Summary
Taituarā was called the New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM) and…
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Boasts over 1000 members who are mostly local government managers and executives.
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Claims to be “politically neutral” while making submissions on government policy.
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Gives briefings to incoming ministers.
- Is “Advocating on behalf of the sector, and making connections with central government” while having an objective of “Influencing Central Government policy development and implementation of major issues”
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Runs “LGJobs” as a specific job board for advertising local government roles.
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Educates local government managers and executives through running “Best Practice Forums” and courses.
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Provides advice to senior managers and executives in local government.
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Has an annual awards ceremony for local government managers at a Gala Dinner with corporate sponsorship.
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Is largely funded by ratepayers and taxpayers via “council subscriptions”, payments for “Learning and developing ” activities, as well as other “grants and subsidies”.
What is Taituarā/SOLGM as an organisation?
Formerly called New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM), Taituarā (Local Government Professionals Aotearoa) is a professional membership organisation in New Zealand for local government manages and executives. It boasts approximately 1000 members and collects just over $200 in membership fees from each member. However, most of the revenue from Taituarā (SOLGM) likely comes from ratepayers and taxpayers via “council subscriptions”, training courses for council staff, along with various grants, subsidies and project funding from central government. According to their 2023 Annual Report, Taituarā is collecting over $4 million in annual revenue.
“Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa is the national membership organisation for local government professionals. Taituarā means strength in te reo Māori, and metaphorically describes unconditional support and strength. Our name reflects our organisation’s identity and commitment to promoting, supporting, and strengthening professional management and operations in local government.
Our focus is on providing professional leadership, promoting innovation and excellence in management practice, as well as developing local government capability to enhance service delivery to our local communities. We do this through the delivery of a range of services designed to help the sector to achieve successful outcomes for councils and the communities they serve.”
What does Taituarā/SOLGM do?
Taituarā (SOLGM) appears to spend millions in annual turnover influencing the cultural norms within local government bureaucracies. Cultural norms are the widespread attitudes, beliefs, languages, and practices within institutions. Cultural norms would colloquially include ‘this is the way we do things around here’ as well as ‘we don’t like your kind around here’ in both subtle and overt forms. Taituarā has a significant role in the training and recruitment of local government staff. This likely has influence over the establishment and enforcement of cultural norms within those organisations. Taituarā/SOLGM provides many online discussion groups for local government staff, with the “HR Managers” group reported as the “most active group” every year from 2020 to 2023. Generally, human resources managers have a reputation for attempting to control and influence workplace cultural norms.
Taituarā also appears to be one important institutional vector by which various global agendas become real-world impositions across New Zealand. Taituarā boasts about many international partnerships and their website mentions “international perspectives”, “though leadership”, and how they “influence the public policy debate”. The Navigating Critical 21st Century Transitions report published by Taituarā provides insight into the bureaucrat’s worldview and how they see their role in changing New Zealand.
“Who we are
Taituarā is Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading membership network for professionals working in and for local government. We have a thriving membership base of around one thousand members.
What unites Taituarā members is our commitment to be our own professional best, supporting local government excellence through connection, collaboration, and care for the well-being of our communities.
What we do
Taituarā supports its members to be the very best they can be. We strengthen, develop, and connect our members by providing opportunities for current and future leaders to learn from each other, from the wider public sector and from international perspectives.
We seek to strengthen the local government sector as a whole by using our members’ insight and experience to influence the public policy debate. We encourage thought leadership by enabling our members to step back from the day-to-day agenda taking time to share wisdom, create value and build knowledge.
Alongside our partners, we work on improvement for the local government sector because we believe excellent public services support thriving communities.
How we do this
We provide a range of virtual, regional, and national learning, development, and networking opportunities for our members. Utilising our members’ insight and knowledge, we respond to consultations, engaging with central government and the public service. This provides opportunities for our members to contribute to local government policy implementation and the future direction of the local government sector.
We produce a range of best practice and guidance, enabling our members to be effective in their roles.
Who do we do this for
Ultimately, the work of Taituarā is to support excellence in local government for the good of all our communities.
Taituarā members can be at the early stages of their local government career, an established leader/manager or a seasoned executive in the top tiers of Council organisations. Taituarā also comprises some retired members. Whilst our members predominantly work directly in local government, some members are not directly employed in the sector, but their professional work is in support of it.
Our targeted range of communications and publications supports dissemination of knowledge, innovation, and the latest developments in our sector.
We support local government recruitment and career development opportunities across the country.
Each year, Taituarā members have the opportunity to experience our high-profile excellence awards and attend our flagship annual conference. These are key dates in the local government calendar where our members connect, learn, and discuss issues with like-minded colleagues. Our international relationships with other local government membership networks enable our members to learn from, experience, and inform global practice.”
By providing leadership, awards ceremonies, “best practice” guidance, and training Taituarā (SOLGM) is playing a role in establish and reinforce agendas and attitudes within local government.
“Local government leadership is front and centre of change, and our aim is to ensure leadership is well supported, and councils have the trust, credibility and strength to lead their communities – whatever the outcome”
Taituarā/SOLGM’s Hei Taituarā – Executive Support Service webpage
“Blair Bowcott, General Manager of Growth at Hamilton City Council, agrees that sector experience is essential and has worked with Hei Taituarā on a couple of assignments, including a transformative approach to delivering shared services, and a three waters assignment.
“We are all really busy and dealing with complex information at pace. We need to be able to access trusted advisors with a deep understanding of our business.
“The Hei Taituarā team understand the pressures and political environment we operate in. They speak our language, and really helped us to think about things differently.”
Taituarā/SOLGM’s Hei Taituarā – Executive Support Service webpage
Providing “Learning and development” services to councils and council managers is a major part of Taituarā/SOLGM’s operations. This is a major income stream for the organisation and presumably influences the quality of our local government bureaucracies.
Taituarā also writes submissions on government policy and briefs incoming ministers. It does this while making claims of remaining “politically neutral”. Reading Taituarā/SOLGM submissions to central government provides insight into the attitudes and agendas of senior bureaucrats in local government. For example, Taituarā/SOLGM is lobbying the government for greater powers to force people off their land for “managed retreat” for climate change response policy. CityWatch NZ will continue cover Taituarā/SOLGM stances on other issues which have impacts on people.
“We are seen as a trusted, credible, neutral advisor on what’s needed to make legislation and regulations work on the ground. We regularly receive Select Committee feedbacktelling us that submissions are “really practical and thoughtful” (RMA), “comprehensive and solutions focussed” (RMA), “another quality helpful submission” (water), and “comprehensive and helpful” (also water).”
Page 9 of the Taituarā Annual Report 2023
Who funds Taituarā (SOLGM)?
Mostly ratepayers and taxpayers in New Zealand. Despite Taituarā describing itself as a “national membership organisation for Local Government professionals”, membership fees have only contribute around 5.3% of the organisation’s income between 2020 and 2023.
Local councils are paying Taituarā/SOLGM through “Council Subscriptions”, advertisements on LGJobs, and “Learning & Development” courses. These three income sources make up between 58% and 75% of SOLGM’s annual income. In some years, SOLGM also receives addition income from grants, subsidies, and other income sources which are likely to be forms of central government (mostly taxpayer) funding.
Annual income for Taituarā/SOLGM. Data sourced from the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 annual reports.
In the 2022-2023 financial year, about 9% of SOLGM’s income was sourced from their conference and “Principal Sponsorship”. Corporate sponsorship is prominent in the Taituarā annual reports, conferences, Gala dinner, and annual awards ceremony. Taituarā/SOLGM could financially survive as an organisation without the corporate sponsorship that makes up less than 10% of their income. With most council managers and executives being on six-figure salaries, they could comfortably pay a bit more personally for their membership fees and Gala Dinner tickets to avoid any perception of bribery, corruption, or inappropriate corporate influence.
Page 14 of SOLGM Annual report 2020 states that the 2019 SOLGM Annual Summit Dinner was sponsored by:
- Simpson Grierson
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PricewaterhouseCoopers
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BERL
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AskYourTeam
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Diligent
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Civic Financial Services
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Sheffield
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JLT
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LGHub
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Datacom
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Hāpaitia te Oranga Tangata Safe and Effective Justice Programme
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Turley & Co
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Heaney & Partners
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GHD
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Strategic Pay
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Squiz.
Page 31 of Taituarā Annual report 2023 states that the 2023 Taituarā Gala Dinner and awards ceremony was sponsored by:
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LGFA (Local Government Funding Agency)
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MartinJenkins
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Datacom
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DIA (Department of Internal Affairs)
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GHD
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Capability Group
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Beca
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Buddle Findlay
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Civic Financial Services
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Marsh
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AskYourTeam.
According to the Taituarā website in 2024, their “Principal Partners” are Simpson Grierson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Civic Financial Services, Marsh, and BECA.
