It took both time and persistence to establish a governance career, the ProCare Group chief executive told those attending the Institute of Directors’ Otago-Southland Emerging Director Awards yesterday.
Sharing her own journey in governance, Ms Norwell, the guest speaker at the event, said she felt it was important to make it "warts and all", acknowledging both the hard times as well as those that were "euphoric".
She recalled applying for a board position and the recruiter asking her what she was interested in doing. She felt "very confused" and felt she was coming across as not really knowing what she wanted to do.
So knowing what her "North Star" was, was very important. For her, at the moment, that was being a chief executive; that was what she loved doing, although she was also very passionate about governance.
Australian-born, Ms Norwell later spent time working in telecommunications in the United Kingdom, where she also got a board role in the tech sector. That was where she found her love for governance, enjoying how it was strategic.
She moved to New Zealand about 10 years ago; she joined ProCare Group — the company’s largest primary health-care organisation — in March last year. Prior to that, she was chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand for four years.
Purpose was very important, particularly post-Covid 19. The pandemic threw up priorities in life and she wanted to be clear on purpose. It was about transformation, culture, people, showing good leadership, being courageous and making change.
For those keen on governance, it was very important to be very clear as to what you brought around skill set and capability, she said. There was a huge amount of risk involved, so you needed to go into it with "eyes wide open" and do due diligence, not only on the company but also on the board.
"It’s OK to say no, even if you’re desperate to get on your governance journey," she said.
Having "multiple hats" was also beneficial; the nature of her executive role meant that she was also on some boards and it could be tough at first, as she likened governance as being "in the grandstand in the stadium" — you were there as a mentor, not on the ground telling the organisation what to do.
Connection was very important for her; being visible, networking and building relationships, Ms Norwell said. She spent an hour of her week making an effort to network and reach out to people, whether they were old chairs or people she had not connected with for ages.
"That’s really important to make an effort to keep relationships going," she said.
Ms Norwell urged people to make the most of opportunities. She was deputy chairwoman of the Auckland branch of IoD and it had been an "amazing organisation" to be involved with.
She had served as a future director with The Warehouse Group, where she had sat across the table from founder Sir Stephen Tindall, with his thought leadership, and been inspired by him.
Being involved with recruiting the company’s chief executive had been "the most amazing experience".
But it was also about learning resilience and she had experienced knock-backs. The best thing in that regard was to get feedback — "even though you don’t like it all" — as that would be some of the "best gold nuggets" in terms of the governance journey.
She encouraged aspirants to seek skill gap analysis and professional advice on their CV, interview coaching — and perseverance. It was important to state what you wanted — be open and honest — and think big while being realistic.
