A compassionate Treasury

Your regular reminder that Treasury today is rather different from the Treasury of the 80s and 90s.

I'm going to copy and paste rather more of this than I usually would, just in case the thing gets deleted.

There's a $35 registration fee for this event at Treasury.

I have no clue whether the money goes to the folks running the session or what; I suspect it covers a cost of the deck of cards provided. But they recommend that attendees buy a deck of their cards in advance as practice as well, so attendees would wind up with double the compassion. It's wonderful how Treasury is helping to promote a small business by hosting it and encouraging folks to buy its products.

Minister Jones would approve, if Heartwork were based in the Provinces.

Here's the pitch. Treasury is Love.

Imagine surprising Aotearoa with a strain of compassion so delightful that it re-wires our collective consciousness!

COME TO THIS SOCIAL LAB TO CONNECT AND CREATE TOGETHER.

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Heartwork

+ Fiona Ross - The Treasury Chief Operating Officer

+ David Dougherty - The Treasury Manager Strategy and Performance

+ 24 curious and creative people at The Treasury

have been experimenting in the social lab.

We’ve created a "compassion starter culture" - a network of people who want to create a more compassionate culture in Aotearoa, starting where we are - in our workplaces.
We’ve been playing and rapidly prototyping with the Heartwork Wellbeing Card Game* - now available publicly.
We know that the intention for what we want to create has a huge power.
We don’t have all the answers. And we can't do this mahi alone.

So we’d like to invite you into this social lab.

So we can grow an even more beautiful, and more resilient strain together.
We'll share what we’re learning while we’re still metabolising.

Come along to:

• Hear from Fiona Ross about what she’s been learning from her experiments with the Heartwork cards in her work as Chief Operating Officer of the Treasury.
  
• Meet the Heartwork team and understand the potential they see for people to be 1) meeting their own needs 2) meeting each others' needs and 3) creating more delightful outcomes together with Aotearoa.
  
• Learn at least three powerful ways you can use the Heartwork cards to cultivate a 'win-win-win' culture for Aotearoa, your teams and yourself.
  
• Play the card game and share stories with other people who care deeply about people.
  
• Connect with other people who want to cultivate compassion throughout Aotearoa.
  
• Contribute ideas and co-create with us as we consider how to take this kaupapa forward together.
  

Watch our video about the card game here.

"The cards are a really good way to recognise what you need to do to end up with positive outcomes. After using them I felt more complete, certain of what [the other person's] feelings and needs were, and was able to come up with different strategies to find solutions for negative feelings I was having." - Penny

"Before having [a] chat I used the cards to check in on what I wanted to feel and not feel, and what I wanted them to feel and not feel. This really helped me identify my needs and what I wanted out of the conversations- which then helped me put together a really quick plan. And it took 5 mins tops. So I went in more prepared emotionally as well as intellectually; and being more intentional is a work-on for me.

As a result I feel the conversation went well and I am more confident in my decision and the reasons for it..." - Sam

*win-win-win: good for you, good for others in your organisation, and good for society as a whole.

FAQS: (contact us if you have other questions that aren't answered here)

It sounds like this event is targeted to people who work in government. Can I attend if I don't work in the public service?

Yep - if this invitation speaks to you, you're more than welcome to attend.

Can I take home my Heartwork cards on the night?

Yep. We recommend ordering your cards through our website now, and we'll give you a pack to take home on the night.

I can't make it until 5.30pm. Can I arrive late?

No can do sorry. The Treasury security system means that you will need to arrive promptly at 4.45pm to be able to get into the building.

I, for one, love that this is a priority both for Operations and for Strategy and Performance at Treasury, as indicated by the attendance and presumed endorsement of the Chief Operating Officer and the Manager for Strategy and Performance.

Just imagine how better Treasury would have been prepared for the currency crisis after Muldoon lost election if they had thought to consult both their sun feelings and their moon feelings. I don't know how New Zealand came through it without that. But we will be far better prepared for the next crisis. Treasury may have few remaining economists, but every single person who remains there will care deeply.

And surely that matters more than anything else.

Update: Here's Newshub's take on it, with reporting by Tova O'Brien. The Prime Minister doesn't know what moon feelings are; Treasury refused to answer questions about it.