Ballance Agri-Nutrients is a New Zealand farmer-owned co-operative that helps its customers to farm more productively, profitably and sustainably. Approximately 700 staff are located various locations throughout New Zealand.
Ballance identified a desire to improve the leadership capability of their frontline leaders and to drive improved operations integrity of their teams. They wanted to see leaders at this level demonstrating ownership and pride in their leadership role; developing into more senior leadership roles; and improving workplace relationships, the health and safety culture, product and service delivery, and continuous improvement.
In 2014, Ballance engaged ODI to design, develop and deliver its Stage 1 Leadership Programme for frontline and emerging leaders. Staff wanting to take part in the programme are required to go through an application process and have their manager endorse their application.
The programme was designed for a mix of participants, from those with no formal education through to university graduates, all of whom either have responsibility for frontline teams or have demonstrated leadership potential.
The following are results from Kirkpatrick evaluation of programme participants and their line managers undertaken during the first four programme occurrences. Quantitative scores are compared with our research-based benchmarks.
We are currently delivering the ninth occurrence of this leadership programme, and staff wanting to take part can expect to join a waiting list of applicants.
To date, as well as the Stage 1 Leadership Programme, we have also delivered six 1.5-day Leader as Coach workshops, three one-day Personal Productivity workshops and two Project Management workshops for staff across Ballance, together with around 20 Extended DISC diagnostics.