CONSULTING SERVICES

The innovation process we use — SynNovation

The process we use is highly participative, and is based on a few proven principles

	We create a climate that makes it easy for people to be open-minded and come up with unusual ideas.
	A few ground-rules, and the way we facilitate the groups, ensure a receptive climate, energetic participation and efficiency in terms of quantity and quality of output, related to time spent.
	Diversity of function, background, culture, age and gender of participants enhances cross-fertilisation of ideas, and provides valuable perspectives.
	From many ideas generated, we select based on intrigue (rather than feasibility) to ensure we develop many really new concepts, rather than "more of same".
	We guide participants to commit to action plans to ensure new ideas are implemented effectively.
	People are most creative and responsive when they are having fun - so our sessions are informal and designed to up the Fun Quotient, and thereby increase the useful output.

In facilitated group sessions, we help clients to find new ways to deal with complex issues, conflict, innovation or strategy development - anything that requires new thinking that needs to be followed up by effective implementation, with a high level of ownership. The approach, largely based on the internationally-recognised Synectics® process, provides a highly effective way of getting speculative new ideas to build and transform business, and manage change. The uniqueness of the process is that "way-out" ideas can be developed into practical, do-able solutions. We have adapted it for the South African situation and cultures, to promote synergy and a collaborative approach to issues.

Applications in which you can benefit from using the SynNovation approach include:

	From a Total Innovation Programme (TIP) to smaller change initiatives
	Change management and positive, participative transformation
	Developing truly innovative products and services, often involving customers and / or suppliers
	New ways to improve quality and productivity, or to approach persistent problems
	Team-building, particularly where people from diverse cultures, functions or organisations need to learn to work together more effectively, drawing on the richness of their various backgrounds
	Enhancing creativity and ensuring that new thinking is turned into practical action
	Planning and achieving less time-consuming, more effective and participative meetings and conferences, with high levels of creativity, and strong ownership of the outcomes.

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Facilitated Innovation and Change

Facilitated Innovation and Change programmes usually comprise several sessions, and all creativity and innovation training. All events are carefully planned with our clients, to identify issues to be addressed, the composition of workshop groups, and possible inputs needed. The consultants usually interview participants in confidence beforehand, to get a broader understanding of the issues on hand in order to ensure the workshop plan takes these into account. This also helps people to buy-in into the event. Issues addressed could include new vision and strategy planning, operational or technical problems, conflict management or elements of change management. This approach is ideal for team-building break-aways with lasting business and interpersonal benefits, and to ensure sustainable innovation.

Bfit to innovate - making new thinking and doing a way of life in BFI.

SynNovation is involved in a major innovation programme with BIDFood Ingredients. The Bfit project was launched at the Group's 12 August 2010 Management Workshop and the 13 August Sales Conference attended by over 300 people. "We intend making all of us in BFI, in all five divisions and all branches, FIT to innovate", said CEO Charles Singer. "Every staff member must feel free to suggest ways to improve our business - from small ideas that make us more efficient and profitable or help to improve quality - to new or improved products or services, or novel technology or products that could be real break-throughs".

Managing Directors in the five divisions are driving Bfit, and work with branch managers to take the project forward - by creating a climate in which new ideas will flourish. They are working closely with SynNovation to help everyone "to make innovation a way of life".

Staff members on all levels - including drivers, pickers and cleaners - are to receive basic training in the tools, behaviours and ground rules that promote innovation. Up to November 2010, SynNovation facilitators have held 13 workshops country-wide for Chipkins Bakery Supplies, with five of these shared with Crown National branches. The people have enjoyed the highly participative workshops, and several excellent new ideas have emerged and are already being implemented.

Forty-six BIDFood managers attended a workshop titled "Inspiring and managing innovation", in which they were introduced to the SynNovation approach, and worked together in groups addressing various tasks relevant to introducing innnovation in their divisions, and throughout the group. Left above, three groups are using new concepts on their own tasks. At the front table is Chipkins CEO Nigel Phillips. SynNovation facilitator Bertus Louw is standing - as he also made a video of the event . On the right, John Morris, CEO of Crown National, acts as scribe while a group of mainly Crown National people use the "Lateral Linking" tool that is used to improve products or services. In the red sweater is Charles Singer, CEO of BIDFood Ingredients, recently also promoted to CEO of BIDFood Services South Africa, which includes BFI. In the black jacket on the left is Gavin Keely of BIDFood Technology, who first introduced BFI to SynNovation; and far right is SynNovation facilitator Ronel Steyn.
People from different functions and divisions in BIDFood Ingredients had creative fun in a new product development workshop facilitated by Lu-Marie and Truida. On the left Mark Neilson, MD of BIDFood Solutions led a small group exploring special features a particular product should have.
Over 30 people from various functions in SASKO got together for a one-day workshop in which three SynNovation facilitators worked with them on new product ideas and technical solutions in three divisions of the group. Idea-sharing and cross-fertilisation was promoted by active small group thinking sessions.

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Customer-Driven Innovation - The benefits by bringing in "outsiders" for think-shops

A round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator and the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves and is difficult to carry. Smart Japanese Farmers have forced their watermelons to grow into a square shape by inserting the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

A unique, very time-efficient way to tap into your customers' - or your suppliers' - wishes and creativity, to develop new products and services, is available only from SynNovation Solutions.

How do customer thought-shops work?

What are the main benefits?

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Our facilitators develop programmes varying in length and scope and implement these with our clients, to simultaneously address a range of issues that would usually include several of the following :

diversity
transformation
creating a more participative climate
becoming more effective at innovation
conflict management
revitalising and energising the organisation
promoting more effective communication and open-mindedness.

In large programmes we can train in-house facilitators in the process to work along with us, and take the change programme forward. Vincent Nolan, former chairman of Synectics in the UK, a foremost writer on the process, and editor of "Creative Education", recently wrote to us: "I entirely agree with you that the most valuable applications of Synectics are in culture change, particularly conflict resolution and replacing the Argument Culture with a collaborative one."

Having used the process in Southern Africa since 1996, we have found that using it to build a climate of trust and collaboration, along with promoting constructive open communication and developing shared values and visions, is one of its most valuable applications. The principles work both in one-on-one relationships, and in groups where factors like competition for resources or recognition, conflicting goals, arrogance, over-modesty, cultural diversity, rapid change and uncertainty, and even poor management of interpersonal relations, have caused high levels of conflict and organisational politics. The approach is particularly valuable when companies are going through the challenges that accompany mergers and joint ventures.

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Often conferences are great get-togethers, socially enjoyable and original; sometimes they mean a lot of talking by a few people and passive listening by many. Given the time and money many companies invest in conferences - they might as well get good value in return.We believe that get-togethers deliver more value, and are more enjoyable, if all present are actively involved. We can help you to plan and facilitate memorable conferences, where all will have contributed to the outcome. This is achieved by using a mix of plenary sessions, well-facilitated break-out groups and relevant special events. In this way your conference will produce useful, new ideas, that will help you to achieve results and enthusiastic follow-through.

At the BIDFood Ingredients annual sales conference in August 2010, ten SynNovation facilitators helped to ensure that the 300+ delegates from all five division in the BFI group were actively involved in group work, and creative problem-solving with action planning. Participants used several new thinking tools to which they had been introduced. The general comment was that the conference was very productive and great fun.

The SA Association of Food Science and Technology (SAAFoST) conference in Johannesburg and Cape Town were given a creative kick-start by Lu-Marie and Truida, respectively. A brief introduction on the principles and some tools ot the SynNovation approach created the opportunity for energetic small group participation, which also encouraged more active involvement in other, later sessions in the conference. Other conference speakers and SAAFoST president Rosie Maguire (right in rose jacket) also participated in the creative thinking exercise.

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Art and Craft of Innovation (One to two hours participative mini-workshop)

Equipping senior managers - or people on various levels - with the key principles and tools of SynNovation – in companies where catalyst-guided workshops are done, or other staff are trained in more depth in SynNovation skills

An introduction to thinking skills to generate, develop, support and implement innovative ideas

A great energiser with take-away value for participative conferences.

People in finance, business, professions and academia are usually highly skilled in analytical problem solving. However, problems that require new ways of doing things (and nowadays many tasks are challenges of this kind!) are usually solved more effectively by first using creative thinking skills, then using analytical skills to select ideas and plan for implementation.

In one hour we give an overview, and in two hours we provide useful insights and tools to enable you to look for novel solutions to problems in creative ways, and to create a climate that unlocks innovation in your firm or group. We demonstrate the importance of making time for thinking, and the ROI you can get from setting aside 10 to 15 minutes for creative thinking before engaging your analytical skills. Obviously, the more time we have, the more skills and practice we will be able to offer participants.

Participative mini-workshop touching on

	The benefits of innovation to organisations
	What promotes – and what prevents – creativity and innovation in organisations
	A few powerful 10-minute creativity tools, applied to own tasks, to demonstrate that everyone has the ability to generate novel ideas and to show the benefits of setting aside time – or rather investing time – for innovation.

The tools can be used both individually, and with colleagues, and can be combined into powerful ways to develop new concepts:

	To improve products and services
	To improve the way various activities are tackled
	To get new perspectives and way-out ideas through the use of mental excursions
	To evaluate ideas constructively and build them into action plans.

The mini workshops will enable managers and colleagues to constructively evaluate new ideas, and encourage and support implementation. Thus bright ideas will be able to bubble up, and solution-driven creative thinking will cascade throughout the organisation. Senior managers will know how to create a climate in which everyone can use both their creative and analytical skills to benefit the entire company.

The legal divions of British American Tobacco included a two-hour Art and Craft of Innovation mini-workshop as part of their conference. As professionals who usually work mainly with logic and legal principles, they enjoyed exploring and playing with creative thinking techniques. - and were pleased with the end results that could still be practical.

Zeppelin University on the Bodensee in Germany (Lake Constanz) is a highly rated private universtiy. Truida presented a two-hour Art and Craft of Innovation workshop to a group of Master's in Business students as the first session in their course in Innovation. Students used SynNovation tools in small groups, and did the Open-Mindedness Exercise in pairs.

The European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel near Wiesbaden is one of the most highly-rated business schools in Europe, and attracts students from all over the world. Truida was asked to present two sessions to their incoming MBA students. It was a treat to teach in the beautiful old castle that houses the EBS, with a view over the vineyards, trees and the Rhine, with passing boats! The students enjoyed the group and pairs excercises in the Art and Craft of Innovation. Truida also did a session on linkages between innovation and cultural diversity, entitled "Ubuntu Culture, Emotional Intelligence and Innovation - The key to Achievement"..

EXCITE! is a group started by Synectics pioneer Vincent Nolan to promote innovation in education in the United Kingdom. SynNovation has close contact with EXCITE! because of our shared interest in stimulating creativity in and through education. Truida was invited to present the Art and Craft of Innovation to 22 EXCITE! team members - as SynNovation has developed a novel way of putting across Synectics principles. Here Truida is with Vincent Nolan and Jasmine Dale - who visited South Africa twice to train initially (in 1996) Truida, Heinz and early local Synectors in Synectics, and later Lu-Marie and other associates (in 2000). The EXCITE! members enjoyed the "new look" materials. Vincent said "Although I have worked with Synectics for 40 years, I was spell-bound for two and a half hours!".

Several "Art of Innovation" workshops in Old Mutual were very well received. The pictures show people having fun with new tools in Cape Town, including Belinda Kovachi (in the middle on the left picture), who was one of the first people from Old Mutual trained in SynNovation's WITS!, Belinda won the Old Mutual annual Innovation Prize for a new product concept that she developed.

Thirty staff members from Sanlam Investment Management enjoyed an Art of Innovation workshop and a catalyst-guided problem-solving session as a follow-up after their management team had done the 2-day WITS! This now enabled the whole department to use the SynNovation way of thinking and doing. Here new SynNovation associates who had recently completed the FACIL, Retha Scheepers, Averal Fortuin and Lana Coetzee observe and work with the people as they use their new creativity tools.

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Toolbox for Brainwaves (One-day open or in-house workshops)
For people who want access to a few SynNovation tools to help them to be more creative both individually, and when working with others. This focuses on practical and fun tools, and not on the full SynNovation process. This workshop has been offered in collaboration with The Big Idea - an initiative sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth's HBD Venture Capital and the Innovation Fund, to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship.

Objectives of the workshop

	To equip participants with the key concepts of SynNovation, to enable participants to tackle tasks and challenges more creatively individually, and working with others
	To equip participants with a variety of tools and techniques that they can use to find creative solutions to various tasks or to improve products or services
	To create awareness of, and promote, behaviours that help to build a positive climate needed for creative thinking and problem solving when working with others

SynNovation did a two-day workshop for the Stellenbosch-based quality certification company CMi Africa. The pictures show participants during a one-day Toolbox for Brainwaves training, which was followed by a day of facilitated workshops addressing strategic tasks, and promoting collaborative innovation and team effectiveness.

Lu-Marie and Truida presented seven "Toolbox for Brainwaves" one-day workshops for Old Mutual in 2008.
The Toolbox workshop was also given as a prize to the finalists and winners in the Old Mutual Innovation Award and was part
of the one-year Management Development Programme for staff in Old Mutual Group Schemes.

Groups got plenty of practice in using the SynNovation tools on challenges they face at work (left), while an actuary has fun giving feedback on the outcome of a group session (right).

Lu-Marie joined two people working on a one-on-one exercise in Durban (left); and played flip-chart during a feedback session in Johannesburg.

The very lively groups of market researchers and analysts from Ask Afrika in Pretoria had much fun discovering their – and their colleagues‘ – creativity. They said they could immediately put many of the ideas developed during the one-day workshop to use back at home, and they learned new ways of collaborating both with colleagues and with clients.

For a report on research done at the University of Stellenbosch in 2009 to measure the effectiveness and “lastingness” of Toolbox skills training, please click here. This research was also covered in a chapter, Assessing the value of Synectics Principles for Business Students, in a book published by Synecticsworld: “Imagine that! – Celebrating 50 years of Synectics” Ed Vincent Nolan & Connie Williams, 2010.

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Thinking, Innovation and Problem Solving Skills (TIPS!) - using your WITS! in new ways (Two days)

SynNovation has changed the name of the two-day Workshop in Innovation and Team Skills (WITS!), which we have been offering for many years, to Thinking, Innovation and Problem-solving Skills (TIPS!), as it better describes the content of the workshop, and also to avoid possible confusion with WITS University. The skills learnt still enable participants to "use their WITS! in new ways". The basic content and structure remains the same - although of course new concepts and insights are added from time to time to enrich the content. We are currently particularly interested in the interfaces between recent findings in neuroscience, and how these help us to better understand how and why the "magic" of Synectics and SynNovation works so effectively, and lastingly.

"Learn-by-doing" practical skills that will enhance the creativity of both individuals and groups, enabling them to reach more innovative solutions. The new thinking skills learned at this highly interactive two-day skills development workshop will provide individuals with a broader perspective when looking for opportunities or solutions to problems in the work place, and even in their private lives. Five to eight participants are trained at a time, working on real-life tasks.

Objectives of the workshop

	To provide the individual with an introduction to a highly effective process for creative group problem-solving
	To help participants to rediscover, and to access and grow their own creativity
	To help foster a climate that encourages creativity, particularly in a changing environment
	To help individuals understand how to build trust and mutual support in work groups experiencing change.

This workshop is presented either "open" to individuals, or "in-house" to small groups of colleagues. The in-house workshop has the additional advantages that:

	colleagues who have taken the TIPS! together can strengthen one another back-at-work when applying concepts and promoting a culture of innovation,
	it has valuable team-building benefits, and
	participants can work on problems of interest to the company while learning new skills.

Truida facilitated a WITS! workshop in Cape Town for a team of 10 facilitators of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. In addition to the principles of "positive behaviours", the participants found the open-mindedness exercise that is done in pairs particularly interesting, as this is also a tool that they could pass on to young entrepreneurs that they are mentoring.

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Open WITS! workshops are regularly held with groups of 6 to 8 people, at Onze Rust Guest House near Stellenbosch:

One of the treats of the WITS! is lunch on the veranda of Onze Rust guest farm near Stellenbosch, where we usually have the Cape workshops. Here are Anthea Abrahams, Alice Ashwell, Denise Booysen, Karen Jordi, Anthony Dietrich, Jan Grobbelaar and Truida Prekel. 3933 & 3922 The veranda and garden of Onze Rust also provides fine spaces for relaxed work in small group exercises.

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Melanie Burke co-trained with Truida in a recent WITS! attended by several staff members of Umvoto Africa Water Science. Here Melanie works with Chris Hartnady in a pairs exercise; and guides the group in using a "pictures excursion" to generate way-out ideas. In the past 15 months, Umvoto has sent 19 of their staff members to the WITS! / TIPS!

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WITSers enjoy lunch at the beautiful Onze Rust guest farm: Nena Backer of US consulting firm the Centre for Creative Leadership, Sandra Schoultz of Heinz Foods, Charles Baxter of Promantec, MJ Fick of Petanque, Natalia da Rocha of Applauz Arts Initiative, and Ronel Steyn, then of Allan Gray Orbis, now with Stellenbosch University.	The management team of Employee Benefits, Sanlam Investment Management, did a 2-day WITS! workshop together. Celeste Vermaak is scribe as the group uses the SynNovation process to address a task. This workshop was followed by a half-day facilitated workshop to which participants could each invited four colleagues, to enable them to share the concepts and tools back at work.

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Facilitating Innovation Leadership (FACIL - Four to six days)

A two-day facilitation skills workshop followed by two or three days' coaching, practice and de-briefing. (This training is only done after completion of WITS! or TIPS!, and in-company. Usually four to six people selected from the group/s that have completed the WITS! or TIPS!.)

This workshop will give participants the capability to facilitate other groups in the innovation process within their own organisation, and this creates a new in-house-skill. Two days will be spent on the practice and theory of facilitation, and on uses of the elements in the innovation process. Then follow two or three days of "live practice". Pairs of trainee-facilitators facilitate groups in creative problem-solving, and receive feedback. Videotaping and constructive feedback is used throughout, to reinforce and build skills and confidence.

SynNovation trains very few selected associates or regular clients in the FACIL – Facilitating Innovation Leadership. Facilitators-in-training practise their skills in pairs working with groups who have not been exposed to the process before. Averal Fortuin and Lana Kruger worked with the management team of teachers in New Orleans Secondary School in New Orleans, Paarl.

Teachers use "ideas bags" while participating in a session (top left). Particpants take a vote among the many creative ideas that they have generated (top right). Retha Scheepers and Averal Fortuin (bottom left) with Sanlam managers during an in-house workshop. SynNovation associates Retha Scheepers (bottom right on the left) and Lana Kruger, formerly of Stellenbosch University's Department of Enterprise Management, are new. Here they are did their FACIL practical, working with staff of the University's Counselling Department. The participants were so impressed with the power of the process that we are now exploring ways to introduce SynNovation is now offered as part of the life skills to be taught to student leaders at the university.

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Custom Designed Training

Besides the "hierarchy" of standard innovation training programmes (from Art and Craft of Innovation to FACIL that SynNovation offers in-house and on occasion as public workshops, we also custom-design workshop for clients, in the field of innovation and change, diversity and life skills, and food safety and quality assurance. Below we report briefly on three innovation programmes we developed for clients.

FASSET - Sectoral Education and Training Authority of the Financial Sector

In 2009 SynNovation won a contract from FASSET, the South African Financial Sector Skills, Education and Training Authority. We developed and presented half-day workshops for staff of FASSET members country-wide, to develop awareness and innovation and creativity skills. Participants ranged from one-person firms, to financial staff in a variety of businesses, to the big-name international audit firms.

When training, we usually use an experiential approach to let people discover and experience the effects of various behaviours, using video observation and feedback, so that they fully understand the power and practical benefits of the positive behaviours and groundrules and various tools. But for this experiential learning to have lasting effect, we ideally need two days. In the FASSET workshops, we had only half a day for all the content, including some skill-learning. So we had to find another way to let participants tap into their own experience to become aware of the effects of different behaviours on creativity and innovation. For more details see Creating idea-friendly, energising climates - Views from financial folks. This paper Truida wrote was converted into two chapters, in a book published by Synecticsworld: "Imagine that! - Celebrating 50 years of Synectics", Ed Vincent Nolan & Connie Williams, 2010.

The FASSET workshops were structured to include several small group exercises to experience the effect of the groundrules, and practise using the tools. The pictures show participants in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

Toolkit for ideas for BIDFood Ingredients

Part of the Bfit innovation programme being implemented in BIDFood Ingredients is the training of staff on all levels, throughout South Africa, in the basic principles and tools of SynNovation. So far over 400 people have attended the custom-designed 6-hour "Toolkit for Ideas" workshops, while all managers and 300 sales staff also had some exposure to the principles and very practical SynNovation creativity tools in August. The tools help people to suggest many novel ideas in 10 to 15 minutes, and then use other 10-15 minute tools to help give selected new ideas "hands and feet" for implementation. Paul Kyriakides of Chipkins in Port Elizabeth is one of the people who have had several exposures to the process, having attended an initial pilot workshop, both August workshops, and the Port Elizabeth branch workshop. Paul - already known as being very innovative - said, "It is amazing. Because the training is so participative, it does not get boring. Every time you work with different people on different tasks, we have a lot of fun, and really new ideas come out." Paul has already implemented several new ideas in the past few months.

At the Port Elizabeth workshops on 7 and 8 October, people from Crown National and Chipkins worked in groups, using quick tools to address various challenges. Left, the Crown Group is hard at work. Right, working in pairs and using the "Open-mindedness exercise", people from Crown National and Chipkins helped one another to address both work-related and personal problems, in very useful new ways. On the right in the blue shirt is Paul Kyriakides who shared in the fun in Port Elizabeth.
Two groups from Crown National at work during the "Toolkit for Ideas" workshop in Cape Town on 15 October - each pooling their new ideas on flip-charts as they use new tools to generate ideas (left). Another Crown National group (right) hard at work. This group won the award for the most new ideas generated in 10 minutes. Centre back is receptionist Renette Read.
Proudly Chipkins! Two Chipkins staff members have Melanie Burke of SynNovation guide them through the steps of the "open-mindedness exercise", during Cape Town "Toolkit for Ideas" workshop. And a group of Chipkins participants eagerly think up and record their new ideas.

Innovation training for psychologists

The University of Stellenbosch presents a Continuous Professional Development programme for registered psychologists. They asked Truida to develop a workshop to form part of this training, and about 70 psychologists attended this elective session. The participants enjoyed the practical exercises, and an approach that was novel and more practical than the usual academic material.

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The Belbin approach - Improve team effectiveness by playing our best roles There are many myths about teams. Most myths grew out of some seeds of reality, but are not the whole truth: People who are similar get on well, and work together well (birds of a feather...) Differences build strength (opposites attract...) Teams must have strong leaders Many bright people together are really creative. Most of us grew up with the idea that we must be able to do anything that may be required of us. Many job ads specify a collection of qualities that few normal people can combine. Any attempt to list the qualities of a good manager or leader demonstrates why he or she can't exist - many of them are mutually exclusive. He or she must be highly intelligent, but not too clever; forceful, and sensitive to people's feelings; dynamic and patient; a fluent communicator and a good listener; and so on. In reality the needed qualities, and lack of them, are distributed among people. That is why teamwork is so important in modern participative management, as we try to tap the contributions and abilities of all members. Colleagues can complement one another and "fill each other's gaps". As Dr Meredith Belbin said "Nobody's perfect - but the team can be". The Belbin approach is being used successfully world-wide to facilitate the effectiveness of both individuals and teams. Organisations can benefit in various ways from using the Belbin approach, and the reports produced from the Belbin Interplace system. Applications of team-role analysis include: Team-building and team development, based on better mutual understanding Better allocation of roles and tasks in work groups or in project or ad hoc teams Improved interpersonal communication, and acceptance and even valuing of differences Individual feed-back, counselling and coaching for personal and career development Complementing performance appraisals and other HR tools Matching person-to-job in recruitment, selection and placement, or for promotions Succession planning Balancing skills and attributes in work-teams. Through over 30 years of research and practical application in management teams world-wide, British management expert Dr Meredith Belbin has shown that the most effective management teams usually have a mix of individuals with a variety of attributes, skills, preferences and approaches. He has identified nine key team-roles. The Belbin profiles have been cross-validated with several of the most widely used psychological tests, and correlate well with various measures of personality and ability. As all nine roles are needed in a management team (and in most work-teams) no team-roles are "better" or more valuable than others. The analysis can indicate which team members are likely to make the best contribution in the various roles, and at various stages of projects. Since each person can play more than one role, two or three roles may be allocated to individuals in small teams. SynNovation did Belbin team-role analysis for the Old Mutual Unit Trust group, to help build mutual understanding and ensure optimal task allocation. Here a group shared insights from their Belbin profiles, and explored how this could help to promote team effectiveness. In the middle was OMUT MD Anil Thakersee, who wrote afterwards, “I have done psychometric testing many times and have always found it mildly useful. However the way we experienced the Belbin analysis was particularly relevant and material. It provided useful insights into our team fit and also our individual fit in each of our roles. I have also used the insights to work with, and manage, individual staff members more effectively.” The FNB Growth and New Markets business unit had a break-away facilitated by Truida, in which they combined the Art of Innovation workshop with exploring the whole team's Belbin team-roles. Here they are working in groups, using their new insights. Smiling, second from left, is group head David Milligan.

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Women in Business Click here for an article on Black Women Managers in South Africa (before 1994) Click here for an article on Sexual Harassment: Causes, Consequences and Cures (both articles will open in MS Word in a new window) Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, CEO of T-Systems, won the 2008 Business Woman of the Year Award (Corporate) of the Business Women's Association . Here she is seen at the award dinner with Truida, who had nominated her.

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Equip Yourself to Make a Difference Practical, participative workshops help men and women share experiences and develop communication and life skills that are useful in many situations. These workshops provide opportunities for people to to get to know, and learn from, one another, to develop ideas that are useful not only in careers and personal life, but also in community development. Conscious personal development can be a life-long source of joy and growth. The need to make a meaningful contribution in our personal relations, work and home lives, and in our communities is of particular importance. The workshops therefore aim to empower people with skills and insights to live a life of success, service and satisfaction. Effective interpersonal skills, the ability to be open-minded and creative, and to approach change positively, are essential - both at work and at home. "We all need open, positive communication to build trust between ourselves and our partners, families, friends, colleagues, managers, and clients or others to whom we render a service." Quotes from some of the people who attendended our workshops: It was an eye-opener and I hope to deepen what I've heard by reading more about the subject. I enjoyed the opportunity to share and learn from the group - new ideas, thoughts and experiences - as well as be reminded of many important consequences of behaviour. It made me look at myself again, this time with a different frame of mind, from a different perspective. It made me take a closer look at myself and how I react to and address difficult persons, situations and circumstances. I have learnt to embrace, not reject challenges, and to accept different types of people and circumstances and adjust my behaviour so that it is a win-win situation. For more information on future workshops email prekelt@synnovation.co.za