Students from Kings Manor Community School

The girls from Kings Manor Community School involved all the staff, customers and members of the public in and around the Brighton and Hove area. Their energy and enthusiasm was tangible as they moved with mature professionalism inviting the adults to be interviewed, complete surveys and take part in visioning exercises. The team needed to search their own imagination and use the tools they had learned effectively.

The fog started to lift enabling them to collate and record their findings and recommendations. I was blown away not only by the effective way they had used all they had learned but also their hard work and diligence reflected in their information book. Behind their smiles I could see blind panic about the pending presentation, so on the 4th day I briefly joined the team, allocated roles and instilled confidence.

To say I was impressed by the students, & ODM, is an understatement. They surpassed all their own expectations and supported each other to the hilt. Candidly the team talked about all they had learned and achieved; rightly, after the presentation they were emotional while sharing a huge sense of achievement and relief. Mountains had been climbed. Their audience were very proud!

ODM gave a tremendous reply of thanks showing appreciation of the girls hard work, findings and recommendations. For me it was a pleasure to not only work with such a dedicated team knowing I had freely given value; but also that ODM are seriously considering their recommendation.

Written by Facilitator – Sarah Hopwood

Norward Morialta High School Students - hosted by Tall Ships One and All

The chance to solve a real problem for an organisation was a challenge for Year 10 students from four Secondary colleges in the Ballarat region and they undertook their tasks with a fresh approach. As part of the annual Australian Industry Group, B31 Business Month in August, Mindshop Excellence was invited to run four Excellence programs to showcase the diversity of local Industries to students and the community. The group of 26 students representing four schools from the Ballarat region were taken through the day of training at the BRACE facilities by Chris Mason and assisted during the week by Emily Mason, John Tabone, David Smith and Peter Veal. Students accomplished a great deal in one week, presenting their findings to businesses, parents, teachers and peers at the Ballarat Town Hall on the Friday afternoon.

Beaufort Secondary College Students - hosted by Pyrenees Shire

On the first day of the their Mindshop Excellence programs Maurie Vast, together with Jim Martin, inducted the student teams in the problem solving tools they would use all week to find solutions to their project. The highlight of the week was undoubtedly the 2 days spent on the Tall Ship even though a couple of participants discovered they didn’t have “sea legs”! The One and All calls on the same qualities valued at Mindshop – teamwork, initiative, communication – and, at the same time, it offers personal and physical challenges never found in a classroom. One of the students wrote “I think the Mindshop program has created and enhanced a thinking process within me that is able to make me structure myself through tough decisions which are bound to occur. It has taught me these processes through teamwork and communication; this will help me when I am working in other social groups.” Participating students are now eligible to complete Duke of Edinburgh commitments or SACE credits and they will have memories they can treasure.

During the first week of Term 4, six Year 10 students from The Peninsula School participated in an Excellence program at A.G. Coombs. This is their experience ….

We arrived on the first day unsure of what to expect as we had not been told what our problem to solve would be. We began work with our Mindshop consultants, Michael Burke and Suzanne Whitmarsh, who referred to us not as students but as consultants. Throughout the next few days we struggled with the task and grew together as a group learning how to work under time pressure without teachers to help us out. On the Friday we put the finishing touches to our report and entered the boardroom for the formal presentation.

 

It was an extremely proud moment for us all – to present our findings to the management of A.G.Coombs, members of the school and our parents.

Despite the disheartening reality of a small country town manufacturing business desperately competing for a market share in the global economy, it was all smiles recently when a group of students from the local Highview Community College commenced their Excellence program. Their host, Sutton Tools, a well known successful family owned tool making business is located in Maryborough (That’s a country town 2 hours from Melbourne for our friends interstate and overseas). After their day of training, the 6, Year 10 students donned their consulting caps and began working on their project requiring them to discover solutions to increase production, decrease labour and repetitive handling which will in turn decrease occupational strain injuries (OSI).

Many thanks to Bill Winter who facilitated and mentored the group and commented that he wished some of the staff of his clients were as positive and enthusiastic as these students. Bill was assisted by John Tabone and fellow Mindshop Facilitator, Shane Bicknell, who sadly discovered the long drive back to Ballarat was a panel beater’s joy when his car came to grief with a large kangaroo!

The five programs in Bendigo were supported by WorkSafe Victoria to showcase the importance of good safety regulations in local industries and businesses. Excellence devotee, teacher and mentor, John Tabone, coordinated the Bendigo programs and was wrapped to be able to work with facilitators Mike Boyle, Harry Kras, Pat Horan, Laurie Preston and Frank Wyatt. The level of interaction from students according to all the hosts was fantastic. A sense of fun, and achievement was demonstrated with some incredible outcomes.

Mindshop Facilitator, Mike Boyle commented, “We started with 26 ‘kids’ and finished the week with 26 adults that provided amazing solutions to the host companies. It still bewilders me how these young adults given only a day of teaching and a real business problem manage in 3 days to produce wonderful business solutions that blow parents, facilitators and business away. If only we treated all our young people this way! We are indeed in safe hands after all.”

Bendigo South East College team with representative from Bendigo Access & Employment & Pat Horan	Catholic college Bendigo team with Rod & Sally Thomas from Bendigo Pottery & Harry Kras
Eaglehawk Secondary College team with Jo Baker & Jenny Atkins from Righteous Pups & John Tabone	Weeroon College team with respresentative from Jimmy Possum & Frank Wyatt
Bryce Tonkin from the Australian Turntable Company with the team from Crusoe College and Mike Boyle

Projects undertaken during the Bendigo WorkSafe Week

Bendigo Pottery - 2 issues were presented :-

1. Redesign the current complement of lights to achieve:

• improved safety for visitors of all abilities
• better visual amenity
• improved energy efficiency

2. Redesign the Packing area for terracotta pot feet so that the unloading and packing process wil result in:

• improved work flow
• reduce manual handling issues
• provide a safer work area
• labour saving
• cost efficiency

Australian Turntable Company

Development of a marketing strategy for the company’s newly designed “eco-friendly” Enviro Pods.

Jimmy Possum

To develop an emergency evacuation plan for the Bendigo store which can then be used as a model for all Jimmy Possum stores nationwide.

Bendigo Access and Employment

Identify what Bendigo Access and Employment can do to minimize hazards and risks and improve safety at each of its work sites.

Righteous Pups

In order for Righteous Pups Australia to expand the number of assistance dogs trained by the organisation, they need to find more people willing to foster the pups during their training phase. The issue is to recommend ways in which the organisation can attract more foster families for the pups.

 

The Mindshop Excellence Online Training Area is now available

The exciting development of the new highly interactive Excellence Online Centre is your gateway to online resources which includes a self assessed course and a tool box. This is the type of learning environment that students and teachers can experience right now for FREE.

Some of the benefits of this new training environment include:

- Ability to self pace and view 24/7

- Confidential / secure environment

- Fast tracked learning in core Mindshop Problem Solving Tools

- High Quality video demonstrations for each step of the way

- Journey through a typical problem solving process

- Flexibility of tools to be applied to personal or business issues

- Self assessment at the completion of the 13 learning modules.

If you are a student and would like to complete the course for FREE please register below to be sent your username and password within 48hrs (following a review of your registration). Please note: Mindshop is not liable for any actions taken as a result of completing this course.

Register to complete the course

 

 

For further information on the Mindshop Excellence or to discuss running a program in your region please contact: Julie Mason (jemason@mindshop.com)