Before we even start lets be clear.
If you come to this workshop and leave thinking you could have spent the time better elsewhere, I will refund you DOUBLE your workshop fee.
“We'll sort strategy out after the election.” is not a viable plan of action.
If you've said that, or thought it, this half day is built for you.
Here's the arithmetic nobody does on themselves. Election day is Saturday 7 November. Then the official count. Then the writs. Then coalition talks, which always run longer than anyone plans for. Then Christmas, and nothing serious happens in a New Zealand business between the 20th of December and the end of January. “After the election” is the first working week of February.
And the reason for waiting doesn't hold up
The assumption underneath the delay is that election years are slow. They aren't. New Zealand election years have averaged 3.1% GDP growth since 1990, against a long-run average of 2.8%. Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon calls the idea that elections are bad for the economy “a bit of an urban legend.”
Gordon also looked at house sales, building consents, vehicle registrations and job ads, and found no consistent pattern before or after elections either way.
So there's no election effect to wait out. There's just the waiting.
This isn't a prediction session
We're not going to tell you the next six months will be good. Nobody knows that, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing.
Here's what we do know. If it's tough, the businesses that plan and take ACTION will take market share off the ones that sit and wait.
If it's good, the businesses that planned will be the ones positioned to catch it. There is no version of the next six months where sitting still is the winning move.
That's the whole argument, and it's why this is a working session rather than a talk.
What you'll walk away with
A one-page plan, finished before you leave the room. Not homework, not a template to fill in later
The three or four priorities that actually matter for the next two quarters, separated from everything else
The single biggest thing you can start tomorrow to finish the year strong
A clear read on where your business is genuinely exposed right now, and where it isn't
A straight answer on whether your strategy and your marketing are pulling in the same direction, or against each other
A repeatable way to run this again yourself next quarter, without us in the room
Who's running it
Glenn Marvin is a Scaling Up certified business coach, founder of Connect the Dots and COO at Norling Law. He works with New Zealand business owners on the four decisions that determine whether a company scales or stalls: people, strategy, execution and cash. He also owns one of NZ's leading marketing consultancies and sees strategy from both a business and marketing strategy perspective.
John McConnell has spent more than 30 years running businesses, including one of New Zealand's largest construction and property groups. His career spans construction, infrastructure and property development across the McConnell Group businesses, investment banking in New Zealand and on Wall Street, and engineering. He's a Scaling Up-certified coach and a Senior Coach at Connect the Dots. John puts it like this: “It's hard work and running them can be a lonely task. There are huge pressures to perform while making judgement calls without all the information.”
When he asks CEOs and business owners about their daily pressure, this is what he hears back: “I am the only one making all the decisions, working 24/7 with never enough time for myself or my family.”
If that's familiar, you'll be in the right room.
The detail
Monday 12 October 2026
8:30am to 12:30pm
The Icehouse, Level 4, Textile Centre, 125 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell, Auckland $150 + GST and fees (Still less than $200)
Limited seats. One date.
Includes morning tea and a printed one-page plan template to take away.
Know any other business owners who are action takers and need a plan?
You've almost certainly got contacts who talk about strategy (or constant challenges in their business) and haven't moved on to take action.
Refer three who register and attend, and you, or one of your clients, gets 4 months free in our group coaching programme, worth $3,400. The next cohort launches in November, so four free months run through to the end of February. Which is about when everyone waiting for the election will just be getting started. Thats a great head start!
Email support@connectthedots.co.nz if you have other businesses you want (or have referred) to attend.
Please note: There might be photos and videos taken on the day of the event. If you don't want to appear on camera, please let the host know, and we will endeavour to exclude you from the recording.
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