Jarrod Telford has been with Downer since 2010, when he joined the Rail Projects team as a carpenter. In 2014 he was selected to join the very first Te Ara Whanake and, from there, he took up an opportunity to become a fulltime facilitator for this transformational programme.

Since then, Jarrod has developed into being both the Programme Manager for Te Ara Whanake (Downer’s Māori leadership programme) and for Te Ara Māramatanga (an immersion course for non-Māori employees). In addition, he has acted as the Māori Advisor for many of our teams and is a representative on the Te Korowai Māori Development Advisory Board.

Now, Jarrod has transitioned into a newly created role as Pou Matua – Māori Development & Cultural Advisory Lead. This role reflects the progress he has made over the years in building these vital programmes, advising and guiding the business, and building strong and productive relationships with mana whenua.

Jarrod talks us through his career pathway, and his goals for Māori leadership within Downer.

How did you get your start in the Corporate Social Outcomes team, after working in operations?

It was a great opportunity to do something really different, opening up a whole different part of the business for me. I came off the tools and started facilitating full time, then I had the chance to progress into programme management. That work took up about half my time in the role, as it turned out there was also a lot of demand from the business for cultural advice, use of te reo, brand protection, and so on.

How was the role of Pou Matua developed?

Well, I’m happy and have great job satisfaction, I could easily have stayed in my current role. However, you get to a certain point and you need to think about succession planning, someone needs to come in behind me, so I needed somewhere to progress to.

We had talked about it for a while already, but in 2023, once Downer’s Transformation programme was underway Craig West (NZ Country Lead, and EGM T&I) needed someone with knowledge of the business and existing relationships to drive Māori strategies for Downer.

As Pou Matua, what will you be focused on?

I will be Downer’s cultural advisory and Māori development lead, driving a lot of strategic initiatives that come out of Te Korowai – that’s my main focus.

I’m still going to be retaining my relationship with CSO team and the programmes they run, particularly in working with mana whenua and external partners. And I’ll also being available to all business units as an advisor. For example, with the Water team right now, I’m working on learning modules for when teams go out in the field, helping them to understand legislation, know what they’re working with, and build their cultural capital.

What are the benefits of this role for Downer?

For the business, the role of Pou Matua gives visibility within our industry, showing that we take Māori development and engagement seriously.

Māori economy is worth approximately $60b, and it’s also part of the Construction Accord to develop Māori capacity in this sector. And at Downer we know we have to focus on attracting the workforce of the future – by 2050 one in three children born in New Zealand will be Māori. So, we know we need to be an organisation that genuinely reflects Māori values we’re aiming to lead the pack – and this is one of my personal motivations. I’m competitive! And to be an industry leader you must be innovative, on top of your game, embody your values, and be genuine.

What’s your long-term goal for Downer?

I wouldn’t be in this role if the idea at Downer was just “we need your Māori voice here in order to win business.” When coaching these teams, I’m not here to ‘put the brown icing on the cake’, as they say.

I want others at Downer to learn it, then own it, and not need me. My hope is that when I’m not here our people are still able to pronounce words correctly; are still able to really speak to the values with intention and substance, not tokenism. If my role ever starts leaning toward tokenism, I let people know so we change that.

Our ambition is to be seen as a company that places value on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, places importance on the mana whenua of New Zealand, and that we are a great contributor to ‘NZ inc.’

In the long-term, I hope that kids in schools who are looking at careers would say, “yep, that’s a company I want to work for. They look like me, they sound like me, they reflect my values.”

How do you think the company is progressing toward those goals?

We’re lucky, because we’ve started our journey and we’ve started it with good people supporting it. We are progressing, and if you ask our senior leaders why we’re doing this, they’d say it’s because it’s the right thing to do.

Te Ara Whanake was set up nearly 10 years ago because we don’t have enough visible Māori leadership, through the SLT there’s not much diversity – our ground crews obviously look very different! We’re doing the right things to change this, but there’s still a long way to go to get rid of those glass ceilings, and to see our people in front line rolls take up leadership positions.

Learn more about Downer’s Māori leadership programmes, delivered by the Corporate Social Outcomes team, and about Our Tikanga (values).

Jarrod Telford (left) with a group attending Te Ara Māramatanga, at Te Mahurehure Marae