Wintec | Te Pūkenga tailored innovative approach to build business leaders

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.

Foster’s leaders at every level benefit from targeted programmes

Chief Operating Officer at Foster Group Waikato and Bay of Plenty, Nigel Sun said select staff had completed two Future Leaders’ programmes and were part way through a third, which were targeted to people with minimal leadership experience. He said they have also 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 executive 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 programme with a specific facilitator ensured the participants received maximum learning and development opportunities.

“Having the right people deliver the course is key to the successful programme delivery.

“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.”

Sun said six of the people who have completed the programme have been promoted since.

He added that bringing together people from different parts of the business helped people who wouldn’t usually cross over, to get to know each other.

“We’ve seen a better connection between the business units because of more interaction.”

Sun also really valued the fact that the programmes were delivered onsite at Fosters.

“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.

Providing skills-based learning relevant to the workplace environment

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 offers 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 were very interactive and the participants learn a lot from the facilitator as well as each from 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 in-house 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.”

Beuker 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.”

Kalós staff utilise newfound leadership skills

Kalós Windows and Doors Director, Stewart Hanegraaf partnered with Wintec | Te Pūkenga to deliver leadership development programmes for his young and upcoming managers, and team leaders over the last couple years.

An advocate for training and upskilling staff from his previous experience in facilitating leadership courses, Stewart had been searching for a company to assist in providing a similar type of training for his team.

After co-designing the course with the Wintec | Te Pūkenga team, the tailored training was centered around various topics, including management vs leadership, communication strategies, customer service, presenting with confidence, people development, coaching and leadership, strategies for workplace relationships and conflict resolution.

Stewart said the training aimed to empower his people to become better leaders for his company while supporting their personal growth.

“As an organisation, we want to ensure we support good leaders for our business. While some people may decide to move on in the future, if our contribution to that young person is this upskilling experience, then I’m supportive of that.

“Personally, seeing the growth these young men and women have had, shows how well the programme has been facilitated. It’s targeted at the right level for the trade environment that we work in. Some of the staff we had go through the course had a background in trade, others had been to university, and it suited all of them. So, it’s been well worth the investment,” Stewart said.

Stewart said that all the Kalós staff had an incredible experience on the programme and he saw his team’s confidence grow throughout the training.   

“I have watched each one of them light up on the inside with some of the newfound skills they have learned and ways of dealing with things like stress, staff, and how they communicate. I have seen a significant, positive change in all of them through the programme.”

Associating real-life examples with learning help Vestas staff

Vestas New Zealand Wind Technology Service Coordinator, Karyn Brown, said staff undertook a tailored two-day mental health programme facilitated by Wintec | Te Pūkenga.

“The course was beneficial to all who attended as it provided a good grounding for identifying potential behaviours in staff and other people that could indicate some mental health issues. It also gave staff the tools to help approach and support these people and offer some options for assistance. Given the industry we are in, identifying any potential issues with staff is crucial as our staff work at heights and around high voltage electricity,” she said.

Brown said Vestas Australian head office HSE department investigated all options available in New Zealand and decided on the Wintec course as the most suitable.

“The trainers were fantastic. Associating real-life examples with what we were learning helped us retain the information. From this course, I personally identified areas where I could make changes in my role to
better my mental health, which is now much better as a result.

“We definitely recommend this course. It has invaluable tools for everyday people in a world where stress, and mental health is being challenged daily,” Brown said.

Leadership training options now available for smaller businesses

Marty Lowry, Wintec Training Consultant, said companies had seen great results when it came to developing their people, with a number of single day courses and follow up courses scheduled over a number of months to embed the learning in the workplace.

“Professional Programmes is now extending this opportunity for smaller businesses to enrol managers, and potential managers, into learning options that best suits the needs of each business.”

My Pathway to Leadership is an open programme which offers four different learning suites, all of which focus on business strategies as well as personal growth and
development skills.

• Accelerate – the foundation learning suite
• Elevate – the Intermediate learning suite
• Master – the advanced learning suite
• Recall – post programme coaching/mentoring

“Participants will join other like-minded organisations to collaborate ideas and gain valuable skills, tools, and strategies to gain greater learning outcomes during these face-to-face, interactive workshops,” Lowry said.

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.