Primeast

Richard Barrett (L) and Primeast managing director Russell EvansRichard Barrett, one of the world’s most authoritative figures on cultural transformation, recently made the Primeast offices the latest leg of a seminar programme on cultural change and leadership. A Fellow of the World Business Academy, a non-profit business think tank discussing the role and responsibilities of business, Barrett has authored several books on corporate liberation and is invited as a guest speaker to management and leadership events across the world.

Primeast played host to a workshop for twenty leading consultants from across the North of England, with Richard Barrett presenting a pioneering programme that enables businesses to develop their corporate social responsibility culture by looking beyond their profit and loss sheets to support sustainable development and build stronger communities.

Primeast’s managing director Russell Evans said: “Hosting Richard’s workshop was a real coup for us, giving our team and leading consultants an opportunity to hear from one of the world’s top authorities on value-based corporate evaluation.”

“The issue of measuring performance beyond financial information is crucial within the wider agenda of corporate social responsibility.”

Yorkshire Business InsiderIn October’s edition of Yorkshire Business Insider, Primeast’s managing director Russell Evans discusses how companies can build upon the basic elements of a teambuilding exercise to ensure that they get the most out of the event and the people they send on it.

You can read the article here.

High ropes teambuilding Over the past 5 years, Primeast have been working with a major global car manufacturer to develop the quality of team work in its UK factory. The experiential workshops take place in a number of locations, and so far around 700 associates have taken part.

The focus of the weekend events is to develop individual and team skills, allowing individuals to understand how to use the talents and skills they have as an effective team member. The benefit for the client is that they have a workforce made up of skilled team workers who can more easily be moved from team to team, reducing the dip in performance that usually occurs when team structures change. New teams also benefit from a greatly reduced lag from creation to performance, or ‘Zero to Hero’ as one participant put it.

During the event teams initially compete to collect information and resources in order to successfully launch a series of rockets. A range of activities, including problem solving tasks, mountain bike orienteering, raft building and high rope course work, are combined into a 36-hour real-time scenario. As the event unfolds, the teams realise that they cannot achieve their objective without working together, while still remaining in competition.

Each team has an experienced facilitator/coach working with them to carry out ‘hot de-briefs’ and offer some theoretical input when appropriate. Feedback from organisational sponsors and participants has been fantastic. Andy, a production engineer said:

“It was a great opportunity for me to see how we could work together to solve problems in unusual ways. When a problem occurs at the plant, we’ve gotta solve it there and then. The more we are able to work together and use each others unique talents, the more chance we’ve got of sorting it out”

As a quick browse of our website will tell you, here at Primeast we are very proud of our ISO 9001:2000 QAIC/UK/511 accreditation for ‘the design and delivery of learning interventions’ - not least because we were one of the first businesses in the world to earn such accreditation.

But why mention this as news? Well, following a successful QA audit last month, we are happy to announce that this year marks our 10th anniversary of receiving this accreditation, an achievement that allows us to wear our commitment to providing a quality-assured service to our clients on our sleeves. And that is something we definitely feel is worth celebrating!

Clive Wilson at CMI Conference 2007Most of the appearances Primeast speakers and coaches make are at client events. However, we do occasionally appear at open events with professional institutions. Below is a summary of those engagements remaining for 2008. We’d love to see you there.

Primeast has been recognised for its views on unlocking the human potential of our workforces, having been asked to contribute to the April 2008 edition of The HR Director magazine.

Primeast LogoIn an article entitled “Standing Out From The Crowd”, leading figures from the HR and recruitment world were asked for their views on how companies can be a magnet for the brightest and best graduate talent, with Primeast MD Clive Wilson discussing how talent liberation can unlock the potential of graduate recruits to business.

The HR Director magazine website can be found at www.thehrdirector.com.

Here at Primeast, we are always looking for opportunities to spread our message, so when director Russell Evans recently happened to hear a discussion on the Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 show about the value of mission statements for companies whilst on his way to deliver a workshop, he knew that this was a chance too good to miss. Following a quick call to the office, Primeast MD Clive Wilson was leaving the simplest of messages with the radio station - “If you want to know anything about mission statements and how they inspire organisations, you need to speak to people with 20 years of experience in mastering leadership, change and teamwork - call me”.Clive Wilson

This offer was too good for the show’s researcher to resist, who proceeded to book Clive for an interview on the show for the following afternoon, which in turn kick-started a frenetic amount of activity in the Primeast office. Research was carried out, vocal cords were exercised, and radios were tuned in, but sadly the world will have to wait for Clive’s first broadcast, because the media world is a fast-moving one, and the show’s producers decided to cut the item on mission statements at the last moment.

So until the time Primeast get the opportunity to grace the airwaves again, Clive and the team will be more than happy to discuss leadership, change and teamwork in the more traditional way - indeed, if you have a corporate need in any of the subjects Clive was going to talk about, and would like to share a cup of tea with him, just let us know and we’ll ask him to give you a call direct.

Primeast senior consultant Clare Gallagher is offering a unique opportunity to learn new strategies and experience first-hand the benefits of Neuro Linguistic Programming, or NLP, in a series of free half-day workshops throughout February, one of which will take place at Primeast’s head office in Harrogate.

International NLP Trainers Association logo Neuro Linguistic Programming is the study of human excellence, with proven success for over 30 years, and is increasingly becoming known as the ‘ultimate communications strategy’. NLP provides many practical tools and skills that can help you to both influence with purpose, and be outstanding in your chosen field, so if you are interested in attending, please click here.

Primeast has helped to create a groundbreaking initiative in the world of responsible business practice.

Members of CSR ConsortiumThe CSR Consortium, involving 18 consultancies at its launch, will provide strategic and tactical expertise across all areas of responsible business practice.

Areas covered include CSR strategy, performance management, health and safety, environmental management, organisational change, community engagement and regeneration, customer service, HR performance, diversity, training and development, socially responsible recruitment and supply chain management.

A PR agency and a design agency have also been brought on board to ensure that clients’ messages are communicated responsibly.

Primeast was invited to help create the consortium because of its commitment to the CSR agenda, and hosts the consortium’s meetings at our Harrogate offices.CSR Logo

Warwick Abbott said: “We are delighted that our knowledge and expertise has made us an obvious choice for helping to create this groundbreaking initiative. It comes at a time when the responsible business agenda is truly gaining momentum.”

As well as providing a single point of contact, the CSR Consortium service providers will help demystify corporate social responsibility and show how a responsible approach is good for creating sustainable businesses.”