TRAINING
About
Over the past two decades, I have designed and delivered numerous training programmes, particularly for the health and manufacturing sectors.
My training delivers results while being practical, fun and inspiring even the most cynical to give it a go.
My most popular training courses are:
- Leadership Training – for team leaders, especially in the health sector, who are new to leadership roles
- Mediation Training – for team leaders and managers who need warring team members to work together
- De-escalation Training – for frontline health staff
- Customer Focus Training– for frontline health staff
- Customer Service with a Cross-cultural Focus – for frontline staff who interact with refugees and migrants
- Alcohol and Drug Education – a harm reduction/wellness approach for frontline manufacturing staff
- Bespoke Training – customised training designed specifically for your organisation’s needs.
Why Work With Me
I have worked as a trainer for much of my professional life. This includes working with organisations such as Family Planning, Community Alcohol Drug Services and Harassment and Bullying Prevention Training Programmes supported by the Human Rights Commission.
In 1999, I set up VV Training and began specialising in the design and delivery of training packages to health organisations and manufacturing companies. Since then, I have developed and refined my techniques, topics and course structures. My most popular courses are centred around leadership, mediation and de-escalation training, as well as alcohol and drug education for the manufacturing sector. My customer service and customer service with cross-cultural focus courses are also popular, especially for those whose clients might be from migrant or refugee communities.
I’m enlivened by assisting people to learn, particularly those who don’t thrive in traditional lecture-style environments.
My satisfaction comes from knowing that participants leave the training room with new ways of approaching difficult situations in the workplace, having acquired a new bodily awareness of doing things differently.
Leadership Training
FOR TEAM LEADERS NEW TO STEPPING UP
My leadership training has been designed specifically for team leaders and co-ordinators new to leadership roles.
I’ve identified a need for practical training which assists with common dilemmas, such as:
- How does one develop an appropriate approach for having a performance conversation with a team member, particularly one who used to be a colleague?
- How does one go about consciously creating a positive team culture in which performance improvement is part of everyday conversations?
Frequency and Topics Covered
Ideally, this training runs over four consecutive four-hour long sessions
Session 1
Being a team leader – why your team members react the way they do when under pressure, and what you can do to help them.
Session 2
How to raise a tricky issue with staff in a way that actually strengthens your relationship, and what to do when your conversation turns pear-shaped.
Session 3
Taking a positive approach to performance management, and how to motivate a team with differing personalities and values.
Session 4
How to manage a formal performance management process, including writing a plan and talking with your staff member.
Number of participants:
I deliberately limit numbers to a maximum of 16 so all participants have the opportunity to practice and discuss the techniques and concepts.
Vanesa has a style that does not require traditional classroom learning techniques. This has been a key attribute in breaking down the barriers of cynicism, which often threaten to derail and disrupt traditional communication and leadership training.
I found the training really non-threatening. I learned a lot from participants from other organisations. Even now – all these months later – I regularly draw on what I learned in the training.
The training was ‘spot on’ for me. I enjoyed the size and diversity of our group. The training supported me throughout the first weeks of my new leadership role. It was helpful to use all the techniques I learned as soon as I came back to the office.
I thoroughly enjoyed this course. It challenged much of how I work and perceive leadership versus management. I found the delivery method 100% perfect for my learning style – plenty of interpersonal interaction! I am incorporating my newfound knowledge around performance conversations by helping people reach their mark rather than hit them with it!
VV Training succeeded in getting our Team Leaders and Managers to take a more pro-active role in the performance management process. Now they take the initiative and regularly do things they had not done before, including documentation, which takes a load off our small HR dept.
Having worked with VV training to design an intensive, five-day leadership and management programme for our organisation’s managers and team leaders, the event was an unqualified success. It was cost effective, 100% relevant and delivered in a fun, accessible and highly interactive way. I regularly hear the training referred to by the participants, and they still get together to reflect on how they can apply the learning – fantastic!
Our staff come from a range of cultures and were mostly new to staff training. Vanesa and Andrew proved to be an excellent match! Even better, the results are tangible. Our Team Leaders now feel and act like they are part of the overall management structure.
Mediation Training
FOR TEAM LEADERS OR ANYONE MANAGING STAFF
This course has been designed for team leaders and managers who want to develop the skills and confidence to mediate between two warring team members.
This workshop is good for situations where the conflict is not significant enough to require an external professional mediator. However, the conflict needs addressing as it is impacting the other staff, service users or your roster.
This workshop explores how to:
- Prepare for a mediation session: including how to interview individual parties without taking sides or making promises you can’t deliver, establishing the problem and getting both people to agree on common ground
- Run a mediation session: including establishing your process for the mediation, dealing with curveballs (such as, one person dominating, blaming, or blowing up) and getting agreement on an action plan
- After the mediation: including the importance of follow-up and what to do if the conflict doesn’t resolve.
Having worked with VV training to design mediation training for fifteen of our organisation’s managers and team leaders, the event was an unqualified success. It was cost effective, 100% relevant and delivered in a fun, accessible and highly interactive way.
I regularly hear the training referred to by the participants during their day-to-day work, and they still gather together to reflect on how they can apply the learning – fantastic!
De-escalation
FOR FRONTLINE HEALTH STAFF
This course is particularly useful for staff who work in the health sector with clients who can exhibit challenging behaviour.
Unlike programs with an academic focus, my workshop is interactive. It uses real workplace simulations to teach staff practical de-escalation techniques, such as:
- Early interventions that could prevent a critical incident from occurring
- How to say ‘no’ and a set boundary without escalating the situation
- Understanding how one’s tone and demeanour can affect others
- Techniques for staff to manage their own adrenaline
- How staff can protect themselves from physical aggression by deflecting a blow or getting out of a hold
- Understanding the organisation’s policies
- Debriefing after an escalated event.
VV Training has been excellent. The De-escalation workshop perfectly suited our staff and company. It was practical, fun and clarified our policy for everyone.
Customer Focus Training
FOR FRONTLINE HEALTH STAFF
This course is particularly useful for staff who want to:
- Learn to ‘read’ a service user better, and vary their approach
- Avoid tense exchanges and de-escalate upset clients.
Topics include:
- How diverse personality types behave under stress, and how to manage them
- How to be assertive and empathetic.
We use real workplace simulations to help develop the confidence and persona needed for interacting with clients.
VV Training has made a noticeable difference to the way our frontline staff communicate with patients. In carefully customised and interactive workshops, staff practised using tools and techniques that developed their confidence and ability to deal effectively with difficult situations.
Customer Service Training with Cross-cultural Focus
FOR FRONTLINE HEALTH STAFF
This training gives staff new ideas for working with clients and families from diverse cultural backgrounds.
This course is particularly useful for:
- Knowing how to engage refugees when they first make contact with your service
- Learning to ‘read’ a service user better, and varying your approach accordingly
- Avoiding tense exchanges and de-escalating upset clients from other cultures.
Topics include:
- How diverse personality types behave under stress, and the best intervention to make
- Things staff might do or say that unintentionally alienate a first-time user of the NZ health service
- How to be assertive and empathetic
- How to work with a service user who is used to a different health model than the western biomedical model
- How to assess whether an interpreter is needed
- How to schedule an appointment with a refugee to increase the chance of them showing up
- How to explain to a service user why they didn’t get medicine from the doctor, but still have to pay for the consultation
- How to explain how the NZ health system works in simple language.
We use real workplace simulations to help develop the confidence and persona needed for interacting with clients.
A great mix of customer service training with a strong cross-cultural approach. It’s resulted in many positive changes.
Alcohol and Drug Education
HARM REDUCTION / WELLNESS APPROACH FOR LINE STAFF
This one-hour education session is designed for organisations wanting to remind staff of their Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) policy while taking a realistic, wellness approach to the AOD conversation.
This session imparts useful information on AOD policy use in a user-friendly and interactive manner.
This session explores:
- The good, the bad and the ugly of AOD use
- How to know when the good is turning ugly
- How to start a conversation with a colleague who’s AOD use you are worried about
- Workplace AOD policy
- Where to get help.
Vanesa was one of the best Trainers we have had – her approach to Drug and Alcohol education is well informed. She has a talent in the way she engages the audience with her skilful use of humour.
Vanesa has a style which is engaging. This has been a key attribute in breaking down the barriers of cynicism, which often threaten to derail and disrupt traditional presentations.
Bespoke Courses
ORGANISATIONS WITH SPECIFIC NEEDS
If you would like a workshop that is not outlined here, talk to Vanesa about designing material specifically for your organisation.
The cost will be dependent on your needs and development time.
Fees for getting started:
- Initial phone conversation – free of charge
- Face-to-face scoping meeting $150, plus GST
- Zero quote – free of charge (zero quote includes cost only, no specifics outlined)
- Written proposal – outlining the issues, needs and training solutions $800, plus GST. If the training is rolled out this amount will be deducted from the final fee.
Contact Vanesa to talk about the type of training you need.
VANESA PROVIDED TRAINING FOR
Cost
Our training costs $250 per participant per day. All fees are plus GST.
Customised training is costed out on a job-by-job basis. See Bespoke Courses for more details.
The one hour Alcohol and Drug Education session is charged on a per head basis. Please enquire for more detail.
You provide:
- Training venue to our specifications. Note, a minimum space of 8 x 8 square metres is required
- Minimum of 6 participants
- Lunch and refreshments.
We provide:
- Workbooks and training materials
- Scenarios tailored to workplace situations your staff typically encounter
- Electronic certificates of completion.
Extra costs:
- Travel fee, if venue is more than 20km from Auckland CBD
- Out-of-town fee is changed for all training outside Auckland. This is $500, plus GST
If you require a quote for the training, a zero quote will be provided free of charge.
If you require a full proposal for training, our fee is $350, plus GST.
If training is rolled out, this amount will be deducted from the final fee.
Next Steps
Once we agree on training dates, your workshop is pencilled into Vanesa’s calendar.
When you have returned your signed contract and paid the 50% deposit, Vanesa will send an email confirming the training.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no charge for a 15-minute phone scope about training needs, followed by a zero quote.
For a face-to-face scope followed by a written proposal, $350, plus GST.
Customised training is costed on a job-by-job basis. See Bespoke Courses for more details.
The proposal summarises your organisation’s training needs and outlines recommendations for a training plan. If the training plan, or any aspect of the recommended training is accepted, the proposal cost is deducted from the final fee.
Our staff come from a range of cultures and were mostly new to Training – and Vanesa proved to be an excellent match! Even better, the results are tangible. Our Team Leaders now feel and act like they are part of the overall management structure.
Let’s Work Together
For more information about services or working with Vanesa, fill in the form below. We will get back to you as soon as possible.