Can you tell us a bit about Veterinary Association of New Zealand and the goals they strive to achieve?
The NZVA signed off an ambitious future-proofed strategy in the middle of 2016 which is designed to have the profession as valued as it is trusted, playing a much bigger role in society than it currently plays. http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nzva.org.nz/resource/resmgr/docs/other_resources/Our_strategy_visual.PDF
Centred on a core binding idea - the wellbeing of animals, humans and our environment is inseparable – the strategy provides a framework for focused activity against three big outcomes that will have the profession positively accelerating society’s views on the way we treat animals. Our world is changing rapidly and there are some significant challenges. New Zealand has a national veterinary workforce profession grounded in ethics and science with an appreciation for values that drive society’s decisions, that can play a lead role in helping balance and enhance wellbeing of not just animals, but the people who care for and influence the way we treat animals and our shared environment.
What are the New Zealand Veterinary Association most successful membership strategies to increase engagement and membership retention?
The moment we turned our minds away from ourselves – ‘if only people could see things from our perspective everything will be fine’ to becoming curiously engaged in the outside world – ‘what is it that others are struggling with and how can we help?” .
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The development of a 2030 strategy built off all the concerns, hope, and dreams the profession has, that will deliver results and align a profession that is diverse and sometimes at odds with itself.
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Focused activity, engagement, education and integrated communications to underpin all this.
What do you personally feel has been the biggest challenge that the New Zealand Veterinary Association has overcome in your time with the organisation?
Fear of change, fear of what our members might do or say if we led change. We began the journey of overcoming this by developing an ambitious strategy and then backing ourselves to start to make some courageous calls. The announcement in 2015 of the NZVA’s 2030 Antimicrobial Statement http://amr.nzva.org.nz/home was the first example. Other major projects have also commenced in line with our vision for the profession’s future.
How does the future look for the New Zealand New Zealand Veterinary Association
Very positive with more challenges and so opportunities ahead; the profession is pretty much repositioned and we’re now reviewing our Association structure and funding models to ensure they are both future-proofed.
What would you say to someone starting out in the not-for-profit with a view to become a future leader?
Not for profit Associations have some unique challenges at the governance table given our organisations are all (or in the main) governed by people who ‘belong’ to the Association – insiders.
These people bring passion and knowledge which is important. They also bring unconscious bias which can slow the pace of change that society is driving, not us, or worse keep us in the grip of maintaining the status quo. Until outsiders are invited in to test our ways of working and thinking, and are sitting around our board tables, we’ll continue to work in a way that is reactive, to multiple issues, attempting to do more and more to prove ourselves worthy to constituents who will always wonder what on earth we do anyway.
We invited an outsider in. It wasn’t without challenge . We are now beginning to enjoy the rewards with a profession that is outwardly focused, with increasing opportunities to make a difference, supported by a national association that is slowly learning to do a lot, lot less much better. I remember speaking to an AuSAE audience a year or two ago and ended by saying:
Is the role of the CEO of a not for profit Professional Association to save our members from themselves? I believe it is.
Julie Hood Chief Executive Officer
New Zealand Veterinary Association
