Russell Bell: How supporting community organisations is good for business

St George's school children with Katy Dang (left), Aisling Mararara and Eliza Newton at front celebrated Daffodil Day with plenty of golden blooms and gold coins for the Cancer Society.

From time to time your staff and/or team will surprise you. More often than not our staff go above and beyond when it comes to client requirements, and this includes when a request comes out of the blue.

One of the things that I am passionate about is teamwork but also how our team gives back to the community. We do this in a number of ways and our primary focus for community work is the Cancer Society.

Now, most of us, at some stage in our life, have (or will) be impacted by cancer. In my own family the disease took my father well before his time and has impacted friends and acquaintances. It is a truism that, as diseases go, it is one of the most prevalent in modern New Zealand and also the world. And, in some cases, it can impact people without a support network.

So, organisations like the Cancer Society are crucial to understanding, managing and supporting cancer as it raises its head – often without any warning.

So, as can probably be readily deciphered, I am personally invested in the fundraising activities Balance undertakes. These span events like the relay for life, at time for reflection and joining with the whole community to look cancer in the eye and better it, through to our own Balance events – being a regular quiz and, last weekend, our team successfully managed a golf tournament, dinner and auction at Belmont Golf Course.

I'm actually quite emotional as I write this because I am beyond proud when I think about the incredible mahi and effort that our team put in to effectively run and cater a significant community event – raising more than $8000 in the process.

To do this, our team (effectively Brooke, Jenny, Katy and Charlotte) had to run a project to plan, execute and complete the event. And it ran like a Swiss watch, so much so that I am even today hearing great positive reports of the day and how the event transpired.

It is always good to see your team working well together with a common goal and a drive towards exceeding expectations. There is so much power in people working together that, often, when everyone puts in the effort, great things can be achieved. True, there is the requirement for vision and leadership but in the case of our team this really was a team effort – so thanks needs to go to our other staff, particularly Di, Marj and Michelle – without whom the day would not have run so smoothly. My own contribution was tiny compared to the names above but even if there are small contributions they can be valuable to the overall result.

It is also important to recognise those in the community who helped us out and provided time and donations to ensure the day was a roaring success – thank you.

If you have a team of staff in your business, I would encourage you to invest in team development and also to look for opportunities that your business can utilise its team strengths to give back to the community. For those who are already doing this, congratulations! It is the ultimate "win-win" strategy. And to the Balance team – a very proud "well done!!" and I'm looking forward to the next successful community event(s) in 2020.