Leading By Example
How IANZ brings values to life.
Who are they?
IANZ safeguards the health and wellbeing of New Zealand by ensuring the organisations that test, inspect, or certify the products and services we rely on are safe, accurate, and trustworthy.
Culture Movers began working with IANZ in 2021, when the organisation sought to reignite its engagement survey, last run in 2019. Together, we redesigned the survey to explore both engagement and culture, using positive psychology to craft statements that encouraged employees not just to rate their experience, but to offer thoughtful feedback and practical ideas for improvement.
Values quickly emerged as a key focus. When Kylie Telford stepped into the role of GM – Organisation Performance and Enablement, she made it a priority to turn employee feedback into meaningful action. Here's what Kylie had to say about how IANZ shifted from talking about values to living them every day
What can we do for YOU?
We specialise in untangling areas like communication, technology, and workloads, through human-centered methods that are actually kinda fun.
Here's some past requests we've helped untangle...
47 Employees
We have quite a hybrid workforce and it just seems a bit disconnected at the moment. There's so many forms of communication in the organisation, it's a bit of a nightmare. How do we create more of a community and create more cohesion with teams?
18 Employees
We're a small team delivering a high volume of work but our systems suck! We have about 15 different systems and none of them talk to each other. Help!
53 Employees
People are feeling completely overloaded and leadership have suggested stress management training but I'm not sure this is going to fix the issue. How can we deliver a budget-friendly solution that suits everyone?
Only 23% of employees say they can apply their organisation’s values to their everyday work.
— Gartner, 2022
Why are Values so important at IANZ?
Values are the foundation of our organisational culture.- Kylie expands on this:
They guide decision-making, shape our behaviours, and define how we interact with each other, our clients, and our stakeholders.
“When values are clearly understood and consistently demonstrated, they create alignment, build trust, and enable a cohesive and resilient workforce.” - Kylie Telford
IANZ 'Living the Values' score has jumped up +27% but the real measure is in the feedback...
"My manager leads with authenticity and integrity - they truly live the values we have"
How do you measure whether your values are truly lived?
At IANZ, values aren’t just a poster on the wall—they’re a practice. Kylie explains:
For us, values are the foundation of everything,. They guide how we make decisions, how we behave, and how we relate to others—internally and externally.
We also recognised that our organisational values must align with the personal values of our kaimahi. That connection is vital. So we asked people not just about IANZ values, but about their own—and how the two intersect.
This innovative approach allowed IANZ to assess whether their values were genuinely shared, not simply stated.
They also view values as more than aspirational ideals. Instead, they’re a daily reference point for alignment across teams, especially in a complex, high-trust environment.
Values should cultivate a culture that feels strong, human, and clear—even in uncertain times. - Kylie Telford
Measure how your organisation is currently doing with values through our mini survey
Measuring Values: Not Just Talk—Evidence
IANZ doesn’t assume its values are working, they test that assumption. Their approach to measuring authenticity includes a balance of formal and informal feedback:
- Regular informal and formal employee engagement surveys
- Performance conversations and retrospectives
- Listening sessions and pulse checks
- A focus on how values show up in actual decisions, not just in policy
Crucially, they pay close attention to how values are referenced in recognition systems and team storytelling. And they centre the voices of their kaimahi, who actively shape and reinforce what values mean in action.
“We listen to and amplify the voices of our kaimahi... and we work to celebrate that.” - Kylie Telford
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Want to Give Your Values A Voice? Get a facilitated session for your team.
Leadership in Action: Keeping Values Alive
At IANZ, leadership is accountable for more than results—it’s responsible for modelling the culture. As the Senior Leadership team puts it:
“We lead by example, ensuring our values are not just stated, but lived.”
This means values are embedded across communication, feedback, and team rhythms. The leadership team routinely:
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Shares real examples of values in action
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Celebrates small moments that reflect big ideas
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Reconnects with how values feel—not just what they say
Kylie says this intentionality matters:
“We invest time in regularly refreshing our values and the emotions they evoke, to make sure they stay relevant and genuinely connected to the way we work.”
Keen to improve how your organisation lives their values?
Partnering with Culture Movers
To support this work, IANZ partnered with Culture Movers to deepen the connection between personal and organisational values.
The result? More meaningful dialogue, stronger alignment, and a renewed sense of ownership and pride in the values that guide IANZ forward.
IANZ reaffirmed a powerful truth: values only matter when they’re felt.
That’s exactly what our Giving Our Values a Voice workshop offers: a space to make values meaningful, actionable, and truly lived.