Hawaiian - Emerging and Existing Managers Development Program
The Background
Established in 1993, Hawaiian is a privately-owned WA based property group with an evolving portfolio across the commercial, retail and hospitality markets.
Today, Hawaiian owns and manages eleven neighbourhood shopping centres across the Perth metro area, three office buildings, and two hotels.
Hawaiian prides itself on fostering a positive workplace culture and creating an environment where every team member feels valued, appreciated, respected and fulfilled, underpinned by a firm belief that every team member forms the backbone of the company.
With a vision to enable every person to flourish and reach their full potential, Hawaiian chose Integral as their partners in training to deliver a tailored program for emerging and existing managers across the business.
Their goal was to deliver a high-impact and meaningful training program that would make a real difference to their people and set them up for success, with their key company values embedded into the heart of the program.
The Challenge
In 2021, Hawaiian’s executive team refreshed the company’s strategy and positioning, creating a shift in the internal company values. As a result, the following needs were identified:
Upskill emerging and existing managers to support them on their leadership journey.
Enhance the valuable operational and reactive capacity of their employees with a
broader strategic and proactive ability.
Increase alignment around leadership expectations of a Hawaiian Manager.
Support the alignment and integration of the company values, vision and strategy.
Optimise the employee’s retention rate.
Develop their managers, professionally and personally, to have a positive impact, in
their lives, teams, and communities.
The Solution
We designed two six-month leadership and management programs – one for the existing managers, one for the emerging managers. The programs were highly interactive and practical, enabling participants to use an effective building block approach to learn key skills from our coaches and facilitators, workshop activities, and from each other.
The ongoing input, direction and feedback from Hawaiian enabled us to continuously fine-tune and contextualise the delivery and outcome of each program, deepening the impact of the training.
The programs included a mix of half-day workshops, groups coaching sessions, individual coaching sessions, 180° Feedback Profile (pre- and post-program), as well as a program launch session, a conclusion presentation, and submissions.
The focus was on various essential topics – including:
Self-awareness
Emotional intelligence
Effective communication
Strategic management
Change management and decision-making
Team management and performance
Our engaging approach encompassed a range of exercises, questions, videos, workplace examples and assignments to ensure participants were actively involved and their experience was optimised. Each module came with a workbook to further enhance the participant experience and ability to keep track of their sessions and materials relevant to their learning journey.
The Results
The feedback showed, overall, an excellent level of satisfaction with the workshops, the group coaching sessions, and the individual coaching sessions – with scores of between 8.3 and 8.8 out of 10.
The managers came out of the programs upskilled, equipped with tools and models to continue to put into practice and share with their teams and colleagues.
In a few months, a post-evaluation report will measure the evolution of the managers. So far, the retention rate of both combined cohorts is 88%.
Furthermore, the programs allowed increased connection and better cohesion within the cohorts. Participants were able to learn from each other at a professional level, sharing their experiences as managers, and/or through personal connections.
As a result, participants grew in confidence, awareness, efficiency and engagement, with an increased sense of happiness at work. The growth mindset and momentum the programs inspired were valuable in enabling participants thrive in the workplace.
Participant feedback
“I expected to learn a set of skills that would help me become a better leader, mentor and manager. [...] Little did I realise that this would be more a journey of self-discovery, that would not only reset my approach to leadership but would also help me tackle some deeply personal, long-held beliefs about myself and the manager I want to be” S.M, Portfolio Marketing Manager, Suburban Shopping Centres
“A group session, involving the topic of Communication, possessed fundamental learnings which altered my thought process and awareness when delivering a message both in a group environment or on an individual basis. [...] Being aware and able to adopt to individuals' communication styles can positively affect my role as a manager to achieve the desired outcome through a means of clear, accurate and precisely interpreted messaging.” H.N, Property Manager
“I have tried to build trust with the people in my team through many ways [...]. The impact of starting to build this trust within the team is that it has begun to create an open and honest environment that others will start to feel comfortable sharing ideas and expressing their concerns. Team members are also beginning to feel more engaged and motivated because they are clear of their roles and responsibilities and feel that their contribution to the team matters.” S. P, Assistant Property Manager