Build the capacity for profitable growth.
Ostix helps arboriculture and vegetation-management employers improve the productive capacity and profitability of their operations.
We work with you to understand what makes your operation successful and how people, crews, equipment and work can be organised to take it further.
Experience across the workforce system
Nearly two decades in arboriculture spanning business ownership, frontline work, contracting, crew leadership and organisational improvement.
Original workforce research
Master’s research examining the causes of recruitment and retention difficulties among skilled arborists in New Zealand.
National and international industry speaker
Presented arboricultural workforce research and practical workforce strategy to industry audiences in New Zealand and internationally.
Strategy grounded in operations
Experience developing and implementing workforce changes alongside owners, managers and field crews in a growing arboriculture business.
SERVICES
What Ostix does
PROCESS
Working together
You know your operation and what you want to achieve. I bring a fresh perspective, workforce research, and dedicated time to work through the detail. Together, we develop improvements, put them into practice and assess the results, working with the people, equipment and resources available. Your team helps shape the changes, and I stay involved as we test and refine them in day-to-day operations.
This involves a sustained commitment from both sides, with agreed responsibilities, time set aside to make changes and follow-through to see whether they improve performance.
01
Agree on the objective
We establish what you want to improve or figure out. Then agree on the scope, fee, timing and involvement needed from your team, with a clear picture of what a useful result would look like.
02
Understand the operation
I work directly with the relevant managers and staff, combining their experience with available records and observation. We examine what already works well and how people, equipment and work are organised, building an explanation your team can challenge and refine.
03
Develop and test options
I develop practical options and examine their likely benefits, costs and demands on your team. We test the assumptions together and decide what is worth pursuing.
04
Put agreed changes into practice
Your team leads day-to-day delivery. I develop the agreed tools or processes, support trials and help assess the results. Together we review what is working and adjust where needed, with further support agreed around the task and your team’s capacity.
ABOUT
Who I am
Hi, I’m James Isaacs.
My route into workforce strategy began with enterprise development and business ownership. I founded an Auckland arboriculture company, developed deep technical and frontline knowledge of the work, and experienced how scarce skilled labour could constrain an otherwise growing business.
That problem became the basis of my Master of Business Studies research into skill mismatches and worker shortages. Although bounded to arboriculture, the research examined broader questions about labour markets, skill development, work design and productive capacity.
I later returned to the company in operational and business-improvement roles, working alongside its owner, management and employees as its workforce systems evolved.
Ostix brings those perspectives together: enterprise strategy, original workforce research and direct operational experience.
FAQ
Your questions answered
Frequently asked questions
Get in Touch
Tell me about your business, what is working well and what you are aiming for next. We can discuss whether there is a useful piece of work to do together.