Flower Power

Client

Sprouting from a single local nursery in 1968, Flower Power has bloomed into Australia's largest retail garden center group. Anchored in an ethos of unceasing innovation and unparalleled customer service, Flower Power stands as the nation's premier purveyor of quality plants, gardening essentials, landscaping supplies, homeware, and outdoor furniture. Spanning over half a century, this family-owned venture boasts ten thriving garden centres across Sydney.

Challenge

Flower Power is always looking at new ways to further grow and develop their people.

Flower Power wanted to develop a Leadership & Management training program for their senior staff.

Key Challenges:

• Crafting a customised training program aligned with Flower Power's unique business culture and skill requirements
• Designing a program accommodating diverse levels of leadership and management proficiency
• Equipping participants from varied departments and roles with pertinent skills for their responsibilities

Solution

Through consultation with Flower Power, Allara Learning developed a customised training program that would provide 41 students with an accredited BSB51918 Diploma of Leadership and Management, to equip them with tools to more effectively manage their staff, provide excellent customer service and foster the company’s ongoing growth.

Allara Learning tailored the program to meet the specific skill requirements of Flower Power, covering content that was applicable to the range of roles and departments within the company. Units covered included leadership and management values, innovation, customer service, WHS and emotional intelligence.

Content was delivered through a mix of classroom-based and workplace activities, before students delivered a final group project, in which they identified an innovative idea and formed a strategic plan to take advantage of an opportunity within the business. The project required team members to consider cost savings and benefits to the business, training and resources required, and ongoing assessment of the project’s success.

Completing projects with co-workers from various roles gave participants the opportunity to share their unique expertise to develop holistic solutions to complex business problems, drawing on a wide range of experience from general management, loss prevention, warehousing, retail, training, merchandising and marketing.

Working with colleagues from other departments allowed students to develop their team building and communication skills, as well as form stronger personal and working relationships with their co-workers.

Outcomes

• Flower Power upskilled their team, equipping staff from various departments with improved leadership and management tools to assist Flower Power’s ongoing growth as the leader in their industry
• Employees grew in confidence in their management skills and leadership ability
• The program strengthened employee relationships, fostered idea and knowledge sharing, allowed employees to develop an appreciation of co-worker’s roles within the business, and improved communication between departments and stores
• Flower Power have seen an improvement in overall customer service skills
• The program had over 85% completion
• Flower Power have committed to running the course with Allara Learning again
• Impressed by the outcomes of the program, Flower Power have expanded their training with Allara Learning to include SIR30216 Certificate III in Retail