TRAC Newsletter

"Fifteen to thirty minutes of training a day will make any employee a world class expert in five years." -- Jeffrey Gitomer

Upcoming Events

Best Year Yet Program (Dates TBA)

Best Year Yet Program - Leader Training (Dates TBA)

2008 Visionary Leadership Program (Dates TBA)

AussieHost (2 - 3 Jun 2008)

Advanced Facilitator Training (26 - 28 Jun 2008)

Welcome to TRAC's May'08 Newsletter

What a busy few months it has been and how quickly the year has flown ... it's hard to believe that it's now May and the financial year is quickly coming to an end. It is an ideal time to start thinking about establishing some business goals for the second half of the year. It's also a great time for reflection of how your business has performed over the past financial year and what things really need to change in order for you to achieve not only the financial goals of your business plan (if you have one), BUT also about the work life balances that impact on you, your health and your relationships.

As we all know, that in this age of technology and the greater demands and expectations of customers, we are working harder, generally more hours and sometimes for minimal increases in financial reward. Hmmm, there is a real disconnect here. Well unfortunately the above is a truism of the 21st Century and our recent consultative practices with numerous clients (across a variety of sectors) indicates that they aren't able to find the necessary time to work on their business and are generally consumed working in the operational aspects of their business. A classic case of surviving rather then thriving.

Well, hopefully through this newsletter you will find some inspiration, motivation and time to take a proactive stance to work on the business and your own professional development, a proven simplistic formula for success.

AUSSIE HOST WORKSHOPS

AussieHost is a proven one day customer service training program (which we will be piloting over a delivery of two half days ) which focuses on creating a strong service culture and work ethic within your business. Key topics covered are...

An upcoming program to be delivered on the Sunshine Coast is being promoted and sanctioned by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council with the support of the Bed and Breakfast & Farmstay Association of Queensland. This program is open to public registrations and is a MUST ATTEND for all businesses wanting to "Raise the Bar" with Customer Service in their business and to those businesses wishing to use Service Excellence as a point of difference to their competitors.

For further information and registration Phone QTIC - Neoni Payne or Isabel Beckermann on 07 3236 1445

ADVANCED FACILITATOR TRAINING PROGRAM

Delivered in partnership through the "FACILITATION ACADEMY", this 3-day event is a certifiable, intensive and advanced Facilitative Behaviours training program. It is a must for ALL Learning & Development Facilitators, Training and HR professionals. Facilitated as an interactive and experientially based forum, this program is designed to equip training professionals and facilitators with an advanced skill set of tools that will help you to conduct learning programs that are impacting, memorable, and fun, programs which create learning experiences that are effectively transferred back into any workplace or coaching environment.

The Advanced Facilitator Training program engages participants in creating a picture for the future development of their teams. We do this by integrating systems thinking, process improvement, advanced questioning and communications techniques, and in-depth exploration of human potential.

This advanced facilitative behaviours program is conducted in Australia only once every twelve months and it is a certifiable event. This program is sanctioned by the AIPF (Australian Institute of Professional Facilitators)

BUSINESS MENTORING PROGRAM

The Sunshine Coast “Growing Creative Businesses” mentoring program is a joint initiative of Caloundra City Enterprises and The Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

With funding support provided through AusIndustry’s Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business (BESB) program, TRAC Consulting was awarded the contract to develop, facilitate and project manage this initiative on behalf of Caloundra City Enterprises.

The delivery of this 18 month program is supported by a network of 35 pre-trained business mentors who have a rich diversity of knowledge, skills and wisdom for participating businesses to access.

The program is built around a series of workshops, 2hr power seminars and mentoring support provided through a panel of industry experts, an online communications portal and the mentoring team.

Expressions of interest and enrolments are still available for the program particularly in the Noosa, Hinterland and Caloundra regions by contacting either the Caloundra City Enterprises office on 07 5493 6211 or through TRAC Consulting on 07 5439 7999.

Further information and a downloadable “Expression of Interest” form can be found on the following link.

FEATURE ARTICLE - CREATIVITY

Given that one of the themes in our business mentoring program is Business Sustainability, I thought that this adaption of a newsletter I received through Kaizen Learning in the United Kingdom was very appropriate. I trust that you find the article thought provoking.

The theme on everyone’s lips at the moment is 'Sustainable Workplaces' and three areas are suggested for those wishing to initiate “Best Practice” in this area.

It brought back to mind a fabulous talk by Sir Ken Robinson, (knighted in 2003 for his pioneering work as a creativity and innovation expert in educational systems and economies).

He states that kids starting school this year will be retiring in 2068 but as a result of the workplace changing so fast, we have no idea which skills the worker of the year 2068 will require... So how do we prepare them for it when we don't know what 'it' is?

Our schools sometimes fail to recognise - much less cultivate - the hidden talents of many brilliant youngsters

He suggests that the answer to unlocking potential lies in teaching children through all of their intelligences: Visual, Logical, Verbal, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Bodily/Kinaesthetic, Musical.

So, in the context of “Growing a Creative Business”, and if more and more experts agree that engaging and inspiring all the intelligences makes people smarter, more creative, more flexible and more capable for the future, isn't it time you unlocked more of your people's potential to guarantee outstanding results for them and your organisation? When you put things in this context it really makes sense…

Our challenge for you this month as we get closer to the end of another financial year is to set time aside with the key people in your organisation. Place this simple question on a white board and encourage all to contribute to better and improved (creative / innovative) ways to improve business performance.

The question “Over the next twelve months what’s possible for this team and this organisation”… let them run without boundaries and limitations as that one pearl of wisdom that could change your business for ever, may evolve.

If you would like further information on how to frame (facilitate) this process, or have our team at TRAC facilitate it for you drop us an email at admin@tracc.com.au

CLOSURE

In summary we would really encourage you all to look at the upcoming professional development opportunities outlined in this newsletter... these events are facilitated as "best practice" with a single minded focus of helping you to grow your team and business performance.

The many testimonials we have received from participants in previous "Advanced Facilitator" trainings would suggest that this is an event NOT to be missed particularly if you are involved in facilitating meetings, negotiating contracts, dealing with conflict or developing teams and business performance. We look forward to seeing many of you there enjoying learning from one of the worlds most acclaimed workplace and business facilitators, Mr. Scott Winter of CHICO California.

So until next time... we wish you all the best and trust that you take up our challenge of defining new "possibilities" for your business. Until then...