Developing the skills to drive lasting change. We help organisations build the skills, confidence, and internal alignment needed to lead successful transformation. Our experience-led programmes equip teams to understand their markets – and stakeholders – deeply and bridge the gap between commercial sectors and local government.
User-Centric Culture
We help teams look at their towns, cities, and projects through the eyes of the end-user. Through practical training and real-world analysis, we help staff build a genuinely customer-orientated mindset, giving them the tools to gather meaningful insights and turn data into clear, everyday action.
Bridging the Sector Gap
Success requires local government and commercial businesses to speak the same language. We share our experience of both environments to help your team navigate public sector requirements while matching the fast pace of the commercial market, creating alignment across different groups.
Confidence in Delivery
We give your people the practical skills to lead workshops, run consultations, and manage complex community conversations themselves. By focusing on hands-on training, we ensure your team feels confident handling difficult public dynamics and driving initiatives forward together.
What We Do
At First Retail Group, we give local government, central agencies, and corporate teams the practical tools and knowledge to manage change internally. By blending our award-winning commercial experience with a clear understanding of public sector processes, we work alongside your leadership to upskill your workforce, break down silos, and build long-term capability.
Whether you need to train a team to be more market-focused, build internal consultation skills, or align public and private interests, we provide the independent support and practical training to turn high-level strategy into day-to-day operational capability.
Case Studies
Working in Unison
Thinking Like the Community. Before Hutt City Council broke ground on Riverlink - its largest project ever - FRG delivered practical workshops to reshape how their teams approach public interactions. We challenged staff to evaluate how their daily choices affect the community. This helped them spot exactly where external service could improve and build a much more reliable, consistent approach, ensuring council decisions perfectly match the real-world needs and expectations of their changing audience.
Local Govt. Customer-Centricity
Customer-First Local Government. First Retail Group developed and ran the Pace to Progress programme for Invercargill City Council to reshape how staff approached their work around planning and compliance. By enabling leaders and delivery teams to reframe council services from a customer’s standpoint, we got everyone moving in the same direction. This practical training built the skills and internal unison needed to make improvements that matched the city's refreshed brand, confidence and shared future goals.
Capability Building