Governing beyond the numbers

Geni Ah Tong

When Geni Ah Tong talks about growth, she isn’t thinking about rising participation numbers, a calendar full of initiatives or a thicker stack of quarterly reports.  

For her, genuine growth shows up in healthier systems, stronger community capability and durable shifts that make wellbeing easier over generations, not just funding cycles.

It’s a definition that sits in sharp contrast to the traditional governance lens. Many boards still rely on numerical indicators and assume that rising figures equal progress.  

“Those metrics can be useful,” says Ah Tong, “but they rarely show whether inequities have narrowed or whether organisations have built the relationships and systems that long-term wellbeing requires.”

This distinction shapes her leadership philosophy and her expectations of boards. Growth, she argues, must be understood as systems improvement, community empowerment and the courage to challenge inherited models – not simply doing more, faster.

Leadership through service

Ah Tong’s perspective is shaped by O le ala i le pule o le tautua, the Samoan principle that the pathway to leadership is through service. She describes service as a strength when it enables leaders to show up for others.  

Early in her career she said “yes” to everything, believing it was always the right thing to do. She later realised that service must be paired with priorities and boundaries. “True stewardship is not self-sacrifice, but knowing where you can make the greatest difference,” she says.

That worldview also informs how she thinks about risk and long-term stewardship. “I approach risk through a collective lens, considering not just financial implications but cultural integrity and long-term wellbeing.”  

Stewardship, in her eyes, means safeguarding relationships, values and trust across generations. Directors must listen deeply, enable co-design and ensure growth reflects identity and equity.

Her career across the Department of Corrections, community sport and public health has reinforced the limitations of defining success by participation alone. “Participation tells you how many people showed up, not whether they were well supported, culturally understood or meaningfully served.”

As a former athlete, she also saw the pressures young people face, reinforcing her belief in inclusive systems and culturally safe environments.

Systems thinking and governance capability

Ah Tong places strong emphasis on systems thinking – an approach she believes boards must embrace if they want enduring impact. Rather than funding more programmes, she encourages directors to ask deeper questions: “Why aren’t young people participating and what barriers exist – transport, cost, cultural relevance, school schedules or family wellbeing?”

She is clear that effective governance requires courage, curiosity, creativity and cultural intelligence. Boards must be willing to sit with complexity, avoid quick fixes and stay anchored to purpose.  

“Directors need to stay comfortable when the path forward is not linear,” she says. “It is not just about compliance – it’s about being willing to explore, challenge and collaborate.”

Stories as evidence

One of Ah Tong’s more provocative contributions to governance thinking is her insistence that storytelling belongs in board papers as legitimate evidence. Traditional reporting focuses on outputs because funders require them, yet systems change is long-term and relational.  

At Healthy Families Ōtautahi, where she is Manager, storytelling is woven into accountability frameworks. She highlights work supporting older adults to return to growing traditional crops, reconnecting them with cultural knowledge while feeding themselves and wider family members.

“The impact is deep, yet invisible in numerical reporting,” she says. “How do you quantify cultural reconnection or the ripple effect when an elder regains mana through providing kai?”

Stories often reveal insights that data alone cannot.

Ah Tong argues boards serious about systems change must advocate for wider accountability models – not abandoning rigour but expanding what counts as evidence.

“Boards need to look for what has genuinely shifted and how communities have been strengthened,” she says. “Success cannot be reduced to activity counts. We need to value measures that capture long-term change, including stories that reflect community-led solutions.”

Cultural capability as governance competence

Equity and cultural capability remain central themes in Ah Tong’s governance work. Pacific and Māori understandings of wellbeing place strong emphasis on collective wellbeing, connection and lived experience.

“Boards that fail to integrate these worldviews risk reinforcing inequity,” she says. Diversity at the board table must translate into influence, not tokenism.

As the only Pacific director on the Mainland Football board, she is clear: “I’m there as a decision-maker, not an observer.”  

But genuine inclusion requires more than diverse appointments. Many recruitment processes unintentionally exclude Pacific and Māori candidates because they privilege individualised achievement over collective contribution.  

Ah Tong encourages boards to review recruitment and governance processes for hidden barriers. Equity, she argues, requires proportional investment – placing resources where need is greatest rather than distributing them equally.  

She also stresses the importance of data that can reveal inequities clearly. Boards should look beyond performance metrics to disaggregated equity data, cultural engagement indicators and qualitative insights showing whether systems are working for those most in need.

“Systemic bias often comes from design fault, not intent,” she says. Directors should be asking:  

• • Who is missing and why?  
  • Which policies or processes inadvertently reinforce exclusion?  
  • What information is needed to fully understand impact?

Partnership ecosystems are another cornerstone of Ah Tong’s governance philosophy. At Sport Canterbury, relationships span Health New Zealand, ACC, the Ministry of Education and local government.  

She encourages boards to champion partnership thinking and ensure strategy remains nimble enough to respond to changing conditions, including natural disasters.

There is also growing tension in governing for long-term change when funders often demand short-term metrics. “Boards need to support staff to work on underlying systems, not just on delivery,” she says.  

That means protecting time for relationship-building, cultural capability development and the slower work of co-design. It also means fronting honest conversations with funders about meaningful accountability. Some will be open to this dialogue; others will not. Directors need to decide whether they will lead that discussion or simply comply.

“The balance directors need is informed curiosity paired with robust oversight.”

For Ah Tong, governing for growth is not about doing more. It is about doing what matters – supporting communities to lead, shifting the conditions that hold problems in place and redefining success in ways that reflect real change rather than rising numbers.

She leaves directors with a simple question: What has genuinely shifted because of your organisation’s work, and how do you know?  

If the answer relies solely on participation numbers or outputs delivered, it may be time to look deeper.