June 2011
Ross' Journey From An Academy Candidate to KDS Employee
In January of this year, KDS Training undertook an intensive 16 week Youth Academy, which transformed the lives of eight young people who were without a positive destination. Throughout the course, the change in the youths was clear to everyone: they were building their confidence, their maturity was growing and all became much more motivated to succeed in life. Through our dynamic approach, KDS encouraged the young people to explore their characters, which resulted in them recognising and developing skills they didn’t even know they had! One young person who is still on a journey with KDS is 17 year old Ross, who initially lacked direction in life, though it soon became apparent that he had great potential to be unlocked, with the right support and guidance – this is where KDS fitted in...
Ross played the role of the motivator within the Youth Academy, often displaying leadership qualities throughout the tasks. The employability modules were very popular amongst the youths, from which they learned about communication, personal demeanour and professional conduct, for example. During employer visits, Ross often left a strong impression on the employers, showing that he had been taking everything on board. Ross had expressed an interest in coaching, thus KDS arranged for him to undertake work experience with the SFA. However, when KDS offered Ross the chance to spend time with the KDS staff in the Head Offices, we discovered that he thrived on the busyness of the organisation and the need to adapt to change. Ross expressed a real interest in all aspects of the business and by the end of his placement was offering to provide further help!
Throughout the process, KDS itself was growing and developing, and with the expansion of our new KDS Works courses, a role within the Administration team soon became available. Unlike some other organisations, KDS choose to invest in the youth of today wherever possible and encourage their development, rather than immediately recruiting work-ready individuals. We invited Ross back to the organisation for a two-week work trial, during which he excelled. Stevie invested much time into mentoring Ross, and the team were happy to ensure Ross was fully supported during tasks, though we made sure he was being challenged in order to reach his full potential.
Almost one month later, Ross has now accepted a full time position within the organisation. His role, which KDS tailored as appropriate, includes essential administration duties and assisting with the co-ordination of the KDS Works courses, in particular. This tests a diverse range of skills such as meeting tight deadlines, ensuring very high levels of communication both internally and externally - and being very organised is a must when dealing with such large numbers of participants. Ross has only just joined the team though the transformation is huge and he sees this himself,
“I feel I have matured and learned so much from being in the KDS world, like the meaning of professionalism”
The KDS culture ensures that everyone is a valued member of the team and support is available as required. Our staff are skilled in recognising potential in individuals on our courses and matching them to their ideal vocation; Ross’ success so far is a prime example of this, and we look forward to watching him grow and learn as he progresses with KDS.
Posted by Sarahjane Sarkosh on 21 June 2011 in : KDS Training, KDS Youth Training, Personal Enhancement, Training corporate, Training employability
Energy Follows Thoughts
KDS Training is recruiting a new Trainer and getting into this unique culture is not easy!
Today we held an Open Day for some of the people who’s CV’s we had been impressed with. Stevie would fill the morning slot with a 2 hour presentation because let’s face it; if you don’t get Stevie Kidd then you don’t get in – simple!!
The presentation was around Stevie’s own journey to success. The glaringly obvious thing that came through when we were putting the presentation together was that there were so many occasions that Stevie had listened to his gut instinct; like so many of us he had thoughts that came to him in the night, the difference between him and us is that he listened to the thoughts and he acted on them. If he hadn’t the business would not be here because he woke from a dream with the thought of starting his own company, but what if he had gone straight back to sleep?...........
He relayed this message to the candidates and the straight talking no-nonsense approach coupled with a visual journey made a serious impact on the group. Some of the comments following the presentation were:
“I loved the outside the box thinking”
“I was delighted to hear how passionate Stevie was about people”
“If you could bottle and sell his enthusiasm he would be a very rich man!”
“I found Stevie completely inspirational”
“I was extremely inspired by Stevie Kidd’s motivational presentation”
“Stevie grabbed the groups’ attention the minute he started speaking – and never lost it again until he finished – even then, I would have loved to have heard more”
“A powerful presentation “
Posted by Lorraine Hart on 17 June 2011 in : KDS Training
Don’t be afraid of moving forward!
As the second week of the last in the current run of Positive Transitions Academies, in partnership with A4e, draws to a close we took time to reflect on the last two weeks and the changes that had been made! Everyone agreed that this course was not what they had expected Training to be and that after they had lost their first day nerves it had been a great experience. The group recognised the changes in each other and the changes in how they saw their futures since beginning the course. As discussion continued all were surprised that the differences that had been made in just two weeks. From mindset, career avenue, personal appearance, communication style, personal lives, relationships with friends and family and in our approach to tackling those issues we had previously been ignoring!
Having increased levels of job search, enrolled on college and ILA courses, got in touch with agencies regarding volunteering and investigated the different career options that previously people did not think possible it was a very different and more focused group of individuals who left the Eric Liddell Centre today!
When the discussion turned to reasons why individuals had not done these things before the answer was unanimous – “we were afraid of moving forward, but didn’t realise that we were!” An excellent note to end the course with and a point that is relevant to many, many people in the world!
Posted by Kate Sutherland on 03 June 2011 in : KDS Training, Training employability