Tailored innovative approach to build business leaders
Foster Group creates future leaders with the help of Wintec | Te Pūkenga
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Leadership capability is quite often learnt on the job. However, many businesses are now reaping the benefits of investing time and resources into their people of all levels, with the help of Wintec | Te Pūkenga.
Today’s business environment requires resilience, adaptability and practical skill sets around business topics such as communication, dealing with change and conflict, and strategies for developing teams.
For four years, Wintec | Te Pūkenga has offered tailored professional development programmes for businesses. Companies that are continuing to experience great outcomes from these programmes include Foster Group, Kalós Windows & Doors and Vestas New Zealand Wind Technology Ltd, to name a few.
Wintec | Te Pūkenga has decided to share some of the epic testimonials coming from this space in a mini-series over the next few weeks. To kick us off we spoke with Chief Operating Officer at Foster Group Waikato and Bay of Plenty, Nigel Sun.
Sun said select staff had completed two Future Leaders' programmes and were part way through a third. These were set up to target people with minimal leadership experience and, he said they have held one intermediate programme, aimed at middle management, and are currently co – designing a senior leaders programme which will target those in executive leadership roles.
Sun said the idea was to help each stream grow and learn so that they could get to the next step.
"With more than 200 staff, we wanted to teach leadership from entry level right through to the top. So, we've run the first two courses and are just in the process of designing the senior version with Wintec | Te Pūkenga.
"I knew what we wanted to achieve in terms of our leadership programmes and that Wintec was exceptional in the tradespeople space. The entire teaching and development team have proven to be an innovative and supportive training provider.
"When I first connected with Michelle Pearse and the team at Wintec Professional Programmes, we co-designed the programmes together. It was invaluable to help shape what we wanted the programmes to be with our business in mind."
Once the programmes were tailored the Wintec team matched each topic with the ideal facilitator, drawing on a pool of local expert talent.
Sun said that the ability to match the program with a specific facilitator ensured the participants receive maximum learning and development opportunities.
"Having the right people deliver the course is key to the successful programme delivery. Not only that, it's an excellent opportunity for people from different parts of the business to get to know each other, people who wouldn't usually cross over.
“Teaching all our leaders and future leaders the same skills means they are all on the same page. This approach gives us consistency across the board and feeds into our extraordinary culture. We've seen a better connection between the business units because of more interaction."
Sun said six of the people who have completed the programme have been promoted since.
"I just think the relationship that we've built with Wintec | Te Pūkenga is exceptional. They've made it so easy for us to deliver these programmes to our staff by coming to us onsite. By coming to us means the facilitators get to see the business first-hand and experience the culture, which makes their delivery more tailored," Sun said.
One of the Wintec Training Consultants, Michelle Pearse, says these programmes are for any business to upskill their team to become leaders in a broad range of critical topics.
"We want to make these programmes available to any business. We have an amazing team of facilitators available to support here. We understand that each business is unique, so we tailor them to any business needs, so it is delivered at a time and location that suits best."
Wintec offer around 70 different professional development programmes, all of which can be tailored to the needs of each industry.
There are two training consultants in the team, Marty Lowry and Michelle Pearse. They connect with leaders and senior managers of a given business, to discuss the specific areas of personnel development required. A training needs analysis is completed in order to provide the most appropriate tailored programme.
Each topic is run as a one-day workshop, Pearse said they are very interactive and the participants learn a lot from the facilitator as well as each other. The workshops are designed to provide skills-based learning relevant to the workplace environment.
“We tailor the workshops to a variety of needs such as personal performance, leadership development, mental health, first aid and more,” Pearse said.
She said there could be more than one facilitator working on the programme depending on the needs of each business.
“It’s about connecting each company with the relevant subject matter expert, in order to help them learn and grow in the way they want to,” she said.
Wintec resident facilitator, Delia Beuker, has an extensive background in people development and communications, having worked with a large range of industries - from small business to corporate environments for over 25 years.
Beuker understands how challenging the current business environment is and the importance of upskilling individuals and teams to be more adaptable, resilient and confident in their day-to-day roles.
“We’re moving forward from the pandemic now, and what’s really important for businesses going forward, is that leaders and their teams are aligned through common goals and work towards creating a really positive workplace culture – that’s vital.”
Beuker said for a business to perform at its best, its people needed to be at their best. This was something Wintec | Te Pūkenga could help with through these tailored programmes.
“We’ve already helped so many businesses. Those who have successfully completed the programme, have just gone from strength to strength. The purpose of each programme is really to enable individuals to find their strengths so they can become more confident and be more effective in their decision making and in their roles as a whole. This is what we have seen happen in the likes of Foster Group.”
Delia said Foster Group had an extraordinary workplace culture and were committed to investing in their people.
“The Leadership Programme helps individuals to uncover their personal strengths through self-awareness, which in turn, improves self-confidence, the ability to think on their feet, and adapt to changing situations. It also assists in building stronger relationships and being more effective and resilient.”
Right now is the perfect time to take your business forward into the future. To talk to our Professional Programmes team about your business goals and how a tailored Leadership Programme can work for you, contact: Michelle Pearse: michelle.pearse@wintec.ac.nz or Marty Lowry: marty.lowry@wintec.ac.nz.
