Upskilling the people in the back-office
IT’S A REALITY IN MANY NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS, AND especially in forestry, that the financial and administrative operation is often managed by partners or wives, often with little training or prior experience in that role.
As business demands increase, particularly in areas like health & safety, regulatory and human resources, the need to upskill becomes necessary.
Industry training organisation, Competenz, has set out to help them update their business acumen with a course specially designed to lay the groundwork in business administration.
The first of these National Certificate in Business courses took place in Dunedin recently and was judged a great success. The majority of participants were women, many of whom are involved in running the family contracting operation.
Phil Williams, Competenz Account Manager, says many wives and partners are often ‘co-opted’ into running the office side of the business because their husbands are heavily involved in day-to-day operations in the forest.
“If you’ve been thrown in at the deep end and haven’t had background or training in running a business, you’ll find the National Certificate in Business to be of real benefit,” says Mr Williams.
“These courses have become increasingly popular down here and we’re now seeing a similar trend in other parts of the country.”
The National Certificate in Business course has been established as part of an exclusive offer for Competenz forestry customers. Competenz has worked with training provider LEARNPLUS to deliver the course designed for office managers and/or administrators working in a forestry contracting business.
The aim of the course is to enhance business and administration skills by providing a suite of tools and techniques to streamline and improve business operations.
At the end of the course participants will be able to:
• Identify opportunities to improve workplace processes and
implement improvements
• Communicate effectively with all internal and external
stakeholders, verbally and in written formats
• Use office systems correctly to meet client and audit requirements • Determine effective team processes and leadership styles • Identify and use methods to effectively manage time
• Join a network of business professionals working in similar roles in the Forestry industry.
The qualification take six months to complete and consists of two one-day workshops held several months apart so that those attending are not pulled away from their businesses for too long.
In-between workshops, participants are required to complete a number of online modules and assessments tasks including a final report to present to the group in the second workshop.
Each workshop involves interactive sessions where real life examples are analysed and discussed in order to improve workplace processes, streamline paperwork and written material, and enhance connections with internal and external stakeholders.
The series of courses will be held around the country – attendance at both workshops in one location is compulsory to complete the course.
The first of these courses finished in April and new courses are set to be rolled out soon.
NZL