A DIFFERENT DYNAMIC
Add a change of pace and a different dynamic to your residential programme! Book two days at High Trenhouse and you can choose from a range of exciting team challenges or activites from "sheep & shepherds" to guided walks or kite flying with qualified instructors - FREE of charge within the offer period. See the offers page for full details.

NEW CLIENT TESTIMONIAL: It is very easy to see why High Trenhouse truly is a 'Different Kind of Venue' and has such a great level of popularity amongst businesses. During December 2009, the National Skills Academy Process Industries held a two-day team-building event at High Trenhouse set in the heart of the magnificent Yorkshire Dales National Park. The relaxed environment, away from everyday interruptions was invaluable to us and we came away feeling that we had achieved a truly memorable team building event and more importantly for us, achieved our objective of improving communication between colleagues. Throw in some healthy competition, a picturesque setting, excellent food and great outdoor activities and you have a recipe for a highly successful team-building event. High Trenhouse certainly delivered on all of these areas and we look forward to hosting more events with them in the future.

EXPERIENCE THE DIFFERENCE!
What makes a good venue depends on your purpose. To impress clients or to reward people, a luxury hotel in an exotic location may be ideal. For technical training, light and well-equipped workspace will be what matters most. However, when you want a leadership team to re-think your organisation's future, you need something different and special. To see how a dedicated venue for leadership team development can really make a difference read our latest article.

A LIFE OF LEISURE!
In addition to our already popular serviced weekend packages, we are now making Bennett's available on a self-catering basis during weekends and holidays. Enjoy a relaxing break in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales from the ideal location of High Trenhouse. For full details visit the revised leisure page on the website.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"I love the friendly, skilled team who looked after us; prepared great food and were accommodating and flexible about everything. Made learning effortless through their diligence" Head of Training, Pets at Home

WAVING THE CRISIS AWAY?
When travelling on Britain's crowded motorways, it is not uncommon to experience the phenomenon of traffic grinding to a halt, without any apparent cause for delay. It is a wave phenomenon, whereby a minor disturbance of flow can travel back through the stream of traffic and cause oscillations, so traffic repeatedly comes to a standstill long after the original cause is gone.

The financial crisis has a similar wave effect. When crisis strikes, prudent organisations postpone non-essential expenditure. That has a knock-on effect upstream to their suppliers and to the suppliers' suppliers and so on. Business comes to a standstill. As with the motorway experience, oscillation may occur and it takes a while for optimal flow to re-establish itself.

How rapidly we arrive at more stable conditions depends to some extent on whether we remain strong and upbeat. To ride the waves, rather than expecting to 'get back to business as usual', leaders need an appetite for new initiative and strategy innovation. Leadership teams need to re-establish their purpose and refresh their visions of success to fit emergent circumstances.

In our own business the delay in the system appears to be unblocking itself. New and existing clients increasingly appreciate CMC's experience in such matters. We expect a busy year.

WHAT DISTINGUISHES HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS?

• Team members are crystal clear about their common purpose
• They generate shared vision and strategies for success
• They willingly take responsibility for making things happen
• They are in touch and in tune, playing to each other's strengths and weaknesses
• They know and respect one another
• They manage risks and learn from results

STRATEGIC VISUAL THINKING
~ developing thoughts into action
LVT Practitioner Peter Cruikshanks of Outside In Management, together with his associate Nick Hill, is running an innovative half-day open workshop aimed at introducing LVT and NLP to business leaders and owners as a powerful combination for unlocking potential and performance in SME's - scheduled for 6 May 2010 in Leeds - book through the training/events section of the LVT shop and watch out for more details on the blog.

 
LVT IN PLTS AND ITT AT ST WILFRID'S
Kirsty Coomber, Assistant Head and Director of Training School at St Wilfrid's Blackburn, took the initiative of introducing LVT to St Wilfrid's staff and a group of staff from two other schools in the area, as a means of getting students more active in their learning. A half day's training delivered by LVT Practitioner Steve Padget focused on practical lesson examples using LVT and gave teachers from each of the schools the opportunity to share ideas about how they could use the tools within their own subject areas.

The feedback from the event was very positive. The staff thought they were excellent tools which encouraged students to think independently and facilitated the skills they are trying to foster through the new curriculum (Personal Learning Thinking Skills). The professional mentor working with ITT also used LVT within the induction training to identify the school's expectations of what trainees should deliver within a good lesson. The ITT were then challenged to use the tools at least once during their placement to facilitate group work, promote independent thinking and evidence the learning within the lessons taught. We look forward to sharing some practical lesson examples from St Wilfrid's and other participating schools via the LVT knowledgebase in due course.

LVT EVENTS
The next Best Practice event for Practitioners is scheduled for Thursday 8 July. The next accredited training course, Better Thinking for Better Results, is scheduled for Friday 9 July 2010 Book on an event, or get in touch if you want in-company training or a facilitated workshop designed to achieve the outcomes you need.

 
WHITEBOARDS FOR LEWISHAM
Our growing list of custom whiteboard projects this month included A3 portable boards for the Intra 2 Inter project in Lewisham, promoting sports in schools. The boards sport the new flexi-frame, soon to replace the framing on all our portable magnetic whiteboards.

NEW MAGNETS FOR THINKINGWALL
We've expanded our range of extra strong magnets, suitable for holding up architectual plans and posters, for use on ThinkingWalls. See the magnetic accessories section of the shop.