Developing future leaders with Hancocks
Industry
Wine, spirit and beer merchants.
Products
Location
Nationwide.
“It was a very fun, interesting and informative course. I learnt a lot, which will stay with me forever.”
“It has given me a better understanding of what makes my team members tick and how to communicate to get the best out of them.”
Overview
The Hancocks brand first appreared in New Zealand back in 1859, when craft brewer Thomas Hancock purchased the Captain Cook Inn on Auckland’s Khyber Pass Road.
It has taken many twists and turns over the years, from manufacturing and distributing beer and spirits to operating as a retailer.
In 1991, the Jakicevich family purchased the company, with a vision for restoring Hancocks’ proud heritage. Since then, the brand has remained 100% New Zealand family owned and operated – a rarity in an industry dominated by big corporations.
Hancocks employs 225 staff, 150 of whom work out of Te Whare Tuuranga, the company’s purpose-built head office and warehouse in the Auckland suburb of Māngere. There’s a mid-size office and warehouse with 20 staff in Christchurch and a smaller version in Wellington with 10 staff, and Territory Account Managers up and down the country.
Hancocks has had a long relationship with the EMA, dating back to 2018.
Health and Safety Manager Nicolet Twyman started using the EMA for HR training herself a few years ago and brought her experience with the association into her position at Hancocks.
“My role is to look at training opportunities and I work with Senior Management to gain insight on training requirements,” she says.
“I also lead our culture group and we believe in ongoing training and development.”
The Need
Among the courses she has sent staff on are Procedural Fairness and Conflict Resolution, Train the Trainer, various Health and Safety modules; as well as using the EMA’s employer AdviceLine.
But the most recent of the EMA’s courses that Hancocks staff have attended was the Emerging Team Leader workshop, which they attended in two sessions with 16 people in each.
Leadership skills training helps breed a culture of high performance and Twyman says she has a specific objective when it comes to staff development.
“I find that most companies promote staff to management roles because they are competent in their roles, but they do not provide management training,” she says.
“My goal is to empower managers to become good leaders and to lead engaged teams.
“I was very interested in the proposal of this course to provide foundation skills and tools such as people skills, communication, accountability, and responsibilities for managers who have been in the role for some time but have not had any structured leadership training.
“The course needed to develop leaders to manage people effectively, show them how to support good performance, motivate teams, have courageous conversations when needed, and get work done.
“I felt that this was achieved. Both groups were very impressed with the EMA’s facilitator Debi Higson. She had them engaged in the course and they liked her presentation style.”
Higson, who had a long career in management with the likes of Counties Manukau District Health Board and multinational logistics company DHL before becoming a training facilitator, says her approach has always been “seek to understand before you are understood”.
“I’m motivated to plant seeds in people’s minds that grow to change them and their lives for the better, giving a different perspective to what’s possible and the solutions,” says Higson.
Some of the feedback from Hancocks’ learners includes:
- “The learnings, teachings and examples are excellent. Very interactive with many practical examples to implement learnings into work life and with my team.”
- “It was a very fun, enjoyable, interesting and informative course. I learnt a lot, which will stay with me forever.”
- “Easy to understand, fun course. Debi is great at what she does.”
- “It will help me asses my improvement as a manager and to help manage my team for better outcomes and performance.”
- “It has given me a better understanding of what makes my team members tick and how to communicate with them to get the best out of them.”
- “Excellent course, one of the best I’ve done. Lots of practical and key info delivered in a light-hearted way.”
Hancocks is currently working with EMA People Capability Consultant Vanessa Green to roll out the Emerging Team Leader workshop to the wider workforce, particularly making the popular Puzzle People effective communication model part of its ongoing learning and culture.
