Stephanie McKee Wright
Director
Kia ora, I’m Stephanie, founder of Epic People.
I’ve worked in HR and Learning & Development for over 30 years! My career started at a time of great upheaval in NZ’s employment landscape, including things like the Smoke Free Environments Act. Yep, when I started my career there was still a smoking section in the lunch room!
Fast forward to now … I’m all grown up and I’ve had an enriching career working in all kinds of organisations, public and private, gigantic and small. I’ve worked in corporate travel, tech, hospitality (I owned a bar for a while … never again …), banking, finance and local government. I worked my way from HR Administrator to Director of People & Culture, so I understand every aspect of HR from the tiniest admin details to the strategic big picture.
Contact me to chat about leadership training and development, employee engagement or HR compliance. Let’s get epic together!
What gets me up in the morning?
But what I really love? Helping people with their development, for so many reasons, driven by my core beliefs …
- I believe in life-long learning.
- I believed that most people want to learn and grow.
- I believe that epic workplaces are created by people who have honed the fundamental leadership skills, and who are leading for the right reasons.
- I believe that employee engagement happens one person at a time – you need to look after individuals as well as having a company-wide engagement strategy.
I get a real kick from helping people who are early in their leadership journey, and those who have been ‘winging it’ as a leader for a while and who want to solidify their leadership skills.
I know from experience that there are many ‘reluctant leaders’ out there, especially in tech and different engineering fields. As teams grow, people are thrust into leadership roles, often after much cajoling. I have direct experience of people walking into my office and asking me … ‘so how do I be a team leader? What do I actually have to do?’.
Why choose me for your leadership development, team leader training, or employee engagement programs?
How I’m different from other leadership trainers, is I take concepts that are fluffy and intangible, and turn them into something solid and tangible. Using models, frameworks, techniques and conversation starters, skills that once seemed overwhelming and difficult to grasp, become manageable and practical. I have my own unique approach to employee engagement, which is proven to work.
What others have said about me
Click here to see some of the wonderful messages that I got when I left my last job, to start Epic People.
If you don’t want to open the document, here are a few snippets:
“… thank you for running the Change Agility training … I always enjoyed your sessions but found yesterday’s really resonated … it has helped me understand my journey better since the merger … I appreciate the examples you gave and feel I have more clarity.”
“Personally just wanted to say thank you … taking part in the New Managers Programme last year … Have always enjoyed your enthusiasm and the examples you gave. You have been very valuable to me in me (sic) journey through the integration …”
“ … you were amazing helping us with personal development and I personally loved your webinars …”
“… I have really appreciated the Leadership Conversation sessions you have run for us. … You provided a space for real reflection, learning lots of new relevant concepts, and sharing experiences. … I particularly appreciated how you made it a very open discussion where nobody’s response was wrong and everyone was welcome. We all really learned a lot.”
My qualifications
I am a certified to deliver SHL psychometric testing and am a certified Social Style social intelligence practitioner. I’m a qualified transformational coach and member of the International Coaching Federation.
I also hold qualifications in change management, adult learning, human resources and commerce. I have a graduate diploma in Business, majoring in Human Resources.
