I was telling my eldest daughter Caity (nearly 11) that we constantly learn from children. On further reflection and continuing our learning process on working and developing our strengths , I realised a very valuable lesson from my youngest daughter, Kerryn (aged 9). 

Kerryn is a petite, girly girl who loves all things pretty, pink, sparkly, fluffy and delicate. For a while now, though, she has been telling  me that she is going to be a drummer when she “gets big”. I haven’t really been taking it all that seriously, (but did use it to persuade her to save her pocket-money ” for drums” instead of simply spending it).

My mom, the very clever lady, decided that she was going to give Kerryn 2 drum lessons for her birthday. So the day of the lesson arrives. Bryan the tutor is initially confused, expecting Caity (cargo pants, big scruffy T-shirt and hair scraped back into a messy ponytail) to be his pupil, not Kerryn. He warns us that the lessons are quite exhausting so perhaps we should arrive early to fetch her.

As it happens we arrived on time, expecting her to have stopped playing a while ago. Not Kerryn!!! She is banging away, going full tilt. Bryan comes out of the sound room barely containing his excitment. Kerryn is a natural. She mastered in the first 20 minutes of her lesson what it normally takes a kid of 12, 3 to 4 lessons to learn. She, it seems, carries a metronome in her head. But the defing moment for me was when Kerryn showed us what she had learned. For the first time in her life, I saw the real Kerryn. She was not somebody’s, daughter, somebody’s sister, a struggling learner, an indifferent sportsman. She was simply yet WHOLEY her own person, being completely who she is, easily and with sheer joy and wonderment.

She knew!!! I didn’t listen.

What have I learned? My children know themselves VERY well. If I want to know who I am I must examine the inner child (in me), and believe that she knows. If I can’t find her I must look backwards to when I was a child and remember when I was in that same blissful state I saw in Kerryn.

PS. Kerryn has drum lesson every Saturday!

I just read Mike Stopforth’s latest blog on how blogsters of the world are approaching crime in South Africa, and internationally.  I’ve been listening, with rising irritation, to radio talk shows chatting about that bloke who has set up a website on South African crime that discourages tourists to come here and is lobbying for the 2010 World cup to be taken away from South Africa.

I’m amazed that any patriotic South African would recommend solutions that will only worsen the lot of the people here - dry up a really well-needed revenue source so that we have even less money available to address the issues of which crime is a symptom.

Mike has connected in to the international response to sites like those and reveals some intriguiging insights!  Do go play: click here

Hi everyone.  I wanted to brag about my husband!!  Clint

did phenominally well at the jock cycle classique race this past saturday. It is one of the toughest cycling races in South Africa. I was always told that it is a difficult race, but i was shocked to see how difficult it really is.  There are some hectic climbs in those Barberton mountains! One of them is a 7km uphill climb that some cars even struggle to chug up. He rode the 150km in an incredible 5 hours 11 min and came a very well deserved 2nd in his starting group.  Just to complete the race is an achievement - to finish it in such fine form is a true testament to Clint’s Character.  Well done to clint & watch out Lance Armstrong!! 

In the beginning was the word: “Blogging”…

Jules, as an early adopter, was as passionate about blogging as she always is about new technology, new people, new ideas or new words. Old is boring, in with the new.
So, at Avo, we blog. We were told in the beginning (when there was just the word) that we would not be forced to blog and that some people are bloggers and others are just boggers. Jules was convinced that I was a blogger and would take to the medium, fish-to-water. Jules had high hopes for me to become a passionate and voluminous blogger. Alas, alack.

I must be such a disappointment to her: I really don’t like blogging. I find it tedious and tiresome. And frightfully onanistic.

But here I am, blogging away, while I could be doing something useful. Who am I to argue with the boss lady?
How does she do it? How does Jules get boggers to blog? She uses underhand scare tactics, she orders me to “blog this” and “blog that”, she sends links to comment sections to go blog on, she competes with other blogsites. She gets competitive; she wants us to be prolific and be cross-blogged across the world.

So, whilst I am blogging so self-reflectively, about blogging (hey, check the post-modern intra-textual circular reference, okes!) I can’t help wondering whether Mike and Jules meant all those things about blogs being about free speech, choice, having a voice, irreverent and the great leveller…hope so, else I’m in kak!

My brief this time was to blog about the pretty photograph of Avo that Peter Velter sent which was taken from his house on the other side of the valley. Peter and I sometimes have cappucino (the best in the world, he says) in his kitchen before I dash across the valley for the weekly Avo staff meeting. (He always has “Nutella” choc spread for me too, my favourite)

Ok, Jules. You happy? I blogging well hope so!

I received this from one of our clients and looking through our blog site. I am absolutely in awe of the work that Avo is able to produce in conjunction with our clients.

This quote captures the essence of Avo…an ability to pull and work together for the good of our clients that stems from a deep founded respect for each other. We are very privileged to have sound, solid relationships that celebrate each person and the contribution they bring to the company and then to the client. Often we don’t even recognise the power within our team, or even celebrate it as an achievement…the power of respect.

“A team effort produces the best results when there is mutual respect among all the team members. The presence of mutual respect instills a sense of unity and equality, which in turn, establishes a solid foundation for motivation and achievement. Whether a team consists of two people or more, teams with mutual respect and equality are the best.”

Avo and SAB have partnered to add a bit of creative sparkle to kids from the Mother of Peace Community and a great group of 9 year olds from the local squatter camp. Once a month, we spend a morning playing together.

In the first workshop, they painted huge trees on paper with their hands. This was done in the chapel and the volunteers spent more time cleaning the floor than supervising the children who were having a fabulous time blending, smooshing and generally ‘experiencing’ the wonder of paint.

The next workshop saw them designing the art work on their own personalised t-shirts to wear whilst being little Picasso’s. This became a sudden necessity when we sent the children home after the first workshop looking a little worse for wear (did I say they were painting trees or themselves? It’s amazing how quickly a clear brief can transmogrify itself into complete chaos!)

The third workshop was a plasticine sculpture workshop. After talking about how animals defend themselves, the children were challenged to invent their own beast with the most protective bits they could imagine. Once again, great fun was had as plasticine strips were twisted together and kebab sticks were used to hold the creations together.

The fourth workshop, held yesterday, was a beading workshop. Everyone became completely absorbed in designing their own key ring, bracelets and necklaces. Bling was in and the finished products were quite dazzling. Even the little two year olds, Princess and Dido, stunned us by carefully feeding one precious bead at a time onto tiger tail wire, with only a little help from the facilitators. 

Special thanks to all the facilitators: Andile Bhengu and Dale September from SAB: your involvement and enthusiasm is deeply appreciated. Renee Koekemoer from Standard Bank, thank you for also helping to design the innovative programme. Jeanette Dace, thanks for also being our logistics boff. Jeanne-Mare Africa, we are so glad that you initiated this art programme. Jean Claude from Mother of Peace, thanks for doing all the liaising, fetching and carrying of the children from the local school.

Riding through the Johannesburg CBD on a double-decker open-topped bus is one of the most exciting ways to experience the CBD. One gets to see the magnificent architectural detail on many of the old buildings, the extent to which the city has become home to people from all over Africa, the Urban Renewal which has taken place and an opportunity to view, close up, the massive paintings on the buildings which takes art out of the galleries and onto the streets.

Climbing off the bus, one gets to experience the fascinating segments of this city. Interested in Culture? We’ll take you down. The shops in this historic street are stocked with the most incredible things, mainly aimed at migrant workers who head home to Zimbabwe or rural areas in South Africa. Here you can buy anything from a coal iron, to castrating tools to a lobola jas (a long coat worn when marriage negotiations are taking place)!

One can also meet the extraordinary Peter Naidoo and have him explain the role of African Muthi whilst standing in his shop full of animal skins, herbs and bark. Peter’s Museum of Man and Science is one of the most significant tourist attractions in Jo’burg.

Interested in Urban Renewal? One can walk through the funky mosaic laden pavements of the garment district. This is a great way to meet and talk to the local seamstresses who produce the beautiful choir gowns and uniforms for the various burial societies. Interested in Struggle History? We’ll take you to and to the Hamidia mosque where Gandhi and various businessmen burned their registration papers in protest of racist legislation in 1907.

End your experience by watching the sun set over the city from the top of the Carlton centre, one of the tallest buildings in Africa. Avo Vision has taken Standard Bank and SAB on this unique hop. Each hop is tailor made to meet the specific requirements of the group.

Without doubt Jo’burg is one of the most under-rated spaces in South Africa. The flight to the North saw the near collapse of the city that was the economic heart-beat of South Africa. It soon developed a reputation of being dirty and dangerous.

But whilst a lot of that has started to change our attitudes and perceptions have not. So, if you want to get your team to begin to understand what makes our CBD tick, or you want to open their eyes to diversity, give us a call, we would love to facilitate that experience.

In a highly innovative ‘Apprentice Challenge’ held during the SAB MDP 2005, Sales Academy July and Sept 2005, a grand total of R150,000 was raised and donated to the Mother of Peace Community. 

Delegates were challenged, in syndicates, to create objects out of beads that they could sell. They had to design and execute a marketing plan and strategy that would ensure that their syndicate made the most money possible from their creations. Working under pressure, syndicates needed to apply the theoretical learning taught during the programmes. Success depended on their ability to be innovative in design and approach to the task as well as to use their networking skills. The winners were those who created a leadership style able to focus the team in a highly competitive entrepreneurial challenge. 

The money raised was donated to the Mother of Peace Community in Northriding. This is a lovingly run and carefully supervised home for a group of children ranging from about 9 months to 17 years old. Homes such as these, are under increasing pressure to accept abandoned and abused children. The Mother of Peace Community is ready to build a larger home. They already have two major communities in Zimbabwe and Natal. 

A huge thank you to all the SAB delegates, and the programme hosts, Samantha Rockey, Ashley Lovell from SAB and Jonathan Foster-Pedley from UCT GSB who raised this money. A special thank you to Cheryl Chelin for parking the donations on SAP. Here are the bricks you gave out of a handful of beads. Thank you for using your extraordinary vision and entrepreneurial skill to make a difference! Watch this site for news of building progress! 

It Happened!  We got our 30 seconds of fame!

What amazed us is how much impact those 30 seconds had on our Avo community.  It seems that everyone watches Carte Blanche! Only ELaine and I missed it, due to me being in the bush that weekend, and her not having MNet…Our telephones haven’t stopped ringing since Sunday night, which is just fabulous for us!

Thanks to Graeme Codrington and the Carte Blanche team for making the connections that gave us that stunning exposure opportunity!

For a transcript of the show, on the TomorrowToday.biz’s website, click here.

Another article was written by Jules (sheesh, I can’t keep up!) for the People Dynamics magazine on Managing to Strengths.

The article covers the idea that often people who are really good at their jobs are promoted to managerial positions but recieve no training to cope with the position.

To quote some of the article:

“In all the leadership noise, most companies have been guilty of neglecting their people who are really great managers. The skill of management has been under-rated and ignored to the point where, it seems, there are not a lot of people out there who know how to do it well.”

“Managers are often promoted into their roles because if functional excellence: the top salesman becomes sales manager; the cleverest engineer gets to run the department. But what’s interesting for me is that these poor people often have no idea how to take their game to the next level, and spend years wallowing in a sinkhole of management incompetence; and the company loses not only their own input (in sales or brainpower), but also many talented and frustrated employees along the way.”

“Managing people well is all about figuring out their strengths and learning how to play to them as individuals, rather than putting people into neat little boxes and treating everyone the same. Managers, who are able to figure out their own strengths and those of their teams, need reflection time and some personal insight and soul searching. There can be no better sustainable solution than focusing on true management capability for continued success.”

Something we can all learn I think. Thanks again Jules!