Before Christmas we were asked this question by Linden Ruskin the chair of Avon Occupational Safety & Health Group (AOSH).
She wanted to know if we were able to deliver a Facing Challenges, circus skills session for her group, but with an emphasis on Health and Safety issues.
We like a challenge, so after a little research, I designed a session that addressed the issue of how attitude and approach impacts upon changing attitudes to how health and safety is viewed. The session went brilliantly well and here are the comments from Linden. Photos from the session can be viewed at http://www.aosh.org.uk/presentations.html
Dear David,
I am writing as Chair of the Avon Occupational Safety & Health Group (AOSH) to thank you for the exceptional ‘talk’ you gave to our members on 17th December last year. Billed as ‘Changing attitudes to change behaviour’, those attending had no idea that this was going to be anything other than our normal PowerPoint type presentation. In fact, it turned out to be the most fun yet profoundly thought provoking session we have ever had and one about which members are still talking about 3 months later – much to the chagrin of those that couldn’t attend!
It was obvious from the start that you had done a lot of preparatory work to tailor the content to an audience of Health & Safety professionals. This was very much appreciated as was your creation and facilitation of an incredibly supportive environment throughout the practical exercises; the response when asked early on to clear the chairs was ground breaking in itself. Whilst on the surface dealing with the everyday mind-sets of others at work, invaluable insights were learnt about the necessity to firstly change one’s own beliefs to alter others’ actions. I can also see why you are in such demand for team building events as that morning our disparate members quickly became a cohesive force in helping one another and celebrating individuals’ achievements whether huge or just a tiny improvement in performance.
I know that several of our members who attended your presentation are seriously considering using your services for their large organisations and that some of the smaller companies are very keen to combine forces to experience your other workshop techniques. In the meantime, I have sent a copy of this letter to Safety Groups UK and the link to the notes and pictures on our website in order that other groups may benefit from your excellent session and include it in their Programmes.
Kindest regards,
LINDEN RUSKIN
CHAIR
AVON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH GROUP
