Mood of the Boardroom: Take the mantle of responsibility

Katharine Birbalsingh, "Britain's most famous teacher", visited Bairds Mainfreight Primary School in 2018. Photo / Greg Bowker

It is an indictment on successive Governments that we have so much to do. Getting our education effective will help with a lot of these issues. When will politicians begin to understand?

Business has a significant role to play in assisting education in New Zealand. Business owners/leaders and school principals have a responsibility to each other to form relationships.

Visits to businesses by schools provide children with the opportunity to see how business works. It may be the "spark" they need to help them focus on a career choice or it may be what encourages them to be better at school and in their education. It changes attitudes and creates ambition.

For the company, it may well be a great source of future employees and, most certainly, it is a responsibility business must accept.

An example of this is our partnership with Manurewa High School's "Passport to Employment" Programme. Students in our 2021 intake are essentially taking Mainfreight as a school subject in year 13, and their Mainfreight education is woven into their school year along with their standard curriculum.

Business will never succeed if it does not invest in its people. Training and development is another non-negotiable principle business must adopt. Skills are vital; upskilling is a journey for business success, and its competitive advantage. Businesses fail to do this at their peril.

Nor should they rely on others to do this for them. We must each take responsibility for upskilling and training our people, whether it is parents, teachers in the education system or business leaders in companies.

Mainfreight supports Duffy Books in Homes, Bairds Mainfreight Primary School and the Life Education Trust — because we accept the mantle of responsibility. We are trying to make a difference and helping those schools and the children who attend them. Again, we have pupils from Duffy Books in Homes schools as team members.

The benefit flows both ways. The excitement and joy we see in our people when they present awards at the Books in Homes schools or at the assembly at Bairds Mainfreight Primary School is infectious to say the least. They understand what we are doing and why we are doing it, and I am sure they are better Mainfreighters as a consequence.