The Quest Issue One - The Education Gap

THE EDUCATION GAP Issue One 2016

speaker

BAIJU SOLANKI Why teaching entrepreneurial skills in schools is essential

CAROLINE STAGG A future vision for collaboration, coaching and growth mindset in education

DAVE CORDLE Educating our children PAUL BAKER How Eton failed me GLEN WILLIAMSON A lost opportunity This issue’s ‘Key Collaborator’ case study: ASHWELLS ‘The Quest’ is a BeCollaboration Digital publication

Published by Be Collaboration, 21 Victoria Road, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 4JZ UK Issue 1, first published on 27th June 2016.

All rights reserved.

Copyright Š BeCollaboration and Contributors, 2016 While aligned to the vision and values of BeCollaboration, the views expressed here are soley those of the contributors and are not expressions of policy on behalf of the BeCollaboration leadership.

For more details about The Quest and about BeCollaboration, visit our website at www. becollaboration.com. You can contact the team by writing to thequest@becollboaration.com, or to one of the contributors whose contact emails can be found at the end of their articles.

The Quest is a publication platform open to members of BeCollaboration to contribute to major debates and issues of concern. Operating within the UK economy, and part of a global economic system, contributors to The Quest hold a big picture. They are personally involved with complex issues that require the skills and intent of many to solve. They are on a passionate, sometimes a lifelong search, to secure change in the world and as such hold a great responsibility for benefitting future generations.

BeCollaboration believes in working for a world where every individual has the opportunity to be the best they can be: where we are empowered to recognize and honour our ‘innate genius’, exploit our full potential and make our dreams real. We seek a world where business and work are designed to meet a Human need for respect, to be valued, to achieve and to contribute to others. Most of all we seek a world where everyone has the opportunity to have their voice heard and make a positive difference to the planet and humanity.

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Issue One

About our Contributors Editorial

C O N T E N T S

Supporting the growth mindset Caroline Stagg How Eton failed me is how the system fails us now Paul Baker Lets ask much more of the system!

Dave Cordle Teaching entreprenuerial skills Baiju Solanki We all do sales Glen Williamson Profile: Ashwells

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About our contributors Paul Baker Having experienced an epiphany through his first hang-gliding flight in the 1970s Paul was part of a group that established the first officially recognised hang-gliding school in the UK. He has trained and adventured with many people and went on to play an active role in the environmental movement. Paul has dedicated his life to the practical and philosophical pursuit of what it means to live a good life and helping others to do so through teaching, consultancy, therapy and coaching. He is the person who has named Systemic Win and Systemic Lose, and he is currently writing a book on how to realize the potential of Systemic Win for practically creating a fair and sustainable world RIGHT NOW. Dave Cordle Following successful careers in cartography, mainly mapping African nations, and computer systems development, Dave found his passion in Career Development Coaching in 2001. He has worked with thousands of people across a wide variety of industries and at all levels from shop floor to board room.

He is an active member and Legacy Fellow of the Career Development Institute in the UK and a Governor of the Institute of Career Certification International for whom he chairs the Global Career Council. Dave has taken part in expeditions in the Arctic, Antarctic, Himalayas, Andes and Tien Shan. He has worked extensively with young people coordinating and running activity programs and mountain expeditions and currently devotes his volunteer time as a swimming teacher and school governor.

Baiju Solanki As an award winning entrepreneur, psychologist, speaker, coach, trainer and Founder of EnSpirit Baiju has worked across a number of sectors including academia, corporate and sales. He is uniquely placed to understand the subtle attitude and behaviours that impact high performance and brings this understanding to his mission, which is to transform the world through teaching entrepreneurial skills to business people, start-ups, students and employees. Baiju is the founder and inspiration behind the successful Wanna Be An Entrepreneur events that have touched the lives of hundreds of young entrepreneurs in the south east of England. He is a social media evangelist, and coaches a growing network of engaged and highly motivated people.

Caroline Stagg Having spent her early career in publishing as both a managing editor and consultant writing widely on education, Caroline has also spent the last 16 years within the education system working as a governor and a coach in London schools, where she champions a culture of coaching throughout school communities.

She is also a director at media and stakeholder engagement specialists Keeble Brown. An interest in Latin percussion led Caroline to play with and become a trustee for Notting Hill Carnival champions Paraiso School of Samba, and for Bombo Productions, a collective providing Afro-Cuban music events and education projects.

Glen Williamson As a certified Master Coach (CSA), Glen is passionate about helping business owners and sales professionals of all levels reach new height of sales performance delivery. Taking his 30 years of experience in sales and business development Glen founded GWC Sales Training to deliver consultancy and training for clients across the a wide range of sectors including logistics, financial services, oil and gas. Meeting the needs of our complex and competitive business environment, Glen’s increasingly popular “Master The Sales Conversation”, and “Brand It. Tell It. Sell It” masterclasses create interactive opportunities to embed new ideas and techniques for consistent, predictable sales success.

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Editorial

Sara Wilbourne In this inaugural issue of The Quest, our contributors seek to explore the role of collaboration in education.

Central to all the views expressed here is the imperative to support young people to be the best they can be. There is a call to act: a call to modernize the system and develop a far broader vision for young people growing up in society.

In the current digital paradigm - where participation in business, culture and social activity of every description effectively shrinks our perspective to the size of a tablet or mobile for large chunks of the day and night - it is our innate ability to see the periphery, the context, the “movement of all Life in its own time”, that is in peril. Teaching this is more than teaching a skill: it is a human right.

Radical change, in the way we educate our young people must at all costs include a dimension that places the human in context of a planet, not just business. Science goes a long way to supporting that, but developing a personal relationship with nature, goes even further.

In this issue, our five contributors take a view on the current paradigm: two are actively engaged in pursuing change from within the current system, and three are actively seeking change from outside it.

When educational models fail to support the growth of the individual, says experienced schools governer Caroline Stagg, we all lose. Collaborating within the system and developing a “growth mindset” for every single student requires commitment from all stakeholders in the system, and encourages significant benefits.

Even the most privledged experience of education can fall way short of producing the skills an individual requires to play a fully conscious role in the world. As ex-Etonian Paul Baker demonstrates in his provocative list of opportunities lost, the task for all of us concerned about the current paradigm is to find ways to create “Systemic Win”.

One of those ways - increasing self-confidence and opportunity through entrepreneurial education argues Baiju Solanki, Dave Cordle and Glen Williamson - has reaped major dividends.

Teaching business and sales skills generates creative, confident individuals who stand the best chance to be the best they can be. Increasing an individual’s perspective, and deepening ownership and responsibility for themselves, can all be enhanced through sales, business and entrepreneurial education.

Change is coming. Recent protests by parents against the obsessive culture of SATS has shown there is a much greater awareness out there of the effect of the current system on the wellbeing of children.

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[Editorial - continued]

We need balance in the system, and to incorporate at the centre of all we do, a much deeper understanding that education is essentially not about producing human fodder for the economy: it is about supporting the growth of the whole person, in an environment that is much, much bigger than the economy.

One of the most important developments in education in recent decades is the growth of what are called ”nature based” education systems. These come in many forms; from summer camps, to adventure holidays, vision quests, forest schools, and re-wilding programmes. Their focus is on the human beings relationship with the natural world, self-directed learning, and an emphasis on cooperation.

Germany has a well-developed movement of “forest schools” where children under the age of nine have been proved to be far more socially advanced and capable than children educated within traditional systems. Forest Schools are well advanced in the UK too: the movement that started in the US in the mid 1920’s and was developed further in Denmark and Sweden in the ‘50’s , now has large numbers of trained practitioners in the UK who understand the need to enable a child’s learning through exploration, and self-direction in nature.

One of the most watched TED talks of all time, by Sir Ken Robinson, speaks clearly and with enormous insight about the need for a child to demonstrate who it is in the world, on its own terms. Children are the best scientists in the world, the best communicators, and the best collaborators. All that young people need is the space and the permission, the wisdom and the genuine, authentic understanding of the adult world, to help them be more of who they are.

About the The Quest Team The Quest is produced by the BeCollaboration Digital Team and is made possible by, you guessed it, collaboration.

For marketing and communications, our huge thanks go to Scott Campbell of Affecting Peoples Lives scott@affectingpeopleslives. com For concept design, layout and art, our warmest gratitude to Angela Makepeace of Angela Makepeace Motion Graphics Studio info@angelamakepeace.co.uk

For being a great webmaster and technical lead, our huge respect to Simon Thomas of Toucan Internet LLP. simon@toucanweb.co.uk For content development, commissioning and editorial, our sincere thanks to Sara Wilbourne of Becoming Us sara@becomingus.uk

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Lead article

Caroline Stagg

A FUTURE VISION FOR COLLABORATION, COACHING AND GROWTH MINDSET IN EDUCATION.

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Young people face an uncertain future. The economy is unstable; there is rapid globalisation and poor social mobility. Youth unemployment is high and the development of technology and robotics means we may no longer expect to have full or even majority employment. We simply do not know what the jobs, if any, our young people will be doing in future.

on the development of teachers’ innovation capabilities throughout their careers; and putting system entrepreneurship at the heart of system leadership.

Another WISE report published at the same time, Learning and Well-being: An Agenda for Change, states: ‘Policy Principle 1: Apply an integrated framework to support collaboration Yet our current model of education has not across diverse agencies, academic disciplines really changed significantly for over 100 years. and among on-the-ground practitioners.’

Derek Gillard (Education in England: a brief history, 2011) writes about how ‘Schools of Towards a new model of collaborative industry’ were set up to provide the poor with education manual training and elementary instruction.

This is the basis of our current school system, While these new ideas are beginning to set up in the late 1800s and early 1900s, to meet challenge the tired old paradigm of education, the needs of the industrial economy, where it still persists. However, it is encouraging to see schools supplied factories with a sufficiently that there are pockets of innovation beginning skilled labour force that had basic literacy to to emerge. fuel the industrial economy. The education was a dull, repetitive, and tedious process and Larry Rosenstock, CEO and founding many would argue that it still is. principal of High Tech High in San Diego, set out to prove that, if teachers are given total As Dirk Van Damme, Head of OECD/CERI intellectual freedom and students are taught (presenting to OE Global, 2015, see here) said: to collaborate, work together and talk to ‘…Are our education systems really geared each other, rather than constantly look to the to support learning, to foster social learning teacher every step of the way, the result will be and to create learning societies? Or are we creative learners who have the critical thinking merely maintaining credentialism, systems of skills to thrive in the modern workforce, where selecting, screening and signalling people?’ curiosity is encouraged rather than shut down (hear him speak here on the four integrations A 2016 report published by the World Innovation that make up High Tech High).

Summit for Education (WISE), Creative Public Leadership - How School System Leaders High Tech High began in 2000 as a single Can Create The Conditions For System-Wide charter high school launched by a coalition of Innovation, with contributors from the Royal San Diego business leaders and educators. It Society of Arts and the Innovation Unit, has has since evolved into an integrated network set out some first steps towards a supportive of schools spanning all age groups, with its platform for systemic innovation. They own teacher certification program and a new, suggest building systems of collaborative innovative Graduate School of Education. peer learning to support the adaptive scaling of innovation; developing outward, as well Collaboration at every level as upward, accountability to learners and localities; placing intentional, rigorous focus A documentary on High Tech High, called 8

‘Most Likely to Succeed’ (watch the trailer here), received much acclaim at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It shows students doing projectbased work, collaborating, planning and getting results with no final exams. Rather, there is a public exhibition where parents and the community come to see what has been achieved.

particular disease or pathogen and understand both the biology and historical aspects. They then created a game or flash animation based on the particular disease they had investigated.

Another project team-taught Art, Biology and Multimedia, with the class designing informational DVDs about blood-related health issues. At the end of the project, the The students come across as mature, students planned to incorporate the DVDs into thoughtful, seekers of knowledge. Noticeably art pieces that would appear at a local gallery there is no adult rescue operation swooping and potentially be auctioned to benefit the San in when things go wrong, there is more of Diego Blood Bank. a coaching discipline, where questions are asked, leading to the student to come up with A further project looked at how humans new approaches. interact with nature in urban ecosystems across Biology, Graphic Design, Humanities, Students think together, work together, and and Science. Students collaborated to present make mistakes together, getting things done their research in an Urban Ecology Magazine. together. High Tech High believes it is teaching its students to grow into citizens who will be The end product is not an essay to be marked out there in the mix, thinking critically and and handed back, but goes out into the creatively, and that there’s nothing they won’t world to be received and made use of by the be ready for, in high school, college and community. Students see the power of their beyond. output in the world; 96% High Tech High of graduates have gone on to college.

This collaboration running through these schools makes for a rich environment. Projects As Larry Rosentock points out, the purpose are ‘cross-curricular’. In one project, students of the work from this collaboration is not worked in groups across Biology, History, consumption; it is production.

Multimedia, and Science to investigate a 9

Parents as collaborators Collaboration with community and parents in the High Tech model is key. The schools aim to create enthusiastic connections among parents and carers in each classroom and recruit them to help, to be involved in the ‘family collaborative’, participate in teacher appreciation events, as well as chaperone field trips. Parents and carers help teachers communicate classroom needs (snacks, supplies, expert helpers and so on), they support both teachers and school as they are able.

When we feel stupid, it encourages the creation of a fixed mindset, where we protect ourselves by avoiding thoughts or situations that put us at risk of considering that we’re not ‘right’ or ‘clever’. In a fixed mindset the cardinal rule is to look talented at all costs. This mindset actually jeopardises success.

However, in a growth mindset, the cardinal rule is to be always learning. Emphasis is on developing ability, acknowledging that it will take time and focused effort, and that everyone will improve at different rates - they just may not be able to do it YET. Once you adopt a growth mindset something different is possible because you are not fed by successes or diminished by failures but value yourself when you are using your abilities to the utmost in pursuing of something valuable.

To support parents as collaborators, workshops for parents and carers are provided on topics such as language that helps children thrive; problem solving and conflict resolution; helping children to process emotions and behaviour; the social lives of girls and supporting the When we value learning over ‘being clever’ emotional life of boys; reasons why children we can see ‘mistakes’ as part of the path to tell stories or avoid responsibility. success; we just haven’t got there YET. It’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us Mindset - a coaching approach for all success but whether we approach them with a stakeholders fixed or growth mindset. With the right mindset, we can motivate students to raise their grades, Any school must be constantly moving creating resilience and a love of learning. forward, improving, both in terms of student attainment and wider outcomes. A coaching Staff development approach embedded at every level in a school – governors, leadership team, teachers, In terms of staff development, coaching is support staff parents, students and other a form of collaborative CPD and can provide school partners - provides strong support for strong support for teachers’ professional this constant evolution. learning. It is a genuine alternative to CPD that often involves passive learning, which has been The work of Professor of Psychology at found to be rarely collaborative and poorly Stanford University Carol Dweck, on ‘growth embedded in workplace contexts (Pedder et mindset’, following decades of research on al, 2008, Schools and continuing professional achievement and success, looks set to change development (CPD) in England – State of the the educational landscape for teachers, Nation research project. Cambridge University, parents and coaches alike. Her latest book Open University and TDA).

Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential (Robinson, 2012) sets out her argument: don’t One of the great strengths of a coaching praise intelligence or talent, praise the process. relationship is that it enables the teacher to 10

“Collaboration with community and parents in the High Tech model is key....Parents and carers help teachers communicate classroom needs ...they support both teachers and school as they are able.”

take control of their own development and world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ to be in charge of identifying the issues they want to explore. It provides opportunities for You can contact Caroline at: teachers to consider their own practice and its consequences. It is individualised professional caroline@carolinestagg.co.uk development that can be finely tuned to the specific needs of the students that teachers are working with at the time and then applied at other times.

A coaching approach assumes that any person has what it takes to achieve what they want and focuses on ‘process’ by enquiry. The coach asks questions that shine a light on options that can move someone forward. It creates opportunities for trusting, open professional relationships where collaboration and commitment can flourish; these all contribute to the school’s overall resource for continued improvement. It is using coaching as a creative lever rather than as a tool for accountability which distinguishes it as a means to celebrate and share good practice.

As American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the 11

What are the Be Collaboration meetings all about?

We are a community of motivated and passionate people who choose to work closely together so we can make a positive impact on businesses, organisations and the lives of individuals we work with.

People get involved with BeCollaboration for the buzz of being part of something larger than themselves. They want to be able to fulfil their dreams and ambitions with a team of collaborators who are as passionate as they are, and share the same goals.

Collaboration creates empowerment for personal, professional and philanthropic growth. In short, we are up for changing the world. Fancy a bit of that?

You can see a little more about the whole BeCollaboration approach to life and business here: www.becollaboration. com/our-vision

Details of all our meetings are on our website: www.BeCollaboration.com

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Paul Baker

DOES EDUCATION FORMALLY TEACH US WHAT WE NEED TO LEARN?

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I went to a very expensive school for the elite (Eton). I now believe that it was worse than a complete waste of my parent’s money.

Here is why: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

It did not teach me how to learn It did not teach me about the importance of “process” in learning or achieving anything.

It did not teach me how to be a decent human being.

It did not teach me how to be kind to others.

It did not teach me how to live a good life and help others live a good life.

It did not teach me how to think and develop my mental intelligence.

It did not identify my dyslexia and teach me how to use it well and turn it into a gift and not just suffer from it believing that I was rather stupid and lacking in ability.

It certainly did not teach me how to become emotionally intelligent.

It did not teach me about my body and how to look after it.

It taught me nothing about relationships and how to make them work.

It taught me nothing about resolving conflict or creating peace.

It taught me nothing about ecology and how to look after our precious world.

It taught me nothing about systems and systems thinking.

It taught me nothing about creating a better and better world for us all to share.

It absolutely did not teach me how to question, challenge and find things out.

It did not teach me that what I react to is the perception I form of reality, not to reality itself.

It did not teach me how to unlearn the things that I thought were true and accurate, but subsequently turned out to be less so (or positively untrue).

It did not teach me how to win competitions.

It did not teach me how to collaborate effectively.

It did not teach me how to buy well.

It did not teach me how to sell well and in a responsible way.

It did not teach me to take responsibility for creating reality in my world.

It did not teach me to behave in a genuinely systemically self-interested way.

It did not even teach me that I needed to learn these things.

It did not teach me how to teach and share knowledge, skills and information.

It did not teach me how to learn or how to learn how to learn (or how to learn how to learn how to learn), nor did it teach how to teach, how to teach how to teach or how to teach how to teach how to teach.

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All these things I am still having to teach The role of competition myself and in addition I have had to unlearn a lot of very unhelpful, damaging and other self Part of the reason is that there is a fundamental harming programming. and ghastly mistake that continues to be made in science, education, politics, business As far as I am aware, none of the items on my and sports. This mistake concerns the role of list were part of my formal education and yet competition in the evolution of life and society. they are fundamental things that every human being needs to learn.

Contrary to everything we have been taught, competition is NOT the primary driver of I have often considered asking for my money evolution. It is undoubtedly significant, but back and for some compensation for wasted it is of far less significance than cooperation time and undelivered responsibilities. For and collaboration. Without collaboration me, Eton was a terrible role model of what a competition is not possible (because there is teaching establishment should be. How could nothing there to compete). There is nothing that such a famous school fail so comprehensively can compete unless it is created, developed, to deliver what every child has a right to be maintained (and eventually broken down and supported in learning? Did your school do reused) by collaboration! Anything / everything any better? I very much doubt it. Do the is created, developed, maintained, and broken schools that the children you know (or know down by collaboration. None of those things of) do any better? Is any school anywhere in can be done by competition, in fact much if not the world teaching those fundamental things most of the time competition gets in the way of comprehensively and well? If so, how many these things being done well. schools are doing this?

Competition is not possible without internal Are you concerned? I am – VERY concerned. collaboration. Life is not possible without I (and I hope you) want to make sure that the internal collaboration. Death occurs when world I pass on is in better shape than the there is a breakdown in internal collaboration world I came into. I want those that come after and a crucial part does not deliver what the me to have more and better choices available whole needs to survive. to them than I had to me. Is that actually happening? Is our education helping us deliver Given that collaboration is the primary driver of on this? The answer is obvious - NO it is not life and of evolution, how much are we taught and we all know it. We have to ask if we really about collaboration and cooperation? How well think that is acceptable? I do not, and I hope is it understood? How well do we understand that you are alive enough and awake enough competition? to agree.

Darwin did not say that life is about the “Survival Why is this happening and why are we paying of the fittest”. It is palpably untrue, it is a totally so little attention to it? Why is this not the #1 ridiculous statement – but lots of people problem that we are applying our intelligence believe it. You are surviving, but you are not the and resources to solving? fittest. Name one thing, person, or creature that 15

is alive and surviving that you know (or even In a Systemic Win competition, the whole know of) that is “the fittest”. You can’t. that the competitors are part of and depend upon wins by being better off as a result of the To better define what is actually going on we competition and that means the parts of the need a much more accurate statement; whole are better able to make the contribution “That which is not fit enough and does not fit to the whole that the whole needs of them. into its environment well enough dies, the rest At the same time the whole circumstance survive until it is not fit enough, then it too dies.” is better for the parts so that both parts and whole thrive.

Everything dies eventually, that is not important, what is important is how well we live.

In the first two, the point of the competition is to be able to compete better. In the Systemic What is the point of competition? The obvious Win competition the point of the competition answer is to win and not to lose, so let’s focus is to be able to collaborate better. It is very on what winning means. What constitutes misguided to believe that serving competition “winning” depends on the type of competition. is preferable to serving collaboration. To do Competition can usefully be grouped into so is not to behave in a systemically selfthree categories; interested way. To not behave in a systemically self-interested way is worse than stupid, it is • Winner takes all competition suicidal!

• Win / Lose competition • Systemic Win competition I believe that what we all most need to learn is to behave in a systemically self-interested In a winner takes all competition the winner way. To do this, above all, we need to learn not decides what the winning looks like and takes to create or even contribute to Systemic Lose, whatever they want and have the power to and in order not to create Systemic Lose, we take. have to learn to create Systemic Win. In a win / lose competition there is a prize, the Learning Systemic Win winner does not get everything they want, just Systemic Win and Systemic Lose are terms that the prize (or prizes).

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I have created in the last 15 years to describe something that happens all the time, but that we do not appear to have any words for in any language, although I await to be corrected on this point*.

One of the tests of Life, is that what is being tested for Life “reacts”: it reacts and responds to stimuli. Any reaction has an internal and an external component.

to allow this to continue in our lives?

Despite my education, (you will be glad to know that now, aged 63, I have almost recovered from it), I am on track to being highly effective at making a fundamental contribution to us all creating a fair and sustainable society worldwide together. I believe it is in our hands to create a Systemic Win world in which every individual throughout their life is given amazing support for making their unique contribution to looking after our global society and this planet that we totally depend on and is the source of (almost) everything we need.

A “good” reaction makes the internal and the external environment more favourable not just for surviving but for thriving. A “bad” reaction makes the environment (internal AND external) worse for surviving let alone for thriving.

Our schools and other educational establishments urgently need to become However it is crucial to consider the hot houses for Systemic Win rather than for circumstance, situation or context: what is the Systemic Lose that they are currently a good reaction in one circumstance is not unconsciously creating abundantly. necessarily so in another circumstance even if it is very similar. Equally timescale plays a Please join me and those in BeCollaboration role: what can be good short-term may be and beyond who are determined to transform problematic long-term and what is problematic our current Systemic Lose world into a Systemic short-term may be good long-term.

Win world.

Most reactions are a mixture of “good” and “bad”. What is important is the chain of reactions and whether overall the reactions and the direction they are heading is good not bad. At its simplest, Systemic Lose is the chain of “bad” reactions in which things get worse for all of self, other and context. Systemic Win is the chain of “good” reactions in which things get better and better for the whole system and therefore for the parts that together make up the whole system (self, other and others and the context they exist within).

There is nothing anyone wants more than Systemic Win and there is nothing anyone wants to avoid more than Systemic Lose, yet we live in a world riddled with Systemic Lose with only the occasional example of Systemic Win. Are we really that crazy that we are going

You can contact Paul at: paul@paulbakerandcompany.co.uk

*This phenomenon of there not being a word or phrase for something is surprisingly common, in fact it is unavoidable in an evolving and developing world in which we are discovering more and more. 500 years ago there was no word for “gravity” and no one knew it existed. Due to the investigations of Galileo and Newton it was understood and named and this has transformed what we can do in our world and beyond it. Gandhi had no word for the approach he wanted to use to get the British out of India, he alluded to it by calling in non-violence. This is not the opposite of violence. Currently Nassim Taleb (famous in some circles for the “black swan” principle) is talking about “Antifragile” as one of the qualities of response to life that is particularly significant, but is not named or studied.

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Dave Cordle

A CALL TO PARENTS : EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN TOWARDS A BIGGER PICTURE OF SUCCESS

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Here is what I know from working with thousands have to incorporate in the curriculum. of people for over 15 years as a professional Career Development Coach: Despite all this however the aim for schools – as stated by our politicians - is all about how 1.

Most (probably all) people in the UK many students we can get into university and do not leave education with all the skills that how many qualifications our students obtain. In they need to manage their career or run their other words, we continue to judge our schools business effectively. on exam results rather than on their students’

ability to create fulfilling and successful lives 2.

They were not taught the skills to define for themselves beyond education. I go as far success for themselves and then be able to to say that we continue to peddle lies to our go and create the life they want based on a children and tell them that qualifications are deeper understanding of who they are in the the road to success. world.

3.

They leave education with a catalogue of labels and beliefs about what they can and can’t do with their life and this seriously limits what they achieve.

Why are we not teaching young people the 4.

There exists a fundamental set of skills skills they really need for today’s world? What and attitudes for managing a career, running are those skills anyway? Politicians have neither a business, and creating the life you want, yet the motivation nor the expertise to change the we don’t teach our young people these basic way we currently educate our children. They facts. tinker with the system constantly for publicity

They know it isn’t true.

We know it isn’t true.

and political point-scoring making the jobs of our educators ever more onerous. I do not have an axe to grind with either educators (who from my experience are generally fabulous) or politicians, who are just doing what politicians do. My purpose is to set out what those key It is clear that our education system does skills are and suggest how we can improve the not equip our children responsibly.

The situation. system retains its industrial age objectives of producing managers and workers. However I want to invite you to imagine a “what if” the world has changed so dramatically in the situation. What if young people left education, last 10 years: both in the way children absorb at whatever stage, with the skills to define and access knowledge (most information is and create success for themselves? What if accessible from anywhere virtually instantly they left with the skills to manage their career using phones, computers and other devices), successfully? What if they left knowing how to and in the subject matter that schools now run a business? What if they had these skills, In this short article I want to pose the question “What is the purpose of our education system?”, and more importantly, “What do we want the purpose of our education system to be?”

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and the ability to create the life they want and and qualities using examples of things they take responsibility for their outcomes? What have achieved. if our education system actually provided all this?

And there’s more: what if you add to that, not just the skills to respond to job adverts and use What is success? recruiters, but the skills to build and use their on-and off-line networks to create the careers One of the most delightful things you can and opportunities they want? possibly hear in a school is “we teach our students that they can be anything they want Life Success Skills to be”. I’ve heard it a couple of times recently – when was the last time you heard it?

Now those are the basics for managing a career, but imagine if we layered in further skills that Like any word, if you ask people what “success” allowed young people to create a fulfilling life means, you’ll get a whole range of different for themselves? What if every young person answers. What I mean by success is the ability left school knowing all the different ways that to decide who you want to be, to act from that they are a genius? place and, by doing that, to achieve the things that you want. So success is about being first Our society measures success by the exam rather than having: you can be successful results, job titles and money/possessions. All right now in being the best that you can be in that is irrelevant if we teach and give permission whatever you are doing in your life now, and for young people to define and create success working towards creating the life, business, for themselves, to decide WHO they want to career that you want. Success is not, in this BE / BE-Come for themselves. context, something that’s only out there in the future.

In what areas would we need to support our children if these were the goals of education?

Career Skills We might for instance look at how to set powerful and personally relevant goals and Schools seem to be very good generally at how to achieve them. We might look at how engaging with local companies to get help to choose what you feel and do in any situation for their students with CVs and interviews. and how to take responsibility (not blame) It’s good, but it’s only a start, because their for your life. Imagine teaching how to create students only get one company’s version of rapport; how to be confident when you want to CVs and interview skills. Managing a career is be; how to relax and be resilient. These are not about knowing how to produce different styles difficult things to teach and they do not require of CV for different purposes, it’s about knowing changing the education system to make them that an interview is a two way conversation, a happen. What they require is an agreed vision meeting of equals, and how to fully engage in and will, and action to make it happen. that process. And it’s much more than that.

Business Skills We should be teaching young people the skills to define an ideal role for themselves. They A lot of the skills above would be useful and should know how to clearly, powerfully and relevant for running a business, but the range confidently articulate their transferrable skills of practical skills required to run a successful 20

One of the most delightful things you can possibly hear in a school is “we teach our students that they can be anything they want to be”.

business should also be mandatory within our children’s education, such as: different types of business; how to profile ideal customers, know where they are hanging out and how to talk with them; how to understand the numbers in the business; how to know what the important things to do are and how get them done; what and when to outsource; how to manage and motivate staff; what are the different marketing streams to consider.

win situations: the students win, the school wins, the deliverer wins, even the parents win.

By doing this we would be creating a true collaboration where we are modelling that it is possible to create situations where all stakeholders win.

We can stand on the sidelines and moan and debate. Or we can stand up and be counted and create ways to make all this happen.

We need to start getting these skills into the What are YOU going to do? hands of our young people, soon: this is too urgent for us to wait for the education system to You can contact Dave at: change, and schools can’t or won’t invest their budgets in teaching their students the skills dave@davecordle.co.uk that they really need to become successful.

So what is the way forward?

One way to move this agenda forward is for parents to hold their children’s schools accountable for providing the skills required to be successful in their working life and beyond.

We need to work with schools to find innovative solutions to help them get this teaching into the hands of the people who can use it (young people) and who will create the world of the future.

And we need do it by creating win/win/win/ 21

Baiju Solanki

WHY TEACHING ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS IN SCHOOLS IS ESSENTIAL

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identify a need—any need—and fill it. This can be applied to any industry - education, science, We are not teaching our kids the things they politics, sport and business. need to know in the world as we know it now.

The education system we have is not fit for What better way to educate our children than purpose. I know this, you reading this probably to teach them skills that allow them believe know this, and deep down the people who run anything is possible, they can do the work they the system know this. were born to do, and have permission to fail without the repercussions that society and The system that western economies have schools currently puts on them. evolved since the 18th century has been characterized by the need to produce people Same, secure and safe with standard skills, to take on standard tasks for a standard wage. Because of the paradigm Failure in life is guaranteed: we will all fail at shift in the way industry, technology and something at some time in our life. The system commerce interact, since the end of the Cold we have now, makes failure something to War, those times are long gone. To make the fear. Children are taught that if they don’t most of the economy we have today, we in pass a certain exam, get a grade, or achieve 2016 require a whole set of different skills to be government set standards, they will not do well taught, to enable the next generation to take in life. We are told when we are young, to sit advantage of the technology, resources and down and shut up, not to make a scene, obey opportunities that simply did not exist even 20 the rules, not to be disruptive, and to be the years ago. same as others. By passing exams, attending everyday, getting a degree and a job, we will These skills I believe are entrepreneurial skills. be secure in life and able to pay the bills Why? Well to really understand this point of view it is important to understand the original If you ask a child under 11 what they want to do, definition of the word, entrepreneur. The word the world is their oyster. Pop singer, footballer, entrepreneur, comes from the French word actor, astronaut, they have no limits and these entreprendre, which means ‘to undertake’. I dreams change from day to day. If you ask a believe there is no greater undertaking than child over 12, 13, 14 year old what they want to your life’s purpose. do, their choices start get more conservative: banker, accountant, teacher, builder (even In other words, to be entrepreneurial is not though there is NOTHING wrong with these about business, it’s a way of thinking. If you professions and we need people in them.) Yet think in an entrepreneurial way, you can start what appears to happen is that choices become a business, have your dream career or follow safer and more familiar, where there is a lower a vocation. Thinking in an entrepreneurial way risk of failure and more assurance of a job. The give you access to live your life on your own risk-taking gene is almost neutralized and the terms. message schools and society give, is that its better to have safe options than risky ones.

Brett Nelson the Forbes Executive Editor, wrote a article called The Real Definition Of When you have a system that encourages Entrepreneur---And Why It Matters, in which people to be the same, be secure and be he discusses that entrepreneurs are those who safe, it is not a society that will produce, happy The wrong system

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vibrant, innovative people that will change the world. It is a system that produces people void of dreams, lacking enthusiasm and low creativity.

dominated by a focus on testing. He goes on to say that the current system is one of a culture of compliance, not curiosity - one of the core skills of entrepreneurship.

Teaching entrepreneurship in schools In essence the system teaches children to encourages curiosity, creativity and ambition. follow routine algorithms rather than access the power of imagination and with that suppression Standing still through with standardised learning, comes the suppression of creativity - another core Our society has innovated through technology attribute of an entrepreneurial skill set. and advancement of the internet. Schools have more or less stayed the same since the The Entrepreneurial Skill Set 1800s. When you think about all the different industries in the world, engineering, science, Going back to the definition, for me business, medicine, automotive, space, entrepreneurship is not about starting a aviation, they have all changed the way they business; it’s a way of thinking. The skills that do things over time. Schooling is the one area entrepreneurs possess in the conventional that has not changed. sense can be beneficial to all professions. What most people call entrepreneurship I would call The system of standardised learning that was enterprise. seen as appropriate throughout the 1800 and 1900, remains the same today in 2016.

So what are some of the skills that come from having an entrepreneurial mind-set? To To pass exams was to be able to recall facts start with, similar to the attributes described and figures. Is there really a core need for this by Sir Ken Robinson, +++ entrepreneurs are now? At a touch of a button we can acquire continually curious, have great imaginations ANY fact now. Sir Ken Robinson in his Ted talk and are creative. Other core skills fall into two ‘How to escape education’s death valley’, said categories, the ‘people’ skills that make the that education is about learning something: ultimate difference and the ‘technical’ skills just because someone is teaching doesn’t that bring ideas into real life. necessarily mean someone is learning. He says the role of the teacher is to facilitate The people skills that are central to an learning, whereas our culture of education is 24

entrepreneurial mindset are:.

• • • • • • • • •

Networking Partnerships Communication Listening Rapport building Setting up win win wins Decision Making Negotiation Taking Calculated Risks

Now these skills are not exclusive to the entrepreneur; any profession would benefit from them. So what about the technical skills attained from having an entrepreneurial mindset. These would include: • • • • • •

Raising finance Product development Marketing See a gap and create an opportunity Scaling Sourcing

These are just a few of the skills that can be taught. When someone decides to be an entrepreneur, in the conventional sense, these skills are learned ‘on the job’. In fact this really doesn’t give a full picture of the resilience, tenacity, and passion required from individuals who demonstrate what I call entrepreneur behaviours.

Yet I invite you to consider the impact on our young people, if these core skills were taught as part of a wholesale revision of the school curriculum and then onwards throughout education at colleges and universities. All these skills would would benefit whatever profession, or role a young person enters.

Switch between top-down to bottom-up approach

place on the basis of curiosity, imagination and creativity; encouraging learning through questioning and creating a environment where risk is encouraged.

The Evidence We know that school is not fit for purpose despite the fact of increasing evidence that teaching entrepreneurial skills can and does help to address the problem of the current system.

A fantastic initiative that recognises the importance of developing a new model is The Entrepreneurial School (TES). This is a European initiative that recognises that teachers would like more support in teaching creativity. It is a collaborative approach that brings together 10 schools to participate in a project to access tools and methodology for best practice.

The European Entrepreneurship Education Network (EE-HUB) is a focal point for entrepreneurship education in Europe bringing together organizations and individuals from both the public and private sectors with strong records of accomplishment in entrepreneurship education at regional, national and European level. The EE-HUB is designed as the space where these stakeholders can work collectively to increase levels of entrepreneurial activities in schools across Europe.

Entrepreneurship360 promotes the entrepreneurial mindset through education.

Funded by the European commission, it builds entrepreneurial competences through training teachers and managers in schools.

A paper commission by Entrepreneurship360 titled Entrepreneurship in Education: What, Why, When How written by Martin Lackeus, 2015 concluded that teaching entrepreneurship can trigger deep learning and instil engagement, joy, motivation, confidence and feelings of relevancy among students, it also has the capacity impact society at large by creating jobs, economic success, innovation in individuals and society at large.

The current school curriculum is a top down process where all subjects are identified and then filtered down to the individuals in the form of a standardised learning model.

Entrepreneurial-based teaching is a bottom up process where you start from the student first and grow the individual, through the skills Challenges were also cited, such as lack of identified. This would allow learning to take support, time and guidance in educational 25

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How do we actually bring out the creativity, the imagination and so on..?

institutions, resources and assessment issues with teachers and some confusion around learning by doing. In other words teachers get the principles, or the concept of teaching these skills but not the “what”. How do we actually bring out the creativity, the imagination and so on.?

There is another way: targeting European funding is not the only model that can help us develop this thinking. For the last 3 years I have organized and led an extravaganza aimed at exposing young adults to the opportunities that entrepreneurial thinking can provide.

Called “Wanna Be An Entrepreneur”, I, in collaboration with numerous other individuals and companies, including BeCollaboration, have (at the time of writing) created three events which have drawn active participation from over 700 students and 300 businesses.

The students came to listen to entrepreneurs, singers, dancers, poets and musicians to gain insights and to understand what entrepreneurial thinking is all about. For more details of “Wanna Be” and feedback from participants, see: http://www.lovesouthend. co.uk/local-news/essexs-1-entrepreneursextravaganza-2016.html

mercy of project based funding, but progress is painfully slow and any progress is within isolated examples.

These initiatives have to be part of a national conversation, where ALL educational institutions contribute to developing the movement.

Markus Lackeus, in 2015 writes in his paper “There is tremendous work remaining if we are to succeed in making effective and efficient entrepreneurial education available to a majority of people in the educational systems of the world. And the road to achieving such an ambitious goal is still long…” . We are entering and are in the Entrepreneurial Revolution, if we do not start to make this part of the core of our education system we will be effectively deskilling the generation for the future..

To reform the education system needs not just educationalists to get involved but politicians, entrepreneurs, parents and most of all the children themselves.

You can contact Baiju at: baiju@baijusolanki.com

What next?

We need to participate and co-create an entrepreneurial movement in education There are agencies looking to change the way education is structured, by introducing an entrepreneurial mindset, but it is still not enough. As always the initiatives are at the 27

Glen Williamson

A LOST OPPORTUNITY IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

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irresponsibly. Businesses are more integrated, and sales force automation has increased In business, nothing happens until someone sells transparency and accountability. This in turn something. You can make the best product in has increased competition and buyer power: the world, and lots of them, but if someone decisions are made by consensus across an doesn’t make a sale, the company will not organisation rather than by an individual. All of survive. these changes signal the dawn of a new era in sales.

In order to “make the sale”, companies have to invest in sales people with a broad range of Sales people have to be more consultative in skills and behaviours, and the individual sales their approach, with heightened listening skills, person has to develop the right mindset. and business acumen. To sell consistently and delight their customers, they must have strong Sales, as a business function, has developed a customer and market understanding and be poor reputation despite the fact that we all sell, a resource for their clients, offering unique all the time. Selling is a key activity, rooted valuable perspectives on the market. They in the nature of how we survive. Yet still the must help their customers to avoid potential word conjures images of boiler rooms of cheap pitfalls, tailor their communications and suited Wall Street wolves stripping flesh from express value in a way that resonates with the the weak and needy. We imagine gangs of clients’ deepest reasons for buying. roaming rodents depriving poor pensioners of their nest eggs in exchange for needless patio The truth is Sales is a vital function in any extensions and replacement windows, and business, and the failure to recognise what it while sadly these creatures still exist, they are actually is, combined with the poor execution not sales people, they are just scavengers. of many sales based relationships is partly to blame for the failure of so many businesses.

Having worked at every level of sales over the In this short paper, I wish to argue that an last three decades, across numerous sectors, I appreciation of sales skills, taught within recall how sales teams I worked in were often schools, regardless of what the students will driven by the management team to ‘win at all do once they leave school, will help them to costs’ with scant regard for the consequences. thrive, to communicate effectively, and to As a result, sales were poorly executed, progress in their chosen careers. over-promised and under-priced, affecting both the organisations ability to deliver and Stop Selling and Start Helping its profitability. Internal relationships were affected, and crucial sales and operational For reasons that would need too much space to time was lost in cleaning up post- sale. go into, at some point in the past, sales became something you did to someone, not something The modern environment presents new you did with someone, and as a result buyers challenges to the sales professional. To close became suspicious, wary of being manipulated deals faster, at more acceptable margins, and coerced into a bad purchase. sales people need more specialised skills, knowledge and behaviours.

Globalisation resulted in a more complex and competitive business environment, and Sales people can no longer afford to sell the risk and cost of bad purchases increased.

Sales: the most vital business function

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Buyers were forced to get smarter. At the same time the information age enabled buyers to be more easily informed. Armed with a greater knowledge of what they were buying, their dependence upon sales people for information reduced and they were able to take control of the conversation.

customers at heart. They turn the spotlight away from products and services and fix it on their customers reasons for wanting to buy.

Doing so enables them to enhance dialogue, create an environment of open, honest communication that gets to the heart of the matter, and then provide great solutions that meet and exceed expectations. For all the right Recent studies have repeatedly shown that reasons, they win, more often than not and they sales are the losers. Despite an industry do so with elegance and true understanding. with many thought leaders adding to the conversation with tips, tricks and tools, studies And the great news is you don’t have to be an from Harvard Business Review and Forrester extrovert, or a superstar sales ninja who looks show that only 9% of sales people hit their slick and talks fast. You simply have to see targets every year and buyers find value in only sales in the right context, and be present in an 1 in 8 meetings on average. authentic and helpful way.

The winners in the sales environment now, are the ones who understand that the real key to selling is that we should all stop selling and start helping. They don’t get involved in sharp practices, instead they simply understand on a human level, precisely what their prospect/ customer is attempting to achieve, what results they desire and what is critical for them to solve. They focus on making sure they are equipped to provide compelling solutions that address all of the key issues the customer or the client faces, whilst demonstrating how they outperform their competitors.

Sales is for all of us. We do it all the time, we just don’t realise it.

Students and Businesses Are Missing Out Over the last 30 years, I have been on courses too numerous to mention, covering, Negotiation, Presentation Skills, Self Awareness, Effective Communication and The Art of Conversation, Time Management, Questioning Skills, Consulting, Coaching, Collaborating, Self Management and so much more.

I invite you to introduce me to a young person This new wave of successful sales professionals in education who would not benefit from and entrepreneurs operate from a higher level learning about a discipline that requires such of awareness, with the best interests of their a broad range of skills and behaviours. Right 30

“...we should all stop selling and start helping.”

now, as you read this article, there are students all over the world attempting to sell. They may not realise it, but they are selling themselves, their ideas, their beliefs, their community and their passions.

for the most part - have the skills to teach sales.

Yet where there is a will, there is a way: you do not need a Ph.D. in Sales, (although that would be extremely interesting). What is required is the first step, a basic level qualification taught and delivered by experienced sales professionals If they knew even the basics, they and their who have embraced the new way of selling, environment would inevitably improve. Their and capable of teaching how sales is about conversations would improve, as would their helping the parts so that the whole can benefit. ability to get into massive rapport with the people they meet. They would become more Schools could form partnerships with local self-aware; they would interview better, and businesses that can demonstrate an evolved add more value to their organisations. They sense of what it is to sell, and in doing so help would have the confidence to start their own prepare students for what is arguably the most businesses earlier, develop empathy, listen portable and fundamental business skill. more, learn more and they would generally make the world a better place.

In my own work as a sales coach, trainer and mentor, I can’t help noticing how ill equipped In effect, teaching sales skills to students SME business owners are to sell their products. is teaching students how to communicate Could this be a major factor as to why over 80% productively, collaborate and self-develop. of new business fail within 5 years of starting Taught properly, it also provides insight into up? the true nature of competition.

Of course, we are missing an opportunity. It is So why isn’t sales taught in schools? A friend time to introduce sales into the curriculum. Not who has just finished an MBA, told me “………the only because students need to sell things, not course touched on sales, but not in any serious only because students need to sell themselves, way”. but because when we teach someone how to sell properly, we teach them how to help the Are we not missing a great opportunity? The world, and we teach them how to become delegates on the MBA course, like school greater people. students will spend a great deal of their life selling, whether they like it or not, so why What could go wrong? not teach them how to do it properly? Why not give industry young people who already You can contact Glen at: understand how to position an argument, how to ask powerful questions, how to collaborate glen@gwcsalestraining.com and how to structure and close a deal?

I understand that there is a huge funding gap in the school system, and that teachers do not – 31

Profile: Taking a look at a key Collaborator in the community.

Ashwells: Reclaiming Tropical Timber for Future Generations.

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“Be Collaboration is interested in the passions that drive people to be the best they can be.”

“The amazing thing about our relationship with Be Collaboration is that none of it was meant to happen. We did not go out looking for it – it kinda came to us”. Marketing and Operations Director Deb Davies-Tutt reaches forward to grab a warm cup of tea at Ashwells yard near Upminster in Essex. “The fact is that we only came along to meet Paul Cameron at the suggestion of our business coach, Gill Tiney.

The monthly meeting was just about to start and we just thought we would stay for the first half and wait for Paul, and then leave.

Networking really is not our thing!”

For various reasons that day, Paul did not arrive at the venue for the Hertford based group of Be Collaboration members. And unusually, Deb and Janine did not leave, drawn instead by the atmosphere and content of the meeting. Deb continues; “Honestly nothing about it felt like a network. Everyone was really easy-going, open, and I did not see one business card flash around the room the entire time. It felt more like a local community meeting honestly.”

One year on and Ashwells owners are full members of Be Collaboration and regularly attend the monthly gathering in Hertford. They have made friends and contacts within the small community that seems to generate an unusual level of camaraderie and warmth.

have space. There are no preconceptions, about what you do or who you are. We found it to be an incredibly accepting environment that gives us time to breathe outside the normal working week.”

Be Collaboration is interested in the passions that drive people to be the best they can be. Through conversations and supportive environments, small businesses who want to grow or develop in some way, find expert ears and a range of skillsets willing to help in collaborative ways. Through the community Ashwells received business coaching, communications support, strategy development, and unique contacts for future business.

“It’s a rare thing” says Janine, Managing Director of Ashwells. “A community that you can go to and ask about almost anything, and someone will chip in and advise when you need it.”

[Deb] “The results for us have been amazing: we have rebranded, developed business initiatives internally; refocused our marketing; and returned to our client base with a really clear offer. We have professionalized across all our operations, and recruited new staff. It’s just been a whirlwind.”

And what of the future?

“What was so valuable about Be Collaboration for us” continues Deb, is that the support to business like ours was totally nonjudgmental.

You see we really live our passion. We really care about the rainforests and saving the planet. Yet in Be Collaboration these ideas

[Janine] “Well for us its all about business growth and continuing to live our passion – which for us is easy, because it is all about the timber – all about reclaiming this beautiful wood for future generations. ” 33

[Deb] “ Yes and our message is getting out: our wood can be found in major urban projects all over the UK, and one of our major clients is London Zoo. You can check out our new website at www.ashwelltimber.com for all the major projects we have been involved in.”

involved who are genuinely interested in making things better – work better, live better, just be the best you can be. And for a networking group, that is not a networking group, you can’t ask for more than that!”

Contact details for Ashwells:

Will you stay on with Be Collaboration?

Tel: 01375 892576 [Deb] “For the foreseeable future yes: for us it is about community and building relationships debdt@ashwelltimber.com that matter. There are really fantastic people

Our Purpose We seek to understand and protect tropical hardwoods by reclaiming their durability and beauty for future generations. We do this by knowing the story behind the wood we reclaim, and by contributing to structural projects that enhance the environment and the well-being of all of us.

Our goal is to make it possible for designers, architects, engineers and makers to aid the preservation of tropical trees in their natural habitats by making a choice to use reclaimed timber in their projects. By working together we help to minimize construction waste going to landfill, and bring back the beauty of centuries old timber for use in today’s civic and domestic spaces.

Connections made: New prospect with award winning maker Paul Cameron of TreeHouseLife Social media marketing with Scott Campbell Design with Angela Makepeace Business coaching with Gill Tiney Brand strategy with Sara Wilbourne of Becoming Us

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Next issue of

Can the Well-Being Movement solve our health crisis?

Guest editor: Claire Evans (Ramsbotham) In the next issue of The Quest, contributors are invited to consider how collaboration within the public, alternative and complimentary health sectors might revolutionize health care for future generations.

Following a period of personal development as a Mindfulness Co-Creator Claire founded The Centre of Wellbeing in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire in January 2013. She had become increasingly aware of the growing numbers of people with anxiety, panic and depression and that the people with these conditions lacked basic tools for creating their own well-being.

The Centre of Wellbeing has developed into a community hub funded by its members as a place of acceptance and connection. The venue offers a space where people can explore different aspects of wellbeing and open up conversations around uncomfortable subjects. It is Claire’s firm belief that connecting people is the key to wellbeing, as we all have an innate desire to belong. And as champion for a new networking group called Elysian designed for alternative and complementary therapists, she also encourages collaboration. This group is now designing wellbeing training that can be delivered to local businesses and services.

Develop-Insite CIC is Claire’s not-for-profit company that facilitates wellbeing projects such as ‘Moving InWards’, which provides live music workshops and performances on mental health hospital wards. She also coordinates, ‘Within’ a music project that combines relaxing, upbeat music from mental health band: ‘refuge’, combined with mindful meditations from Claire.

Finally, she has played an instrumental role in developing www.rethinkyourmindco.uk (another major project from Develop-Insite), described by Professor Dame Sue Bailey OBE DBE, as “a social movement”.

The idea behind “rethinkyourmind” is to encourage wellbeing expressed through poetry, artwork and photography in response to ‘I feel better when I am…’. Claire joined forces with its creator Peter Hirst in 2014 and together they have pioneered The Yellow Book, endorsed by NHS England, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute for Psychiatry. The project is a showcase for national organisations and simple wellbeing practices and the book includes prize winning artwork and poetry.

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The Quest Invitation to visit.

BeCollaboration believe that true collaboration – as you have witnessed here in The Quest, occurs when people develop and deepen their relationship, building trust through sharing their authentic self. This doesn’t generally happen as a result of online communication. Meeting face to face is the best way to create amazing possibilities where wonderful projects happen. The Quest is just one such project.

We believe that meeting regularly is fundamental to our growth and learning so we have monthly meetings for guests and Collaborators to meet and discuss new ideas, issues and potential solutions.

Each meeting delivers knowledge sharing, business insights, personal development opportunities as well as thought leaders in the making presenting their genius to the room. All of this in an atmosphere where fun and laughter are paramount. At the end of the meeting we find no one wants to leave so we continue the conversations in a social get together for as long as you want to stay.

If you would like to visit and meet our community you are very welcome. There is no cost to attend, simply bring an open mind and a listening heart.

Here are the upcoming meetings. To register attendance and get venue details please go to the website www.becollaboration.com

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Dates: 6th July Sussex, Shoreham By Sea 7th July Essex, Chelmsford 15th July Herts, Hertford 21st July Surrey, Banstead 26th July London, Shad Thames

No meetings in August 1st Sept Essex, Chelmsford 7th Sept Sussex, Shoreham By Sea 9th Sept Herts, Hertford 22nd Sept Surrey

Banstead 27th Sept London Shad Thames What happens at a BeCollaboration meeting.

2pm – 3pm is the Introduction for guests. Learn more about what inspires us to be part of the community, our journey so far and how to make the most of your visit.

3pm – 6pm The Collaborators will join you to share, create, discuss, inspire and learn – plus have fun!

6pm onwards there is always a social vibe to continue the conversation, you are very welcome to stay and we can get to know you more too.

We look forward to welcoming you to a BeCollaboration event soon.

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