OUTWARD BOUND

Overview

Outward Bound has been a provider of life changing personal development programmes and self-discovery experiences utilising New Zealand's outdoor environment since 1962. It has 40 employees located at the school in Anakiwa and 10 employees at corporate headquarters in Wellington. More than 45,000 New Zealanders have completed Outward Bound courses since its inception and each course has 90 to 150 students. Outward Bound's operating revenue was $4.36 million in 2004, up from $3.88 million the previous year.

Productivity Challenge

In the 90s Outward Bound was faced with a number of financial difficulties. Management needed to make a number of critical decisions very quickly to ensure ongoing survival of the organisation and took a much more directive approach than would usually have been the case. While the organisation survived as a result of the decisions taken, the management style utilised was highly detrimental to the culture of productivity. Divisions between offices decreased communication and employees' resisted change, thus impacting on the quality of the courses delivered.

The Productivity Achievement

Outward Bound has place high importance on recruiting the right staff. However, Investing in people is not just about recruiting the right employees, but also equipping them with the right skills from the outset. Investing in training is an integral part of building productivity over time and this has led to improvements in:

• Rigorous and comprehensive training resulting in a highly up-skilled and trained group of staff
• Input by staff members to address policy issues leads to staff having a real stake in the processes and the job
• Investing in high quality training leading to staff loyalty, a willingness to work for the company and increased professional and skills development opportunities
• Improved levels of communication resulting in better decision-making capabilities and greater efficiency within the different branches of Outward Bound

To find out more about the Outward Bound productivity case study, order a free copy of The Workplace - Productivity Challenge DVD/CD by emailing your name and physical address to info@dol.govt.nz putting Workplace Productivity CD (or DVD) in the subject line.

The full Outward Bound productivity case study is available as HTML and PDF

• Outward Bound productivity case study [HTML]
• Outward Bound productivity case study [PDF, 2 Pages, 138kB]

For further information on Outward Bound, please visit their website www.outwardbound.co.nz