 |  | Peter McKinnon
EGM, People & Culture | | Building a high performance culture means developing great people, creating a great place and achieving a winning performance. Initiatives undertaken across the Group this year have accelerated our progress down this path. Our people
This year we pursued our objectives by focusing on building leadership capabilities, revitalising our culture and aligning our people policies to business success. Globally more than 10,000 people have engaged in this work and delivered significant cultural change. Leadership
Our leaders have championed our transformation. The National Leadership Standard (NLS) is our enduring blueprint for leadership. It articulates the behaviours that drive excellent performance and are critical to our vision and goals. Tailored leadership programs have stretched our current leaders and high potential employees and are building leadership capability across all levels of the organisation for the future. Our Executive Coaching program has involved 120 senior executives globally and has been recognised by the International Consortium for Executive Development Research. The National presented its executive coaching program to the 'Innovations in Executive Education and Leadership Development Forum' at Henley-on-Thames in the United Kingdom in October 2003. The program has also come to the attention of the global Corporate Leadership Council, which has described it as amongst "the most innovative and effective methods" discovered in its research on coaching activities (Maximising Returns on Professional Executive Coaching, Corporate Leadership Council, May 2003).  | | Employees Ferila Jay To-Niko (left) and Celia Patrick at a Bank of New Zealand Breakthrough celebration in Wellington in January 2003. The Breakthrough program has built global momentum this year with 95 project teams established since mid-2002. | | | Revitalised culture
A number of initiatives are transforming our culture. The Breakthrough program engages our people, captures their ideas, and empowers them to find new ways of meeting customer needs. The program is delivering cost-saving and revenue-generation opportunities. The National, jointly with IBM, won the award for outstanding achievement in the 2003 Victorian Excellence and Leadership in Diversity Awards in the category of Employer of People with a Disability. The National was also a finalist in the category of Employer of Indigenous Australians. In New Zealand, more than 1,700 employees have participated in work/life balance seminars. We have transformed the way we manage people processes and provide people-related information. In Australia and New Zealand, employees can now efficiently access information and learning solutions online, or direct enquiries through dedicated people advisory centres. As part of our ongoing commitment to employee engagement, we conducted another global employee opinion survey. The results show a continued upward trend in employee satisfaction and are being used to target additional opportunities to create a high performance culture. Business alignment
From 2004, globally, all employees will have the opportunity to participate in the Economic Value Added (EVA®) Share Offer, which is a reward for their contribution to the Group's results through the granting of National shares. THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP STANDARD
- Creating movement
Focus on action, encourage talent, harness energy. - Display superb balance
Balance work, home and stakeholder demands while valuing community, diversity and your team. Balance short- and long-term interests. - Challenge boundaries
Use collaboration and flexibility to challenge thinking.
Anticipate change; challenge assumptions. - Consistently deliver
Be customer-focused and outcome-driven.
Commit to Group goals and personal performance. - Positive and transparent
Speak and act honestly and openly. Display respect, trust, fairness and loyalty. | | 
