Kalena Hirst Consulting

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Kalena Hirst Consulting

I help leaders lift team engagement and boost capability with easy, actionable tips and tricks.

20/05/2025

ne moderately sunny, but cool, Ashburton day (aka today) 5 kaiako sat in a room and between them they had an incredible 96 years teaching experience.

96! With only 5 kaiako! 😱

So why were they there? To start to set the strategy and direction of Ashburton Kindergartens for the next 3-5 years.

We dreamed big…in 2050 what will our community look and feel like? How can we meet those needs?

We dreamed small….what are we doing well now that needs small tweaks to really flourish?

Strategy aside, because that’s a post for another day, these 5 kaiako have so much experience because they are passionate about what they do. Day in and day out.

Having the pleasure of seeing the smallest change in tamariki keeps their fire alive.

Having the pleasure of being able to help the kaiako feel supported and valued so they can keep on doing what they do is what keeps my fire alive.

I couldn’t be more proud of them if I tried.

As one kaiako said today ‘if you don’t have passion then what do you have?’

12/04/2025

What.a.year.
Our first weekend as ‘not hospitality business owners’. Feels very freeing and such a weight off our shoulders.
I’ve learnt a lot about Hospo, about people & about myself.
I’m not quite sure how to get started back to writing & sharing because I really don’t know where to begin. But begin I will.
Right after some family downtime (bring on the school holidays!) 🥰

05/11/2024

My handwriting is getting progressively worse as I write these but this is definately a grateful moment. Grateful for autonomy, grateful for an awesome culture where everyone is genuinely working towards the same goal, grateful for this team of 38 who all bring something unique, & grateful for all my experiences that led me to this point. Warm fuzzies over, back to Get S**t Done mode….

19/09/2024

Before and after.
A re-brand journey that started 3 years ago and was 70% there when I joined the Association.
Didn’t take much to get some feedback, do a few revisions and launch this baby with

Sometimes you just need one last push to get something across the finish line, don’t let something that’s sooo close go to waste.

04/08/2024

It’s been 7 years since I challenged myself to an official event. I had to sign up and pay for the privilege of walking around my neighbourhood or I would never get around to it.

I’m keen for a 10km next time…..who knows of any good ones coming up in the next 3-6 months in the South Island?

31/07/2024

This week has been a bit rough. People continue to surprise me, in good and not so good ways.

I’ve struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I’ve excessively used the F word, I’ve cried, I’ve rage shredded a bunch of outdated paperwork.

And I’ve taken a moment to watch this graupel on the window early this morning.

Things aren’t always sunshine and rainbows, sometimes they’re graupel……cold, wet and a bit miserable (albeit pretty cool).
And then the sun came out when I got the green light for a fun new project ☀️ so I’ll try to focus on that instead.

11/07/2024

My business partner told me today I was brave for getting more tattoos because she finds them so painful.

Which got me thinking about lots of things about perspective and individual experiences (and about more tattoos) but mostly it got me thinking about what pain we’re willing to go through to reach an end goal.
It’s so different for all of us.

For me, suffering through career pain wasn’t worth it for the minimal job satisfaction I had. Instead I chose to sacrifice salary to gain more purpose, have more responsibility and to be back leading people in person. But my choice is different from what others may choose.

So what’s my point?

If you know what motivates you, and what pain you’re willing to put up with (and what pain isn’t worth it) to get there then I reckon you’ve got a head start on life satisfaction.

Credit to for the ink 🥰

03/07/2024

Today was a great day, quick trip down to Timaru this morning to join forces with another 3 teams.
Why spend hours each developing templates and tools when we have a shared purpose and commonality so we can leverage our collective knowledge and create a streamlined approach.

Before you start something from scratch why not see if there’s anyone else you can join forces with for a shared benefit?

11/06/2024

Not gunna lie, pretty mint stroll to Te Papa this morning for the NZK Leadership Hui.

24/05/2024

Celebrating 6,715 days of working for banks in NZ. The end of this chapter in my life.

Next stop: General Manager for the local kindergarten association. 5 centres, 33 staff and 150~ tamariki.

Let’s go 🤩

21/02/2024

Picture this, you’re great at your job.

You’re ready for something more, you're ready to step up.

But you know that if you get the job chances are you’re going to be thrown in the deep end and need to figure things out on the fly.

So, what can you do now to lay the foundations?

You can check out my first LinkedIn Article that's what.....click the photo below to read.

28/01/2024

You’re a great leader!

Yes, you!

Do you know what makes you great? Probably not.
Do you know what to do more of? Maybe, maybe not.

How about if I said ‘I really like that you ask everyone in our team for their opinions and you really consider those ideas, it makes us feel like we’re a team and not just every person for themselves’.

Now do you know what to do more of? You betcha!

Giving compliments is cool, giving specific compliments is even cooler ❄️❄️

Address

Ashburton

Website

http://www.KalenaHirst.co.nz/

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