Training, learning and development

• Guide: Planning a brigade training night session
• Template: Training night session plan
• Links to policy, procedure and guides for OSM Training
• Form: Recording operation requirements/knowledge skills in SMS - manual data
• Ready to go training resources (external link)
• Brigade training resources and other Support for learning
• Guide: Volunteer station training reference
• Online learning system: Learning Station(external link)

• Schedule: Training courses
• TAPS programmes
• Specialist courses 
• Rural training 
• Support for learning
• Form: Training application
• Form: Brigade bulk training application
• Form: Online training feedback
• Form: Volunteer loss of income and other costs claim
• Form: Volunteer expense claim 
  
• Guide: Volunteer reimbursement
• Guidelines: Training guidelines
• Guidelines and form: Medical co-response recognition of equivalency

• Letter for employers: First aid training letter (this explains what the course covers and how it exceeds public first aid training)

• Procedure: Recognise prior learning for volunteer training exemption
• Volunteer firefighter placement programme

Lead Self Programme

For everyone, all of the time

This “Lead Self” (Personal Leadership) Guide includes tasks and questions for our three key leadership responsibilities – collaboration, building our Fire and Emergency culture and working smart at this leadership level. The action statements in the leadership behaviours map and the self-reflection questions are designed to prompt leadership action and reflection.

Click to find out more

Lead Teams Programme

For people who lead teams, work groups, crews and brigades

By signing up for Lead Teams you will embark on a 9 month journey of leadership development activities, workshops, webinars and discussions, designed to support you to develop your practive of leading and managing. This programme will help you in our day-to-day leadership/management roles.  You will be part of a cohort of no more than 16, enabling you to build strong networks within the group.

If I take part, what’s in it for me?

By engaging in this leadership journey you will benefit from the following:

• You will learn more about yourself as a leader – self-awareness being the foundation of great leadership practice
• You will develop the capabilities needed to build a high performing team
• You will develop your communication skills, mastering the art of having coaching conversations and giving constructive feedback
• You will strengthen your peer relationships with other leaders across the organisation

What would my commitment be?

The programme will be spread over a 9-month period to enable plenty of time to reflect, learn, plan and act.

The approximate time commitment will be:

• 1hr to complete an online self-awareness profile / debrief session
• 3 x one day-long workshops over the 9-month period
• 1-hour Teams online session about every 3 weeks
• 3 x 1hr individual coaching sessions over the 9-month period (online or in person) for you to work on personal development of your choice.
• Set yourself time aside each week to reflect on learnings.

What does the programme cover

• Workshops 1 – Know Self as a Leader
• Workshop 2 – Build Effective Teams
• Workshop 3 – Have Great Conversations

Webinars:

Habit Forming

Learn how to create new habits by identifying what triggers you to behave in certain ways and how to switch that behaviour around

Start With the Why

Explore what values drive you, why your ‘why’ matters, and how to satisfy your ‘why’ more.

Blackbox Thinking

Explore the concepts of Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset and how we can, as leaders, encourage an environment that welcomes and learns from mistakes.

Monkey Business

Learn more about where your time goes, what to consider when delegating tasks to others & how to keep others’ ‘monkeys’ off your back!

Rebel Ideas

A deep dive into cognitive diversity and how a diverse team enables greater intelligence and enhanced problem solving capabilities.

Decision Making

Learn about our brain’s role in decision making, the 3 steps to better decision making and the Cynefin Framework for solving problems.

Maori Leadership

Take a bi-cultural leadership lens and explore the importance of followership and the key concepts that underpin Māori leadership.

Code of Behaviour

A chance to familiarise yourself with the Code of Behaviour and the value it can add to your team’s ways of working.

Insight and Reflection

Take some time to reflect: What has changed and what is next for you on your leadership journey?

Click to find out more

Lead Leaders guide

For leaders who lead other leaders and whose roles require them to have an impact at a broader level throughout the organisation

This “Lead Leaders” Leadership Guide includes tasks and questions for our three key leadership responsibilities – collaboration, building our Fire and Emergency culture and working smart at this leadership level. The action statements in the leadership behaviours map and the self-reflection questions are designed to prompt both leadership action and reflection.

Click to find out more

Lead Systems

For thought leaders who shape and reshape systems across the organisation

This “Lead Systems” Leadership Guide includes tasks and questions for our three key leadership responsibilities – collaboration, building our Fire and Emergency culture and working smart at this leadership level. The action statements in the leadership behaviours map and the self-reflection questions are designed to prompt leadership action and reflection

Click to find out more

These 10 modules are designed to help you in your leadership skills development, whether you are a volunteer leader now, or hoping to be one in the future.

You can do any module in any order, as a brigade workshop, or an online workshop.

Modules are facilitated by specifically trained Volunteer leaders and/or your region Senior Advisor Leadership Development person.

Module Objectives:

• provide support to brigade leaders on topics that impact brigade effectiveness
• develop brigade leaders and give them tools to expand the scope of their brigade and/or address common issues
• support leaders to promote a positive culture within their brigade and have highly engaged and committed members
• enable brigade leaders to 'nip things in the bud' before they scale into issues
• provide brigade leaders an opportunity to network with other brigade leaders in their area and give them an opportunity to learn from each others successes and challenges
• support leaders to grow individuals ensuring brigade succession planning.

The modules are a chance for you to:

• Get together
• Network
• Talk through challenges
• Learn from one and another
• Think about and change the way you lead
• Leave learning something useful, connected with other volunteers and enjoyed them to

Brigade Workshops:

We’ll come to you and these modules can be held at any station and we encourage you to invite neighbouring stations to join.

• 6 -20 people
• held in the evenings or weekends[MC1]  – 2.5hrs in total
• non-alcoholic refreshments and food is provided
• you can claim mileage but not loss of wages

Advantages:

• connect in person
• meet volunteers from surrounding brigades

Online Workshops:

These modules can be run online for members at a regional or national level.

• 6 – 12 people
• You must access them using an individual log in (not sharing a computer)
• 2 hours in total (with a break) usually 7pm – 9pm weekday evening
• Run via Teams – we’ll send you a link and have IT on standby to help support your access

Advantages:

• ability to network and learn with people from various brigades around New Zealand
• ability to learn from home and save travelling and time

Contact your Regional Senior Advisor Leadership Development. See contacts below

Who do you contact to organise a brigade or online workshop?

Contact your Senior Advisor  Leadership Development if you're interested in attending any of the workshops.

Audience

These courses are aimed at current and future volunteer leaders from Chiefs to Senior Firefighters

Who is it for?

Coaching is aimed at our volunteers; current brigade leaders, leaders from other volunteer areas and volunteers considering leadership as a pathway. Coaching is available throughout all regions.

Why Coaching?

Leadership is a critical component of any organisation. A leader's role is to inspire, develop and empower their teams to succeed. You directly influence your team/brigade's culture, work ethic, motivation, and success as a leader.

At FENZ, we want your experience of leadership and your influence to be positive.  Coaching is one way of investing in you, our current, emerging, and future leaders, so you can lead and grow healthy, strong brigades.

Coaching can improve a leader's performance by developing:

• Greater self and contextual awareness of yourself, your role, and the organisation.
• Deepened understanding of others to assist you in working with and empowering those around you.
• Enhanced ability to communicate to help you convey what's important to you, the organisation, and others.
• Enhanced capability in coaching others which is a critical differentiator between being a good leader and a great one.

What is coaching?

Coaching is a series of confidential one-on-one conversations. These provide a supportive environment for individuals to find their answers and solutions while encouraging their efforts to achieve their desired outcomes.

Coaching can focus on achieving goals within a leader's current job or moving in new directions. One leader may work with a coach to go from good to great. Others may use it to clarify how they show up and manage their time and energy. Another may use coaching to help navigate through conflict and difficult conversations.

Coaching is about helping you move forward constructively from the present.  

What other benefits are there to coaching?

Coaching helps:

• Build self-awareness, confidence, and resilience, improving one’s outlook on work and life.
• Discover and align one’s personal values with goals and direction.
• Gain greater clarity and perspective on situations.
• Work through processes to find solutions and strategies to current challenges.
• Support and assist with building trust, accountability, and developing the team.
• Manage ones thinking and emotions to help influence one’s behaviour and actions.
• Improve leadership skills, including communication styles, inspiring and motivating the team, and guiding with integrity.

What is the commitment?

Coaching is usually between 3-6 one hour sessions over an agreed period of time, with a coach of your choice.  You will be required to sign a coaching agreement between you and your agreed coach and your region Senior Advisor Volunteer Leadership Development will hold a copy of this on file. 

Choosing a Coach?

Once you have committed to undertaking coaching, you will be sent a regional list of virtual and in person coaches to chose from.  Volunteer Leadership Development team strongly encourage you to arrange a quick ‘coffee chat’ with each of the coaches from the list who appeal the most to you before deciding.  It is important for you and your coach that you have the right chemistry for a coaching relationship.  Once you have chosen your coach inform your regional Senior Advisor, Volunteer Leadership Development.

How can I be considered for coaching? 

Coaching is just one of the many options to enhance and develop leadership skills available to current, emerging, and future leaders.  If you are interested in coaching, please contact your district Group Manager or regional Senior Advisor, Volunteer Leadership Development, to discuss your options.

A Leadership Development Mentoring programme will be launched in 2024 for all volunteers. 

It is currently being piloted in Te Kei and Te Ihu.  When this successfully concludes, and the learnings have been implemented, Leadership Development Mentoring will be available to ALL Volunteers who are serious about taking the next steps in their personal growth and leadership journey.

Mentoring:
Is the process of using specially selected and trained individuals to provide guidance and advice which will help to further develop the mentee personal and leadership skills.

Mentoring is aimed at complementing experience gained on the job, which is proven to be the best way of acquiring new skills and knowledge.  Mentoring also complements formal training by providing participants with individual and targeted guidance from experienced mentors. 

A mentor can assist in the personal and leadership growth of an individual by sharing the knowledge and insights of their experience. Mentoring is not coaching.

Coaching:
Coaching is more problem, issue, or task orientated and has a very specific focus on acquiring a particular skill, behaviour or piece of knowledge. It is short term relationship.  Refer to Coaching section above.

Purpose of the Mentoring Programme

• To accelerate the personal and leadership development of the mentee
• Transfer knowledge, skills and insights
• Foster inhouse talent
• Create connection and build stronger, trusting relationships
• To increase employee and volunteer engagement

Benefits for Mentee:

• Gain support and knowledge
• A trusting relationship to discuss issues openly
• Increased awareness of self
• Improved self-confidence
• Increased motivation
• Improve career and earnings
• Confidential ear

Self- Awareness is and essential trait of great leadership and followership.  Self-awareness separates great leaders from good leaders. Be curious about who you are and how your seen by others.
Self-Awareness is understanding how our personality traits, habits, values and abilities affect our behaviour and interactions with people in our brigade, our employment, our family and social circles.  Its about being able to clearly see how our actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with our internal standards.

• Can you name your top 6 strengths?
• Do you know your emotional triggers?
• Do you know why some people might set you off and others don’t?

Want to know more then read on:

Deeper Signals

Specifically purchased for Volunteers and now incorporated in the Volunteer Executive Officer course (VEO), this online tool helps identify your top 6 strengths.
Deeper Signals builds self-awareness around how we work, the value we bring and how we relate to those around us and them to us.
The difference from other personality assessments you may have done, is this is based on reputation – how others see you as opposed to identity how you see yourself.

Whats required:

• It takes 7-10 mins to complete the assessment online
• You instantly receive a copy of your assessment
  
• You will have a confidential debrief at a suitable time to you with your regional Senior Advisor Leadership Development person

Deeper Signals can be run for brigade individuals, management teams or whole brigades.  Finding out what everyone’s strengths and communication styles are, can be very enlightening for brigades and can often help and support members communication and understanding of how to work with others to get the best out of them.

• Learning Station(external link)
• Manage your training emails: How to set up a rule in Outlook 

Feedback and Coaching(external link)

Inclusive Leadership(external link)

The Power of Leadership(external link)

Contact your regional Senior Advisor Leadership Development person to work with you, your GM and brigade to create succession plans for your brigade or individual members.