CASE STUDY: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AT PRETTY FIRST PTY LTD

Background

Pretty First Pty Ltd, is a cosmetics and beauty manufacturing and delivery organization which employs over 1500 staff working throughout Namibia and SADC. Most of these employees work at one of over twenty (20) major depots as drivers or operational loaders, servicing both Namibia and SADC. The delivery and logistics industry are heavily monitored to ensure that the flow of parcels can be tracked, but also for security reasons. Pretty First Pty Ltd believes in 'growing your own timber', promoting staff from within the company; several depot general managers started as drivers or indoor sales executives. It is therefore important to Pretty First Pty Ltd that staff have a meaningful development path. One of the challenges has been to change the attitude of line managers from 'my job is getting parcels out' to 'my job is to develop my staff to do their jobs better. Unusually for an organisation employing bluecollar staff, all staff, from drivers, dispatch clerks and loading bay operators to general managers and directors, have annual appraisals

Promoting the Development Culture

Pretty First Pty Ltd is committed to investing in its people and has won employer of choice and best employer awards for its training and development. The company passionately believes that individual development, rather than directive training, is critical to business success.

To quote one of the managers, Maretha Ileka, Depot General Manager, 'Training, developing and empowering your people gives you the freedom and the confidence to make changes quickly, affect your business positively and achieve results.' The benefits of this culture can be seen in the better delegation, succession planning, and reducing staff turnover crucial when there is a national driver shortage. This view is articulated and promoted through the production of a people development charter. This one page document is displayed prominently throughout all offices and depots and is highlighted as part of the induction process. The charter outlines what is expected from senior managers, line managers and staff in the following terms:

All Pretty First PTY Ltd managers shall:

- remain actively committed to the development of Pretty First people

- work to build a company culture which encourages and supports learning and development

- lead by example in developing people

- recognise and respect the valuable contribution of our people

Your line manager shall:

- actively encourage your personal and professional development

- provide you with regular feedback on your performance

- help you to continuously improve your skills and knowledge - ensure your learning is linked to the success of your team and the company

You shall:

-take responsibility for your development and learning

- apply new skills and knowledge at your workplace - know that whatever your job, wherever your location, you have the opportunity to develop.

Supporting and Auditing Training and Development

A team of eight regional training officers, managed by a regional training manager, supports, and audits the systems in place for training and development. They must ensure that 'what is promised' happens. Their responsibilities include monitoring and supporting line managers at depots; conducting all internal audits; checking personnel files and appraisal forms. Line managers undertake appraisal training as part of their management training and carry immediate responsibility for ensuring all their staff have meaningful appraisals. The regional training officers support line managers but also check that appraisals take place annually and that any training needs that are identified are met. One of the key reasons for the success of Pretty Firsts training and development interventions is its evident alignment with the culture and practices of the organisation. Regular performance indicators on the training and development efforts (for example appraisal forms completed and training requests met) are produced and discussed at management meetings. As Namasiku van Wyk, Head of People Development says 'Our line managers must take their people management responsibilities seriously to enable them to develop their staff for success. The regional training officer's role is to support and encourage line managers in their people management responsibilities as well as to report and assess how they perform against the target.'

Answer questions 817

8. Identify and discuss the benefits of the training and development intervention for Pretty First PTY Ltd? (2)

9. Discuss and explain why you think Pretty First PTY Ltd is so successful in its training and development interventions? (2)

10. Discuss and explain how training officers contribute to the training and development intervention at Pretty First PTY Ltd? (2)

11. After studying how to evaluate properly you learned how to evaluate Learning and Facilitation after a training intervention. Design an evaluation form that you could use after your training intervention on a Customer Service Skills Training. Include questions and sections on: Overall/general comments; Selected content; Structure of workshop; Relevance of content in Manual/Material or Workbook; Understanding of participants; Conduct of the facilitator; Condition of the venue; Catering arrangements. (4)

12. Use a Leadership Skills Course as an example and design four (4) activities that could be used anywhere during such a course, which shows how you can use any of the Experiential Learning Methods. You learned about selecting and sequencing content in unit 1. Apply these steps in the selection of the most appropriate content. State clearly which content should be transferred via which specific Experiential Learning Method. (4) 13. Design a Training Checklist for your training session. (3)

14. Design a Training Venue Checklist to ensure that your venue meet all requirements (including Health and Safety considerations). (3)

15. Carryout some investigation on CPD opportunities in your organisation. Visit another organisation and find out what they offer in terms of CPD opportunities. Discuss, compare, and contrast the CPD opportunities in your organisation and another organisation. (4)

16. Select a topic to coach a fellow employee at your workplace. Design guidelines to show how you will implement coaching at your workplace. (3)

17. Select a topic to mentor a fellow employee at your workplace. Design guidelines to show how you will implement mentoring at your workplace. (3)