Connecting for joy.
Last week we were working with our partners the Transformation Trust and Dell at their Head Office in Berkshire. The programme we developed and run on a monthly(ish) basis is called Powering Potential and is all about developing what are known as ‘soft skills’ for Year 12 and 13s as they enter into HE, work or Apprenticeships. The 50 young people from 4 different schools shuffled in the first week with closed body language and were very reticent about speaking aloud, joining other schools’ groups or expressing themselves too enthusiastically.
Session by session we have seen the group gel together, develop in confidence and start to believe more fully in their skills and abilities. We like to mix things up to it’s not all talk, talk, talk – I ask the group to indulge in ‘weird stuff’ to challenge them and their skill set – so this week we used our #YourEnterpriseAlphabet cards and placed the 52 cards randomly on the floor.
Each person picked up a card and spoke to three people who they didn’t know very well about how that positive word (from either a mindset or action card) related to them – so there was spontaneity, confidence and thinking quickly in a positive way about their skills or experiences. There were Dell staff and teachers also involved so quite a lot of pressure for the group to cope with. This went well for three rounds of cards.
As a final action with the YEA cards we asked them to find other people with cards and spell out a word or acronym.
As you can see in the picture at the title of this blog this trio picked each other and spelled out JOY with their cards – a great, positive word and a fitting way to close the activity.
Individually, the words on the #YourEnterpriseAlphabet cards are as follows:
Join
Organised
Yes
Each of these words is useful and positive – for a daily motto, word to use in a CV or interview or to think about for a while, but together, they bring joy.
There’s something to think about there.
Bernie.
PS: we have 20% off our #YourEnterpriseAlphabet cards until the end of National Careers Week (11th March 2017). Use the #NCW2017 hashtag on Twitter to see what is going on between 6th and 11th March in your area.