230 team leaders from Telstra across 15 locations participated in a leadership development program from rogenSi to improve their communication, facilitation, and coaching skills. The program consisted of three two-day training sessions over 6-8 weeks focusing on different skills, with activities between sessions. Team leaders demonstrated improved performance, clearer messaging, and better coaching abilities after the program. Telstra was able to better serve customers as a result of the upgraded leadership skills.

1. Case
Study /
230 team leaders from 15 different locations learned and embedded
communication, facilitation and coaching skills that equipped them to
drive change in the business and have a positive impact
A team leadership
programme
that transforms
performance

2. 01/ The Client
Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications company,
handling end to end services across entertainment, TV and all
telecommunications devices: landlines, mobiles and satellite services.
The company is currently transforming its business to maximise
customer and shareholder value. This change has been driven by the
roll out the national broadband network cabling Australia.
02/ The Challenge
The company wanted to implement a team leader development
programme that would build skills in facilitation, coaching and
communication to drive change in the business.
“We wanted to develop a programme that would take our team leaders
through a series of courses to provide them with the facilitation and
coaching skills to lead more effectively in a business environment,”
says Donna Kinsela, Contact Centre Manager at Telstra.
03/ The Solution
Telstra conducted an RFP process to find an appropriate partner for
this project and rogenSi was selected because the capabilities the
company wished to develop in their team leaders were a perfect match
for rogenSi’s expertise. The company’s RFP included 16 capabilities
that it wanted to teach these team leaders and rogenSi responded to
the pitch by grouping them into three themes: grow my capability; grow
my team and grow my business.
The idea behind the programme was that to become a better leader a
participant first needed to develop their own capability, secondly they
needed to be better at developing the capability of their team. Finally
after mastering the first two aspects they would be able to create value
in the part of the business they had responsibility for.
Telstra conducted an internal capability diagnostic, asking team
leaders what they felt they needed in terms of development. The
consultants from rogenSi used that data to tailor the solution and
carried out a number of side by side observations, interviews and
focus groups to refine the programme content. rogenSi then ran a
series of ‘Centre Manager Alignment’ sessions where its consultants
met with a steering committee of the company’s leaders, centre
managers and HR managers from around the country to present the
draft programme. This gave them the chance to get comfortable with
the material, experience some of the modules, give their feedback and
create a group of advocates for the programme within the business.
“We helped shape the material for the programme and how it would
look,” says Kinsela. “I went away from that initial workshop feeling very
excited about what my people would be experiencing.”

3. “They learned the
skills we believed
they needed to be
able to do their jobs
effectively and the
embedding phase
played a huge part
in its success.”
The programme was designed for team leaders and people in support
roles and included up-and-coming team leaders as well as those who
had been in team leader roles for a long time. It consisted of three sets
of two-day training sessions, with 6-8 weeks of embedding the learning
using a workbook and a series of activities between each set. “I was
heavily involved in making sure my guys were doing these activities,”
says Kinsela. “I would observe and assess their competence at
those activities, document their coaching and talk to them. We were
constantly having conversations about how they were growing and
developing.”
The first two-day session focused on facilitation and communication
skills, the second concentrated on coaching and gathering the right
information to provide accurate feedback and the final course covered
how to structure and deliver effective messages. Each course was built
on the previous one: for example, in the second course participants
were being watched to check that they were putting into practice what
they had learned in the first one.
“The programme focuses on skill and not theory - it gives them
practical things to use that they can see benefitting them every day,”
says Kinsela. “They learned the skills we believed they needed to be
able to do their jobs effectively and the embedding phase played a
huge part in its success.”
Another factor that enabled Telstra to get the most from this training
was involving the centre managers right from the outset. “rogenSi
asked us to practice with the types of tools our team leaders would
get, so we were aware of what was happening as they were going
through the course,” says Kinsela. “It was a partnership with my team
leaders and we worked together to make sure they completed all the
embedding activities and met their deadlines.
230 people have been through the programme so far, across 15
different locations in Australia. It was also linked to the Diploma of
Management, a nationally accredited qualification.
04/ Achievements
This development programme was a great success and delivered a
number of key benefits for the company.
The team leaders had greater confidence in their facilitation
and presentation skills and demonstrated a noticeably improved
performance in the workplace. “I could see a complete shift in the
sales team leaders after the first training course,” says Kinsela. “Some
of my people went and presented at a company-wide initiative and
weren’t afraid to present in front of senior managers. They were quite
comfortable because they knew they now had the skills to do that.”
The messages team leaders delivered to their people were clearer and
more concise and the coaching skills they learned have also been put
into practice. “In their coaching you could see them providing better

4. “One of them said
to me ‘It’s the
first time where
someone has
invested time in me
for something that
is really going to
make a difference
to how I do my
job every day’ and
that has absolutely
been a key benefit
of doing this
project.”
feedback, says Kinsela. “They now have a deeper understanding of
what really drives each of them. I can see a real benefit in how their
performance has improved.”
For some of the team leaders, participating in the development
programme has given them new motivation and an increased affinity
for their role. “One of them said to me ‘It’s the first time where
someone has invested time in me for something that is really going
to make a difference to how I do my job every day’ and that has
absolutely been a key benefit of doing this project.”
The programme has also had a positive impact on relationships
with Telstra’s customers. “Improved performance from team leaders
also cascaded down to their teams,” says Kinsela. They are now
more focused on having the right conversations with customers and
providing a higher quality service.”
05/ Legacy
“The team leaders loved the course,” says Kinsela. “They said it was
the best thing they’ve ever done and got real personal benefit out of
it. Some of these people have been team leaders for eight years, but
they could see how they had improved as a result of this programme.”
Following the programme, communication, people and coaching skills
have all clearly improved amongst this team leader population. The
company used a scoring system out of 5 to assess the team leaders
in terms of their preparation, delivery and final execution and recorded
an average score of 4.7 out of 5 for those team leaders who had been
through this training.

5. What can we
do for you?
rogensi.com
06/ The Results
“rogenSi delivered exactly what
my people needed and because
of the partnership and the way
we approached this, we were
successful. I was very happy with
the way they worked with us to
get to the outcome we achieved.”
“Running this programme was
time very well spent, and I
wouldn’t hesitate to spend it
again. I’ve been in this job for 27
years and I would rate this as one
of the best courses I’ve ever been
on. It’s a really good hands on
programme for team leaders and
I can’t wait to see it rolled out next
year.”
Donna Kinsela, Contact Centre
Manager, Telstra