Red Stag Timber leadership development
Industry
Timber manufacturing
Products
- Introduction to Management and Effective Communication
- Operational Project Improvement and Planning for Success
- Financial Acumen
- People Performance
- Courageous Conversations and Corrective Coaching Feedback model
Location
Rotorua
The EMA created a course that focussed on building further knowledge, skills and capability among supervisors and shift team leaders.
From the project work, potential savings and efficiencies in work processes, if implemented, were costed at between $3,000 to $30,000 annually.
Overview
One of the largest employers in Rotorua, Red Stag Timber was founded in 2003 when the Verry family owners bought Waipa Mill. The growing business currently employs more than 400 full-time employees and contractors. The timber manufacturing process mills, kiln-dries, planes, treats and remanufactures more than 630,000m³ of Radiata pine and Douglas fir lumber per annum. The products are sold in mostly in New Zealand and also exported to Australia, the Pacific Islands and Asia, resulting in an annual turnover of more than $300 million. The company has a strong commitment to developing its staff, and the need to create a bespoke training course to further develop its leaders was where Red Stag turned to the EMA.
The Need
Red Stag Timber is committed to developing capability in its coordinators, supervisors and shift team leaders and was seeking a training partner to assist in design and delivery of a Red Stag Leadership Development Programme. The needs identified included:
- Foundation skills and tools for both new supervisors and shift team leaders who have been in the role for some time but may not have had any structured leadership training.
- Develop emerging leaders to be effective at managing people, supporting good performance, motivating teams, having courageous conversations when needed and getting work done.
- A project challenge to improve a process, product, system or service in their work area as part of Red Stag Timber’s commitment to continuous improvement.
The Solution
The EMA was invited to present a customised training programme, known as the Red Stag Leadership Development 2023 for its coordinators, supervisors and team leaders.
The EMA created a course that focussed on building further knowledge, skills and capability among supervisors and shift team leaders – to make them effective at managing people, supporting good performance, motivating teams, and having courageous conversations when needed to get the job done. The course ran over five days and was delivered once a month. It contained the following modules:
- Introduction to Management and Effective Communication
- Operational Project Improvement and Planning for Success
- Financial Acumen
- People Performance
- Courageous Conversations and Corrective Coaching Feedback model
The Result
- The learners particularly enjoyed the Introduction to Management and Effective Communication modules and all the participants enjoyed Donna Hemsley’s approach and style with one learner saying: “The best thing about the course was it was practically oriented; we could put the teaching into practice.”
- Excellent delivery from each learner and the content of presentations provided examples of tangible outcomes with regards to process improvements in their work areas.
- Used SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals. In their feedback, Red Stag Timber said they were very pleased to see this used with purpose and accuracy.
- Confidence – some of these people had never stood in front of their managers and presented before. At the graduation presentation at the conclusion of the course, they were asked to present in front of 7-8 managers.
- PowerPoint presentations were structured well, provided background, suggested improvement, cost savings, and also acknowledged the people who helped and who would be needed to implement the process improvements.
Outcomes
All the participants particularly enjoyed the Puzzle People section of the training, with one participant identifying this as ‘the highlight’. It was considered a great ‘opener’ to the training, allowing the participants to get to know each other, learning about themselves and understanding the need for self-awareness as leaders. The participants enjoyed understanding their own personality type and understanding ‘how others tick’.
From the project work, potential savings and efficiencies in work processes, if implemented, were costed at between $3,000 to $30,000 annually. The waste-reduction projects could also have environmental benefits, while time-saving-related efficiencies were also identified.
Two people were promoted during the May to September training course, having already been identified in Red Stag’s succession plan.
The monthly workshop delivery worked well and completion of the programme within five months worked best for business operations.
As a pilot programme for developing coordinators, supervisors and shift team leadership skills, a few refinements have been suggested for the next cohort of learners, including more involvement and coaching from Red Stag Leadership and aligning with Red Stag’s history, culture and ideology, refining the financial acumen module, and setting tasks in between modules to keep leaners active and more assistance with project delivery and presentation.
