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All organisations think that learning and training is important for their people – and most spend significant amounts of money doing so - don’t they?
While not wishing to get into that debate here – the issue I want to address is whether organisations know whether they are actually getting any business value from learning and training? Most companies may train staff in areas such as leadership, management, communications, or performance management – and they may conduct surveys of attendees, and count how many employees complete – but do they ever assess whether those employees learned?
90% of respondents to a recent McKinsey Quarterly survey said that ‘building capabilities was a top-ten priority for their organisations’. Only a quarter, though, said that their programs are effective at improving performance measurably, and only 8 percent track the programs’ return on investment.
One of the key outcomes in this article was the ‘applying the lesson’ theme of ‘picking the right metrics’, ie a manufacturer might try to improve its operations by teaching plant supervisors lean-manufacturing and coaching skills, but rather than tracking only how many managers have been trained, it should track metrics such as downtime, the overall effectiveness of equipment, or fill rates - as means of creating real value from learning.
Skills are developed by practice, not by reading about them – that is why we at The Paige Group, through our business Fun.Food.Focus place education and learning at the heart of business success. Such is our belief, is that we have focused on this in our new and revised Web Page – see www.funfoodfocus.com.au Fun.Food.Focus is a people development and team building activity business, focused on developing high-performance teams, leaders, managers and businesses through cooking. Our ‘value-add’ is our unique combination of high level facilitation and coaching with the universal dynamism of food and cooking. We invite you to visit our website soon!
In this edition, we talk about some of our recent activities, forthcoming ‘food experiences’, travel, introduce a new segment Food Snippets, recent media coverage and latest Knowledge Management activities.
We are currently updating our consulting business, Advance Knowledge Networks webpage www.thepaigegroup.com.au and giving it new, revised and exciting revamp, so stay tuned.
Until our next edition…
Helen Paige
Founder and Director - The Paige Group
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The cooler weather has certainly enthused people to continue cooking. As a result, we have had many people attending our ‘hands on’ cooking classes, as well as our ‘corporate team building’ experiences.
Fun.Food.Focus, Helen has been continuing to contact a range of specialised trainers and consultants in Adelaide and beyond – people that she knows personally as ‘experts’ in their fields, and they have all enthusiastically agreed to be part of the Fun.Food.Focus team building activities. As we seek to not only encourage people to work together better, and have fun, BUT always to have some ‘value add’ for themselves and their employers. We invite CEOs, Managers, HR Managers and other organisational members to call and talk to us about how we can HELP YOU!
Our monthly Pizza, Sushi, Exotic Thai and Chocolate Indulgence classes, continue to gain fans, and a big thank you – goes to our chefs – Fumi, Jittiporn and Delysia, and Mohamed.
Fun.Food.Focus classes are open to individuals or groups. So why not bring some friends and enjoy an entertaining, interactive and innovative ‘hands on’ cooking experience that will stir your creative soul!
Our recent specialty pizza class in August with Rosa Matto – a person well known in local cooking circles for her way with Southern Italian food, was a great success. Our guests prepared 4 kinds of pizza products – all unique and all different, learnt how to make a pizza dough that you can use almost immediately! And then wined and dined on the great Italian specialties they’d made. As they said the best parts of the event were:
- Learning the secrets
- The whole experience
- Eating the food and,
- Had a fantastic time at your class yesterday….(we) will definitely be attending another one
Our pizza classes which are held at a near-city location on the second Saturday of every month, are the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Bookings are now open for the next pizza making class on SATURDAY 11th SEPTEMBER, 2010. Scheduled Class dates for the rest of the year are – 9th October, 13th November and 11th December.
Famous not only for his sushi prowess, Chef Fumi takes you on a voyage of discovery as he explores the essence of Japanese culture and cuisine. Come along and share some food magic with Chef Fumi (and he really does do magic tricks as well!) Our next class is scheduled for SATURDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2010, so reserve your place now. Scheduled Class dates for 2010 are 16th October, 20th November and 18th December 2010.
The ever popular Exotic Thai cooking classes is now under the culinary guidance of CHEF JITTIPORN. Jittiporn is sharing her culinary expertise in the delights of traditional THAI cooking, and our clients are really enjoying her gentle, yet persuasive style. Jittiporn is very enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge of Thai food and frequently offers new dishes and themes during the classes. The next Exotic Thai Class will be on TUESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER, 2010. Further dates for 2010 are 19th October, 16th November and 21st December 2010.
Our next Chocolate Indulgence Class will be held on Wednesday 8th September – 2 vacancies remain.
For ALL 2010 dates please go to www.funfoodfocus.com.au
Contact Helen on 0403 374 183 or ask@funfoodfocus.com.au for further details and to register your interest.
Here’s what our foodie fans are saying:
From our Sushi making classes
- ‘The best part was: the magic, the enjoyment, the eating, and learning about the different flavours and techniques. Such a great session on Saturday! Thank you’
From our Thai cooking classes
- ‘It was a very relaxed atmosphere, it felt very friendly, like cooking at home; not all intimidating, but a friendship-building environment. I’d like to do it again!’
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 Fun.Food.Focus has also been at work providing team building and ‘hands on’ cooking for the corporate sector. We continue to feel privileged to work with some great South Australia companies and their people.
Amongst our clients - a fun team from the University of South Australia recently enjoyed a unique and amazing cooking experience - cooking a Northern Indian meal at a local Indian Restaurant. Not only did the group cook fabulous Indian treats such as Onion Bhaji, Beef Rogan Josh, Murgh Tikka (in the Indian tandoor oven) and the delicious Indian sweet Gulab Jamun, but some also learnt to make Naan bread under the watchful eye of the Indian chefs.
As a special treat for this group, our Japanese French patissiere also supplied some great goodies for morning tea – chocolate fondant cakes and baked cheesecake. Before lunch the group also had the opportunity of a Wine Matching Experience – a combination of the delicious tasting Indian food and an instructional look and taste of various wines by our Wine Expert, Paul.
As part of our learning and training packages - Fun.Food.Focus also supplied a written report on the team building activities of the group to their Manager – another value-added service.
testimonial
Helen, I would just like to thank you for a wonderful team building day. Although I initially thought this was a little out of the norm, I was actually very pleasantly surprised with the success of the day. As it turned out, this was exactly what the team needed (to have fun and work together). As a manager, I was also able to observe the team at work and see who was leading, who was following, and who shared the leadership in each of their groups. Overall, this was a valuable learning experience that will ultimately assist in the growth and development of our team. …
I really enjoyed Paul’s presentation about the appreciation of wines.
Thank you again.’ |
 A number of Fun.Food.Focus Corporate events will be taking place with our clients Flinders Technologies, Wallach, PFK, Ernst and Young, and Westpac in August, September and October, so more information on these great cooking adventures next time! |
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- De Groots
Fun.Food.Focus was recently invited to list both our ‘hands on’ corporate, and individual cooking classes on De Groots Best Certificates.
- George Ujvary, the enthusiastic GM of Olgas Fine Foods runs a great blog called the Foodologist. Recently George invited Helen to write an article about her involvement with food – why she developed Fun.Food.Focus, current activities and the future. The article appeared on his web and has received a number of visits. Thanks George!
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15 powerful reasons to eat chocolate
T’ will make old women young and fresh
Create new motions of the flesh
And cause them to long for you-know-what
When they taste CHOC-O-LATE
William Wordsworth, British Poet (1770-1850)
See www.theinternetchef.biz/2009/04/15- powerful-reasons-to-eat-chocolate/ for the rest!
- There is a brand in Germany that has created an urban farming organisation that rents out vegetable gardens for a season – Mein Ernte. They will even look after the soil and the planting. With more people downsizing to smaller houses and units with no backyards, will this take off in Australia? See http://www.meine-ernte.de
- Jittiporn, our wonderful Thai Chef has recently opened Thara Thai, at 2 Gilbert Street, across the road from the Capri Cinema on Goodwood Road.
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- We were very pleased to feature recently in the popular Taste section of the Adelaide Advertiser, with a snippet on our ‘hands on’ pizza classes.
- CIM newspapers, a national RANK publication recently referred to Fun.Food.Focus in their July CIM Newsbytes. Under the heading ‘Taste of Teambuilding ideas’ the article said
‘Highgate (South Australia) teambuilding company Fun.Food.Focus, run by Helen Paige, has launched a revamped website with new teambuilding ideas plus cooking classes for conference groups’ and a link to our website www.funfoodfocus.com.au
- Also in the ‘Boomer’ segment of the Adelaide Advertiser was a piece on ‘hands on cooking’ at Fun.Food.Focus
- Lastly – the July issue of the popular Sumptuous Magazine featured Adelaide Cooking Schools, with colour images of Fun.Food.Focus clients and an overview of our ‘cooking classes’ on offer.
Fun.Food.Focus is an experienced provider for the conference and events sector. For those seeking a memorable experience for delegates, partners or clients please contact us for more information and specific marketing collateral for this sector. Email us at ask@funfoodfocus.com.au Corporate Events with Fun.Food.Focus
Fun.Food.Focus offers ‘hands-on’ cooking classes that can be expertly tailored to meet strategic business objectives such as team building and motivation, change management or purely as a staff reward. We offer a range of culinary experiences matched with a variety of venue options for a unique and unforgettable corporate event suited to your individual requirements. Hear more from our satisfied clients and view our video now at www.funfoodfocus.com.au |
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- KM SYDNEY, JULY 2010
Helen recently attended KM Australia as guest of Ark Conference organisers. The annual 2-day conference this year had the theme of KM & Collaboration. Highlights for me were:
- The presentation by Stan Garfield, Community Evangelist, Global Consulting Knowledge Management Group, Deloitte Touche Tohmastsu (USA). Not only did Stan provide a wealth of information and useful tips, and as suggested ‘nuggets of knowledge’ from a long-time KM practitioner, Stan was effective, yet humble and a thoroughly nice guy. A follow up drink with him on the Friday after the conference reaffirmed this, and I hope that I can catch up with Stan again some time soon either here, or in America.
- Siew Hoong Aw’s presentation on Shell Global Solutions Knowledge Sharing Story. Siew who is the Knowledge Management Advisor, Shell Global Solutions in Malaysia, gave a vivid overview of a case study of KM ‘rights and wrongs’ as well as some discussion on the future of knowledge sharing at Shell.
- Knowledge Intensive Services Showcase Directory (KIS)
- Helen was recently informed that her business Advance Knowledge Networks will be listed in the Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS) Directory which is being prepared by the South Australian government to list those businesses that can demonstrate outstanding leadership in the delivery of knowledge intensive services
- Knowledge Cafe, Adelaide
Our Knowledge Café meets every month on a Wednesday in either the morning or the evening. As the Convenor of the above café, Ian, (our webmaster) and the rest of the group, are always pleased to see new members. If you would like to find out more particulars, please see www.frysystems.com.au/km and follow the links.
Next meeting
Wednesday 22nd September, 2010 at 6pm
Venue: APA 30 Currie Street, Adelaide -
Meet in Foyer
Topic: An overview of KM 2010
At our last meeting on 18th August - our presenter was Dr Rod Dilnutt, Director William Bethwey & Associates, Senior Fellow The University of Melbourne spoke on the topic ‘The Role of Change Management in Successful Information Management Solutions’
Rod gave an inspiring overview of the importance of choosing the right information management systems, but importantly the critical role of change management in introducing ANY new information management system. An issue many organisations realise post the event, to their detriment.
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Reprints: You are welcome to reprint these articles as long as the following statement is printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article. Hyperlinks as below must be included in the quotation.
© The Paige Group.Used with permission
Helen Paige
Phone (08) 8271 1173 or 0403 374 183
E-Mail info@thepaigegroup.com.au
Visit www.thepaigegroup.com.au for further details |
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