Embracing wider definitions of success

By - , Build 189

BRANZ CEO Chelydra Percy says that, while genuine industry success stories should be acknowledged and celebrated, often our definitions of what success looks like can be narrow.

Build 188 p006
Build 188 p006

IN MY EXPERIENCE, Aotearoa New Zealand has a slightly problematic relationship with success – and I don’t just mean of the tall poppy syndrome or great New Zealand clobbering machine variety.

Winning isn’t everything

We love our sports heroes, we have literally thousands of awards programmes in every corner of society and the media keeps a careful tally of New Zealand successes on the international stage. However, the lens through which we view these successes is often one dimensional – it’s ‘doing a thing well’ with the focus on a specific action, not necessarily on the wider repercussions of that action. It’s about winning an Olympic gold medal, getting an accolade or delivering a strong financial result.

But there are many other measures of success that are equally important. My concern is that, as a society, we don’t do enough to identify and acknowledge success that does not fit neatly into an action-oriented box.

Success is often not just about the big-ticket items – the wins, the bests or the firsts. Success can be as simple as acknowledging someone for how their work has impacted on you. No award, no big celebration, but through the lens of gratitude, the impact of their action far outweighs the action itself.

What about the impact?

In the context of our industry, this often translates into how what we build affects the lives of the people who live, work or enjoy the space.

I’ve written before about how my family’s lives were transformed by a renovation that resulted in us finally enjoying a warm, dry home and better health. I know the builders were proud of the work they did, but what I hope they really celebrated was the positive impact their work had on our family. That is a measure of success for which there may be no trophy but that I would argue has far greater long-term significance.

Taking a long-term view

In this vein, we can also look to te ao Māori for a more nuanced and long-term view of the meaning of success. Much has been written about Māori organisations that put environmental, community and cultural impacts at the centre of what they do. Even financial imperatives are often recast in the context of making money to successfully achieve those other goals. As a result, while profitability is one measure of success, it is not treated as an end unto itself.

We see these ideas seeding in conventional Western business models with environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting increasing our focus on – and acknowledging the importance of – the sustainability and environmental impacts of work practices. That alone is a salient reminder that our traditional view of success or winning is not the only one, and much can be learned by broadening our horizons.

Rethinking priorities

Some wit recently wrote, ‘I didn’t realise 2020 was going to be a trilogy!’ As we enter the third year of the pandemic, these are tough times for many people. In business and in life – especially in light of the devastating events in Ukraine – it is increasingly difficult to find reasons to celebrate. However, I would challenge us all to redefine how we think about and measure success, what we value and what’s important to society as a whole.

Not everyone will win awards or design/build the ‘best’ house or office block. But given the considerable influence the building system exerts over the daily lives of every New Zealander, maybe these individual accolades are less important than the wholesale impact of what we do.

And by looking at our work through the lens of impact – even in these troubled times – there are plenty of successes to be celebrated.

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Build 188 p006
Build 188 p006

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