Case Study

Following a review of the Arethusa Venture Centre operation in 2003/04, a number of significant changes were made. Certain job roles were changed and some senior staff had to compete for jobs. As a result some staff opted to move on; these were the ones who had been constantly negative.

A new staff team was formed, the challenge then being how to mould the new staff into an effective team and also combat the residual negativity of the old culture that could spread to the new staff. This is about the time that I met Alan Wilson for the first time. I spoke to Alan and explained the problem to him in partnership with Jill Notley and a course designed around Facilitation and Review was created.

This was a 2 day course that involved the Instructors looking at themselves and how to make positive steps in taking control of their own lives. Alan really did challenge the Instructors on the first day; firstly to look at what they thought to be good in their lives and parts of their lives that they felt that they can improve upon. The 'wheel of life' I felt was very useful in the way that it focused the team on specific areas of their lives. This was a very powerful tool and some members of the team felt emotions that they maybe had not felt in a long time, I had underestimated how powerful this was, but this was not a problem as the Instructors supported and sometimes challenged each other through these tough areas of the course.

Alan then focused on SMART Goals on how to improve the areas of the teams own lives, this was exceptionally productive and even though SMART Goals was not new to most of the team, actually getting the focus right was something that none of us had done before. A lot of time was spent on this part of the course and I personally feel that this was essential if the team were to get this right. We were to get a SMART Goal to improve something in our lives for the next day.

The next day Alan challenged our research and work to make sure that we had understood how to achieve a SMART Goal; most of us were off the mark to say the least. This part of the course was very beneficial to all of us, now we understood how it worked. The next stage was to create a 'wheel of work' and to look at what they thought to be good in their work lives and parts of their work lives that they felt that they can improve upon.

Again SMART Goals seemed to be the way forward this part of the course was quite difficult for some of the team and Alan gave his time effectively to all of the team that needed it, especially those Instructors that needed 1 to 1 help. The only downside to the course was how it ended when a visitor to the course voiced negative comments to the team for which they apologised to all present individually. This was unfortunate but the team dealt with it calmly and effectively which was a different outcome if this had happened 6 months earlier.

Alan the team have not stopped talking about the course and are using the tools that you gave them and applying them to aspects of work. When we were on our staff trip to Wales we had informal discussions about work and they challenged any kind of negativity that came up. This is a breath of fresh air for me and it was a real pleasure to deal with any problems in a calm constructive way, thanks Alan this has been a 'Gem' of a course.

Since the course staff seem to be happier within their work environment and really are working better as a team, for example, one Instructor said 'I was running late when working with a group on the High Ropes Course and was starting to get wound up because I had to clear away the kit on my own in the dark but as the last child was being released from the Rope I looked around to see at least half a dozen colleagues waiting to help me put the equipment away, what a relief.'

This is the type of culture that now exists at the AVC. Maybe not wholly to do with the course that the staff have just attended, but, Staff are really thinking about how they interact with other members of staff, and how they can focus on issues of conflict and self control without behaving inappropriately. There are still many things that need to be resolved in the work environment but the Team now have the skills and the focus to overcome any obstacles that get in the way of being effective.

Thanks again Alan.

Mike Booth
Operations Co-ordinator, Arethusa Venture Centre

View the senior instructors interview of the Arethusa Venture Centre