commitment toimpact and sustainability.

We will continue to champion diversity, inclusion and equity, ensuring all people feel valued and respected and can contribute fully to the success of the University.

Our people and interactions with them will be
enabled by contemporary and innovative ways of
working, favouring:

• A deep ethos of service to our students and communities
• Our commitment to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi
• Effective collaboration and engagement with our communities and partners
• Dedication to co-design, co-development and design thinking in all we do
• Streamlined processes that support and enable our people
• A bias for agile and informed change
• A focus on people’s well-being and enriching roles

• Live our values and purpose
• Develop a future-ready workforce
• Build a high-performing, diverse, inclusive and equitable community
• Activate manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and kaitiakitanga across our People and Culture practices
• Aspirational and inclusive leadership

Strategic initiatives for priority one

Live our values and purpose

• Define and deploy our values in practice
• Revise HR policy, practice and programmes to support and empower staff and leadership to enact values
• Provide training, development and support to enable staff to work in cross-functional, open and collaborative ways

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Framework for action

Strategic initiatives for priority two

Develop a future-ready workforce

• Undertake a detailed university-wide workforce planning exercise to inform our current and needed staff profile, expertise, work practices and behaviours across all academic and professional areas
• Revise academic and professional reward, recognition, performance and development frameworks to align with strategic aspirations
• Co-create a University of Auckland ‘people experience’ that responds to the needs and aspirations of current and future staff
• Review HR policy, practice and programmes to ensure supported and smooth workforce evolution to meet current and emerging social, physical and digital modes of operation
  

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Capability development

Strategic initiatives for priority three

Build a high performing, diverse, inclusive and equitable community

• Improve data, insights and decision support to ensure continuous improvement of staff capability, performance, affiliation, diversity, inclusion and equity outcomes
• Determine and craft changes to recruitment, career entry pathways and mentoring initiatives aligned to the needs of specific cohorts
• Determine opportunities to maximise and showcase the distinct professional, social and cultural contributions of staff cohorts across all cultures and identities
• Reassess our criteria for selection, promotion and rewards to value service to our communities, collaboration, transdisciplinarity and impact
  

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Capability development

Strategic initiatives for priority four

Activate manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and kaitiakitanga across our People and Culture practices

• In the context of the workforce planning exercise and in collaboration with Māori community leadership and staff, develop signature programmes that facilitate an environment that is mana-enhancing for Māori, promote an understanding of our place in Aotearoa New Zealand, and enable all our people to engage with Māori internally and externally
• Develop targeted recruitment and career programmes, sourcing from our students and iwi/community groups

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Capability development

Strategic initiatives for priority five

Aspirational and inclusive leadership

• Develop a values-based leadership and leadership training framework that:
  • Recognises and supports distributed leadership across academic and professional areas
  • Clearly articulates expectations and provides associated development for current and emerging leaders
  • Supports succession planning
    

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Framework for action