The client
Environment Canterbury (ECan) is the regional council working with the people of Canterbury to manage the region's air, water and land. ECan is committed to the sustainable management of our environment while promoting the region's economic, social and cultural well-being.  

The challenge
Like many organisations, Environment Canterbury has a genuine desire to provide its staff with first-rate training. ECan knows that the many benefits of well-trained staff include increased efficiency, improved career satisfaction, reduced turnover, and greater consistency.

However as a large, complex organisation managing diverse functions which are often driven by legislative requirements, the demands for training are potentially endless. The budget, of course, is not. How to ensure the most important training requirements are identified and met? How to ensure the method of training achieves the best outcomes?  Sometimes it’s better to get an external view, so ECan brought Synapsys in to perform a Training Needs Analysis.

The solution
Our first task was to understand the lie of the land; staff groupings, current training provision and broad organisational goals. From that, we mapped out a process of datagathering that included interviews, focus groups, and review of training documentation.

The challenge was not so much identifying training need; staff were generally clear about their needs, and the fit with organisational goals was strong. The challenge was more around testing out perceived need against genuine benefit, so that prioritisation could be done on an effective basis. There was also the opportunity to rethink how training could be provided, with potential benefits in terms of access to learning, learning effectiveness and reduced maintenance cost. Any significant shift in the vision for training provision was also going to require a re-thinking of how resources were developed and maintained.

The benefit
Not only did the TNA define and map the priorities for training, it also provided an implementation plan that detailed how training infrastructure and systems might be developed to dovetail with the new delivery modes. ECan had the platform they needed to move forward.

The reference
Holly Crocombe, HR Advisor
“We found Synapsys to be highly effective in helping us see clearly where we were and where we want to be. This document will be invaluable to the development of our training provision, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with Synapsys to implement its recommendations.”