Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
My strength is not mine alone, it comes from the collective.

Kia ora e hoa mā – greetings to all friends and colleagues working together within NCWNZ for the greater good.

Maybe that sounds idealist, but let’s face it, that’s who we are as an organisation. “Practical dreamers” who have a vision for the future and then look at the detail of how we can make it happen. The “we” is very important, because our strength is from our collective action, from belonging to the organisation. (Shameless plug here – have you renewed your membership for this year?)

While it sounds easy, those who lead and work within groups know it is anything but that. Acting collectively rather than as an individual is not just intuitive. It takes motivation, reflection and practice, and training can help. The Board have been considering how we can strengthen collaborative working within NCWNZ, so we can genuinely say everything we do comes from the collective. Working together as Board, branches and action hubs, interactions between these groups, collaborations with external organisations, and involvement in both formal and informal coalitions – these ways of working are our strengths and also our challenges.

I would like to invite all members to take a moment to reflect on how you work within NCWNZ, and whether your approach fosters or hinders greater collaboration. Yes, I know that the work falls to a few, and the ‘others’ should pull their weight too (I’ve been in volunteer groups all my life, I know what it’s like). But everyone is on their own journey and while we can support others, we can only take responsibility for our own actions and behaviour changes.

Collaboration is easier when we know and connect with each other, so I am delighted to announce that there will be an in-person conference in Auckland around September 2026. Thank you to Hibiscus Coast branch for offering to host this conference, with Manukau and Auckland branches supporting where they can. This means you have more than a year for fundraising or saving to make sure you can be there for the Big Event. We look forward to a fabulous opportunity to meet with you all, e hoa mā.

Suzanne Manning
President

To read more articles from The Circular (May-June 2025) issue 652, click on the tag below.