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e-newsletter 4 | April 2008

Welcome

As mentioned in the last Ideation, in lieu of a quarterly publication, we are forwarding another in April, a little earlier than usual, because we are excited about some on-going and forthcoming activities.

I guess that is a good introduction to a theme that has always been of interest to me - the theme of CHANGE.

In all of the work that we do at The Paige Group, - the concept of change is a continuing one.   In a little book that I really like to pick up - read a little - and then move onto something else - pick up again - etc - 'Unleash your Creativity' by Rob Bevan and Tim Wright, they put 'change' in the context of 'looking at things another way'.  For instance, they suggest that 'the next time you want to get a better handle on a situation, try and inspect it from on high: either literally, by standing on a chair or climbing a ladder (best not to do this in meetings too often!), or metaphorically by imagining yourself looking from very far away at all the things that are currently up close and personal.  This helps to gain some mental and emotional distance from the things and people you work with, and will help you think more clearly about the possibilities open to you'. 

Wise words I think.  And there are many other ways we can look at change.  For me, the critical thing is not to be afraid of change, often not easy in a world that is 'always changing', frequently around things that we feel we have no control over - like climate change for instance.  However, the 'take away' is - 'transforming an organization (or SME or even individually) requires clearly articulated aspirations, as well as the ability to generate energy and new ideas' (McKinsey Quarterly).

Helen Paige
Founder and Director

Advance Knowledge Networks (AKN) | Fun.Food.Focus | TimeMaker

Fun.Food.Focus in action!

Meeting and Events Australia

Using 'fun' as the operative word, Fun.Food.Focus recently hosted a great fun-filled, 'hands on' cup-cake decorating event for Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) at Haighs Chocolates. 

As is usually the case with the 'hands on' component of our events, the creative streaks in many of the MEA members came to the fore, and even some of them were surprised about what they could do with a cake, some butter icing and some fabulous Haighs chocolate frogs, apricot bars, freckles and the like.  While not 'hands on cooking' as we usually do, as the pictures show, for a moment, some of Adelaide's most experienced conference and event organisers were happily showing their expertise in cake decorating (and chocolate eating!).  Even though the childlike creativity emerged for a while, unfortunately it was the Judge's decision that some of the kids were actually more or at least equally as creative than the adults - and Liam and Lachlan ended up receiving the joint prize for the most creative effort.

As one of the MEA organisers said

The venue was terrific (as always), the tour and the cooking demonstrations a wonderful hit and the canapes were sensational'

Jodie Sinel
All Occasions Management

And

'Thank you to you both for making the MEA function at Haighs Chocolates a great success.  By all the feedback I received everyone enjoyed the tours, loved the cupcake decorating, and thoroughly enjoyed the finger food and wine.  It was a delight to work with you...'

Sandra Gibson,
Marketing and Promotions Manager, Haigh's Chocolates

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Santos Limited Again! 

We were very pleased at Fun.Food.Focus recently to again host Santos Limited for another of their 'off site days' for a specific team. As outlined previously, we customise all of the learning components to meet the specific needs of the organisation.   Here, Santos Limited wished to focus on some team debriefing, and then workshopping around some of the specific issues identified, and to look at future directions. 

After several hours of debriefing and planning, the Santos team focused on their chosen menu choice - in this instance the preparation of a Greek buffet. The preparation for nibbles for the wine tasting included a selection of dips and making chicken koftas. The dinner menu included some of the familiar well-known Greek dishes such as moussaka, oven roasted lamb with oregano and Greek potatoes, stuffed capsicums, feta and pumpkin fritters with tomato and saffron sauce and a number of other dishes.  Dessert (always a favourite!) was Yoghurt cake with a spice syrup and strawberries in ouzo syrup.

One of the interesting features of this event was the number of nationalities represented.  There were representatives from Croatia, Africa, India, South America, and many other countries. As well, many of the participants from these countries had their own versions of some of the dishes prepared, so it was quite a 'learning' experience for everybody concerned.

After a walk around the vineyards at the Hills property chosen for the event, food preparation, wine tasting and eating - it was time to take the bus back to the city - a very full 'off site'.

Some Testimonials from the Santos Team

The best part was:

  • Presentation and discussion and cooking
  • The food and the cooking session
  • The 'hands on' cooking
  • The staff
  • Eating the food
  • Great, simple, healthy foods!
  • Eating what we cooked!
  • The cooking!!

AND 'thanks for a fun team offsite.  It was a lot of fun doing the cooking and then eating the results along with ...the wine'

We TAILOR your event ... to suit YOUR requirements ...
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Corporate Wellness Programs

Great for Employers...
Many Australian employers are beginning to understand the benefits of offering Corporate Wellness Programs. For every dollar spent on a Corporate Wellness Program, the returns have shown savings in the areas of decreased absenteeism, fewer sick days, lower job turnover, reduced work cover claims, reduced health-care costs, improved physical fitness, and improvements to employee performance and productivity.

Additionally, these organisations notice increased employee morale, improved ability to attract and retain qualified and committed staff as well as more alert and productive employees.

For the Employee...
Employees engaged in Corporate Wellness Programs report a positive impact on all aspects of their work life. This translates into fewer injuries, lower levels of stress, less human error, a sense of worth, higher self-esteem and a better team environment.

Corporate Wellness Programs foster a positive workplace culture and ensure that employee's feel appreciated and valued.

Large companies like Johnson & Johnson have estimated an average saving of U.S. $224.66 per employee per year for the four years examined after a Corporate Wellness program introduction, with the bulk of the savings being in the third and fourth years.

Australian organisations such as the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) in WA report 'a Return on Investment (ROI) of lost time due to injury reduction by 27.5 per cent, and injuries requiring medical treatment by 38 per cent, as well as increased productivity and reduced sick leave'. (http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au).

At Fun.Food.Focus we believe that healthy eating habits and a regular exercise program are essential in the workplace and offer various options for companies who wish to offer Corporate Wellness Programs to their employees.

Onsite workshops include:

  • Exercise  and Flexibility Classes
  • Healthy 'Hands-on' Cooking Classes - including:
        • Middle Eastern
        • Japanese Sushi making
        • Greek
        • Low Fat
        • Vegetarian
        • Thai
        • Organic
  • Healthy Talks on nutrition and related
  • Health Checks
  • Stress Management and Work/Life Balance Programs
  • Occupational Health and Safety checks

We'll be happy to discuss your organisation's wellness needs and provide you with a range of suitable exciting and fun options to suit your workplace.

Contact us via our enquiry form or email or telephone for further details, ideas and a detailed quote.

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An Announcement

We are very pleased at The Paige Group to advise that a very experienced and well-respected Associate will be joining our team to present on a range of specific topics of interest to corporates, businesses in general and the public sector.  The specific offerings will include:

  • Team Development Tools and Techniques
    (using a Team Management Index)
  • Leadership and Change Leadership
    (Offering a range of leadership development and management development programs built to specific client requirements)
  • Mentoring and Coaching Services
    For executives and Managers on how to effectively lead people to achieve business outcomes
  • Organisational Analysis and Review
    (Consulting to the executives of organisations on all facets of business - from exploring potential markets to re-engineering business processes)

and

  • Project Management
    (Offering practical training modules on the basis stages of effective organisational project management - with 1 or 2 day programs tailored to client requirements

The exciting thing for The Paige Group about this educator and trainer is that we can offer these Programmes either INDIVIDUALLY,  OR with our existing Fun.Food.Focus products.

Please feel free to contact us on info@thepaigegroup.com.au or on 8271 1173 if you would like further details about any of these programmes.

In This Edition

Quote of the Month
'Failing to plan is a plan to fail'
Effie Jones, Author

NEWS

Fun.Food.Focus has recently joined Adelaide Convention and Tourism Authority (ACTA). ACTA's role is to market South Australia as a leading convention, incentive travel and exhibition destination.  And as Fun.Food.Focus is servicing this market, it makes a strategic fit to belong to this innovative and pro-active body.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

We are pleased to advise that Fun.Food.Focus will be presenting two
specialist 'hands on' events during April and May.  One of these is our 'hands on' Pizza Cooking Class which will be held at a pizza restaurant in Goodwood. This event will include creating some pizza dough from scratch, learning to knead the dough (perhaps some pizza dough tossing included!) and then preparing the pizza with toppings etc for cooking. Then comes the fun part of gathering together, and sharing a slice with a good drop of wine.

The Pizza Cooking Class will be held on TUESDAY 22ND APRIL, 2008

Our other event is a 'hands on' Thai Cooking Class to be held at Malvern.  We will be using the skills of our expert chef to show those attending how to make the Thai curry pastes and then guiding them through the cooking of some delicious traditional Thai cooking to uncover the sourness of tamarind, the silkiness of coconut milk, the delicate fragrance of Thai basil, the bold freshness of Kaffir lime leaves, the heat of fresh chillies and the pugency of fish sauce. Of course when all of these flavours come together - everyone will enjoy their food with a glass of great SA wine.

The Thai Cooking Class will be held on THURSDAY 15TH MAY 5.30-730 PM

If you would like to join either of these classes - be quick, and contact Helen at Fun.Food.Focus or phone 8271 1173.

Fun.Food.Focus
now available
in your State!

 

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Knowledge Report

Advance Knowledge Networks (AKN) in Career One

Helen has been asked to write an article from time-to-time for the Executive Call segment of Career One in The Advertiser.  The latest article was printed on the March 15th edition and entitled Knowledge Lessons.  It is an edited version of a fuller article about the organisation and facilitation of Knowledge Cafes and how they can assist people to:

  • Focus on the 'art of conversation' which is imperative for modern workplaces
  • Business is no excuse for not actively listening, and
  • Problem solving can occur through conversations

The article is available via the following link http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23371795-5014050,00.html

However, for readers of IDEATION - here is the full version of the Article

Knowledge lessons

Knowledge Lessons

As we are all acutely aware, we live in a 'wired world' where we can be accessible 24 hours a day, and knowledge and information are instantly available at our fingertips - thanks to the speed of the internet and its pervasiveness.

Both of these facts place incredible pressure on all of us who are 'connected' because some people feel that they can't escape; and others that they are expected to know more than they do.

So if you as a CEO or manager for instance -

  • Are losing staff from your team and still have the same amount of work?
  • Have run out of ideas in your division?, or
  • Have you just won a new project and want to discover the pros and cons of the last one?

or if you are confronted with other similar issues or problems perhaps a  Knowledge Cafe might help you.

Without going into all the background here, Knowledge Cafes can demonstrate for people how:

  • the 'art of conversation' is imperative in modern day workplaces
  • 'busyness' is no excuse for not actively listening
  • problem solving can occur through conversations
  • all 'the knowledge' or information they need can be in the heads of the people sitting around the table.

So for instance with the three organisational problem areas listed above, a Knowledge Cafe process would be beneficial in getting the people in the company or department  to work together to provide some ideas, or solutions about what they can do -  if they are about to lose key staff from their team; or all new thinking is non-existent; or a similar project has been won, but nobody did an evaluation, or critical people have left the organisation

The main things a company would need to consider in using a Knowledge Cafe to address the sort of problems outlined above would be to -

  • Firstly, set up a different environment or place to conduct the cafe in their own workplace or a chosen environment
  • Invite the team members to attend, reminding them that they will all be asked to contribute, share their knowledge, and actively listen to what others are saying
  • Give people permission to talk who often get overshadowed by others who are more confident
  • Engage everybody in the process, and assist in sharing collective insights and connections
  • Actively explore and harvest the possibilities, thoughts and ideas that arise.

There is obviously more detail behind the points outlined above, but that is part of the facilitation of the process. 

The question that might be asked is 'what is different about a Knowledge Cafe process and does it work?'.   Well, what is different is that in our busy, 'wired up' world, often people need to be reminded that they are important to the company; that people are not listened to, confident people take over, a great deal of valuable, existing  knowledge is lost, as people rush to get more, and organisations do not usually capture 'what they know'.

So for instance, by running a Knowledge Cafe a manager may find that team members have a host of ideas about what can be done before they leave, or they might decide to collect and distribute what they do in their daily work (often not known by all), or what they have learnt while they have been in the job.

A Cafe might provide the creative environment for people to consider new ideas or new ways of doing things. Or the different environment and its encouragement of creativity may find that somebody physically draws a new model or way of doing something, and encourages others to provide constructive input or feedback.

Or an organisation may invite those people involved in a former project to a Knowledge Cafe to see what they know and learnt from the experience that can be used for the new project, rather than 're-inventing the wheel' - thus saving time, money and resources.

You might think - well that sounds pretty simple.  Well it is - but the theory and skill lies in the facilitation of the process. The principles are those of taking people back to listening - rather than just talking;  and showing that through 'meaningful' conversations and working together, often a greater wisdom can be discovered.  All in an environment that is temporarily free from technology.

Interestingly too, the Knowledge Cafe has no boundaries about who can use it. The Cafe process frees people from a focus on learning styles, personality types and other methods that can be used to pre-judge people.  The idea is not to stereotype people.

So what is the relevance of  Knowledge Cafes for South Australian companies large and small?  Many are struggling with retaining and hiring excellent staff; lack of skilled workers across all industries; the impact of the next technological wave; costs and so on.  One of the things they are interested in is 'adding value'.

What using Knowledge Cafes in the workplace does is to use a process that enables companies to maximise the knowledge that exists, often in the heads of their employees, and often does not get shared perhaps except with a few others - across an organisation. This is the 'value add' as often the knowledge just gets lost.

This is important as we live in a 'knowledge economy' and what we trade now as the means of production is knowledge.  So if the knowledge and 'know how' of your employees is not currently being shared across and between the various parts of your organisation - you are wasting time, money, energy and resources.

This seems to be a very good reason indeed to consider another way of maximising the value of what the people in your organisation already know - before searching for new knowledge and ways of doing things differently

Helen Paige
Corporate Adviser
Director, The Paige Group
info@thepaigegroup.com.au
T: 0403 374 183

Helen is available to discuss how hosting a World /Knowledge Cafe in your organisation could bring lasting benefits.

Remember: Other published Articles are available on The News segment on www.thepaigegroup.com.au, and

Your copy of the full article is available from info@thepaigegroup.com.au

Forthcoming:

Helen will be facilitating several World/Knowledge Cafes over the next few months.  Further details will be outlined in forthcoming Ideations.

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ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS - Consulting

Woods Bagot

AKN recently undertook research and strategic analysis on and around a specific industry area for the Melbourne branch of our great South Australian architectural institution - Woods Bagot.  This was a very interesting assignment, and I certainly learnt a lot more about a particular industry area.

Raw Pearls

AKN  has been working for some time with another interesting, newer business - Raw Pearls.  Here we have been providing strategic business management advice including the provision of coaching, mentoring, staff training, education, recruitment and a range of other strategic services.  This has been a very enjoyable and interesting assignment working with a very creative and innovative business owner, around a product which has made the assignment even more enjoyable!

Helen works with businesses to CONNECT people, ideas and processes.  She is available to facilitate your Knowledge Cafe, strategic planning day, or problem solving session.  She also presents Key Note Speeches and Talks either in-house or at Conferences on the topics of Knowledge Management, and Knowledge Sharing and Harvesting, and Strategic Innovation.

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If you know of someone who would be interested in receiving Ideation, please forward this edition to them.  If you received Ideation from a friend or contact, arrange your own subscription by forwarding an e-mail to info@thepaigegroup.com.au and we would be happy to put you on our subscription list.

Reprints:  You are welcome to reprint these articles as long as the following statement is printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article.  Hyperlinks as below must be included in the quotation.
© The Paige Group. Used with permission

Helen Paige
Phone: (08) 8271 1173 or 0403 374 183
E-Mail: info@thepaigegroup.com.au
Visit: www.thepaigegroup.com.au for further details

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The Paige Group - www.thepaigegroup.com.au - (08) 8271 1173 / 0403 374 183 - info@thepaigegroup.com.au

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