Ready, set, go!

Every organisation needs certain core competencies to function well. But figuring out what to learn, finding the right provider and getting everyone in the room? That takes time most of us don’t have.

The Business Management Essentials (BME) Series takes care of the first part. Eight practical courses covering the competencies we’ve seen make the biggest difference — drawn from nearly 30 years of working with organisations across Aotearoa.

Practical techniques people can apply immediately, in a format that’s flexible enough to fit your workplace. Ready, set, go.

Our BME Series is ideal for

The BME Series suits organisations of any size who want practical, ready-to-go learning without the lead time.

BME is particularly popular with small businesses, cooperatives, franchises and membership organisations — but honestly, these competencies matter in every organisation, whatever the size.

Courses in the BME Series

Eight courses. Eight pieces of the puzzle. Each one stands alone — and together, they cover the competencies that make the biggest difference to how your organisation works.

Self Leadership

Taking charge of how you think, work and recharge

Communication & Influence

Growing clarity, connection and influence in today’s diverse workplace

Team Leadership

Cultivating initiative, ownership and capability in your team

Leadership

Transitioning from technical expert to influential leader

Employee Management

Turning legal knowledge into positive workplace outcomes

Financial Management

Making your business more profitable and resilient

Business Leadership

From opportunity to impact — growing your business with confidence

Managing Recruiting, Onboarding, Pay & Leave

Finding, welcoming and looking after your people

Your series, your way

Pick one course or all eight.

Run them as Equip BME Series courses, or brand them as your own.

Either way, we’re ready when you are.

What makes the BME Series work

Every element is here for a reason — to make sure learning translates into real, lasting change at work.

Minimum disruption, Maximum learning

Three short online workshops per course means no full days out of the office, no travel costs, no venue hire and minimum catchup time — just focused learning scheduled to suit your team.

Facilitator-led workshops

Experienced facilitators help you apply learning to your work and workplace— understanding your context, your people and your goals.

Layered learning

Eight courses developed as a connected series — consistent frameworks, shared language, each one reinforcing the others so the whole is richer than any single course.

Cohesive connected content

Eight courses developed as a connected series — consistent frameworks, shared language, each one reinforcing the others so the whole is richer than any single course.

Additional self-directed learning resources

Additional self-led courses and resources available anytime — follow your curiosity, fill a gap, or revisit something until it clicks.

Progress analytics & reporting

Clear visibility into participation, progress and development — so you can see the difference learning is making across your team.

Brandable / white label

The BME Series is ready to go as-is — and if you’d like it branded or tailored to your industry, we can make that happen too.

Discounts on other Equip L&D services

Make your development budget go further — access coaching, WorkStyle profiles, workshops and more at 10–15% off, for the duration of your BME Series.

What’s covered in each course

Taking charge of how you think, work and recharge

Are you time poor with too much to do in your business? Is it hard to know what to focus on and feel satisfied with what you are achieving?  Are you feeling stressed and tired?

Or are you looking for practical ways to feel more satisfied with how you are living and working?

This course provides practical, proven techniques to help you thrive at work and have time and energy left for the other important parts of your life.

All success starts with us, and this course equips you with tools and habits to help you achieve what matters most to you.

Workshop 1 – Mind management

  • How our minds work – for and against us
  • Maintaining and regaining our balance
  • Improving thinking and decision-making
  • Creating useful habits (and stopping unwanted ones)

Workshop 2 – Time management

  • How to prioritise
  • Simple planning techniques for dynamic environments
  • Minimising and dealing with interruptions
  • Overcoming procrastination

Workshop 3 – Stress management and resilience

  • Identifying signals of stress
  • Reducing stress and stressors
  • Effective energy management
  • Managing well when under pressure
  • Increasing resilience

Growing clarity, connection and influence in today’s diverse workplace

Growing clarity, connection and influence
in today’s diverse workplaceGrowing clarity, connection and influence
in today’s diverse workplaceCommunication is core to succeeding at work (and life!)

But being understood and understanding others can be tricky at times.  With the growing diversity in our workplaces, the range of perspectives is growing.  This can be a strength in our business if we know how to effectively communicate.

This course provides simple techniques to increase the clarity of your communication to others.

We also cover ways to better understand others and grow your ability to influence in a wide range of situations.

This course is perfect for anyone who works with people .

Workshop 1 – Communicating clearly

  • The key to all communication
  • Recognising our role in miscommunication
  • How to be clearer
  • Communicating assertively
  • Confirming understanding

Workshop 2 – Understanding others

  • Listening – how to stay focussed
  • Working with generational differences and diversity
  • Spotting the key drivers in others
  • Confirming your understanding

Workshop 3 – Increasing influence

  • How to help someone calm down
  • Directing attention and focus
  • Increasing persuasiveness
  • Avoiding offence

Cultivating initiative, ownership and capability in your team

Would you like your team to be able to do more tasks independently? Or offer to do more, without being asked? Or even have your team do what you’ve asked, without being reminded…and reminded…? But who’s got the time for formal training sessions with their team?

Formal training isn’t the only way to upskill your team. There are simple techniques you can apply to increase the ownership and skill of your team, one conversation at a time. In most cases these techniques won’t take any more time, or words, than what you are already using.

We understand you are super busy and need quick techniques that work fast. In this workshop you will learn simple, but powerful techniques you can use every day in a wide variety of situations, to enable your team to contribute more.

Workshop 1 – Assigning work and increasing the ownership of work

  • Providing clear work instructions
  • Effective questioning to increase engagement
  • Increasing the ownership of tasks
  • Increasing memory of tasks

Workshop 2 – Providing useful feedback

  • Providing reinforcing (positive) feedback to embed skills
  • Providing corrective (negative/constructive) feedback to upskill
  • Techniques to avoid offence and maximise learning

Workshop 3 – Growing the capability of your team

  • Identifying opportunities to upskill team members
  • Actioning upskilling within the team
  • Clarifying commitment to tasks
  • Coaching questions to keep growing skills

Transitioning from Technical Expert to Influential Leader

How did I get here?

That’s a question a lot of our clients ask themselves.  How did I end up in this leadership role?  And what really should I be doing as the leader?

This course will demystify the role of a leader and provide practical ways to confidently and successfully fulfil your role as a leader.

It is suitable for anyone new to leadership, preparing for leadership or wanting to review and enhance their leadership.

Workshop 1 – Understanding leadership

  • What is leadership?
  • The 3 hats all leaders wear (and when to wear each one)
  • Developing the most important trait of a leader

Workshop 2 – Transitioning to and working as a leader

  • How to go from technical super-doer to leader
  • Practical ways to increase your influence as a leader
  • Feeling comfortable and confident in your leadership role

Workshop 3 – Growing in your leadership role

  • Dealing with imposter syndrome
  • Knowing your non-negotiables
  • Growing trust
  • The simple check to know if you really are leading

Turning legal knowledge into positive workplace outcomes

Being an employer can be a big responsibility and understanding your legal responsibilities may feel confusing.

This workshop will equip you with an understanding of your legal responsibilities and how they can be applied to develop positive, effective working relationships with your employees.

Learn how to set you and your employee up for successful employment relationship.

And if, or when, things do get a bit wobbly we will cover how your legal rights and responsibilities can help you in dealing with challenging employment situations.

And lastly, we will cover how the power of knowing your legal responsibilities and rights can help avoid employment problems.

Workshop 1 – Getting the foundations right

  • Understanding your legal responsibilities as an employer
  • The key principles of employment law to apply to your employment relationships
  • Recruiting right – what to focus on when selecting your team
  • What type of employment agreement is suitable

Workshop 2 – When things aren’t working well

  • Feedback conversations and records
  • What is a Performance Management plan?

Workshop 3 – When business conditions change

  • Changing employment conditions
  • Restructuring
  • Demystifying PGs and how to reduce your risk of one

Finding, welcoming and looking after your people

Finding your next team member can be time consuming, costly and a little tricky.  The stakes are high, some estimate the cost of adding a new team member to be almost a year’s salary, and the cost of getting it wrong double.

We cover the key things to look for when recruiting your next team member.  Learn how to apply a clear recruitment process to find the person that matches your needs,  while ensuring you are putting your best foot forward to attract the best applicants.

Once you’ve found your new team member, it’s essential to set them up for success.  We cover the key things to do before, when and after they start, to ensure they are able to successfully fulfil their new role and become a valued member of your team.

Workshop 1 – Effective recruiting

  • The musts to recruit for
  • How to define the role and requirements
  • An effective recruitment process to apply
  • Screening criteria
  • Interviewing techniques
  • Useful tests and checks
  • Avoiding common mistakes
  • Red flags
  • Presenting your workplace accurately and positively

Workshop 2 – Successful onboarding

  • What to prepare before they start
  • Clarifying expectations and commitments
  • Planning the learning of their role
  • Introductions to the team and customers
  • Making key resources easily accessible
  • Facilitating engagement and commitment
  • Tracking progress together and adjusting as needed

Workshop 3 – Managing Employee Benefits

  • Managing pay effectively
  • Understanding and managing the different types of leave
  • Minimum leave entitlements
  • Other leave options and key considerations
  • Kiwisaver

Making your business more profitable and resilient

Are you experiencing financial challenges because of the current economic conditions?

Would you like to improve and protect your cashflow?

Are current economic conditions eroding your profit?

Would you like to feel you are creating the best value from your business?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these, then this is the course for you.

Workshop 1 – Increasing profit

  • Calculating profit and profitability
  • Calculating the true cost of errors and rework
  • Spotting profit problems early
  • Specific, practical ways to increase profit

Workshop 2 – Maximising cashflow

  • Understanding cashflow
  • Avoiding the common cashflow problems
  • Simple ways to improve and protect cashflow

Workshop 3 – Addressing financial challenges

  • Knowing what to focus on when times are tough
  • Strategies to survive the cycle
  • What to consider if things are really tough

From Opportunity to Impact — growing your business with confidence

Are you confident you are making the most of your business opportunities?  How can you identify and choose which opportunities to focus on? And which opportunities to let go?

What are the most effective, and profitable ways to grow?  How can you help ensure growth is profitable and manageable?

And how can you lead your team, so they are part of your business’s successful future?  Change can be challenging, but with useful mindsets and approaches we can harness the potential and support of all team members to secure a bright future for your business and team.

Workshop 1 – Making the most of your business  

  • Understanding how value is created in your business
  • Identifying ways to maximise the value for all stakeholders
  • Key elements of ‘gold mine’ businesses

Workshop 2 – Growth strategies

  • Growth strategies to consider
  • A simple framework for identifying and targeting growth
  • Competing on value (not just price)

Workshop 3 – Leading change

  • Leading with clarity (even when things are uncertain)
  • Understanding and addressing resistance
  • Simple habits to help you and your team navigate change effectively

“Equip consistently design and deliver excellent training – our members love them! They learn practical business skills that work, from facilitators who understand them, their industry and their business.

Working with Equip is great – they’re flexible, professional, and nothing is ever too much trouble.  They fit in with what we need and provide real value.  It’s more than a service – it’s a partnership.”

Kim Preston, MTA (Motor Trade Association)

“Financial literacy is really important for our people—both those who work with numbers, like QSs, and those responsible for financial results. The training has definitely improved awareness, sparked great questions, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

People are getting a lot out of it—it pulls together the many different pieces of finance in a way that makes sense, helping them see how everything connects. An unexpected bonus is the increased appreciation for what our finance team does, and how each person’s role impacts the wider business. We’ve seen improved compliance as a result.

Working with Equip is easy—they’re flexible, open, and great at tailoring the programme to suit our industry and business. I really enjoy working with them.”

Grant Judge, Dominion Constructors Ltd

“We choose to work with Lisa and Equip as over the years (and many training sessions) they have consistently delivered excellent value for money.

It is apparent that Lisa has a wide and diverse knowledge and that important ability to be able to connect with people.  Additionally, Lisa has always been very generous and accommodating with her time and resources:  whether it be the initial meeting to discuss my teams’ training needs and distilling those conversations into a customised course, to following up post training and having a touch base session with participants to see how they are progressing.

In recent times Equip have been a great help with improving our training we deliver to customers. We are a software company and while we are very knowledgeable on our product, we are not professional trainers. The Train the Trainer course provided us with very valuable information, tools and tips for delivering training. And even better, we received very positive feedback from our customers after incorporating this learning into our courses.”

Jan Preston, Sysmex New Zealand Ltd

We had identified that our managers needed training as we were having issues with delegation of work, team engagement and core leadership skills such as emotional intelligence. I reached out to Lisa as I had previously attended a course that was facilitated by her and had really enjoyed her training style and hands on approach. Lisa was very accommodating and came up with a tailored solution for our business.

The workshop style course was a great mix of theory and practical activities which really helped our team to understand and apply the concepts that were taught.

We received very positive feedback from the team and we can see the difference in our managers post training. They have actively been applying the skills and have been pleased to add a few techniques to their ‘toolbelt’ especially around self leadership.

I would definitely recommend Lisa to anyone who wants a hands-on approach to training!

Miloni Ahitan, Cospak NZ

Series Structure and Pricing

Here are the details and choices for each course within the series.

Online - condensed

$2,100Course
  • 3 x 1.5hr Facilitated workshops
  • Online
  • Workshop recordings available
  • Maximum of 14 learners
  • Phone and email support
  • Organisational branding available
Course includes:
Online Equip Learning portal
Workbooks and review notes
Additional resources and tools
Extended learning videos
Practice activities
Access to Equip Knowledge Base

Online

$2,800Course
  • 3 x 2.5hr Facilitated workshops
  • Online
  • Workshop recordings available
  • Maximum of 14 learners
  • Phone and email support
  • Organisational branding available
Course includes:
Online Equip Learning portal
Workbooks and review notes
Additional resources and tools
Extended learning videos
Practice activities
Access to Equip Knowledge Base

Onsite

$3,950Course
  • 3 x 2.5hr Facilitated workshops
  • Onsite
  • Workshop not recordable
  • Maximum of 16 learners
  • Phone and email support
  • Organisational branding available
Course includes:
Online Equip Learning portal
Workbooks and review notes
Additional resources and tools
Extended learning videos
Practice activities
Access to Equip Knowledge Base

The above pricing is in NZ dollars and excludes GST.

Please note that onsite workshop pricing excludes: travel outside of Auckland, accommodation, venue, equipment and catering costs.  These are charged at cost plus 10%.

Questions people ask us

You can pick and choose. Each course stands alone, so you can start with whatever is most relevant to your team right now.

That said, the eight courses are designed as a connected series — they share frameworks and build on each other — so organisations that work through the full series tend to get the most from it.

Each workshop is 1.5 hours. There are three workshops per course, so each course is 4.5 hours of learning in total.

Most people schedule workshops one to two weeks apart — giving time to apply the learning before the next session builds on it. It’s a pace that fits around work rather than interrupting it.

No problem. Every workshop is recorded, so participants can catch up in their own time. They can also bring any questions to the next workshop as part of our opening review, post them in the learning hub, or get in touch with us directly. Nobody falls behind.

Just an internet connection and a device — phone, tablet or computer, whatever works best for you. Most standard browsers are supported, so there’s nothing complicated to install.

A camera and microphone are preferred so participants can be part of the conversation, but the most important thing is that you can join.

Yes — all workshops are live and facilitator-led. That’s deliberate.

Live sessions mean our facilitators can read the room, respond to questions, and adapt the content to the people in the session. No two groups are exactly the same, and our facilitators bring that awareness to every workshop.

Yes. Our facilitators are experienced at working with mixed groups and adapt their approach to meet people where they are.

Whether someone is brand new to a role or has years of experience under their belt, the learning is relevant and practical — because it’s grounded in real work, not theory.

Yes — all BME Series courses are available onsite as well as online. Onsite workshops accommodate up to 16 participants and are delivered in 2 x 2.5hr blocks.  Onsite is a great option if you’d prefer your team to learn together in person. Onsite pricing is $3,950 per course. Please note that onsite delivery excludes travel outside of Auckland, accommodation, venue, equipment and catering costs — these are charged at cost plus 10%.

With a quick conversation. Get in touch and we’ll find out a bit about your organisation, who you’re looking to develop and what matters most right now. From there we’ll recommend where to start and get your first course scheduled.

Ready to get started?

Start growing the competencies in your workplace by booking your first course in the Business Management Essentials course.

Or talk to us about how we can brand and customise this series to suit your organisation.