Comment: Become a diversity champion

By: Fiona McDonagh, Te ara ki tua Road to success manager, Photography by: Supplied

Date: 12.07.2022

The 2022 Teletrac Navman Driving Change Diversity Programme has been created in partnership with Teletrac Navman to showcase and promote the stories of diversity champions in the trucking industry

Do you work in road transport in New Zealand and have a good story to tell about how you got into trucking?

Are you passionate about expanding the diversity of our industry’s workforce?

Do you wish to help create a positive perception of trucking in New Zealand and attract new people into the driver’s seat?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions above, Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand would love you to consider becoming a Diversity Champion for our industry.

The 2022 Teletrac Navman Driving Change Diversity Programme has been created in partnership with Teletrac Navman to showcase and promote the stories of diversity champions in our industry and encourage new people to consider transport as a career.

Participants in the programme will learn to create positive and meaningful change as well as develop a strong professional network with like-minded individuals. They will also receive ongoing professional development to build skills to enact industry change and be encouraged to become mentors to participants of the Te ara ki tua Road to Success scheme.

The programme is based on a similar programme successfully undertaken in Australia by the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), and it’s exciting to have Teletrac Navman on-board to help drive it.

Whenever the subject of diversity comes up, there are always those who roll their eyes and write it off as merely virtual signalling. However, even our industry’s staunchest supporters have to admit that diversity hasn’t exactly been a strength of the road transport sector in New Zealand.

They also probably know that if we are to solve our long-standing workforce issues, a more inclusive environment is something that we must aspire to. Women and those from different cultural backgrounds make up a much greater proportion of the labour market than our traditional white male workforce, and at a time when it’s difficult for any employer to find staff, we must expand our industry’s net as wide as possible.

The 2022 Teletrac Navman Driving Change Diversity Programme will run under the auspices of the Te ara ki tua Road to success traineeship. Nominations to be a Diversity Champion are open until the first week of July, and participants must be involved as an owner or employee in a trucking business, be available to travel, and be willing to undertake some media activity.

The programme will kick off at a two-day workshop in Wellington in August and participants will also attend the Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand Conference, The Road Ahead, in Invercargill on 28 and 29 September.

Teletrac Navman will pay the full cost of participation in the programme, including travel, accommodation, delegate fees, and meals. Participants will only have to pay incidental expenses.

If you or someone you know would like to be considered, you can apply via the online nomination form at roadtosuccess.nz/driving-change-diversity-programme or via the QR code above. If you have any further questions regarding the programme, you can contact us at success@transporting.nz.

If you’re an operator keen to recruit a Road to success trainee, please also get in touch with us. There are plenty of trainees waiting out there for an opportunity in our industry, and we know that there are plenty of operators who need drivers.

All you have to do is visit the Road to success website (roadtosuccess.nz) and fill out an application form to be part of the programme. 

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