CASE STUDY
How strategic thinking transformed leadership for Whānau Āwhina Plunket
When Louise Eunson, GM of Performance, Risk, and Governance, joined my 8-week Strategic Thinker Development Programme, she was in her first role at the Executive Leadership Team level and eager to expand her strategic thinking skills. Despite being confident in her technical expertise, Louise felt some uncertainty about what was expected at this level. She wanted a practical framework that would not only enhance her approach but also give her the confidence to guide her team through complex challenges with clarity.
Moving from uncertainty to confident decision-making
Although Louise worried initially that becoming a strategic thinker would put her action-oriented style at risk, and she might become a stereotypical “chin-stroking executive”, she quickly found, instead, that having a structured framework gave her thinking a productive direction. She soon realised that one of her challenges had been not knowing what to focus on when she thought about carving out time to think strategically. With new insights from the programme, she felt more prepared to dedicate time to strategic thinking and saw it as a valuable part of her role, rather than a distraction from action and progress.
Gaining confidence and shifting perspectives
Louise had always suspected she had the cognitive strengths needed for high-level thinking, but like many stepping into senior roles, she wasn't entirely sure. The assessment results and the programme provided her with detailed insights that validated this hunch. By understanding her cognitive strengths in greater depth, she gained the confidence to trust her insights and approach challenges more creatively. Coming from a risk-focused background, she learned to pivot toward visionary thinking, opening up to optimistic possibilities for the future. The programme’s hands-on approach helped her consolidate her understanding of strategic thinking and apply my frameworks to real-world challenges within her role.Reflecting on the programme’s impact, Louise noted: “It consolidated and grew my understanding of strategy and how to think about problems through a strategic lens. It built my confidence that my thinking was 'on track' and gave me a new-found self-awareness around how my brain works versus how others may approach problems. The thing I loved most was it gave me a really practical framework to apply and share with others around how to really dig deep into complex problems and, importantly, navigate through them.”
Embedding strategic insights within her team
The programme also empowered Louise with the language to articulate her strategic ideas, helping her bring her team on board with her vision. She found this particularly useful when communicating complex ideas, allowing her to bring others along on the journey more effectively. In particular, Louise noted: “I now have a regular session with my direct reports to talk through various aspects of what I learned about strategic thinking. The idea is that we can start to apply Nina's model in how we tackle the gnarly challenges that our team often has to navigate. My team are high performing and hungry to learn - they are already loving the discussions we are having in this space as we work through the 6 elements of the strategic thinking process.”
In her words:
Nina has really opened my eyes to what it means to be a strategic thinker! This course has increased my awareness of my cognitive capabilities, grown my confidence, and given me practical, easy-to-use tools to further realise my strategic thinking potential.
Louise Eunson – GM Performance, Risk and Governance, Whānau Āwhina Plunket