"I think the Rio Games were a bit up and down, but the nice thing was that on the Olympic front, there were nine sports that medalled. I think that shows a systems approach - it wasn't just one sport that got all the medals, and you want that diversity.
"It's a little bit wider than just winning medals - it's that inspirational component, that composition, how those athletes went back to the community as well. There's a wider aspect - certainly now in terms of return on investment, that's what the government is looking at as well."
Baumann believes New Zealand sport has an advantage on a majority of nations thanks to their rapport and cooperation with the country's biggest sporting national bodies.
"One of the strengths of the New Zealand system is that we do have a collaborative approach with the national sporting organisations, where we can have that open and honest conversation and there's a healthy balance between trust and accountability."
HPSNZ will conduct a worldwide search to replace Baumann, who has some words of his advice for his eventual successor.
"We have to make sure that our high performance athlete development program - those athletes that are six or eight years away - are looked after, and sometimes that's a difficult balance between putting resources into those that are already there and those that will be there beyond 2020 and 2024.
"We have to ensure that we pick the right athletes and then provide them with the right support systems to ensure they have those opportunities to excel."
