Words by Anita Body
Tony Aitken is the first to admit he’s no expert when it comes to farming. While he’s got farming connections, he readily admits he doesn’t have the practical agricultural experience that comes from a hands-on career in farming.
Instead, Tony’s expertise is in leading people and helping businesses deliver positive outcomes and grow, and it’s these skills which saw him appointed as Ruralco Group CEO in September.
He’s had a varied career which includes policing; training and development roles; HR management and as an independent contractor; and more recently in a business familiar to many of you, as dairy company, Synlait’s Organisation Development Manager.
Tony counts himself as being lucky to be part of the Synlait journey, joining the business when there were just 140 staff, and leaving eight years later when the ranks had grown to over 1,000.
“Synlait exposed me to continual improvement processes and to always being focussed on the future needs of the business. Whilst the role encompassed developing and implementing many of the people systems that enabled the company success, one of my main foci during that time was employee engagement and the development of a strengths-based programme.” As an advocate of Gallup’s strengths and employee engagement tools, Tony has spoken at multiple conferences on the Synlait programme and journey, including in both Sydney, Australia and Omaha, Nebraska USA.
“It’s all about getting the best results. I don’t believe anyone comes to work to do a bad job; everyone wants to do well. Everyone has strengths and they need to be working to those strengths. As people leaders, we need to make targets and goals clear, creating a pathway so they can achieve their goals,” he says.
Simplicity is key. “We tend to over-complicate and add layers and levels that are not needed. Asking ‘why?’ is always an important question. If it’s not adding value or meets compliance requirements, then why are we doing it?”
Since starting at Ruralco earlier this year, initially as its GM of People and Culture, and more recently as the Group CEO, Tony has been impressed by the passion of the staff and the varied product range offered by Ruralco’s stores. “Our staff genuinely want our members to succeed and they will do whatever it takes to make that happen. The Ruralco team has a strong commitment to the people in our community; they are often part of our members’ communities and have a real sense of responsibility and pride.”
He says they are special qualities and is part of what sets Ruralco apart from its competitors. “Our people continue to amaze me with what they do to serve the needs of our customers. It’s something that’s not always apparent in other organisations.”
Growing up in Lyttelton, Tony understands small town culture and community involvement. His early leadership experiences can be traced back to his hometown where he joined the local volunteer fire brigade at the age of 18 and was training others by the time he was 22. It’s also where he developed his lifelong passion for sailing and especially racing, initially as a Sea Scout from the age of 11.
“I’ve been racing trailer yachts for most of my life and I still sail and race now (currently a Noelex 25)
Formal leadership experience really kicked in when Tony started with the New Zealand police, initially as a MOT officer. “I was the first in the South Island to fully migrate to the New Zealand police as I had already applied to move across at the time of the merger. Two years later I was promoted to Sergeant and it was during that time I was shoulder-tapped to become more involved in training.” He went on to run the training for Canterbury district, ran leadership courses at the police college in Porirua, and rose to the rank of Senior Sergeant back on the frontline.
“I never wanted to be an office-bound police officer, so I started looking for new opportunities.” This led to a variety of roles, some in the HR and learning and development fields and some operational leadership roles. He also had the opportunity to run his own training and HR consultancy business.
It was during a stint of HR consultancy work that Tony started his journey with Synlait.
Throughout his working career he has mostly been based in the Canterbury region, but when the time came to move on from Synlait, Tony and his wife Sandy, decided to head north to the Bay of Plenty, where Tony took on a senior HR and then Executive role with the Tauranga City Council. While the warmer climate was appealing, the call to return home to Canterbury was strong and the couple relocated late last year.
Having had equestrian properties for almost 20 years and having been in the West Melton and Rolleston area for the last 10, the couple have returned to the area. “Horses take up a fair amount of our time. We have bred Arabian horses for a long time and have recently purchased our first quarter horse.”
Sandy is a licensed 3-star Parelli Natural Horsemanship Instructor (New Zealand’s most senior instructor), while Tony is happy lending a hand and doing beach or forest walks on the horses. “I also trained as a natural hoof trimmer, so I also do our own horses’ hooves.”
Rural communities are special places, says Tony. “At one point in Lyttelton, I was the local Police Constable, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the Volunteer Fire Brigade, Sea Scout Leader and Captain of the Diamond Harbour Rugby team. “So, it’s fair to say I was fairly involved in the community. I preferred playing in the rural rugby competitions like the Ellesmere one, because these were always so well supported and a big part of each team’s community.”
It’s that sense of community that Tony sees every day in his role at Ruralco. “Ruralco is a truly New Zealand owned co-operative and what we have is gold. We are a bespoke farming cooperative which is genuinely close to its farmer base. We are small enough to listen and care, and our people have real empathy for their cooperative and its farmers. Our shareholders are our owners and it is super important to me that we hear what you think, that we get your feedback, and that we continue to meet your needs.”
Celebrating the co-operative’s 60th anniversary this year has been a real highlight. “Our challenge is to continue being successful for another 60 years. We may not always be the cheapest because of our size (although we do our best here), and we aren’t the innovators in our industry (although we do bring that innovation to our farmers). That leaves us with customer service and that’s something we can excel at. It doesn’t mean we always get it right, but we want to. And we need to keep working hard to ensure that we are doing our best here, that we are listening to what you have to say and that we continue to improve what we do every day. That’s what’s really obvious to me.”
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