Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson lives in Hamilton, New Zealand, and has an MA(Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, an MBA from Waikato and a postgraduate certificate in business research, also from Waikato. He is a licensed practitioner with both Belbinâ Team Roles and ValueNetWorksâ. 

Tony's functional background is predominantly in the field of knowledge management and he works with people in organisations to solve real adaptive problems in real time and have fun doing it. As the principal of Urban Learning Ltd, he has been using action learning strategies to facilitate organisational and personal transformation since 1995. He has worked extensively with organisations in both Australia and New Zealand, (primarily though not exclusively in the public sector) and much of his consulting work has been with technical professionals in the science, energy and health sectors. With a background of 20 years’ senior management experience in local government and executive education, Tony brings both a pragmatic and a strategic perspective to the art and science of supporting sustainable organisational change.

Most of Tony’s recent consulting work has focused on action learning based leadership development and problem solving, two themes which are closely related and which share a focus on resolving the adaptive problems that hinder optimal organisational performances.  He encourages reflective practices that identify and maximise the potential benefits of the change process, rather than merely framing and solving the initial problem. Tony is also regularly called on to facilitate public and industry meetings when difficult subjects need to be discussed and areas of broad consensus found. Past assignments have ranged across topics as diverse as facilitating development of a state-wide water resources plan, and negotiating stakeholder investment responses to an $800m 21^st century learning community.