Reverting to a "business-as-usual" mindset is at our own peril.

Instead, we have to reframe our approaches both for short-term survival and to create a better future as #Buildbackbetter and similar sentiments are on all our minds.

Every organisation has been challenged to think and act more creatively than perhaps ever before in our working lives.

Many boards are finding themselves in uncharted waters, alongside the traditional responsibility for risk and assurance, they must also boldly imagine a new future.

Dr David Peterson, director of leadership and coaching at Google, talks about managing in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) and says that leaders comfortable with stress, strife and change are needed because there's going to be more of it.

Boards need to ask themselves now if they have the best-equipped people around the table to envisage the necessary transformational change.

The World Economic Forum stated in its Future of Jobs report that the top three valuable skills of the future were complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity - all skills which are more likely to be enhanced by having diverse perspectives.

While endorsing the need for diversity of age, gender, demography and upbringing, we propose another consideration: recruiting creatives.

Leaders from the arts and creative industries possess the imagination, savvy commercial ingenuity, resourcefulness and EQ that will allow boards to adapt to new conditions and even revolutionise their organisations.

Surely creativity is one of the key competencies all board members and leaders need now to imagine new paradigms and unshackle the restraints of the past and old ways of doing things.

Both divergent and critical thinking is needed to solve difficult challenges, and creatives are well-placed because they have the innate ability to think outside the box and challenge convention. They intuitively look for ideas from the depths of the unconscious and work at the edge of potential.

So-called "soft skills" naturally reside in many of us to one degree or another, but they are very often well-honed in creatives. Artists comfortably inhabit the world of VUCA and are accustomed to making sense out of chaos. Because their careers are often in the least-funded and most challenging environments, they have learned to not only lead with acute resourcefulness (aka the smell of an oily rag), but create beauty while often challenging assumptions.

There are five practical steps for any board to consider:

• Awareness: Raise awareness around the diversity of thought and the contributions creatives can provide
• Pathways: Identify smart methods to find qualified candidates beyond shoulder-tapping and traditional recruitment
• Training: Provide training for those new to boards to give a greater chance of success
• Listening: Actively listening to others perspectives fosters open-mindedness
• Culture: Take responsibility for shaping the board culture to be one which is willing to challenge convention and embrace blue sky thinking

Individuals with a foundation in the creative arts bring imagination and diversity of thought to the board table. If the governance culture is in place to embrace their perspective, then the discussions will be far richer and the decisions more deeply nuanced and successful.

If we want boards which are not just focused on being risk managers but instead are vision-casters, then making creatives welcome will be a big stride in the right direction.

• Anne Rodda is the founder of Voyager Advisory - Te Kaiarahi. Steven Moe is a Partner at Parry Field Lawyers.
• First published in Stuff. Republished with permission of the authors.
• Please read Anne and Stephen's White Paper: "Tomorrow's Board Diversity: the Role of Creatives"

The congregation had been meeting in a nearby community hall while the earthquake-damaged church was painstakingly rebuilt.

An opening ceremony for the newly-finished building drew a large crowd on Sunday.

Dozens of parishioners gathered in the car park ahead of Sunday's service, which included speeches from the pastoral council, the building's architect, Paul Foley, and Christchurch East MP Poto Williams.

The opening ceremony also served as the first formal event for the Christchurch's newly-ordained bishop, Paul Martin.

A plaque commemorating the opening of the church was unveiled and blessed.

"The local community have worked very hard on the rebuild of the church. The new church is beautiful and will serve the community well for years to come," said Stopforth.

He said there had been a "signification process around the design of the church and rebuild".

With stark white walls and a large black cross marking the main entrance, the building looked very different compared to the orange brick exterior it had previously.

Within greater Christchurch, 11 diocese-owned churches, including St Mary's in New Brighton, were demolished after the quakes. Seven others were severely damaged and unable to be used and, of those, five are yet to be repaired.

The church had been paying a nominal rent of $1 a year to the owner of the Chancery Lane block, RFD Investments.

The sole director of the company, now in receivership and liquidation, was property developer David Henderson.

The Chancery Lane chapel was damaged but not destroyed in the Canterbury earthquakes.

RFD gave the church $193,000, as a portion of the $9m that Vero paid it as indemnity insurance for the Chancery Lane block.

In late 2012, the Crown compulsorily acquired RFD's Chancery Lane complex for just over $9m.

The church had valued its leasehold at $9.5m and wanted the Crown to pay it the difference.

Lawyers for RFD's receivers said the church's "interest was limited" to a share of indemnity insurance.

Justice Nicholas Davidson found the indemnity insurance payout to RFD reflected the Crown's notice of intention to acquire the Chancery Lane site and spelt the end of RFD's occupancy.

But, he said, the church's leasehold interest "remained in existence and is compensatable".

A court win for RFD could have blocked a church claim of up to $9 million from the Crown.

Property and development manager Keith Beal said the church wanted only to establish an inner-city chapel that was as large and well-located as the previous one.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: 4.bp.blogspot.com

The new parish complex includes offices for use by the parish, an expanded space that will include the former Catholic Shop, which was in Chancery Arcade, and facilities for the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Choir, other music groups and the wider community.

Father Chris Friel, St Mary's Pro-Cathedral Administrator, said that after three years of development the new parish complex will be a welcome re-start for the diocese and city.

"It will incorporate a state-of-the-art acoustically designed choir area, music and instrument storage areas, rehearsal room, library storage and kitchen facilities. With new landscaping and improved off-street car parking, the facility will be available for hire to other choirs and music groups for rehearsals or as a music events centre," he said.

Don Whelan, Musical Director for the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, said that the new facilities will demonstrate that Christchurch can be a welcoming home for creative artists, and that the Catholic Church music treasury is a heritage to be shared with others.

Source

• voxy.co.nz
• chch.catholic.org.nz
• Image: chch.catholic.org.nz

This land taken by proclamation is to be used for the Convention Centre Precinct.

The Christchurch diocese says this move is not an unexpected development.

It is part of the process which will, among other matters, address compensation.

The Chancery Lane chapel, in the central city area, was destroyed in the February 2011 earthquake.

It was opened by Bishop Joyce at 100 Gloucester Street (Corner of Gloucester Street and Chancery Lane) on December 8, 1958.

Fr Tom Liddy was the first priest priest to minister in the Chapel.

The building was formerly an office block housing NAC (National Airways Corporation).

Bishop Barry Jones still has as an ideal to have a chapel in the inner city in the future redevelopment of the city.

Property may be acquired under Section 55 of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011.

A proclamation to take land must be approved by both the Governor-General and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, and publicly notified and gazetted, before the land is vested in the Crown on the fourteenth day after the day on which it is gazetted.

Compensation will be based on the market value of the property at the date of the acquisition.

The owner and any other person who suffers a loss in the compulsory acquisition have the right to appear before the Earthquake Recovery Minister or his delegate to make representations on the compensation.
Source

• The Catholic Diocese of Christchurch
• cera.govt.nz
• Image: 20144.bp.blogspot.com