News

Southern Cross Health Insurance (Southern Cross) has been recognised for the smooth delivery of an agility model across its business, winning the Organisational Change & Development category at the NZ HR Awards 2022 last night.

The awards, organised by The Human Resources Institute of New Zealand (HRNZ), acknowledge excellence within the HR community and highlight successes across the industry.

Southern Cross’ win in the Organisational Change & Development category follows a large change initiative that touched its entire organisation, and Southern Cross Health Insurance Chief People & Strategy Officer, Vicki Caisley, says she’s pleased the work that went into the project has been recognised in such a way.

“This initiative is a core part of Southern Cross’ five-year strategic plan, which has focused on delivering relevant products and services for our members,” she said.

“Organisational agility was something we knew we needed to further develop as a business, in order to achieve that overarching goal, so our team got to work coming up with solutions and the best practices for implementing them.”

The initiative was guided by a core team of nine people from across the Southern Cross business and supported by a steering committee and 20 key stakeholders. The team immediately employed agile principles by working in short bursts across four two-week sprints, creating the roadmap for improved organisational agility.

When implementation of the model began, the core team was joined by a dedicated group of five HR professionals, as the business reorganised itself into a new and contemporary operating model – all of which was done against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Caisley said the result has been improved support and transparency for both employees and Southern Cross members.

“We wanted all our team to go on this agile journey, so we made sure our people had early input into the future operating model for the business. We’re incredibly proud of the changes that have been made and the way in which they were implemented,” she said.

“At Southern Cross, we believe that having the right strategy, the right culture, and the right people is the recipe for success in providing exceptional service, and we’re already seeing early wins from this agility project by injecting more pace into the delivery of our objectives.

“This initiative has revolutionised the way the business operates, which is why we’ve also shared our story with several other organisations, both at home and abroad, that are on a similar journey of business transformation.

“Being recognised by the NZ HR Awards for this project is really the icing on the cake for the enormous amount of effort put in by our core team and our people across the entire business.”

ENDS