I challenge you to find a South African who has been completely untouched by the crime and poverty in South Africa. I can’t think of anyone. Our country is so alive with possibility and hope, but sometimes the darkness of the realities of living here overwhelm even the most committed optimists.

We have all felt the paranoid collective conciousness that swells whenever we have a couple of weeks of horrendous news reports that batter our sense of safety about living here. Every now and then, some company or organisation takes it upon themselves to build ‘anti crime’ campaigns, marches or petitions, and huge amounts of creative energy and, may I say, budgets, go into marketing the ‘anti-crime’ message. I think this is a way for people to take back some of the powerlessness they feel in the face of the darkness: marching or campaigning seems to help people feel they are ‘doing something’.

I’d like to suggest that there is a different, more constructive way to take back the power. In my new talk, the Seeds of South Africa, I make the case for building the people of this country. Many of us who have the means, the time, or the skills, are already doing small things to help the immediate people in our own communities: paying for our domestic worker’s childrens school fees, or helping out at our local churches or community support programes, or providing employment for other South Africans. This talk inspires South Africans about what is possible for individuals to do to make this country a better place.

When each of us is buiding a little piece of South Africa, we take back our power and our pride: I think it is one of the most important ways of holding back the darkness. By knowing your life has meaning and purpose because of the value you are creating for other human beings!

Check out Graeme’s site http://www.tmtd.biz/2007/02/07/crime-where-facts-politics-and-emotions-clash/ for some fascinating insights into crime stats and roots

Avo is having another ‘growing up’ moment.

We’re going to have a new Training blog page up soon, where our trainers will blog about their sessions, programmes and workshops that they’ve been running.

So once you’ve had you’re training, you can pop onto the site and see if you’re famous!

So come back to visit us and see if you’re a star soon!

We have a fab article in the Star Workplace today, written by Theo Garrun from an interview with Jules, about helping ‘newbies’ fit in at work.

Jules talks about how a lot of expense and effort go into recruiting a new employee and that there are expectations from both sides, which can very easily cause wobbles in the first few months.

Different working environments that what they might have been used to before, can lead people to ask themselves if they’re doing the right thing or whether they’ll be able to cope.

So, it’s up to you, as a manager, to make an emotional connection up front.

Jules talks about how she spends time with new staff, every day. It might be time consuming and the transition from person to person varies, but is also vital if you want to keep your new employee.

Time could be spent talking about little things, like where everything is kept and how things work, but it helps ‘newbies’ to find their way.

New people also bring fresh eyes and outside experience. Encouraging them to speak up about what they see means that you can take on some great new ideas, which is something that has worked for Avo.

Jules ends off by saying that the modern workplace has become a social community and that everyone has to work on retention.

Vanessa is also quoted in the article, saying that thanks to the process of spending time with Jules when she first arrived, she feels at home with Avo.

Fab article ladies, love it!

Well here I sit finally getting to blogging after many nice kicks in the butt from Jules! What is coming to mind is, It has been 8 months since my last blog and these are my sins! But then I thought, first let me google the word Canuck. This is a word that is commonly used in Canada when we are affectionately referring to ourselves, or our neighbours to the south are nicely poking fun at us. I have used it for years and it occurred to me that I really had never thought about where the word came from or what it actually means. Anyways, once I found this google definition of the word ‘Canuck’ I thought I just had to share it with you. I was amazed at how much fun this guy is having looking up the meaning of words and what a great sense of humour he has. So here is what I found:

Dear Word Detective: A little while ago a friend and I were talking about hockey and started to speculate about the origins of the word “Canuck.” Well, maybe “speculate” is the wrong word, since the “speculative” conversation went something like, “I dunno” (shrugs shoulders). Anyway, since then I have been trying to figure it out and the closest explanation I can find is that it may have originated from the word “Canadian.” Is this so? — M.K. Shaeffer, Ohio.

You and your friend shouldn’t sell yourselves short. If you were to wander into my study on an average day and ask me about the origin of “canuck,” I, too, would almost certainly shrug my shoulders and grunt, “I dunno.” Then I would ask you how you got past the 19 locks on my door. Then, being a New Yorker, I would mug you.

Just kidding. I haven’t mugged anyone in years. Besides, the whole scenario wouldn’t work because, while you have been fantasizing about breaking into my apartment, I have been looking up “Canuck” and now know the answer. I actually know several answers, so even if I did mug you, you’d be getting your money’s worth. The simplest and most popular theory seems to be the one you came up with, that “Canuck” is simply a shortened form of “Canadian”.

However, according to “Unkind Words,” a fascinating book on ethnic labeling by Irving Lewis Allen, “Canuck” isn’t really that simple. First of all, it seems that French-speaking Canadians living in or near the northeastern U.S. consider “Canuck” to be an offensive ethnic slur. But in the rest of Canada, “Canuck” is a label of national pride, as evidenced by the name of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team. Go figure.

As to the origin of “Canuck,” Allen reports that it may have arisen as a blending of “Canadian” and the Inuit (Eskimo) word “inuk,” meaning “man.” There’s also the possibility that it came from Hawaiian, brought over by laborers imported to colonial Canada, but that seems a bit of a stretch to me. So there you have it, and good luck getting out past the cats. The big orange one mugged me last week.

So there you have it, an interesting piece of something from the other side of the world from this very homesick Canuck.

P.S. In another 8 months I will come back on and blog what I was going to originally blog about!

Those of you who know Avo, know that we are blessed to be surrounded by some very special people who work with us to create unique interventions for our Clients. In our ‘Connecting Conversations’ Diversity Programme, Shanthee Manjoo has shared her story with senior teams at both Nedbank and Standard Bank. We are absolutely thrilled that her memoir, “Classrooms in the Shade” is about to be published! We wanted to share some extracts with you and give you a chance to engage with her by responding on our blog site!

Meet Shanthee!

Hello There!
I clearly recall my dear father-about whom my story begins in ‘Classrooms in the Shade’ - bright as the morning star, making his way to our garden to sing his praises to God at dawn. He was the greatest influence in my life!

Chapter 1

Pietermaritzburg 1932

Jai! Jai! Jai! Hanuman gosaai
Kripa karo gurudev kinhaai…

His voice rose magnificently from the grapevine at the corner of the garden. Raising his right foot in the posture of Hanuman, he stood holding aloft a lota, the brass vessel from which water fell in a silvery arc. Water, Nourisher of man, Nourisher of the earth, falling to the ground in a gentle embrace. He was singing the Chalisa, a tribute to Hanuman, revered creature of God.

My father’s voice rose and reached the house in the east where Moulvi Aniff, the Muslim priest, awakening on time, was responding to the muezzin’s azan - the call to prayer from the minaret of the mosque. Allah ho Akbar! (God is great)

Beads of water gleamed on his shoulders, water from the cold shower that began his day. There was a hush in the Maritzburg air. The sparrows, hidden in their leafy perches, had not taken flight. His approach and splendid voice did not startle them, for he began his song of praise long before their own joyous clamour heralded the dawn.

As the economy changes, the nature of who (and what) sales people need to be is changing.

Customers are now demanding more from a company’s sales team and the good old ‘product peddlers’ are no longer welcome.

Besides mastering sales skills and product knowledge, sales people have to become experts on relationship building and gaining insight into their clients’ unique needs.

The Death of the Salesman is an entertaining and enlightening talk which covers a few of the challenges sales people might be faced with, such as:

Surviving the new Economy

Reinventing the sales role

Tuning into customers: Managing the relationship

Effective communication skills

If you’d like to find out more about this talk, please contact Gill.

Participlan is a ‘facilitation aid’ tool that helps you make more of your meetings. It can be used to keep these meetings focused and constructive, while reaching desired objectives and outcomes.

It’s design involves the whole group and is creative and interactive.

Using the (very funky) stationery supplied in the toolkit, the facilitator presents important questions to the group which they can then answer anonymously. This creates open, honest feedback and free flowing thought.

At the end of the session, photographs are taken of all the sheets from which the information can be captured and a report is generated.

Participlan is a great visual mapping tool that allows people to share ideas and can be used for various forms of meetings.

If you would like to find out more about Participlan please contact Gill.

Wow! So the HRDA Exhibition is officially over… .

The feedback has been really positive which is great considering it was Avo’s first-ever exhibition! People loved the stand (and the guacamole) and our Avo chicks definitely know how to work those boa’s!

People seemed intrigued by the ‘christmas tree’ of Avos (a.k.a our display of avo’s and lemons hiding behind Hanli in the photo…) and our Sales guys and girls wearing boa’s and aprons.

Some stopped to ask what we do (”Um, no, we’re not in the food industry, but have some yummy guacamole!”) and some stopped by to say that they’d heard about us or had been on training with us, which is always fantastic to hear!

Although, if you have a peep at the photo, you can understand why - cheeky girls!

So thanks everyone for your support and for the positivity!

It’s hard to believe that we’re finally at the Human Resources Developement Africa Exhibition!

A lot of planning went into it and it seemed to be one of those things that are ‘on the horizon’… . But today was our first day and there are still two to go.

We just happen to be handing out some very, very tasty gaucamole and rice crackers (although that’s definitely not the main reason you’d want to visit us, right?…) and are dressed in gorgeous aprons and boa’s (just have a look at these two lovely Avos!).

I have to say, you’ll be missing out if you don’t pop in to say Hi.

Hope we’ll see you there!

Wow, we just had our Friday morning Kudos and Cock up session, very briefly it is the one time the whole team gets together and reviews the week that’s been. So we bring our mistakes to the table and openly talk about them, so that the entire team gets the benefit of the learning. So rather than hide our ‘oopses’ we see it as a learning opportunity. At the same time everybody has to bring one thing to the table that they feel they have excelled at. No-one dares to come without a Kudos.

This morning it was different though, we have a few new Avos on board and they are injecting a whole new flavour into the Avo space. They are dynamic, motivated, deeply passionate and are hell bent on lifting the Avo game a thousand fold. If you know Avo at all, you know that (if I say so myself) we are pretty awesome. We have the most amazingly talented people around the table who live to excel and deliver excellence to our clients and to each other.

Now of course with this new energy flow, the sky is the limit. This blog for me is simply about saying to the team, “you guys are phenomenal in every way”. I know that together we will produce the most amazing work our clients have ever seen. I am looking forward to the next few months team!

To my darling partner who has managed to bring all these wonderful people into our space…you are awesome!

Well done!