Eagers Automotive New Zealand is Dedicated to Development - Leadership Programmes well underway for 2023
May 2023
Selected employees across Eagers Automotive New Zealand (EANZ) gathered together again this month for the second Leadership workshop as part of the Company’s annual in-house Leadership training and development programme.
Currently in its fifth year of operation, the EANZ Leadership Programme is designed to provide employees identified as potential leaders an opportunity to develop their skillset and prepare for future leadership roles within the organisation.
The programme consists of two courses; Emerging Leaders and Advanced Leaders, and both are delivered across five full-day workshops spread across the year. Facilitated by Darren Pratley, an external management trainer, tactical strategist and business consultant, participants are guided through a set of structured sessions covering topics such as principles of leadership, confidence to change and innovate, developing a team, implementation, accountability, and communication.
As part of the course, each participant gets to understand their own personality and workplace behaviour styles better through the completion of a DISC profile and implementation is a key focus of the programme with learnings turned into action and transferrable insights through interactive group work and individual work-based projects and presentations.
Nominations for each programme intake are made by the Executive Leadership Team and People Managers across the group by completing a candidate application form. Application forms are comprehensive and ask questions about the nominated employee’s competencies, achievements, customer experience, people focus, demonstration of culture and values and their alignment to company goals.
With spaces limited for both courses each year, final selection is made by Mike Critchley, NZ Executive General Manager and Debbie Reyland, NZ People & Safety Manager. Selections are based primarily using the application form for background however also include wider conversations with employee’s peers and managers. Consideration is also given to length of service, behaviours demonstrated in current role and dealership, feedback provided on personal development reviews (PDRs), previous training plans, and employee’s contribution to the business to date.
The 2023 intake welcomed 16 employees into the Emerging Leaders programme and employees into the Advanced Leaders programme. All eight participants of this year’s Advanced Leaders programme are graduates of a previous Emerging Leaders course. Participants represent all departments and dealerships across the business, with this years’ employees representing wholesale, fleet, trade parts, retail, marketing, finance, service, finance & insurance, and retail parts teams.
Previous graduates of the EANZ Leadership Programme have progressed their careers with the Company with recent examples being internal promotions from Service Advisor to Senior Service Advisor, Business Manager to Brand Manager, Corporate Account Manager to Brand Manager, Corporate Account Manager to Fleet Sales Manager and Wholesale Coordinator to Senior Group Buyer.