Biznetwork was featured in an article in The Star Workplace yesterday.

The article explains what Biznetwork is about. To quote Shaun Edmeston, CEO of the company, from the article “The aim of Biznetwork is to assist small enterprises to gear for growth and to develop into medium and even large enterprises.”

Jules was featured in the article in which she talks about the challenges of understanding the strengths of your Sales team and playing to those strengths.

And… FYI, Jules winning the Boss of the Year award was written up in the Natal Witness Job guide as well.

Oooh, aren’t we ever so popular!

“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that is the essence of inhumanity.” The Devil’s Disciple. George Bernard Shaw, 1901.
I helped facilitate a post-diversity sensitisation experience for an Avo client at the Apartheids Museum today. It was harrowing.

Firstly the exhibition was like our very own South African holocaust commemoration, bringing up memories and emotions I hadn’t felt or thought about for years. The helplessness, the useless guilt, the frustration, the anger and the pain of all that suffering, all that loss, so many lives and opportunities wasted. I always get the feeling that I should have joined the struggle, should have done more than rage helplessly at the stupid white boys in my school who beat up black people in the streets after dark for fun.

It was difficult to hear the stories of the people in the group, to sympathise with people who “didn’t know”, to hear the defensive arguments, the xenophobic statements, the flippancy and the nervous humour and to remain objective. It was difficult to facilitate a space in which ALL voices could be heard, while knowing full well that the pain of the people without a voice was still not over.

Those who had suffered, were still silenced. They were still not allowed to say “we were killed and tortured, humiliated, degraded and negated and you did nothing to help us” Their sobbing is still silenced by white self-righteousness and ignorance.

I cried when I left that place. As I walked through the gardens of the museum I felt as if I was channeling all the unspoken anguish of our land. How can we begin to make people feel empathy; to hear and see and feel these broken things if they refuse to acknowledge that they exist? How can the healing begin, if their own wounds are not even acknowledged?

Even ‘though the experience was upsetting, I still believe it was a valuable learning opportunity for me and everyone else concerned. People were given a space in which to tell their stories. It is important for all of us to remember when working in the vulnerable space of relationships and communication, that a story is a person’s truth. It is the reality about who they are and how they experience the world.

My world may look and feel different to me, but it is not more valid or real. We need to tell more stories and listen to more stories. As Tracy said, telling stories is like surgery for the soul.

It is one of the most fundamental human needs: To be known. To be seen. To be heard.

Avo had an article on having your own coach in the People Dynamics in September, written by Jules.

The article was around how coaching can benefit your team, and how, through our own learnings, it’s become apparent that at least a couple of months is needed in order for results to show and that investing in front line staff proves to be very effective.

Jules also wrote another article for The Skills Portal newsletter on staff retention, or to be more correct, how to keep your ‘bright young’ generation x-ers!. 

Avo was one of the five nominees for the Fidentia “Top Gender Empowered” Company of the Year Award and some of us were lucky enough to attend the ceremony last week.

The venue was beautifully laid out and very ’swanky’ and being driven around in the little golf carts from was uber-cool (although I do have to admit that it looks far more glamourous than it feels - trying not to fall off!).

In the end the award went to Matlejone Staffing Services so congratulations to them and lets hold thumbs for next year Avo’s. (And we’ll try to behave ourselves next time, promise…)

I’ve been working at Avocado Vision for almost two years now and it’s such a nice space.

This past January my husband Eric had an acident, someone drove into his car. I was so stressed about it but the Avos were so kind, giving me advice and helping me through it. They helped me out of a stressful situation I’d been struggling with.

I’ve learnt so many new skills here. At the moment I do training support, and I manage the budgets and purchasing for the food and stationery.

I’m so proud of the work that I’m doing and now I’ve just received a Learnership too, I’m so excited!  My dreams are coming true! One of my strengths is ‘Learner’ so I can’t wait to get started and open up a whole new world for myself!

I’m lucky to work in a space like Avo.

Here’s some lovely feedback from one of our delighted clients:

“On Monday I will be presenting an important pitch to another corporate exco re my Dynamic Voice Programme, this time particularly for Call Centres. While preparing I spontaneously hunted out a big white envelope from Avo Vision that had been delivered a little while back with info and footage from the March On the Spot Course I attended. I am mortified to tell you, that in the enormity of my year with career and renovating and establishing my beautiful new voice studio (almost complete), (and some real squeamishness at watching myself), I had never got round to opening the envelope and checking it out…..and therefore I only discovered today the most wonderfully packaged, caringly crafted and utterly affirming and useful feedback from Tracy written and live on the CD. I never thanked you for it! I do apologise and thank you now, with great contrition and lots of gratitude!

“I learnt an enormous amount from your course! It was a real privilege to attend and I am not sure you realise how much it helped me find the confidence to really shape my message and sell myself. It is proving to be a constant reference point for me and I now use PowerPoint!”

Juliet Jenner

Avo received some great feedback from the training they did with Girls & Boys town on the 7th November, here’s what they had to say:

Dear Elaine

A very BIG THANK YOU for the marvellous workshop that we had with Tracy yesterday. We were all looking forward to this “Sussing Personalities Workshop” but were still surprised by the amazing content and the professional and entertaining presentation. On top of it all, it has given us such an insight of our own and other personalities! I can assure you it has made a major impact on many of us. The overview that was written at the end of our individual analysis was so spot on that it was actually scary!!! Things about myself I thought nobody else knows about, were spelt out by a complete stranger in such a way that I want to look over my shoulder to see who is watching me!!??

I am also aware of the fact that this is a very expensive workshop that you have done for us at NO Cost. We really appreciate your investment in our Organisation in this way. May you be blessed in all areas for the difference you make in hundreds and even thousands of lives in the running of your business. Please convey my thanks to Jules and all the other team members. (We did miss you here yesterday!!!)

With much appreciation

Elrina

PS Thanks for our beautiful Bandanas that we were allowed to keep!

Elrina van Schaardenburgh; Regional Development Officer for Girls & Boys Town SA

Lotto has finally arrived! After months of planning, schmoozing, frenetic activity and frustrating delays, we find ourselves going full steam ahead.

We have been blessed to find ourselves with a team of tactical people who are as eager to get to work as we are to put them to work. The past week or so has been somewhat hectic with travelling around the country to train, and getting back to the office today I found 47 emails sitting in my inbox, so sorry to all of you folk who sent me mails for not responding.

Andre and I were in Cape Town on Friday 26th October to train the tacticals, and on finishing the training session at about 3pm, were invited to “have a drink on the yacht” by our coordinator Gary Franklin!!!!!!!!!! It was an awesome experience, especially for me. Gary got us out of the bay (I wasn’t quite sure about this sailing thing at this stage, but was too chicken to say anything. I get car sick if I am a passenger, so I dreaded what a rolling sea would do to me). However, Gary promptly vacated his position at the wheel and invited me to try it. Any thought of puking over the side immediately dissappeared! For the next hour and a half Captain Linda played with the yacht while the the motley crew, made up of Andre, his daughter Robyn, Luke - Robyn’s “significant other ” - and Gary settled back with Savannah’s and a smile!

To all the folk at Avo - we will try not to invade your space too much, and we thank you for sharing it with us.

God bless.

Hmmmmm, Where to start?! Well you know what they say about the stars aligning and things just working out the way they are supposed to and that is how I met Jules. We just happened to be at the same supplier meeting of a mutual client and immediately hit it off. We also had a little help from a friend, Christine Ayiotis. Thanks a bunch Christine, I owe you big time! Hanli was also at that meeting. I walked away with an amazing impression, and thought; “These are definitely chics that I would like to spend more time with!”. As I began to meet more and more Avos I became more and more convinced that this is the place where I am meant to be.

I arrived in South Africa from Toronto, Canada about three years ago. I was full of k@#*k’ (can I say that on-line?) and was extremely excited about the adventure that lay before me. Well adventure was an understatement!. It has been an amazing mix of highs and lows and personal tests. I must admit, there were many times when I wondered, “What the heck am I still doing here??!*?!”. All that being said, it has been an incredible journey and, as with many things, its takes a little time and being in the right space to fully appreciate the experience. I am happy to say that I have found that right space, and I will be sticking around a little while longer.

Now on to this “Sales thing”, which is what I do at Avo. I get an absolute kick out of meeting people and getting to know what makes them and their organizations tick (or not tick?). Over the past 12 years I have been involved in pretty much every aspect of training and development, developing, delivering, selling the stuff and managing the people who sell the stuff. I think the coolest thing about doing what we do is how much we all learn off of each other each and everyday. Sometimes I feel like saying; “Ok, enough already, there is no more space at the inn!”

Well, I think that’s enough from me. As you can probably tell I am sooooooo happy to be here and looking forward to being a part of the magic that Avo weaves.

People don’t know me as a particulary religious person.  You all know I feel like I make my own way in the world, and need to take responsibility for the choices I make.

But you’ll also know I have quite an interesting way of walking through my life.  I simply notice who crosses my path, and when. Every time I have needed someone new in my life - a mentor, a business partner, clever people, journey companions, good advice… they always appear within moments of me needing them.  And I mark the moment with a ‘noticing’, and a little thank-you to the universe.

Allon Raiz, and the conversation we had yesterday afternoon, was one such moment.  Only this time, I’m not sure why yet.  I just knew the conversation was significant.  He’s a fabulously clever boy who helps businesses fly.  SUCH a stunning business model which people all over the world (including Mali, I believe), are keen to know.  Maybe he will be one of the clever people that will help me make ‘Footprint’ fly.

He’s not only being clever, but also sharing that cleverness in the world. I love that spirit of abundance.  I must confess, that I was drinking up the experience of even having a conversation with him, with a sense that I was in a priveleged space to be there.

Thank you, Allon.  Here’s to more of that!