April 2010

Daily Blog in the world of our new KDS Trainer - Day Five

Today has been a very emotional day, but a day of revelations! Several clients opened up much more so than before, and am glad that they felt safe enough to do this. They shared personal and at times traumatic stories, but also the good stories, the successes in their lives. I shared who my role models and the ways in which I myself have stepped out of my comfort zone in the past. After doing my own life time-line I realise that there have been more good times than bad times in my life, and that I need to get my success symbols out the drawer and back out on my mantle piece! Its been a hard but thought-provoking day, and although I am feeling drained it has made me reassess the progress I have made towards the goals I wrote down not too long ago, and reignited my motivation to push ahead and get things that aren’t moving fast enough for my liking to hurry up!!! Its all about strategy!!

Posted by Rav Rai on 30 April 2010 in : KDS Training, KDS Youth Training, Personal Enhancement, Training corporate, Training employability

Stevie visits Academy 22

Posted by Kate Sutherland on 30 April 2010 in : KDS Training, Personal Enhancement, Training employability

Daily Blog in the world of our new KDS Trainer - Day Four

I am excited today as today is the day that Stevie comes to do a session with Academy 22, and as I am on this new journey alongside the clients, I think I will definitely take a lot away from this session. We took podcasts of their feelings before Stevie came in and we took again when he left. When Stevie arrived he talked about his journey and how the academy’s started, and he also talked about some of the techniques he uses himself...some of these I have heard of and some of them I will learn more about. The main point I took away from this session was to have one attitude, everyday, all the time. Coming from a sales background I have learned the importance of ensuring there is a smile on your face and becoming the happy service assistant that the customers expect, however One Attitude is about having this the minute you wake up, until you fall asleep, not just at work! This is something that a lot of companies preach about, however it does not always filter down to the team on the floor... I have not had a sense of this in KDS! Everyone is so happy to work here and we come in early, leave late, and ENJOY doing this! Since starting my family and friends have noticed a big change in me...more positive, more assertive, and more pro-active. My husband at first was sceptical but caught him reading my Power of Language notes yesterday! Its infectious! Tomorrow Life Coaching – one of my goals so know I will take loads away from this session!

Posted by Unknown on 30 April 2010 in : KDS Training, KDS Youth Training, Personal Enhancement, Training corporate, Training employability

Breakfast at KDS

This morning Stevie Kidd took time out of his busy schedule to invest in a breakfast meeting with part of his training team. We were invited last night out of the blue. We discussed the future of the group, where we saw the training team in 5 months time, areas that we would improve and change, listening to our ideas, and reflecting upon how far the team has come from academy 1 to academy 22. We are now more focussed, organised and the structure is in place to allow the format to grow as the company grows. Stevie talked about how he sees the training team like a football team underscoring the necessity to communicate daily to understand each other’s roles and each other’s key positions within the team. He challenged us to be vocal to bring ideas to the table, and help communicate his values to new members of the team, more increasingly as the team grows and develops.

We felt that being offsite and having the meeting round the breakfast table in a different location immediately put us in a different state of mind, which allowed us to be more relaxed, more forthcoming and felt less in a planning and structured meeting, more a creative state.

What is amazing about working as part of KDS training is that the managing director will take time to speak to his employees not simply through the operational structure but will take time individually to talk about his vision, our feelings and motivate us to keep doing the good job we are doing.  Stevie commented that if leaders of business in other areas took time with their people at all levels of their organisation then they would move forward as more of a team than trying to cascade a vision from the top down.

This type of opportunity to engage with Stevie Kidd comes naturally to us and it is easy to forget how different most other organisations are who don’t listen to their staff, who don’t focus on each individual and whose leaders don’t take time in this way. This is unique, it is a standard of excellence.

Thank you Stevie.

Posted by Michelle Lockard on 30 April 2010 in : KDS Training, KDS Youth Training, Personal Enhancement, Training corporate, Training employability

Daily Blog in the world of our new KDS Trainer - Day Three

Today was all about interview skills and mental capacity...taking on board what Stevie said Kate and I discussed me taking part of the session. I felt confident while taking this session and felt this confidence rising while I was up there. It felt good to take more control and ownership of the group for a while and it has definitely made me more eager to start delivering more often, and by doing this with Kate and Ali around this will allow for feedback and my own development...can’t wait for my next session!

Posted by Rav Rai on 29 April 2010 in : KDS Training, KDS Youth Training, Personal Enhancement, Training corporate, Training employability