The Importance of Values and the Power of WOW!
By Sam Hendry, College Manager
Just on a year ago the ACA NSW and Kool Kids Training College (RTO 40636) launched the Early Education and Care College powered by Kool Kids Training College.
The brand was created and promoted to give ACA NSW members a better solution for their staff in undertaking either the CHC30113 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care or CHC50113 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care qualification.
As the ACA NSW President Lyn Connolly stated at the launch ‘our sector deserves better’ and over the past 12 months we have been working hard to spread the word that training delivered by Kool Kids Training College is indeed better.
Director of the College, Sam Hendry believes the foundation of being better and delivering quality training starts with the principles of what the college stands for.
The college operates with 5 core values:
- Quality
- Team
- Trust
- Professionalism
- WOW!
The importance of values is instrumental in any successful organisation.
But committing to values and living and breathing them every day is the challenge that some organisations don’t follow through with.
Sam believes that values are only relevant when they are engrained into the mindset of all staff.
“Simply having a board at the front desk with some words on it is not enough.”
“Values need to be embedded into daily practices of everyone and their adherence recognised and rewarded. On the flipside where they are abandoned or not met, there needs to be action by leaders in the organisation to address that,” he said.
“For our college, our 5 core values are our guideposts for growth and keep us in check when hard calls need to be made. We have them built into our performance review processes with each staff member and we talk openly about where they have been met or not on a regular basis also.”
“If we are serious about our values then we put these ahead of any other consideration when making hard decisions and that can cost the organisation time and/or money but decisions have to be made with these values in mind.”
And this adherence is positive to the learning experience at the college for its fast growing number of students from ACA NSW member centres.
“If we are serious about our quality and professionalism values for example, then we limit our ratio of student numbers to trainers and assessors and we do not overload them with too many students. I have heard of some RTOs with 150 students per trainer – this simply won’t happen with us as we know we would not be meeting two of our core values.”
“Likewise, we are trusted by our students to be in centre every 3 weeks. If we let them down by not keeping to that schedule, then our trust value goes out the window. For every activity or inactivity there is a connection with our values. They are so important,” Sam said.
The college is increasingly being recognised for its ‘WOW’ value.
So, what is WOW and how do you get to WOW?
Sam attended a leadership course some years ago and studied Zappos – a famed US based online shoe retailer that effectively built its brand and success by delivering WOW!
“This company opened my eyes to innovative customer service or as they called it WOW! They had a value proposition of next day delivery and free returns and a 24x7 customer service line that would literally go above and beyond for every call. I recall one customer (and I think it was late at night and the customer was a little ‘under the weather’) who was trying to locate their local pizza shop and the Zappos staff took the call, helped locate the shop and then put the order in for them.”
Sam adds, “when you think of a story like that and the ripple effect of word of mouth recognition emanating from it, and the belief in service that all staff ‘buy into’, it literally is priceless.”
“We see WOW as a competitive advantage. Once the whole team is invested in WOW, the magic happens.
Sam concluded, “the joy the team get from sharing stories from Cairns to Campbelltown is amazing”.
Trainers and assessors at the college report weekly on their WOW moment. Below is just one WOW moment that is quite special.
‘I visited an early learning centre to assess one of my students. During my time in her room I noticed a boy that was obviously autistic, he was non-verbal and very much content. Educators were supportive of his needs, but the moment of WOW was the children within his class that showed full acceptance of this boy... in particular it was lunch time and one of the children without being asked held the boys water bottle and his hand, walked him over to the door ready to head to the lunch room. This was such a moment that melted my heart to see such acceptance and inclusion in children so young and the credit goes to the educators by creating an awareness in the children and encouraging inclusion and equity.’
ENDS
Interested to experience training that is truly WOW in your centre? Call the college on 1300 048 133
