Duncan Ellis of TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute, a sponsor at the marcus evans HR Summit 2016, on employee skill development. Interview with: Duncan Ellis, Director, Commercial Business, TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute

1. Interview with: Duncan Ellis,
Director, Commercial Business,
TAFE NSW Western Sydney
Institute
“TAFE Western Sydney is leading the
way in Vocational Training to help
organisations deliver step change with
skills development across a whole range
of organisational approaches. We assist
clients to map succession planning and
leadership development to help achieve
both short and long term growth goals.
We like to think we are helping HR
teams achieve greater productivity
through training and improving
workforce skill sets from the cleaner to
the CEO,” says Duncan Ellis, Director,
Commercial Business, TAFE NSW
Western Sydney Institute.
TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute is
a training organisation attending the
marcus evans HR Summit 2016, in
the Gold Coast, Australia, 21 - 23
March.
Why do organisations need a
customised training programme?
We perform a skills gap analysis for our
clients and build a dedicated
programme around filling the specific
requirements they need to improve. Our
client’s workforce skill development is
then aligned to the goals and targets set
by the company, while the employee
acquires the skills for the job, a
recognised qualification and increased
job satisfaction. A win-win for everyone.
What if the organisation is unaware
of a skills gap?
A lot of our work at the moment is
around organic growth within a business
to help them achieve targets. Our
research shows skill gaps often occur for
organisations where organic growth has
been a driver of management
appointments. A person promoted for
their skill and in-depth technical
knowledge may not necessarily have the
breadth of skills to be the best leader.
For example, the best salesperson is
promoted to manager, but their
management skills need to improve so
the team can benefit. We focus on what
the role requires and the skills needed
to do their job effectively, while
acknowledging the great skills they
already have. We build a bespoke
programme for the company, utilise
government funds where possible and
map back to a qualification using
recognised prior learning and on-the-job
training. We want to help organisations
achieve their year-on-year growth
goals.
Our research also found that many
companies felt that younger people
were lacking in “soft skills”: teamwork,
time management and communication
skills. We are working to bridge the gap
between the company’s expectations
and the worker’s skills. Another key
area of focus for us is to ensure a future-
ready organisation.
Tell us about your relationship with
Barangaroo.
Barangaroo is an AUD 6 billion
construction project managed by
Lendlease in Sydney, the largest in
Australia. We manage all of the training
on site and we developed the Skills
Exchange, an onsite college to deliver
the training. We have trained more than
10,000 employees in under three years
with close to 700 apprenticeships and
30,000 training outcomes. These are
unprecedented numbers for work-based
training anywhere in the world. We have
since rolled out the Skills Exchange
model on Darling Harbour, with plans
for more. We have backing from Local,
State and Federal Government to
continue the model. In essence we are
an aggregator for best-of-breed training
solutions, incorporating private
providers and TAFE to deliver the best
outcomes.
The Barangaroo Skills Exchange is a
partnership between TAFE NSW and
Lendlease. We worked with government
funds, employer and employee
contributions to look at how we could
change the industry and create a
sustainable skills legacy.
We focused on the basic skills of
language, literacy and numeracy (LLN),
and created training around specific job
requirements and skills needed on-site.
The impact to the project and the
workers has been immense. To give you
an idea, a 55-year old construction
worker learned to read and write for the
first time. Now, 12 months later, he is
retraining to become a work cover
assessor. We looked at how he could
improve his technical job skills, we
embedded communication and LLN skills
whilst monitoring his succession
planning.
How can the HR department better
retain staff? What do employees
value?
Our success on Barangaroo shows that
investment in knowledge across the
whole organisation leads to sustainable
step change. To further embed
retention, reward and recognition is
critical. Giving staff the opportunity to
train, develop their skills and the
confidence to flourish gives a feeling of
achievement. We try to map all of our
training to a qualification, so at the end
the business can measure success and
the employee walks away with a
tangible result.
Our experience shows leading by
example is critical to success. Invest in
your frontline management with the
skills they need to deliver and they will
be able to execute the vision of the
senior management team. Through
effective mentoring, coaching and
leading by example the whole
organisation benefits not just the entry
level, leading to measurable step
change.
Investment
in knowledge
across the whole
organisation leads
to sustainable
step change
TAFE Delivering and Thinking Differently

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About the HR Summit 2016
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together. The Summit offers chief HR executives and service and solution providers
an intimate environment for a focused discussion of the key new drivers shaping
corporate priorities and HR strategies.
www.hranzsummit.com
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About TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute
TAFE Western Sydney is a multi-award winning training organisation dedicated to supporting the aspirations of individuals and
industry across Australia. TAFE Western Sydney is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) working to deliver vocational and
technical education and training to the community as well as corporate clients locally, nationally and internationally.
www.wsi.tafensw.edu.au
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