Centell was invited to carry out an audit of the Sky City culture as a prelude to making recommendations on the action the organisation should take to maintain and improve its business effectiveness. The project was led by Tom Jaap who conducted a series of interviews with all the senior executives and staff from different parts of the organisation. A number of focus groups were held with a wide range of operational staff to obtain their suggestions on what changes they would like to see implemented that would enable them to operate more effectively. Tom was invited to present his findings and make recommendations to the chief executive. The outcome was a request for Centell to develop a culture-shaping programme that was piloted at an off-site two day workshop with 24 of the top executives and facilitated by Tom. This was how the SKYCITY WAY programme was born and following two other pilot workshops that Tom facilitated with managers from different divisions the programme was launched in 2002 and continues today as every new manager is required to attend after three months in the business.

The success of the SKYCITY WAY programme led to Tom being asked to design and run a Learning Development Centre for high potential managers. The first centre was run in March 2003 with 12 participants from different parts or the business at an off-site location near Auckland. This first centre was considered a success by the coaches and participants with a second centre being run in November 2003 with 9 participants considered to be future high potential senior managers. Once again the feedback and subsequently improved performance on the job by the participants has demonstrated the value of the programme to the business. The latest project that Tom has been invited to conduct is to design a follow-up programme to the SCW programme that will be intended to reinforce the learning from the initial workshop by sharing the successes that have been achieved by people doing things differently and more effectively since attending the initial SCW programme. The first pilots will be facilitated by Tom in February 2004 before being implemented throughout the business immediately thereafter.