UNITED NATIONS ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE STRIVES FOR ‘BEST PRACTICE’
In the beautiful and tranquil surroundings of the Veranda Resort at Hua Hin, on the beach front of the Gulf of Thailand, (some 2 ½ hours from bustling Bangkok), 40 key staff from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) were engaged with Australian Corporate Challenge (ACC) in a 3 day retreat and conference.
(ACC) led by Chief Executive Officer Dr Garry Tester, Programs Coordinator Jacqui Finnegan, Director Jennifer Clay and Mentors Ryan Harding, Margaret Thompson and Kieran McDowell delivered 3 exhaustive and rewarding days of leading edge programs for (APRO) to build a Charter of aspirational behaviours, enhance communication, build team work and encourage collegiate spirit with a multi-cultural staff, spanning 16 Nationalities.
Eight teams were selected to ensure some friendly rivalry was sustained when working through the experiential learning activities and winning points were keenly sought throughout the retreat in a tight competition to the very end.
With such a strong group of professional staff keen to be involved in robust communication, the results from the retreat enabled (APRO) to develop an outstanding Charter of values and behaviours moving forward in 2012 with a shared mandate for all.
The Pipeline activity involving planning, risk management, budgeting, achieving set objectives and time management allowed a thrilling conclusion to the teams competition and the winning prize being copies of the bestselling book by Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture, summing up his overview of Life which was a true metaphor for (APRO) “We can’t change the hand we are dealt in life, but only how we play it”.
The staff feedback also confirmed this premise as (APRO) moves forward, dedicated to helping the ‘at risk’ populations of Asia Pacific with one delegate writing “I have learnt so much about myself and how it impacts on others, now it is up to me to make sure my team work behaviours are in line with our Charter, thank you ACC for the start of my new journey”.
ARGYLE CONTRACT GLITTERS FOR TENIX SDR
One of the largest fabrication and installation contracts worth over $175 million in Western Australia has been awarded to Tenix SDR for the underground Diamond Operation at Argyle in the East Kimberley’s.
Australian Corporate Challenge was tasked with developing a Charter of values and behaviours to ensure zero harm throughout the 2 year contract as well as strategic training.
This was combined with identifying the key leaders for the project and investing in ‘leading edge’ leadership training and profiling to ensure the project is on time, on budget and injury free.
A recently conducted 2 day professional and personal development conference completed by 
Australian Corporate Challenge saw an outstanding Charter and Life Saving rules completed in conjunction with personal work/life and wellness training overarched with Leadership Skills needed in the tough and unforgiving environment of Underground Mining.
Using experiential learning simulation activities under the watchful eyes of Australian Corporate Challenge staff, Tenix SDR leaders were stretched, evaluated and guided to achieve critical objectives, while ensuring every team member was actively engaged.
As Peter Davis, Tenix SDR Operations Manager, explained “We have to have a leadership team
onsite that is exemplary in their behaviours towards safety and their duty of care to all our staff. This training is critical to our success”.
ARGYLE CONTRACT GLITTERS FOR TENIX SDR
One of the largest fabrication and installation contracts worth over $175 million in Western Australia has been awarded to Tenix SDR for the
underground Diamond Operation at Argyle in the East Kimberley’s.
Australian Corporate Challenge was tasked with developing a Charter of values and behaviours to ensure zero harm throughout the 2 year contract as well as strategic training.
This was combined with identifying the key leaders for the project and investing in ‘leading edge’ leadership training and profiling to ensure the project is on time, on budget and injury free.
A recently conducted 2 day professional and personal development conference completed by Australian Corporate Challenge saw an outstanding Charter and Life Saving rules completed in conjunction with personal work/life and wellness training overarched with Leadership Skills needed in the tough and unforgiving environment of Underground Mining.
Using experiential learning simulation activities under the watchful eyes of Australian Corporate Challenge staff, Tenix SDR leaders were stretched, evaluated and guided to achieve critical objectives, while ensuring every team member was actively engaged.
As Peter Davis, Tenix SDR Operations Manager, explained “We have to have a leadership team onsite that is exemplary in their behaviours towards safety and their duty of care to all our staff. This training is critical to our success”.
HEALTH A PRIORITY AT THIESS SERVICES
Thiess Services (Western Australia) have launched an ‘industry leading’ program in partnership with Australian Corporate C
hallenge to invest in the health and wellbeing of its work force.
Under the leadership of WA Manager Andy Wood and supported by Water Resources Managers Don Chappell and Ian Marshall along with HSE Advisor Paul Laycock, Australian Corporate Challenge and the University of Western Australia’s school of Exercise Science are completing extensive health screening, not only anthropometric data, but also of life style.
This will allow a snap shot of the health of the work force to support a ‘best practice’ strategy moving forward.
The completely volunteer testing has had an outstanding take up rate of 78%.
The testing covers blood profiling, functional movement activities, cardiovascular levels and basic anthropometric data of height, weight and girth ratio. Further data is being collected pertaining to exercise patterns, diet, alcohol, smoking and recreational patterns.
Each staff member will receive a complete profile of their scores compared to National standards, along with comparisons of mean scores by age and gender of the Thiess work force.
The enthusiasm shown by those tested so far and the feedback from those staff all goes well for individuals taking ownership for improving their own health and wellness, with the ongoing support of Australian Corporate Challenge.
As one Thiess worker explained “It is a wakeup call for all of us, to pay more attention to our own personal health as we get older, thank you for the opportunity”.
TENIX GAS MOVING FROM GOOD TO GREAT
Tenix Gas Victoria began its successful journey way back in 2005 with a partnership with Dr Garry Tester and Australian Corporate Challenge. 
With the excellent stewardship of firstly Nick Martin, then Jacob Bonisch and now Marco Lupacchini investing in leadership and team development, Tenix Gas is now a ‘lighthouse’ across the Tenix business units, which has consistently shown on the bottom line.
Again in April 2011 a two day live in leadership conference highlighted how the 30 identified leaders of the business had grown in stature with their skills.
Under the guidance of Garry Tester, the leadership team was objectively measured, involved in experiential (hands on) activities to demonstrate their developing leadership skills and involved in ‘leading edge’ learning to keep Tenix Gas at the forefront of the business units.
Commander Richard Cass from the Australian Navy (ANZAC Class ships), spoke at length about the 
similarities between Military Leadership and Business Leadership to ensure the ‘troops’ develop the desired behaviours to keep them safe. This message fitted well with the Tenix initiative of ‘Zero Harm’ and the Charter of behaviours developed for the Gas division.
After two intense days, the words of the long serving Manager John Spallotta summed up the conference:
“I have been around a long time and it is refreshing to see the young boys step up to take this leadership training. They are our future and I love being part of this great initiative by Marco”
