Training, teaching, learning

Art for Arts Sake

2011-07-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

We have always had a strong connection with the arts due to my original Theatre career. When we originally started Hemingway Corporation we also had an off shoot called Hemingway Productions. Hemingway Corp used Hemingway Productions to supply actors for role play and simulation excercises and the profit went in to a pot to allow Hemingway Productions to put on plays at the Fringe in Edinburgh. With children arriving and other home comittments Hemingway Productions fell by the wayside. But I have decided to revive it!

Our next exhibition at the Gallery with be called 'Perfomance'. It opens on the 8th of August, artists are bringing work that compliments that theme - all 2D work. At the end of the exhibition,from the 25th to the 30th of August we will be hosting our own 'fringe' festival. During the day there will be story tellers, rehearsals for the Weston Soap Opera, magicians and workshops and the evenings will begin with a recording of our soap opera for the Radio followed by a short one act play then there will be music and comedy until 10.00pm every night.

Any one who wants to take part should contact me - and if anyone is interested in helping me revive Hemingway Productions they should also get in touch. I have been asked to create a simulation event for the 11th of November so there may be an opportunity to use Hemingway Productions at that. Sounds like a plan is coming together.

Our new Gallery at my new business DPS

2011-06-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

The Gallery – sponsored by a forward thinking local business - opened its doors on Friday 10th June and was inaugurated by John Penrose MP. This is a unique opportunity for artists from the area and beyond. The Gallery – managed by a committed group of artists - will be the largest in North Somerset and will provide a spacious area for artists and makers to display their work in a wonderful and spacious environment right in the centre of Weston-s-Mare.

The first exhibition is showing the inspiring and unique work of 22 local artists – paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures – and will last until 6th August. It is open everyday from 11 – 5pm except Sundays. The Gallery is situated above Digital Photo Studio, 3 Locking Rd Weston-s-Mare BS23 3BY (opposite Tesco). For more information about the Gallery contact Kirsten Hemingway
Email: khemingway@hemingwaycorp.com or telephone 01934 626616

Digital Photo Studio can scan your favourite photographs and put them on to a disk for you ready for use on line or in any digital media
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For those of you interested in a bit of history the building was originally Locking Road Methodist Church

With thanks to Cllr John Crockford-Hawley for the image above.
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Artist Profile
MICHAEL RUMMINGS

Currently showing at The Gallery in Weston-s-Mare
3 Locking Rd, BS23 3BY
Open daily 11–5pm except Sundays
T: 01934 627809
M: 07866621338
E: gillrummings@talktalk.net

“My favourite thing is sketching in situ, portraying townscape or landscape, usually in penline and water colour. Sometimes I turn to oil or acrylic and then there is the occasional lurch into the abstract.”
Artist, illustrator and graphic designer, Michael was born in, and has mostly lived in and around Bristol, moving to Clevedon in 1981, then to Weston-s-Mare in 2006.
Educated at Bristol Technical School, he studied at West of England College of Art while apprenticed in the graphics studio of a major printing company, producing designs for chocolate cigar, cigarette, and other product packaging.
In 1985 he set up his own freelance business and latterly specialized in novelty tin printing designs for such as Harrods, the Savoy and Barclays Bank. This coincided with architectural illustration for clients like Wimpey, Barratts & Lovell Homes.
Michael has always painted in his ‘spare time’ and is an artist member of Bristol Savages.
Some of his linework is shown in “The Painter and The Poet”, which is on display at the Gallery and in which subjects and places local to Weston are depicted.
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Awards for Mentoring

2011-05-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

Best Mentor and Mentee rewarded for their efforts

Last year WOW teamed up with Hemingway Corporation and Mint Hotel and took it upon ourselves to help twenty-one young female entrepreneurs start their business lives. We did this by providing them with mentors to guide them and give advice. In effect we kick started twenty-one new businesses that day

The top Mentor and Mentee from the WOW Women’s Enterprise Day lunch were awarded free flights on Air South West this week.

John Murphy and Mhari Threfell beat off the competition to claim the top prize. Mhari said of John “Although my idea may not be in the specific field of my mentor. He understood and had belief in me. As such he worked tirelessly on helping me develop connections, improve my networking skills and help to find out if my good idea could be transformed into a good business idea. My mentor helped me gain:
 Advancement and specification of my idea through setting out life goals
 Several new business ideas
 £1000 for my specific idea from Shell Livewire, which I got after pitching it to a room of students and judges
 PR and publicity for my idea
 Useful contacts and connections with the Rotary Club for my charity and with scientists for my shampoo idea
 Meetings with those who might be able to help me in the future.

All of these have been invaluable to me. I think my idea would have dropped by the wayside if it hadn't been for John. Indeed, due to my work commitments, I haven't gone as far as I would have liked with the idea, but without John's support would not have been confident enough to enter the Shell Livewire Grand ideas award, which I subsequently won! This has lead me on to have some great PR, particularly in Scotland”

Kirsten Hemingway of the Hemingway Corporation who supported and arrange the event and subsequent competition said “John and Mhari really took on the challenge with no through of the competition prize. They have been an exemplary example of what good mentoring can achieve for a new business.”

The prizes were awarded at the same hotel where the lunch was held last November although in the time since the competition was held the City Inn has changed to Mint Hotel. This competition was important to Annette West the Hotel’s Sales Director. She said “This was one of the first events I attended at the hotel and it was inspiring, it is great to see how the mentors and mentees have developed such productive relationships.

This year WOW and the Hemingway Corporation are planning to host another spectacular event for Women’s Enterprise day and look forward to your support for this important work.

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Big Events

2011-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

The next big thing for our HIEC is to create a huge event in Bristol. We are bringing together over 10 specialist groups reforming different parts of the NHS. Some are from the NHSI and some are working within specialist charities.

Our event will hopefully include over 700 people - which is very scary as its on at the end of June. However, we are getting some great help from Event Brite and from the Chief Execs of every part of the service.

Our internal project is the Branding and describing what we are - any help appreciated so please get in touch and let us know what we are to you?

One of our team has come up with a great invention for technoloy implementaitons. Hence, we are looking for new customers who are implementing technology, if you know anyone let us know.

I did say we had been busy!

2011-04-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

We also took on some new people in and have increased our network by another 7 excellent consultants. LifeWorklife has been great for us in terms of finding the right people and we have started to develop a programme around it for other companies. Hoping to have more news on that later.

In terms of the HIEC Information:
HIECS:
“We intend to enable providers of NHS services … to come together with partners in the higher education sector and industry to form Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs)”
Department of Health. NHS Next Stage Review: A High Quality Workforce. 30th June 2008

Successful bid for a HIEC in the South West December 2009

www.HIECSW.org.uk

If you are concerned about how the NHS works in the future then this is the place to get involved.

Big Rewards for front line innovation in the South West NHS

2011-04-12T03:02:00.000-07:00

An event was held in Exeter last week to congratulate 29 new South West NHS innovators who were collectively awarded more than £1 million of funding from the Regional Innovation Fund. The event was organised by HIEC South West to support individual learning needs and to provide a place where the project leaders could collaborate and share resources. Each innovation had been created by members of front line staff across the South West NHS. A full spectrum of staff including nurses, doctors, surgeons and managers used their experience to create new ideas for better patient care.

Projects were given funding from £8,000 to £240,000 to use to implement their idea or explore it further. The Regional Innovation Fund was established to offer frontline health care staff the opportunity to turn their ideas for quality improvement into action. The projects will be supported by the Health Innovation and Education Cluster for the South West which is managed by a partnership across many health and education sector organisations.

Peta Foxall is one of the board members for the HIEC and the events key note speaker said “This event aims to celebrate the success of these innovators in getting their projects funded, we will support them to build their skills and confidence and they will become our advocates for innovation across our region and probably beyond.”

The winning projects were the top 29 from the 230 bids across the NHS Trusts in the region and highlight the commitment and dedication from NHS staff to continual improvements in patient care. The innovative bids were received against many priority areas including mental health, long term conditions, primary care, reducing health inequalities, learning disabilities and the adoption of proven technologies.

The event provided attendees with the knowledge and resources they will need to make sure their innovations catch on and become part of standard practice. Fiona Pickering of NHS Bournemouth and Poole said “The resources available to the attendees are staggering, every speaker has world class knowledge and experience in their subject and the HIEC is committed to providing the right level of support to ensure that every project is a success, every person is valued, every penny is well spent and everyone knows that these innovations are available.”

Women's Enterprise Day Celebration Lunch

2011-04-12T02:58:00.000-07:00

Last year, in collaboration with the RDA, WOW recognised the achievements of talented female entrepreneurs across the SW, at a high profile award ceremony at the Holland House Hotel, Bristol.

This year WOW teamed up with Hemingway Corporation and City Inn and took it upon ourselves to help twenty-one young female entrepreneurs start their business lives. We did this by providing them with mentors to guide them and give advice. In effect we kick started twenty-one new businesses that day!

Mike Teasdale, from Augmentor, provided some great insights into mentoring and many of the South West’s business support agencies were on hand to give advice and guidance and offer their support too. City Inn were delighted to be able to host the event and be involved in such a worthwhile enterprise. “We have had great feedback from the day” said Kirsten Hemingway, “the event was well supported by some of the best mentors in the South West and I have high hopes for the results”. The most successful partnerships will win free flights with Air South West at a follow up event in March 2011.

WOW also gained five new members, who won the prize of a mini membership to WOW until 31st March. They are Chochoe Quaye, Sabrina Sampson, Maggie Duke, Joy Kamara, Jackie Karmel. We welcome them to the group and look forward to seeing them at future events, starting with our next event at Watersky.

‘Wow should be very proud of such a fantastic achievement’

Too busy to Blog!

2011-04-12T02:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last blog, Hemingway Corporation has been very busy supporting the creation a new kind of organisation for the NHS. But I know that is no excuse really and I will be doing better. In fact I am nagging everyone around me to get better at their blogging and then not doing my own! Tut Tut.

I am going to follow this post with a few press releases to get everything up to date then I will get on with blogging once a week.

2009-11-20T04:03:00.000-08:00

Now I am off out to Ilminster to share my thoughts on the new shape of virtual organisations and the future of our working structures. Enter the Meerkat generation...

2009-11-20T04:01:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the winners of the Womens Enterprise Celebration Lunch. Hemingway Corporation arranged this stellar celebration to honor role models for Womens Enterprise in the South West. The full story is at - http://www.bristol247.com/2009/11/18/top-women-entrepreneurs-celebrated-at-awards-ceremony/

I would like to thank all the networking organisations in the South West who supported me in creating a fantastic High Impact event.

2009-09-18T02:22:00.001-07:00

The weeks are running by, there is so much movement and energy in the business at the moment. All positive, not least the appointment of our new FD. This is a pioneering step for my company; John is bringing such valuable experience and strategic clout to the table, we have a real heavyweight among us. The sky is the limit! Watch this space, things are about to get really interesting...

http://www.sourceuk.net/article/13/13688/hemingway_corporation_secures_investment__ramps_up_talent.html

Wonderful team!

2009-08-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

Just a brief note to direct you to the latest work by our Head of Learning and Development - You can see it at: http://EzineArticles.com/?id=2657565

Well Done Di!

Messages

2009-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have had trouble writing anything for a few weeks - combination of a lack of time and all my thinking effort going towards solving problems - not done so I thought I would ask the universe - well anyone who may read this!
Problem one - Hemingway Corp, we have two new projects I want to take to market and I am still tied up making the one I am currently taking to market actually bed down in to running itself. Basically I am just being impatient and I need to give it time for the projects to catch up with me. So I need some tips on how to be patient and not carry on like a train at 100mph.
Problem two - I cant find a way to describe flexible working that sounds like anyone can do it and shows what a great way of life it is. This is for the front of LifeWorklife - how do I design desire in to this site.

Oh and any tips on surviving the menopause would be great!

Thats all my asks for this week - if you dont get the newsletter from Emotional Intelligence at Work or the notes from TUT then you should - thats my tip of the week!

Sugar and Spice

2009-06-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Another week flies by - its almost impossible to remember what happened. One of the things that invoked passion in me this week was the announcement that Alan Sugar was appointed as an advisor about Enterprise. Slap me soundly, I cant believe that anyone could be that shortsighted, he is the same man that wouldnt hire women of childbearing age incase they had a child, he bullies people in the board room and has given the 'company director' such a bad name in my opinion that he deserves to have his knighthood taken away.

I delivered a Leadership programme this week to a group of about 50 women in banking. It was about using tools to help us to plan to succeed. Some of the simplest things that we do can produce the most amazing results. SWOT analysis, Action Planning and remembering to say well done to ourselves. I cant wait to find out how they get on and whether they put these things in to their weekly routines.

There was a great Womens Networking meeting in a church, I went to support a friend who had helped me with LifeWorklife and Hemingway Corp. She had done a fantastic job and had loads of people there. I met someone who helped me with some advice about my fitness training and caught up with some other friends in the process.

Some of my week was having lots of fun with my children playing football - I am so hopeless at football but they really dont care. They were just happy that I had the time to play, and they loved laughing at me missing all the kicks - oh well!

So generally worked my life and work in to a good balance. It could all go to pot tomorrow though as I am running a 20 mile hill race - yikes.

Fantastic

2009-05-26T03:28:00.001-07:00

Isnt it just fantastic the way we judge one another. I have had a lot to do with Judging over the last week. I was privilged enough to be asked to judge a business competition for Young Enterprise South West this week at Bristol Airport. The young people had worked really hard and had some great ideas that I could well see turning in to profits so it was quite difficult to choose; I managed it with my partner from Rolls Royce.

I saw a programme about mothers who leave thier children and got really cross that some sanctimonious mother was judging others who had to work or had other priorities. It made me so cross that this woman was so blinkered in her view of life that she could not see others ideas. My belief is in the power of the individual. One of the mothers had been through a divorce and was seeing her children on a part time basis yet she was still considered to have abandoned then. Lummey!

We had our first multi network meeting about Women’s Enterprise day and our area celebration. One of our goals is to appoint 5 fantastic women role models to bring enterprise to communities who may not get to engage. I cant wait to see who gets picked and I sincerely hope they are human beings who have had to make unpopular choices – those and how we deal with them are what should be celebrated – not one way for all!

Workwise Say - Home working revolution could rescue British business

2009-05-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

A new article was published last night by WorkWise UK -

More people than ever are working from home according to research
by the TUC

Today (Friday, May 15) is National Work from Home Day, when it is expected that five million people will be taking part. And with
organisations discovering in these straitened times the cost and productivity benefits of home working more of us are doing it, according
to TUC research

The number of UK employees working from home (excluding self-employed has increased by almost a third, or 31.8 per cent, over the last decade to 2008. More than 3.5 million people work from home, representing 12.3 per cent or one-in-eight of the population, an increase of 650,000 since 1997.

Regionally, the highest growth in the past decade has been seen in the East Midlands with 48 per cent, followed by the South West with 47.2 per cent, Yorkshire and Humberside with 41.0 percent and the West Midlands with 39 per cent.

The highest proportion of home workers is in the South West with 15.4 per cent, followed by the South East with 14.5 per cent and Eastern England with 14.2 per cent. The lowest is in Scotland with 9.1 per cent, followed by the North East with 10.0 per cent.

"Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, organisers of National Work from Home Day, now in its in fourth year, said: "In a tough
economic climate many businesses are reaping the benefits of employees working from home. Not only can they save through cutting office space overhead costs, but reducing commuting time and stress also helps boost productivity.

"Additionally, should swine flu become a serious pandemic home working could help limit its spread while allowing people to continue working.

"There are also the benefits of reduced congestion and emissions arising from cutting journeys, as well as enabling people to work more flexibly and improve their quality of life."

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, said: "As the recession puts the squeeze on company finances, encouraging staff to work from home is a great way to save money and offer a better work-life balance.

"Working from home can save on office rent, energy and transport costs, making it an attractive solution for employers and their staff during the recession."

The growth of internet enabled smart working practices like home working have allowed most business to cut their office space requirement by a quarter, according to a study by the British Council of Offices.

Home working is one of the smarter working practices being promoted through the Work Wise UK campaign, which is entering its fourth year.
Others include flexible working, such as condensed hours and nine-day fortnights, mobile and remote working. Work Wise partners are led by the TUC, CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, BT and Transport for London. The
campaign aims to encourage half the working population, some 14 million people, to be offered smarter working by 2011.

To assist organisations wanting to adopt smarter working practices, Work Wise UK provides guidance and assistance through its website.

LifeWorklife and Hemingway Corp agree wholeheartedly with this view - its crucial to our success!

National Work Wise Week!!

2009-05-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all

Its Work Wise Week and we have an opportunity to try out smarter working.

The programme will be as follows,

Mobile Office Day (Tuesday, May 12) - the first day will encourage people to work while on the move, instead of travelling to a central office.

Remote Office Day (Wednesday, May 13) - this day will encourage people to use remote offices instead of travelling to a central office. These would include serviced office space, touch down centres or even hot spots such as coffee shops.

Virtual Meeting Day (Thursday, May 14) - this day will encourage people to conduct meetings by audio or video conferencing or go online instead of travelling to meetings.

National Work from Home Day (Friday, May 15) - this will be the fourth time this popular day has been run. It will encourage people to work from home on that day, instead of commuting to their usual place of work.

Smarter Travel Day (Monday, May 18) - the concluding day of the week will encourage people to travel outside peak times. Coming into work an hour early, and then leaving an hour early at the end of the day, or going an hour later, and leaving an hour later. This will reduce the peak rush hour, and make the commuting experience far more bearable for many.

If anyone is doing anything for this I would love to hear from you.

take care
Kiz

Busy Week

2009-05-10T13:00:00.001-07:00

Its been a busy week - I have had a lot of driving to do and meetings to have. It was productive. I added up my expenses at the end of the week and submitted them to myself for authorisation. Big bill, so I checked my work! I was glad not to be a politician in some ways although all mine were kinda boring - I dont have any first class travel high priced lunches so I think mine would stand up to scrutiny

Fantastic publicity for LifeWorklife this week at the BBC. I was asked to join a panel of experts discussing identity cards - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p002z2gv/The_Morning_Show_with_Emma_Britton_07_05_2009/

Enjoy!

Decorating

2009-04-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have been decorating my house with my partner over the last few weeks. The transformation is amazing and it feels great to get behind all those cupboards and have a good clear out. When it came to the office I realised how many invitations, letters about new products and other stuff I have held on to in the vain hope that I may get a chance to read them. Getting that time to 'decorate' gave me the opportunity to rediscover some of those ideas I had had earlier in the year and as a result I contacted a few people and moved some of the projects that I am working on a little further forward.

I have resolved to take one hour off a week to de clutter my desk and re check my emails to make sure I didnt miss anything. How many people do this already? Sometimes when you discover something that helps you often feel like the only one - but I bet everyone does it eh!

Last night Robson Green was on with his 10 most extreme fishing stories. The number one spot was about the Blue Marlin - he related the story of Ernest Hemingway and the Old Man and The Sea - brilliant reading. But I hadnt realised that in this scenario it really meant something to Robson Green as he identified with the relationship with the fish. Looking at it from the point of view of someone who experienced fishing was like looking with a new pair of eyes. Quite refreshing, so many experiences can be enjoyed again from a different view point - that idea could help me with some of my more mundane tasks.

So whats that drivel got to do with helping me do my job - I guess in both instances I have learned something - not anything I can describe particularly well but something I can relate to being better at what I do and something I can use to help me later. And I didnt have to pay to attend a course to do it!

Flexible Working

2009-04-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

What I love about working flexibly is that control element. I have been decorating this week - and at the same time - because I work from home - I have been able to carry on working. Any minute now my friend Helen will turn up to go runnning and as I have been at my desk since about 7ish I am ready for the break. Its a completely different way of looking at work life balance - anyway - here are three of my top tips for getting it right:

Set goals – start by working out what are the things that are important to you in your life and then rank them; things like, your children, your hobbies, your family, your pets, your self, your business or your work and then all the other things that mean something to you. This doesn’t have to be in tablets of stone as things will change week by week so give your self a rough idea. Then look at the logistics, for example – though my children are number one to me they are at school from 9 until 3.30 so that time is available, they go to bed at 8.30 so I have time in the evening. My goal with my children is to be with them as much as possible. You may have other first priorities that are not part of your work life.
Plan your day – because of my goals I know that I want to spend time with my children and the best time to do that is from when they finish school to when they go to bed. So I finish work at 3.30pm and do the last few hours of my day from 8.30pm. This allows me to achieve my – being with the kids goal! I also want to be fit and healthy and have energy and me time – so I start my day early, before the rest of my house is awake I go for a run. I also understand my natural work rhythm – I know I am most creative in the morning and most organised at night so I set my tasks accordingly.
Set expectations – now that you have a plan you know what everyone can expect from you. Tell people when you intend to be available and when you are not free. My children know that I expect them to be in bed at 8.00 lights out 8.30 as I have to go back to work then. Of course we have the odd niggle on that but generally everyone understands. My customers know that I stop work for the day at 3 but if they forget that is also fine I can generally talk to them for a little while and they understand that I am usually involved in some sort of children’s activity and that they will have to email me to follow up the conversation.

I will post some more top tips later but now I better go for my run - to many cakes yesterday!

Selling

2009-03-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Gordon and I began to sell today. Its a hard slog trying to speak to people who may be interested in training as they are inundated with callers. It strikes me that there must be a way for us to differentiate ourselves. We know we have a unique approach and we know we are great at what we do. Its just so hard to find a way of telling people about what we do without sounding like everyone else.

Cold calling can be daunting but I actually enjoy it. It helps me to find out what is interesting to the people I am trying to sell to. To be honest, I don't think I have actually made a sale over the phone but I hope to get better with practice. Most of our business comes through referrals or from answering requests for competitions.

Anyway - its all good - selling as best we can and trying always to be ethical and honest surely we will get there in the end.

New Website Live

2009-03-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Our new website will be live very shortly. We hope you like it, any comments about it are greatfully received.

Leadership at Hays

2009-03-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Hemingway Corporation and Hays Plc launched the Hays International Management Academy this week. “Developing our team to be our business leaders of the future is part of our culture of meritocracy” said Nichola Nair HR Director - Continental Europe, Brazil, Canada & UAE. “We chose Hemingway Corporation to partner us because of their reputation for high standards and their ability blend many types of learning to create a programme that would standardise leadership internationally”. Kirsten Hemingway Arnold from Hemingway Corporation said “It is exciting to work with a company that places a high value on their team and really understands that training has to be effective not just motivational.” The academy consists of an assessment centre, a three day residential course, mentoring from within the company, four webinars, assignments and a two day residential course at the end. Following the programme each attendee will face a final interview panel for the role of a Hays Manager.

Another Award for NWCPH

2009-03-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

Well done North West Central Procurement Hub for being the – ELP Winners 2008 Best Cross Function Project.

New Hemingway Website

2009-03-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

New website under development now.