Christmas 2006
Wow, what a great 12 months it has been! If your year has been anything like ours, then you will be glad of the holidays just around the corner. We have had a lot of developments here with the arrival of a new Director in the shape of David Robertson, a number of exciting new members of staff in the office and some great new clients. With all this going on, and the business growing even faster than expected in Houston, we have managed to record our best ever year's performance. Extend, our youth development charitable trust, has also had a great year with very strong relationships now built with local schools. Thanks to everyone involved in the business whether clients, staff, Associates or suppliers.
 For the coming year, our priority is to expand our reach by bringing in more great associates from different parts of the UK and internationally. At our recent Director's Pit Stop (yes, that's us with the Deer Stalker hats!) we identified “finding more great people” as being our key strategic focus for 2007. We have included a couple of pieces in the newsletter about this and I look forward to introducing you to some bright new people=positive™ stars in the next few months.
Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year
Rod Pashley
people=positive™ Growth Plans
Recognising that the key to future growth is finding more great people, people=positive™ has embarked upon a journey to identify, bring on board and develop relationships with at least 5 new Lead Associates during 2007. This will mean a substantial investment in terms of time and effort but the benefits will be far-reaching as it will allow us to develop business “pods” in key locations around the country and further afield.
David Robertson, who is heading up our recruitment drive says, “With plenty of demand from an ever widening range of organizations for our brand of performance coaching and with an increasing emphasis on longer-term programmes, where we really want to get to is having an expanded network of Associates in key locations. Currently there is a danger that we are spreading ourselves too thinly, by delivering regular workshops in the South of England, the Midlands, Norway, the North East and of course overseas in Europe and the Middle East. Our office in Houston is similarly busy and is now delivering programmes as far away as Canada."
The objective is to build relationships with people who have the skills and experience to grow their own business pod under the people=positive™ umbrella. This will allow us to deliver programmes in a sustainable way, using local facilitators and support people as appropriate.
January sees the first of a regular series of Lead Associate Workshops to be held in Aviemore, where we will be working with a number of great new people to identify opportunities. We will then be kicking off our “Knowledge College” in February, where new inductees will have the opportunity to develop their understanding of people=positive™ techniques.
If you would like to know more about our growth plans then please contact David at dr@peoplepositive.com Who knows, you might even want to get involved ?
Meet Karen Darke
– New people=positive™ Lead Associate
We are very excited to be able to introduce you to a new people=positive™ Lead Associate. Karen describes herself as “a coach and facilitator, who uses her powerful and inspiring personal experiences to create positive impact on the lives, health and work of others”. And what extraordinary experiences she has had! In addition to her 8 years spent working with Shell in Aberdeen in a learning and development role, she has been involved in a wonderful series of challenging adventures, from cycling across Central Asia and Himalayan Mountain Ranges, to kayaking from Canada to Alaska and skiing across Greenland. Consider also that she has succeeded in all of these adventures despite being paralysed in a climbing accident while a student. Karen is very philosophical about her own story:
“Becoming paralysed radically changed my life and was a 'wake-up' call for me, catalysing my interest in human development. I am passionate about people, and the learning opportunities which life offers to us.”
Karen is a qualified positive impact coach, NLP practitioner and complementary therapist in addition to her considerable skills as a facilitator. She is a great asset to our team and in the last few months she has already successfully lead programmes for Shell and Seadrill.
On her decision to work with us, Karen says, “I was attracted to the people=positive™ slogan, Inspiring Extraordinary Journeys. That is what I believe life should be. Working with people=positive™, I enjoy the opportunity to support other people in their journeys,
and gain inspiration from working with others to help me along with my own
journey of discovery."
Karen has recently written an excellent book about her experiences called “If You Fall …” The book is published by O-Books, www.o-books.net ISBN 1905047886; Price £9.99; paperback; 198pp; 25 b/w photographs. You can find out more at www.karendarke.com
Free Signed Copy of “If You Fall
To celebrate the launch of Karen's book we will be giving away a free signed copy to the first person to respond to: ifyoufall@peoplepositive.com . Good luck!
22nd December Update: Winner of signed copy - Vivian Broughton, Global Santa Fe, Aberdeen
Adding to the Team
 At people=positive ™ we are passionate about creating opportunties for personal development and growth. Our move in to the US market has given us the opportunity to meet and work with some great people, and one person we met early on was a 19 year old by the name of Sam Wormald. Sam is a very engaging guy and very quickly the idea formed that we should bring him back to Aviemore global HQ for a years work experience. This is a new departure for us but it has been a great success both for him and for us. In addition to learning a lot about how our business works and getting some great hands on experience, Sam has also enjoyed a flourishing side career as a semi-professional footballer (for that read soccer!) playing for Lossiemouth FC of the Scottish Highland League. Being a fare bit younger than the rest of us, Sam has brought a lot to the office in terms of humour and life. As a true disciple of the digital age, he has also helped us to keep up to speed with all things technical!"
people=positive™ breaks new ground in double venue workshop
In a recent project with a virtual team from Shell and other partner organisations, people=positive™ enjoyed a real first by facilitating an event taking place simultaneously in two separate venues. With 50 people in London and another 50 at venue over 100 miles away linked together by an advanced video conferencing system, we were able to create one large “virtual” conference. The idea was to not only to save the time and expense, but also to help the Project Team learn from the experience of using technology to break down barriers and work more effectively.
Making A Difference in Malawi
ex-eXtend Coordinator Lucy Bale on her first 6 months as a World Exchange Volunteer in Malawi
I have been working in Malawi for the past six months on a volunteer placement with the CCAP Church. The work has been interesting, varied and challenging. It has ranged from Strategy presentations to a 1000 youths, women's research into micro enterprise development and designing youth outdoor activities.
When I arrived people asked me where I used to work, and when I told them that I had been working for a people development business I was rapidly propelled into designing and running training sessions for various small charities. Training is a massive buzz word in this part of the world, everybody wants it, though they often aren't sure what exactly they need training in and very often hoards of people turn up, uninvited, just for the lunch and refreshments!
It was with enthusiasm, and perhaps a little trepidation, that I ran my first training session. It was a one-day leadership development course for Mary's Meals, a school feeding programme funded through Scottish International Relief.
Having graduated from the people=positive school of training I was determined to inject some creativity, flair and dynamism. To keep the high visual impact, the same experiential learning opportunities and, of course, to have some fun along the way! I swapped a flashy pinpoint kit for a more ‘blue peter' style version, pins for glue, pinboards for walls and a trailer packed for every eventuality for a rucksack with the very basic necessities!
It was certainly something different from the normal training workshops. (I very much suspect that this is Pinpoints maiden venture into Malawi…?) I worked with the Monitors for Mary's Meals, young and talented guys with huge energy. They looked nervous on arrival but soon settled into the flow and good conversations followed. The day went well; we covered a lot of ground looking at both general leadership training as well as aspects specific to their roles. I had to make subtle adjustments in style. I talked slower, I took more time in explaining things fully and I repeated comments to make sure I had understood them properly, all aspects I should take more time over in the UK.
It feels good to be able to make a small change in Malawi, a country with huge development challenges, to try something new and get just a few people thinking differently. What I have found is that people are similar the world over, as long as you have their commitment to learn, a passion and belief in what you are expressing and a willingness to listen then a positive training experience is possible. There are huge possibilities for training and development in Malawi… I may have to extend my stay….!
Many thanks to Pinpoint who sponsored some kit. It is currently in a container on its way to Malawi (and has been for the past three months!) This will make life much easier when it arrives!
people=positive incorporated … One Year On
Tony Mitchell talks about his first full year in Houston
We moved to Houston in August 2005 and started trading as the Texas based people=positive inc. on November 1st. So we have now completed one full year!
It has been a very busy year; initially travelling back to the UK a lot supporting our UK based programmes and then running our programmes here in North America as our presence became known. We have been supporting a number of companies and organizations including: Shell, ExxonMobil, Maxwell Drummond, PetroCanada, Sigma Genosys, British Consulate, Atkins Consulting…
Our focus has been providing team building events and also behavioral safety programmes. We have delivered at some varied locations, but our favourite venue has to be the Northwest Forest Conference Centre on Telge Road in Houston. It provides such a variety of quality indoor and outdoor learning environments, and all at good value. I am sure that the owners don't mind me plugging their venue, as I believe it is truly quite special. See the website: www.northwestforest.com I believe the location is a key ingredient in ensuring that a programme runs effectively and serves to inspire the delegates!
So what I have liked so far?
- The friendly, diverse and principled people; strong work ethic; the climate (for 9 months of the year); the restaurants; sporting events… and the Woodlands pavilion.
What have I struggled with?
- The early starts; I-45 and the tailgaters/lane weavers; the weather (for the other 3 months); the size of food portions; having to call football, soccer…. and the ubiquitous adverts!
We have met some great people over the past year, and have started to build a quality team of associates to help support our clients programs.
I would like to thank all our clients and associates for getting people=positive off the ground in North America. We look forward to working with you again in 2007.
|
