Interview with Shelley Madden: Why I don’t turn up in heels

Shelley with a training group, photo courteous of Ralph Biggs Theiss Services QLD

Every now and then we like to have a chat with one of our own academy trainers. After all, they are some of the most knowledgeable and interesting people around!

This week, we speak with Shelley Madden, trainer with academy Green, our waste management arm, and a transport and logistics training specialist. Like many of us, Shelley fell into training. Also like many of us, she completely loves it and feels she has found a career in which she can learn as much as she teaches.

So, how did you get into training Shelley?

Like many trainers, I guess it almost found me.  As I moved through various positions in my company, I kept being asked to train up new people, to communicate aspects of my job to others in similar jobs and to mentor new people. I was a banker, not a trainer… but I soon became one!

How did you make the leap to formally training people?

I moved to Norway.

Wow, that’s quite a leap. How did that come about?

I was offered a job by a shipping company as an international consultant and trainer. This was in the 90s and I was based in Norway but travelling the world training people. I was there for many years and returned to Australia about four years ago. 

Why did you stay so long?

I love the cold. Really, I do! I’m sitting in the cold right now (Ed – on a chilly April morning as we talk). I guess mostly because I loved my job though. I just loved it. I travelled the world and I was paid for it. I was able to meet so many interesting and diverse people.

What do you most enjoy about your job now?

Oh, the transport side of things. I really love training in that industry. I relate to the clients, understand where they are coming from… I find it very engaging.

I used to work as an internal trainer for a transport company too, so it’s really a specialty.

I’ve been with academy for nine months now and I am also enjoying the variety of training across courses, types of organisations and industries. I work with councils… in warehouses, driver training. I really like the driver training, the obstacle courses, the practical element of teaching and practicing driver safety.

There is so much variety as I train mostly on the floor, many of these men and women are not used to a classroom so I try to stay out of it as much as possible and keep the learning environment as practical as possible.

How do you kick off a training session?

I enjoy that initial part, building rapport, getting to know people a little. I find it works well once I start speaking the right language… when people see I know what they work with and how they talk about it; they are generally very open to giving me a go. It’s a good thing I don’t turn up in heels!

Do you learn from participants?

Yes, the huge breadth of the role – and the people I work with – means I am learning from participants all the time. One of my favourite things to do is the site walk-around. It’s there that I learn… but I also get the participants to look at their own site (and perhaps others in their company where they don’t normally work) through new eyes.

Behind the scenes in waste management, transport, all these industries, is so fascinating.

What’s the best tip you’ve picked up from one of the training participants?

Oh I pick up tips all the time, I can’t really think of one. But at the moment, one of the biggest challenges facing many of these industries is the carbon tax and what it really means in a practical sense. So it’s good to discuss that with people.

This is a challenging job. There’s always something!

Keeping on-the-road and offline workers engaged

Internal communications and leadership challenges of transport and logistics and waste management companies

Human Capital online wrote about an intriguing US workplace survey earlier this week.

As with many surveys, it confirmed a few things that are, arguably, intuitive; in this case that employees are less likely to feel engaged when their boss works remotely. I guess it is as simple as: You don’t see your boss, you’re less sure of what’s going on.

The survey, conducted across more than 11,000 corporate employees, focused on office jobs.  A significant wedge of our corporate training work is for employees in the transport and logistics and waste management industries. Much of their work is on the road (or in the warehouse).

So, wow, what is the effect of managerial separation on these workers and their levels of commitment?

This is an issue that transport, logistics and waste management companies are well aware of. They are also aware that internal communications and the fostering of solid supervisor / employee relationships is a journey that never stops. So, in that spirit, what can these companies do to continually underscore vision and shared goals and outcomes?

• Know their stakeholders… in this case, their employees. Don’t go for a one-size-communications-fits-all approach as transport and logistics and waste management, in particular, have such a diverse range of job roles and therefore employees.
• Understand communication channels… and whom they are suitable for. For example, this brave new digital world has little relevance in terms of workplace communication for your forklift drivers or recycling centre teams. Coming back to the survey, as much ‘line of sight’ communication as possible is important here.
• Setting up managers for communication success… training them in leadership and vision-sharing communication skills. If your managers see their teams for five minutes a day (or a week!) before they hit the road, do they use that time to optimum effect? Is there a way to build in more face-to-face time? Would the impact of that be worth it? (In the medium to long term, I would think yes.)
• Interpreting the business strategy for all… It’s all very well to have a beautifully articulated five-year plan, agreed by the board and understood by senior management – but what does it mean for each and every team and team member in the company? People need to know, broadly, what the company is shooting for, but (arguably, more importantly) also what their contribution should be and how that feeds into the company’s goals.
• Ask, measure, adjust. Keep going back to your employees. Find out what they believe and understand about the company, their managers and their roles. Use your findings to keep doing all of the above, better.

If you are dealing with these issues with remote workers and bosses, in any industry, I’d love to hear how you are rising to the challenge.

Leaders: Don’t sweat the big stuff

Thinking 'small' might just make leadership more accessible for everyone

Leadership is certainly on the agenda in Australia at the moment. Who should lead our country? Who (if anyone!) do we trust? I’d hazard a guess that many Australians are feeling a little demoralised about leadership right now.

But I’ve just seen a wonderful video that has given me a new perspective on leadership. Frankly, it has made leadership more accessible to us all.

It’s just six minutes long and I heartily recommend you watch.

At academy, we train leaders. We train leaders in financial services. We train leaders in transport and logistics. We train leaders in contact centres, sales and countless other industries as well.

And what this gentleman says is true. Not too many people are comfortable in defining themselves as a leader. They feel it is big-noting themselves. That leadership is something they will grow into, but probably don’t have now.

In this video, Drew Dudley puts forward an elegant case for the leader in us all, right now. Each of us has the ability to change the thinking of someone, or even the trajectory of his or her life.

Leadership doesn’t have to be an all-encompassing, BIG thing. It doesn’t have to be running a country. It doesn’t have to be aspiring to CEO. It can simply be helping one person see something in a different way.

When you think of it in these terms, we can all accept responsibility for inspiring our team members or peers, for helping others be the best they can be.

And the other message I heard loud and clear from Drew? Say thank you to the person who has helped you. Perhaps then we will all start to believe we can lead, and to become better at it.

Let me know what you think of the video.

What your employees want to tell you

Learn what your staff do

A message for waste management and transport and logistics companies (or anyone with staff, really)

As waste management and transport and logistics trainers, we get a unique perspective on your team members. Many people come to training ready to talk. To talk about their work, what they love, what frustrates them and what they want to be able to do better.

These ‘talkers’ do us an enormous favour, because they give us great insight into tailoring the material to their specific needs – and therefore the needs of your company. Often we’ve already had these conversations with supervisors or human resources, or both, but these extra snippets are sometimes illuminating.

So here is what your staff want. It’s as simple as… they want you to understand their jobs.

What do I mean by that?

Well, it’s the warehouse operations representatives who take call after call, day after day. It’s the forklift operators who swing their machines around huge and small spaces with equal finesse. It’s the waste truck drivers who negotiate tiny streets in the dark at 5am.

Do you know what that is like?

These people generally enjoy their jobs, but many of them have tough jobs – and they feel the level of difficulty and challenge is sometimes misunderstood by supervisors.

One recent waste management training participant wished aloud that his management team knew the same safety procedures that he did.

This is quite easily fixed. Many companies have been addressing the disconnect between supervisory and management jobs for years. McDonald’s famously requires that all their staff, from the CEO to HR to the finance team, work in-store at least one day a year. Sure, it’s not the same as doing it on a daily basis, but it does give ideas and insights… and sends a message that management tries to understand.

One waste management company that has benefited from this idea is Veolia Environmental, whose CEO participated in Undercover Boss on television (I blogged about it at the time here).  Sure, it’s an extreme (and very public!) way to gain understanding of the daily lives of your people, but I’m sure the results improved that operation.

So have a think about it. What can your company do to better understand your ‘frontline’ jobs?

Can supervisors do the same training as their teams? Can you introduce an annual ‘job swap’ day? It may just build stronger bridges between managers and staff, and maybe even increase productivity via communication and better understanding.

Training helps your team ‘fly’

Let me be clear here. academy does not train pilots. 

So this is an observer’s point of view about the unfolding and deepening crisis (I think that dramatic word is probably very apt for a company forced to cease trading for safety reasons) facing Tiger Airways in Australia .

The focus of discussions between CASA (the airline safety regulator) and the airline is primarily training. As talks continue, CASA is also looking at how training is built into the airline’s systems.

Yes, it’s fair to say I have a vested interest in training, but this seems like such a basic thing to get right to me. Not only does training keep your team motivated and inspired, it has the practical function of having them know their job, know your company and its systems.

Whether it is in-house, or externally conducted, continual training is vital to your success. This Tiger Airways incident should ring alarm bells for any senior or team leader in any industry. The wider business and regulatory community not only expects your people to know what they are doing, they also expect you to be able to document it, ensure the continual improvement of your training processes and comply with the law.

Tiger has been shut down for the moment because it was not operating in a safe fashion – damning for an airline. But each and every business is expected to operate to a high level of safety, service and quality… it’s not a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have.

As a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), academy is required to continuously develop staff in order to keep our national accreditation. But even if we did not have to do this, we would. Our people are great at their jobs, but as a business leader, you can not always take that for granted. Regular training and communication updates are needed for peace of mind, the personal development of teams and to make sure your processes are the best they can be.

He walked in like he owned the place

Speeding ahead with empowered people

I’ve been reading a bit about the Transport & Logistics industry this morning. Not my usual reading list, but more and more we are partnering with companies in this area to offer customised training to their people. And academy is big on working to understand our clients’ industries as much as possible.

I was struck by one article in the February 2010 online version of Prime Mover (suddenly I want to make ‘rubber duckie’ jokes but will try to refrain!).

It looks at the success of Blue Star Logistics and how the company managed to grow during the global financial crisis. It is not surprising to me (or probably to you!) that so much of what the managing director, Muzi Eideh, had to say about their success was linked to knowing, meeting and even surpassing their customers’ needs.

But I was taken by the subheading towards the end of the piece: ‘Service to staff and customers’. Indeed. Service. Companies not only serving their customers, but also their people.

Eideh says: “If you do not have good people you will not achieve desired goals. A lot of people here think they own the place and everything they do they do with ownership…”

Staff walking around like they own the place? Perhaps that’s exactly what we all need.