Upskills

People...it's always the people stuff that make the step up to front line leadership the trickiest! And also the best, once you've got the skills and experience to lead with more confidence.
That's confirmed by the latest research from the Center for Creative Leadership - they've surveyed over 48,000 leaders and the top challenges for front line leadership are:
1. Frustrations with people and time.
2. First time managing people.
3. Deficient operational processes
4. Team performance
5. Personal improvement
The research is linked here: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/top-leadership-challenges/
How does this get taught in your workplace?

Ever noticed someone sees something unsafe at work… and says nothing?
So what's going on?

It’s usually one of these:

-"I don’t want to look difficult."
-"I don’t want to embarrass someone."
-"It’ll slow us down."
-"I don’t want to get it wrong."
-"It’s not really my role."
-"I don't have the right words to speak up."

These all point to a culture or communication issue.
What have we missed? What do you think's going on when people don't speak up at work?

Curious about what people think of our Pop Up Leadership course? Hear it from the inside...

Have you heard of the 'accidental manager'? That's when you get promoted because you're great at your job, so you jump up to leadership level without any training. That's a big leap! So how can you offer your people the right tools to succeed when they are promoted? There's a huge number of leadership offerings out there, but they are not all created equal. Find out what makes all the difference when it comes to making leadership learning stick and creating real change at your workplace.

Set your frontline leaders up for success - Upskills Ltd Set your frontline leaders up for success

Health and safety performance in New Zealand is poor and it's costing us lives.
It's also costing our economy - to the tune of $5.4 billion last year.
What can you do, at your workplace, to do better?
It starts with conversation, and being open to hearing honest answers followed up by action and accountability.

Want to empower your staff to find ways to trim costs and maximise earnings at your workplace?
Keen to equip new and aspiring leaders with the tools to lead a team to succeed?
Tired of health and safety stats looking half hearted and staff feeling disengaged?

We've got some learning solutions for that!

Lock in your workplace learning with Upskills in 2026 - we've got some fresh new courses for the new year, and some innovative new ways of measuring return on investment for our clients.
What's new:
-We're planning the NZ Certificate in Manufacturing with strong focus on productivity and delivered in our popular blended pop up model so you can enrol just one participant or as many as you like, nationwide.
-Our classic pop up leadership is coming to you across the motu in 2026- Auckland, Christchurch and Otago Southland, we've got you covered!
-Our brand new Safety Mindset course - boosting health and safety through learning.
Enrol before Jan 31 2026 for earlybird discounts across learning programmes. Check out our 2026 course calendar: https://www.upskills.co.nz/lock-in-workplace-learning-2026/
Get in touch to talk about how we can show proven results on your learning investment.
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Whaowhia te kete mātauranga | Fill the basket with knowledge

Course Catalogue 2026 - Upskills workplace training consultancy Lock your learning in for 2026 with our quality courses that create a learning legacy via innovation and metrics for success

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori...

This year marks 50 years of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - how special to be part of celebrating this milestone! As part of the celebrations, out team is taking up the 50 Wero Reo Māori - Challenge Yourself, Uplift the Reo!

The challenge is simple: choose from 50 reo-based activities to complete over the week. Whether you’re fluent, just starting out, or somewhere in between - there’s a wero for everyone. Every kupu shared, every waiata sung, every reo moment captured is an act of aroha for te reo Māori.

One of our colleagues, Sharon , took on Wero 13: Share your pepeha.
Here’s hers:

Tēnā koutou e hoa mā,
Kua tae mai nei i tēnei wā.
Nō reira, tēnā koutou katoa.
Ko Maungatere tōku maunga.
Ko Rakahuri tōku awa.
Ko Makawhiua rāua ko Tākitimu ōku waka.
Ko Tuahiwi tōku marae.
Ko Ngāi Tūāhuriri tōku hapū.
Ko Ngāi Tahu tōku iwi.
Ko Sharon Pheasant ahau.
Nō Ōtautahi ahau.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Ka rawe, Sharon! 👏

We encourage everyone across Aotearoa to join in and take up the challenge. Do one wero or all 50 - every effort counts towards keeping te reo Māori thriving.

https://ow.ly/HubC50WWxTM

How do you know what your teams can achieve unless they're given a chance to shine?
That chance came for SkyCity's Laz Malaga when he stepped up to take Project Ikuna's Introduction to Leadership course.
The key to his increased confidence was realising the understanding he actually had when it came to leadership. "Having empathy as an Islander is kind of in our genes."
Fast forward to graduation and Laz was confident enough to apply for and receive a promotion: he's now a Senior Operator at the busy Auckland entertainment complex and casino.

Many workplaces want to support their Pasifika staff, but don’t always know how. Project Ikuna programme takes care of it - whether you want to grow leadership, financial wellbeing, digital skills or wellbeing — at no cost to employers in Auckland.

Want to uncover the talent that sits within your Pasifika workforce?
We’ve only got 28 funded places left on this award winning project! - talk to us about unlocking Pasifika potential at your workplace.
And read more about Laz's leadership journey on the Upskills website. ⬇️🌺

“I’m old school and I don’t like pushing buttons – but I Iike this ChatGPT!”

That's a quote from one of our learners on the Digital Jumpstart programme and it tells you everything you need to know about learning.

It's not about being perfect. It's not about knowing it all.
It's about having the confidence to try something new.

Why is Project Ikuna Money Confidence specifically for Pasifika? It's not a quick, soundbite answer, but an important conversation. Here's some of the thinking:

1. Project Ikuna is part of the Alo Vaka Skills Shift Project, launched post Covid - because the pandemic disproportionately affected Pasifika communities in Aotearoa New Zealand, compounding existing and long-standing inequitable social and economic outcomes.

2. Long standing inequitable social and economic outcomes⬆️. Pacific peoples have a median income of $24,300 compared to $34,500 for Europeans. Rates of home ownership sit at 21% for Pasifika and 58% for Europeans. (Malatest International, 2024. Promoting financial literacy and capability in Pacific communities.) Targeted funding such as Project Ikuna addresses systemic inequities that have persisted for decades.

3. It's culturally responsive learning at its best. The research indicates that:
-Financial wellbeing for Pacific peoples is shaped by values of collective wellbeing and giving.
-A generic financial literacy programme does not account for these realities — Money Confidence ensures culturally designed learning that aligns with Pasifika values and worldviews.

It’s not about exclusion — it’s about equity: providing Pasifika with the specific knowledge needed to achieve the same opportunities others already have. And finally, when we raise financial wellbeing for everyone, we lift up all of our economies and communities.

What do Amazon, Google and Spotify all have in common?
They're ahead of the game with built in focus on employee foundation skills- think collaboration, problem solving and mathematical thinking - when it comes to learning, working and even promotion criteria.
New research confirms these foundation skills are the future.
"In a world of constant disruption, organizations should pay even closer attention to their employees’ foundational skills—because those are what make long-term adaptability possible."

Soft Skills Matter Now More Than Ever, According to New Research An analysis of over 1,000 occupations and hundreds of skills—capturing 70 million job transitions—examined the importance of foundational skills (like reading comprehension, basic math, and the ability to work well in teams) to career progression. Those who had a broad base of foundational skill...