Completing an ANZSOG Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) has been the springboard for Hoani Lambert’s varied career in senior roles in the public service of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Mr Lambert (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou) is currently Deputy Secretary for Partnerships and Commissions at Aotearoa New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs/Te Tari Taiwhenua.
It’s the most recent senior role in a career that has seen him work in parliament, direct biosecurity border operations, serve as a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Prior to joining DIA, Hoani was the Deputy Chief Executive, Voices of Children at the Ministry for Children/Oranga Tamariki, a role in which he was responsible for advocating for children and young people’s interests across the government system, ensuring their voices are at the centre of government policy, service design and delivery.
“Public service offers a unique opportunity for professionals to deliver some quite immediate impacts to the country and to citizens. It’s been an extremely satisfying experience for me to use my skills to make that kind of difference,” Hoani said.
“Doing the EMPA program helped to cement my future in the public service by giving me the tools and frameworks to be able to understand how I might navigate the public service and deliver with more impact.”
In his current role Hoani has a responsibility for major transformation projects and programs including Tāhuhu – the program that includes the upgrade and construction of new purpose-built archives facilities.
“Over the last 15 to 20 years in New Zealand there’s been numerous examples of a shift in directing resourcing towards communities, and moving away from the crown needing to deliver all services,” he said.
“That requires leadership in order to make sure that staff see the opportunity of working more collaboratively with communities and understanding what our unique offering is.”
The EMPA is a two-year accredited program delivered by ANZSOG in partnership with leading universities in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. It combines academic rigour with practical experience relating to the work of public servants and delivering public value.
Hoani says that he was recommended for the EMPA by a senior public sector leader who recognised he needed some academic and practical grounding to bolster his natural leadership capabilities.
“I was first made aware of the Master’s program just before I put in my application. At that time I had made quite a successful progression up to director level which is tier three in the New Zealand system,” he said.
“The head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was the Director General Murray Sherwin and he recognised that I had some leadership capability – but I didn’t have a tertiary qualification.
“I didn’t really have the frameworks and understanding of some of the core machinery of government, the processes, how to work with the authorising environment, the legislative process and so on.
“Going into a program like the EMPA gave me the ability to gather that knowledge, and build those capabilities. I think the EMPA has really set me up to be able to springboard into the career that I’ve been privileged to experience in my time in the New Zealand Public Service.”
“In addition to the skills you get, you are able to meet and work closely with your peers from New Zealand and Australia, and get a deeper understanding of the issues they face, and the variety of work that public servants are doing.”
Hoani has worked in a range of agencies, and says that he enjoys moving to new situations, and working out how to apply his skills to new challenges. Wherever he has gone, he has encouraged others to broaden their horizons by studying the EMPA.
“I’ve been passionate about sharing the experience I had because it has been so impactful on my career. I wanted to be able to show other public servants, particularly those that report to me, the benefits of having a qualification and series of experiences of knowledge that equips them to be able to step beyond their current role and the system that they’re currently in.
“When you have multiple people in an organisation with an EMPA, it means you have a level of common understanding, and shared frameworks, that mean you can define and solve problems a lot more easily.”