Moving forward with Big Rock #3 – The new operational model
The initial results of our recent Centre Whānau Survey tell me that the most important and urgent thing that we need to do to improve the Playcentre experience for our whānau is to take away the burden of admin, compliance, finance and property management.
Last month, I updated everyone on our 6 Big Rock strategy, what we have achieved so far and what the next steps are. One of those key steps is under Big Rock #3 – the new operational model where we aim to put a framework around each Centre to take away the burden of admin, compliance, finance and property management to allow whānau to focus on our core philosophy of parents as first and best educators of their tamariki through the local Centre community, their own education and the delivery of the curriculum so that whānau tupu ngātahi – families grow together.
As part of Big Rock #3 we will be piloting, trialling and experimenting how to make that framework the best it can be and how we can effectively and efficiently implement it given the location and make up of all our Centres across the motu. The key though, just like a messy play session, is that we will work out what we need to a large degree and then actually start playing. The experience of working together on this provides as much, if not more, value as the end result we will achieve. I am of the opinion that we will never actually achieve the end result of a perfect operational model framework because we will be continually refining and adjusted to all the changes that life will inevitably throw our way. The key is that when we started our Ki te pae tawhiti journey in early 2022, we believed we needed to relieve the burden on our whānau. We now know from the recent survey that our whānau are telling us in 2024 that this is the most important and urgent need and we are taking action to move forward with Big Rock #3 – the new operational model, to achieve this.
More information will be coming out from our Big Rock #3 project team over the next few weeks, and we will start rolling out the model and learning as we go. We need to adopt this approach for many reasons, the most important of which is that our whānau in Centres are overwhelmingly telling us that we must!
I was recently given a whakataukī that spoke loud and clear to me about our situation: He waka eke noa. This whakataukī has several meanings, one of which is “a waka we are all in together” or “we are all in this together.” We rise together, fall together, work together, keep going together. Big Rock #3 is a project that we all have a share in. It can only work if we do it the Playcentre way….by working together.
As we move forward into the next phase of Big Rock #3 – watch this space for more announcements shortly and I encourage you to get on board at the earliest opportunity.
Ngā mihi nui me ngā mihi aroha,
David