I pop in to see Craig in the lofty environs of the British High Commission, Barbados.  I don’t normally go into the office but as I was downtown anyway, it is good to grab a coffee and have a quick 15 mins natter with the husband.

As I’m getting ready to leave, the Corporate Services Manager, Caroline, arrives for her scheduled meeting with Craig.  She’s a kindred spirit, a fellow cancer adventurer and a hardworking Mum, it’s lovely to see her.

She mentions that their Learning & Development week is coming up; last year I developed and ran a 3 hour workshop on sub-conscious bias and intercultural awareness called “Your Map of the World” where I used a variety of information and NLP techniques to explain individual perspectives and where these get formed and why we all have bias.

She asks if I can do a shorter session – a top up- as a reminder session for the Monday.  Of course I say yes, it’s always good to get practice with a true multi cultural audience and I feel as if I learn as much from these sessions as the participants do.  I plan to focus on language, expression and gestures alongside attitude to time and relationships.  As I did last years session gratis, the expectation is set that I will do similar this year.  As these are courses and materials I will create and hopefully sell elsewhere, its good to develop them and test them out with a lively audience happy to give feedback.

She then asks if I can do a 3 hour, more fun session on Friday and I start riffing about all the possible areas we could explore.  Bearing in mind Corporate BS forms part of my back catalogue, I’m fairly good at throwing out ideas to see if any stick.  My brain hasn’t yet caught up with my tongue and I’ve not thought about the consequences of any potential uptake to the flow of ideas that come into my head and straight out of my mouth.

Cut a long story short I’m now running an interactive session called Pride and belonging.  Next Friday,  16 November at 0900.     Currently I plan to cover  trust;  consistency;  credibility and managers versus peer groups;  storytelling and influence.  On Sunday when the errant husband was out being irresponsible, I drafted the following blurb for the potential participants:

This fun, interactive session is your opportunity to share the stories and events which keep you involved in your work at the British High Commission (BHC). Participants will find out more about their colleagues and friends, we’ll create a timeline of those situations which have shaped the BHC and those moments which keep you wanting to work here. We’ll build a mood board by reflecting on those elements which change our attitudes towards work and we’ll explore the factors which influence whether we have a good day or a bad day at work. Glitter and glue maybe involved for those who wish to get creative. Others may be content with coloured pens and sticky notes.  The aim is for you to leave this session having some stories to share about the work of the BHC across the region and to know why you want to work here. 

As I sit here I am drawing a blank of where to start.    I need fun exercises, materials and content.  Has anyone run anything similar before or been to an event which may have covered off these topics?

Generally I’m good when my back is to the wall but it’s always better to ask for ideas and input from others to help make the experience  as good as possible, and I’m certain someone out there has some fabulous stuff to share.

If you do, can you please drop me a line at Laura @ ilku-global.com and I promise to share the course write-up and materials with you afterwards.

Thanks in advance lovely people….

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