Hyspecs Holding Group: Programme fills the Gaps for Kathy

Name: Kathy Shailer (Assistant Branch Manager)
Company: Hyspecs Holding Group (www.hyspecs.co.nz)
Year founded: 1972
Industry: Wholesale Trade
Region: Nationwide and Australia
Programme: Leadership Development Programme, 2012

Hyspecs is New Zealand's largest privately owned hydraulic engineering company, with branches throughout New Zealand and Australia. They specialise in hydraulic system design, specification and component selection, hydraulic servicing and maintenance of existing hydraulic plant and equipment.

Assistant Branch Manager, Kathy Shailer, attended the Leadership Development Programme in 2012 and says she and the company benefited greatly from it:

"I was recommended to attend the Leadership Development Programme by my manager and CEO. I learnt a huge amount from the course – I learnt what I was missing from my role, and the course was beyond what I thought. The information was well and truly useful to me.

Communication with the team was a key skill I was able to improve on, as well as advancing my financial knowledge. I learnt how to approach different situations and scenarios. The programme really pushed me to think more strategically, in the sense that I now have more focus on the future plans/growth of the company, rather than just the daily grind.

We have implemented two major changes in the company since I attended the programme. One is the cultural section. This was something that was never openly and freely discussed before and that is changing. The second is that our management team now has monthly get togethers, taking a step back from the day to day and using some of the tools learnt with The Icehouse to put plans and strategies in place.

The programme facilitators were excellent, they were open, friendly, easy to talk to and presented well. I was engaged throughout.  No one was falling to sleep at the back of the class that’s for sure. It was great to be surrounded by like-minded individuals facing the same challenges as me. It made me feel that I wasn’t alone.  The best part of the learning process was the group discussions.  Actively participating throughout the whole course helped me tremendously in processing and understanding the information."