Meet Nicola
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ko Ingarangi te whakapaparangi mai
Ko Ōtautahi te kāinga
Ko Nicola Woodward tōku ingoa
My name is Nicola Woodward. In 2006 I moved from England, my country of birth, to settle in Aotearoa New Zealand. Today I call Christchurch home. I am honored to be Tangata Tiriti and recognise Māori as the Tangata Whenua of Aotearoa.
Moving to the other side of the world on my own was no small deal. But the risk worth taking has been rewarded by enormous personal growth enabled by wonderful people, amazing experiences and a challenge or two along the way.
My life purpose is to participate in our world with love, positivity and social conscience. I experience this most clearly when I’m supporting others on their journey towards their own purpose, personally, professionally or in business.
I believe that through individual and collective action, we have the power to positively influence and transform our life experiences. Yet, too often, we choose to focus on why we can’t, instead of how we can. I’ve learned that, by thoughtfully choosing how I relate, spend my time, what to treasure and let go, who I am and what I have the potential to achieve is expressed by how I am.
The 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes provided an unprecedented, time-limited opportunity for social investment, innovation and change. This is why, as a Christchurch local, I chose to participate in the region’s recovery by becoming CEO of Christchurch Women’s Refuge. For the next 9 years I stepped back from Be Company to lead the agency’s transformation into Aviva and hand-in-hand development of The Loft. I share the collective mindset shift that informed this multi-award winning journey of radical change in my 2017 TEDx talk.
My career choices have always been guided by a commitment to shift the systemic balance of power towards people, whānau and families experiencing social stigma, discrimination and exclusion. For example, as a nurse I co-pioneered the development of harm minimisation practice in the UK for people using drugs, and opened London’s first needle exchange service. At the London NHS Executive, I transformed the process of commissioning primary care research to enable balanced partnerships between health service users, providers and academics. As a national programme lead to reduce waiting times in the NHS, I created an innovative tool called ‘Emotion Mapping’, for the first time placing people’s emotional experiences at the heart of system redesign.
I have an MSc (Distinction) in Social Policy (Health Policy Option) and was an Honorary Fellow at Southampton University’s Institute for Policy Studies. I am a leadership development graduate of Cranfield University Business School (UK), the Presencing Institute (USA) and Organisational Development Institute (NZ), and a member of the International Coaching Federation. To keep stretching my brain I’m currently studying with the Neuro Leadership Institute.
