Despite having a former AFL champion as Managing Director, Tuff Group did not spend the grand final week watching the football and wondering who was going to win. Instead, we set aside Thursday, 26 September, for an all staff training and development day.
This day has become a fixture in the Tuff Group calendar to help staff understand their role in the business and develop the skills and expertise to ensure that our high industry standards are met every time we step into the workplace.
In the morning, we worked with our growing team of installers demonstrating new techniques and the correct use of equipment. This included an overview of synthetic turf industry terms to increase the product knowledge of staff. Not everybody has to do every job at Tuff Group, however we feel it’s critical that everybody understands the industry more broadly. In this way people can grow their career and also step in if one of their colleagues is unavailable for any reason.
National Operations Manager Travis Knight took the group for a classroom session running through the technical details of quoting for a job, developing tenders and overcoming on-site issues.
After morning tea, this session transferred to the Tuff Turf warehouse where Travis and Installation Team leader Matt Wood led a session on product knowledge and use of equipment. This included a comprehensive overview of the way that synthetic turf is manufactured, different yarn types and the range of tools to cut and lay synthetic turf.
The team had the opportunity to learn new skills and demonstrate the ‘tricks of the trade’ to their colleagues. This interactive session meant that knowledge and skills were developed and passed on to lift the standards for everyone in the business.
Following lunch, a whole of staff session was held to provide an update on the strategic direction of Tuff Group, progress within the Bunnings retail division and insight into how the industry and the company is going to grow in the future. Various team leaders made presentations on different aspects of the business and everyone had the opportunity to ask questions and provide input.
To get everybody together in one place is no mean feat. Staff came back to the head office from all over Victoria, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and regional areas. With over 55 people, Tuff Group has grown significantly in the past 12 months. The pace of growth is speeding up for Tuff Group which means that training and staff development days are critically important to ensure that everyone is aligned around the future of the business.