WSBC Platinum Partner TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute's Director of Commercial Business, Duncan Ellis, recently sat down with events company, Marcus Evans Summits, for an insightful interview ahead of the Marcus Evans 2016 Health Summit. Here’s what Duncan had to say…

“TAFE Western Sydney is leading the way in Vocational Training to help organisations deliver step change with skills development across a whole range of organisational approaches. We assist clients to map succession planning and leadership development to help achieve both short and long term growth goals. We like to think we are helping HR teams achieve greater productivity through training and improving workforce skill sets from the cleaner to the CEO,” says Duncan Ellis, Director, Commercial Business, TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute.

Why do organisations need a customised training programme?

We perform a skills gap analysis for our clients and build a dedicated programme around filling the specific requirements they need to improve. Our client’s workforce skill development is then aligned to the goals and targets set by the company, while the employee acquires the skills for the job, a recognised qualification and increased job satisfaction. A win-win for everyone.

What if the organisation is unaware of a skills gap?

A lot of our work at the moment is around organic growth within a business to help them achieve targets. Our research shows skill gaps often occur for organisations where organic growth has been a driver of management appointments. A person promoted for their skill and in-depth technical knowledge may not necessarily have the breadth of skills to be the best leader. For example, the best salesperson is promoted to manager, but their management skills need to improve so the team can benefit. We focus on what the role requires and the skills needed to do their job effectively, while acknowledging the great skills they already have. We build a bespoke programme for the company, utilise government funds where possible and map back to a qualification using recognised prior learning and on-the-job training. We want to help organisations achieve their year-on-year growth goals.

Our research also found that many companies felt that younger people were lacking in “soft skills”: teamwork, time management and communication skills. We are working to bridge the gap between the company’s expectations and the worker’s skills. Another key area of focus for us is to ensure a future-ready organisation.

Tell us about your relationship with Barangaroo.

Barangaroo is an AUD 6 billion construction project managed by Lendlease in Sydney, the largest in Australia. We manage all of the training on site and we developed the Skills Exchange, an onsite college to deliver the training. We have trained more than 10,000 employees in under three years with close to 700 apprenticeships and 30,000 training outcomes. These are unprecedented numbers for work-based training anywhere in the world. We have since rolled out the Skills Exchange model on Darling Harbour, with plans for more. We have backing from Local, State and Federal Government to continue the model. In essence we are an aggregator for best-of-breed training solutions, incorporating private providers and TAFE to deliver the best outcomes.

The Barangaroo Skills Exchange is a partnership between TAFE NSW and Lendlease. We worked with government funds, employer and employee contributions to look at how we could change the industry and create a sustainable skills legacy.

We focused on the basic skills of language, literacy and numeracy (LLN), and created training around specific job requirements and skills needed on-site. The impact to the project and the workers has been immense. To give you an idea, a 55-year old construction worker learned to read and write for the first time. Now, 12 months later, he is retraining to become a work cover assessor. We looked at how he could improve his technical job skills, we embedded communication and LLN skills whilst monitoring his succession planning.

How can the HR department better retain staff? What do employees value?

Our success on Barangaroo shows that investment in knowledge across the whole organisation leads to sustainable step change. To further embed retention, reward and recognition is critical. Giving staff the opportunity to train, develop their skills and the confidence to flourish gives a feeling of achievement. We try to map all of our training to a qualification, so at the end the business can measure success and the employee walks away with a tangible result.

Our experience shows leading by example is critical to success. Invest in your frontline management with the skills they need to deliver and they will be able to execute the vision of the senior management team. Through effective mentoring, coaching and leading by example the whole organisation benefits not just the entry level, leading to measurable step change.

Further information on the skills gap analysis and the WSBC/TAFE skills barometer can be obtained by emailing us at WSBC. 

To learn more about TAFE NSW go to: https://www.tafensw.edu.au/