Overview

  • Organisation: Amplifon New Zealand which includes the Bay Audiology brand
  • Programme Participants: 60 participants in total (2015, 2016, 2017)
  • Location: Head Office, Auckland
  • Core Business: A leading audiology service provider with branches throughout New Zealand
  • Opportunity: To design a programme that would give their leaders key skills while also gaining deeper insight about themselves and their teams

A bit of background

Bay Audiology, part of the global Amplifon Group, is a growing and successful organisation. They recognised that to sustain this growth and continue their success they needed to invest in the leaders already in the business. Within the Amplifon Group, New Zealand is seen as a feeding pool for great talent globally so investing in leadership development was part of the strategy to build on this reputation.

What did we do?

Bay Audiology partnered with Blacksmith to design and deliver a customised six-month programme, Leadership Matters. Participants were selected from across the organisation and NZ. In the spirit of true partnership the workshops were co-facilitated by Blacksmith and senior leaders from the cohort to give them extra development stretch.

The series of four interconnected two-day workshops covered a range of foundation leadership skills, including Self-Awareness, Situational Leadership, Driving Results, and Emotional Resilience. To develop the participants beyond the skill level, several Blacksmith Leadership Practices were embedded into the content. These included:

  • Create space in the pace;
  • Wake up to yourself;
  • Be positively contagious;
  • Listen fiercely; and
  • Mind your language.

This holistic design meant that as well as developing key skills and knowledge, participants also gained a greater understanding of self, others and the context in which they lead, leading to more authentic leaders.

What were the results?

At an individual level several Leadership Matters participants have been promoted locally and globally. One of the goals of the programme was to create a pipeline for global talent, and it has delivered that.

In their 2015 engagement survey there has been a significant shift in the question about alignment of values and mission, with an increase in more people feeling personally connected to these.  They also moved from 11th to 6th in their category of the IBM Kenexa ‘Best Places To Work’.

The Bay Audiology team have seen a big shift in the way their people are acting as leaders with greater confidence in themselves and others. Through the programme more people have been exposed to the goal of the leadership team to connect vision and mission together, helping to spread a clear and consistent message.

They have seen the participants use the tools with their teams to help them grow and develop their own people.

What clients say

The blacksmith experience is a really special experience. It’s very unique in terms of leadership development in NZ. It’s collaborative, it’s human, it’s real. And they have amazing facilitation

Jacqui Simpson, Human Resources Director - Amplifon New Zealand

The support and understanding I felt through this course from the group and Milena was instrumental in its success for me. I am stronger and happier and ready to take on any situation thrown at me

Megan Robinson, Programme Participant - Bay Audiology

We’ve been really confident in the programme and we’re looking forward to running it again. And now our sister organisation, National Hearing Care in Australia, is running a similar programme with Blacksmith

Karen Allen, Sales Director - Bay Audiology