“We learned new ways to engage better with workers.”
Hans has been delivering Puataunofo, a programme to bring Pasifika workers home safely from work, since 2006. When Afele Paea joined him at WorkSafe, his passion for the cause was revitalised. He saw the need to change the delivery. Some feedback from earlier presentations was not flattering. In truth, workers hadn’t been engaged with it. He knew the delivery needed to change.
So, when it was suggested by WorkSafe that their facilitation skills get a makeover and that they should be NZQA qualified, both Hans and Afele were keen to enrol and upskill.
Hans says, ‘I needed to reflect on my skills and identify what I could do better. It just took someone externally to say, hey what about doing a course that can lift your skills of delivery? When we started, we worked together on it, on our assignments and attending the day course with Keith and we just really learnt a lot.
Keith taught us many ways to engage better with the workers. These included graphics and games. For example, Bingo, which we changed to Pingo, to sound like Pasifika language. This brought a lot of humour and laughter and made the learning more visual. We also got the workers to explain what the symbols meant. So, through fun and games, the serious safety message was more easily understood, and it was better absorbed and retained.’
Hans has also promoted further education within his family. During their Sunday family conferences, Hans always reported on his progress in his studies. This motivated his daughter to enrol in a similar business course. So, Hans was delighted when his daughter reported on social media, ‘Oh, going back to school can be a real struggle, but if Dad can do it, I’m going to do it also.’