Resource Hub boasts an impressive resume delivering training sessions for waste management facilities across Australia. Founder and Director Lacey Webb, and Lead of the compliance, data and training teams, Chloe Rhoades, explain why investing in people is essential for the future of the sector.
There’s a lot of talk in the waste industry about education. Often the focus is the piece of paper at the end of university, but that’s not the only education the industry needs to worry about, says Lacey Webb, Founder and Director of Resource Hub.
Community education is critical, however discussion around community education and behaviour change often doesn’t focus on the people delivering the day-to-day work.
“There can be a disconnect between the important strategies of a region or facility and the actual operational knowledge of the people at the facility,” adds Chloe Rhoades the Compliance and Data Lead in charge of the teams delivering Resource Hub’s training.
“They are the frontline person you will meet at a weighbridge or gatehouse, they’re often the only people the community will interact with,” she says.
“It’s critical they have the right skills to give the customer a great experience, so they recognise the value the waste industry provides, while also being able to capture great data and compliant outcomes.”
Resource Hub is passionate about helping others navigate the complexity of the waste and resource recovery sector and conducts regular training sessions across every state, aimed at improving facility operations.
Lacey describes it as defining what best practice looks like for gatehouses, covering everything from waste levies, the challenges of a transaction system and customer experience, through to the more technical aspects such as how to classify loads, and how to maintain compliance of regulated waste movements. Even how to improve site communications to improve outcomes.
While there is a standard suite of training subjects available, sessions are commonly tailored to each region, state, and customer need. The Resource Hub team will often speak with clients or deliver site audits to identify key challenges and develop their training program to improve outcomes and bottom lines.
The team delivers training sessions to large councils and commercial organisations, smaller rural councils, regional organisations of councils or regional organisations and even state regulators. When it comes to the landfill and transfer station operators, Lacey says 90 per cent of organisations who take part in training sessions will sign up for annual refreshers.
Isaac Regional Council in Queensland was one of Resource Hub’s first training clients and one of the growing number of councils Lacey knows who invest in dedicated annual gatehouse and operational team training.
She says, five years on, the council can benchmark the growth and success of its waste operation because of investment in its people.
“Five years ago, when we asked the council staff what best practice looked like, there were ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ and talk about things they wish the sites did,” Lacey says.
“This year, year five, we went back to that topic. The teams on all training days talked about the great processes they have, the ideas they’ve brought to fruition, the learning and the level of energy around sites . . . and their best practice. It was a total shift from five years ago, when best practice was perceived to be something that other council facilities delivered, where now they identify themselves as representing the goal!
“It goes to show what investing in staff can achieve. You can see the value you bring to someone when they feel like they’ve been invested in.”
As much as it is an investment in people, training sessions are also an opportunity to find the gaps in a business and set a new policy or process that is fit for purpose.
Councils regularly reach out seeking help to understand how regulation changes can be integrated into their operations. Resource Hub is also in touch with regulators and waste authorities to determine the risk areas where training could help.
“We’re making sure appropriate, fit-for-purpose process are embedded using simple language that teams can understand,” Chloe says.
“As regulation changes, we sometimes forget that we may need to change a process at a gatehouse.
“We’re adapting and developing sessions according to gaps we’re seeing in industry knowledge.”
Resource Hub has been built on an ethos of bringing people and process together to make organisations more effective. Training is a critical part of its service offering and within the next six to 12 months the team is investing time and money to expand the opportunities for training.
“It’s all about resourcing up with Resource Hub,” Lacey says. “It’s all about being part of our clients’ team and supporting the team’s growth… while we sit in the background.”
New services will include “lunch and learns” – one-hour sessions every six weeks on a specific topic. The free sessions are intended for waste management co-ordinators who are new to a region or role, to give them the basics around a particular topic.
They will be state-based to continue to upskill the industry.
A second new service on its way includes a suite of online and digital training for organisations to use for staff onboarding as well as “refreshers”. It will incorporate specific video content, competency checklists and a skills matrixes – as well as some fun interactive tools – to determine a team’s understanding of the content.
Lacey says it will make training more accessible for regional and remote councils while also making it more focused on shorter units.
It’s these outcomes that continue to drive Lacey, Chloe and Resource Hub. If the team could teach everyone in the waste industry just one thing, it would be a renewed focus on outcomes.
“It’s about asking why we do what we do,” Lacey says. “Why we press the buttons, record this information and take certain loads.
“Why is often is the piece of the puzzle that’s missing when we find policies or procedures aren’t being adhered to.
“It is the most common question that we get asked in training workshops and it’s the ultimate question for solving a multitude of process problems and getting our teams to engage in changed outcomes!”
For more information, visit: www.resourcehub.com.au