CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015
Finalist: Up to $10 million turnover
Training for all levels is just good business Based in Naenae, Lower Hutt City, Construction Contracts is a medium-sized civil, drainage and water contractor that employs around 30 full-time staff. It was also the proud winner of the 2014 Z Energy Company Training and Development Award.
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onstruction Contracts (CCL) co-owner David Howard firmly believes that “training is the future for the industry” and he is committed to getting his staff driving licences, first aid, Site Safe and temporary traffic management training. As testament to this commitment, CCL has weekly in-house “Smarten Up” training and is signed up to nine new Connexis training qualifications. Currently, 100 percent of CCL’s staff are doing training, including National Certificates with Connexis, and National Certificates in Drainlaying through the Plumbing, Gasfitting, Drainlaying and Roofing Industry Training Organisation. CCL’s training programmes cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from driving lessons for junior staff through to business mentoring for the company directors. Team leaders are also supported through Dale Carnegie Leadership Training and sent to Toastmasters to gain public speaking confidence. In addition to this, the company directors have a business mentor and meetings are held weekly to improve the management and governance of the company. David says his staff get a lot of pride with their qualifications. “Some of them are the first in their whole families to have received any sort of formal qualification,” he says. Apart from on-the-job training, CCL encourages all staff to go further than just what’s required and to also get formal recognition of their skills with industry-recognised qualifications. At present, one staff member is completing some leadership training, eight are studying towards National Certificates in Infrastructure Works and five are working towards a National Certificate in Water Reticulation, Level 4. 52 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine
This approach to life-long learning is for all levels of the organisation and David himself has signed up for financial training with Ice House. Furthermore, the management team members make themselves available every Tuesday night to help the guys with their qualifications. It’s a real commitment being displayed and in the past four years alone, over 20 CCL staff have completed qualifications. David explains that CCL has a “wall of fame” where the qualifications gained by staff are displayed. “Everyone who visits us can see how proud the guys are of the qualifications they have gained,” he says. “We’ve got a number of long-serving staff who have gained qualifications through Recognition of Current Competence (RCC), which recognises existing knowledge. We hope to do more of this going forward.” David and CCL management are particularly proud of the way staff train others – all of which helps to create an internal culture of support and ongoing improvement. “We encourage a supportive culture where questions are welcomed and skills and knowledge are shared. The company skills matrix shows at a glance who is skilled to do what and who can train others. “From time to time we have skills-based quizzes for the guys to complete. The CCL initiatives also help with succession planning. Good people are hard to find so we put a big effort into recruiting, training and retaining staff. We are constantly encouraging new team leaders and project managers from within the company talent pool. Succession planning and training is critical to this,” David says. Which, of course, just makes good business sense. l
