To hell and back, and wiser

One director who went to hell with her board and survived is historian Lisa Ferguson, a member of the Waikato Raupatu Trustee Company.

It manages the assets flowing out of Tainui's $170 million settlement with the Government in 1995 for 46,000 beneficiaries, and in many ways, she says, is a similar beast to New Zealand Post.

She was elected in April last year just before infighting and cash woes - she recalls it as "madness" and a "real crisis period" - started surging around late Tainui kingpin Sir Robert Mahuta's bid for control.

Strong leadership, commitment to the bigger picture, serving the people, self-belief, support from family and friends and the humility to accept independent advice and debate it, kept the board together in extraordinary times, she says.

As resignations multiplied, deputy chairman Kingi Porima was ready to step into the chairman's position. Ferguson credits firm but even-handed leadership with keeping the board together, and recommends the succession planning introduced since as a key for keeping it that way.

Members are encouraged to "reach back and pull other people through," says Ferguson. Such a culture prevents solo empire-building of the sort that allows factions to evolve.

"The big picture was serving the people. And if we were committed to the big picture, we had to weather the criticism and the knocks," Ferguson says.

Impartial advice from Auckland companies Rudd Watts and Stone, and Ferrier Hodgson, and directors' acceptance that there were holes in everyone's knowledge, also helped them to keep looking ahead.

Ferguson and her fellow directors are feeling optimistic they will stay on track, she says.

"I would like to think we're now a 12," she says. "Now, it has to be a faction of one."