A troubleshooter tells how to shoot trouble

Wayne Brown specialises in sorting out government-owned enterprises. JULIE MIDDLETON reports on Wayne's world.

Think of poor performers beset with controversy and Wayne Brown - self-made millionaire engineer and property developer, married dad-of-two and "obsessive" surfer - has been right in there.

He was appointed to single-handedly sort out Tairawhiti Healthcare when the Government dismissed the board last July after a series of scandals at Gisborne Hospital.

It was supposed to be a 12-week job before a new board was installed - but Mr Brown, who lives in the Far North settlement of Mangonui, is still there, running the show with the help of a deputy and a steering committee.

His CV shows a track record of playing Mr Fix-it, with the attendant need to make unpopular decisions.

Mr Brown - he likes to be called "Brownie" by his friends - joined the Land Transport Safety Authority as chairman in 1999 to deal with the fallout that followed the introduction of digital drivers' licences.

After the 1998 Auckland power crisis and a subsequent ministerial report that required engineers to join the Vector board, he was approached by the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust. He is now chairman.

For nine years he has been on the board of Northland Health, which suffered upheaval on the road to its rare, surplus-producing status, and is now chairman.

He's a former Television New Zealand board member - his term expired in March last year - and is an owner of the Sky channel Sundance.

So have him speak on the theme of "classic turnarounds" at an Institute of Directors breakfast at the ivy-clad Northern Club, and the room is packed.

He stands out among the besuited throng, and it's not just the lanky frame shooting him above the rest.

He is the only tie-less man, probably the only civil engineer, and quite at home delivering straight talk.

Silver-tongued? Nah, mate - he calls a spade a spade, not a vertically-integrated garden enhancer. A maverick? Yes, though he admits to being surprised at the label.

"I don't take myself very seriously. I'm absolutely shocked when people say: 'He's really straight-shooting.' Why is it a shock?"

He is, he says, "firm but retiring."

The secret to leading in tough times is simply "commonsense," he says.

"People are so shocked by commonsense. Why is commonsense so uncommon in New Zealand?

The LTSA, Northland and Tairawhiti turnarounds all started the same way: "I was able to sit down with management and tell them that they should not take my arrival as a vote of confidence in what they were doing."

And these are the tips that tough times have taught him.

Take charge with confidence. "You're put in charge," he says, "so take charge. Someone's had the confidence in you to put you there. That's what they are waiting for - people are in trouble because they have no direction."

"When you get into a turnaround situation, look around and find out what the problems are. Listen, assess, and act."

Don't tell outsiders the game plan. But explain early to staff what's happening, and what is expected of them. Post copies of goals - keep them simple - on every wall.

His initial goals at Tairawhiti were clear: restore confidence in Gisborne Hospital, curb "unfortunate" incidents, live within budget and boost staff morale.

This year, he says, Tairawhiti will break even, and Health and Disabilities Commissioner Ron Paterson, in a March report, has given Gisborne Hospital the all-clear.

Don't procrastinate. "The people who moved first (in reaction to the 1987 crash) did best. Hanging on doing nothing is a disaster. If you've got to drop staff, do it straight away, while there's still places for them to go. If you languish, you're going to punish them."

Small action is better than none. "There's always something you can do straight away."

If a company is in trouble, "people panic, and can't see what to do.

"Give them simple things to do."

Isolate troublemakers. Remind staff that they are accountable. Management may be responsible for providing a nurse with a needle, but it is her responsibility to make sure it goes in the right arm.

Make incentives of CEO payments. Don't put paltry amounts at risk. "Putting $10,000 of a $200,000 package is nonsense. Put $90,000 at risk."

Concentrate on what's going wrong, not what's going right. The 10 per cent failure rate is more important than the 90 per cent success rate. "The greatest asset is the goodwill of customers."

Maintain some distance. "If you spend too much time getting tangled up in the personal swings and roundabouts ... of people whose full lives are in [the business] and have very strong behaviour patterns ... you'll lose the big picture."

"I'm there to look after a forest. Management cut, trim and export. Many directors get into detail, inspecting pine cones, and can't see that the other end of the forest is on fire."

Directors and CEOs, he says, "absolutely shouldn't" get into detail.

"You can't delegate direction but you have to delegate implementation."



Don't make a post-arrival priority the refurbishment of your office.

"Not a good look."

Ensure you have ways of dealing with stress.

For Mr Brown it's his family and surfing. He admits to feeling the pressure - he and other Gisborne Hospital senior managers are embroiled in a defamation case against a former staff nurse.

"You sometimes can get beaten down," he says. "There are times when there is an awful lot of pressure and it can seem unrewarding."

Engineers are rare boardroom beasts. But when Mr Brown was on board of New Zealand Rail in the 1980s, the then-minister queried the right of an engineer to be there. Why not? he asks.

A rail company is essentially an engineering company.

Its governance needs practical expertise, and that's where, he says, some boards are lacking. Too few, he says, accurately reflect their constituents, especially rural people.

Some boards may be over-populated with "corporates," when business owners and professional problem-solvers such as engineers are probably better-equipped.