We are excited by how much media attention the Helping Hands activity has been receiving lately. It is really encouraging to see that everyone that has experienced this activity is eager to share it with as many people as they can. Check out our latest coverage:
Most recently the Body Sphere program on ABC Radio National featured the Helping Hands activity. If you’d like to listen to the segment, check out the following link to the podcast:
This is only a sample of the coverage this activity has received in just 5 months. It is exciting to see that momentum is building and that word is getting out there about this inspiring experience. With more people learning about this everyday, this activity is growing from strength to strength!
By now you know how much we at HC love the Helping Hands team building activty. So we thought we would ask some recent participants of Helping Hands to share their views on this unique experience. Read below to find out their thoughts and feelings about the activity:
“Thank you! It really was a fabulous day and the highlight for me being the team building activity. I hope we can build on the momentum and enthusiasm in FY13.” – Jac, World Vision
“It was great to have something tangible at the end of it, and to work towards a worthy cause, rather than an arbitrary objective like some trainings!!”- Julia, World Vision
“We had a really great day, everyone loved the team building activity and thought it was the highlight of the day.”- Jodie, World Vision
The Helping Hands Program is not just a fantastic idea for your next conference, it might be that unique idea you’re looking for this Christmas!
Office Christmas parties are a great way for companies to show their appreciation to their employees that have worked hard all year. Often the staff Christmas party is a time to celebrate accomplishments and socialise with workmates in a fun and relaxed environment.
Why not make the Christmas dinner or lunch this year extra special by including an activity which is not only fun and memorable but that will also help change someone’s life on the other side of the world? The Helping Hands activity is the perfect idea to include in this year
I believe that our society is at the start of a fundamental shift in the way that we see ownership and the world in general. It is a shift that has already begun to influence people at work and will likely do so for many years to come. However, it’s not just a shift in the way that we see our workplaces, but also our physical possessions, our environment and our relationships. I call it “Divestism” and it goes to the heart of how our world is beginning to change its views on ownership.
Nineteen years ago I bought a Lenny Kravitz album. It was only about the tenth CD that I had ever owned and I LOVED it. So did a couple of my friends and one day one of them borrowed the album, left it on his dashboard in the sun and overnight the CD was ruined. Although I loved the album, I had also listened to it hundreds of times and I simply could not afford to replace it (CD’s were more expensive back then) and to this day I have never bought a replacement copy of that specific album. Sometimes owning stuff isn’t all that it cracked up to be.
I have just purchased an Apple TV. It’s an amazing device. For those who have not seen one, it’s a very small box that you plug into your television. It also connects to your wireless internet basically enables you to download and watch any movie, TV show or music that’s ever been made and stream it to your television. You have to pay for the privilege of course but this little box effectively makes your local video shop redundant. Perhaps the thing that makes me most excited about my new toy is the fact that if I buy something on my Apple TV it is immediately available on my iPhone, iPad and computer via iTunes. I still own all the videos and music that I’ve bought but I don’t own anything that I can physically hold in my hands. In the past, this might have been seen as a limitation, but as I look at the big pile of DVDs under my TV taking up space I can’t help but challenge that assumption.
The fact is that the vast majority of kids these days will never experience the sadness of losing a CD like the one I did (and not just because they don’t listen to Lenny Kravitz anymore). Every CD they buy will be stored in the “cloud” and be instantly accessible for the rest of their lives. They’ll be immune from the impact of changes in technology, scratched records and even hot car dashboards. Although they won’t own a physical asset like we did, they will also be free from the burden of those assets. CDs and DVDs are just the beginning of this trend. People are doing way more than just storing their movies in the “cloud”. As the internet gets faster, it is becoming possible to access software and do some seriously powerful computing remotely. There will come a time (in the not so distant future) where we will no longer need to configure all our software on our local computers or even download those pesky updates. In fact some futurists suggest that the concept of a Personal Computer will become redundant relatively soon due to this technology. You remember… that thing that transformed the last couple of decades… it’ll become ancient history soon!
Now before you think that this trend is confined to the technology and entertainment sector, lets consider two of the holy grails of ownership… the family home and car. If you’re like me, you owe a small fortune on your home. Most of us were raised to aspire to home ownership and worked hard to achieve that goal. However, we were also raised to assume perpetual double-digit growth in the value of that home and our expectations just haven’t been realised. Yet the mortgage still has to be paid. I still love owning my own home and have no regrets about buying it. However, the fact is, more people nowadays are starting to take a different perspective. A recent survey in Mortgage Magazine recently published a survey that showed 52% of first home buyers saying that they would consider being a life-long renter. Similarly, although owning a car was never seen as an investment, it was seen as core to a western way of life. It enabled our independence, it meant we could go anywhere at any time. For most of us it still does. However, have you noticed recently the number of share car spaces located throughout our cities and most populated suburbs. People are even beginning to change their attitudes towards owning a car. Most people aren’t abandoning their cars altogether but there are certainly a number of people that are choosing a share car scheme for their second car and when husband and wife are needing to travel in different directions, they just borrow a share car for a few hours.
The trend towards “Divestism” isn’t just confined to the physical world. Lets get a bit more personal and talk about relationships. Not only will kids nowadays NEVER lose touch with their schoolmates thanks to Facebook and similar websites, but they can keep in touch without physically going to a school reunion or coffee with a friend. The basis of many of their relationships will be fundamentally intangible. Yet in many ways their relationships will be more productive and connected than the generations that have gone before them. The way relationships are changing is at the essence of “Divestism”. Not convinced that relationships have changed in the last decade? Lets consider for a second that the whole meaning of the term “friend” has evolved from being a noun to both a verb and a noun. To “friend” someone on Facebook has a very real meaning to anyone who is active on social networking and not only can you friend someone easily nowadays but you can also defriend them with the click of your mouse. This might seem fickle to some but social networking has fundamentally changed the way people see relationships. This is best illustrated by the social trend that to “make a relationship official” almost universally refers to updating your relationship status on Facebook nowadays. The immaterial or insubstantive is becoming increasingly important to people as the trend towards”Divestism”continues.
So how could “Divestism” have permeated so many parts of our lives without impacting on our workplaces? The fact is it has already had a major impact on the way people see employment, their workplace and their manager. Nowadays employees are looking for more than money and job security. They are looking for challenge, for a sense of purpose and for autonomy. If employees don’t find what they are looking for from their employer they are more confident to leave their workplaces and find another job. Better still, they are willing to work casually, to work for themselves, to have multiple jobs or even invent their own jobs via the internet (or something else that hasn’t been invented yet).
None of these workplace changes are new. The vast majority of business leaders have all acknowledged all of the trends that I’ve referenced above. However, I would argue that most have fundamentally misdiagnosed the problem. “Divestism” is a game-changer. It’s a trend that cannot be stopped and businesses that do not fundamentally change the way they do business as a result will be putting themselves in a precarious position. To assume that skills shortages will lessen with the ebbs and flows of the economic cycle, that you can retain employees by ensuring that you give out salary increases greater than inflation, or that you can negotiate outcomes with unions that will universally be accepted might all be good precautions to take. However, these measures are necessary without being sufficient. In order to retain employees, workplaces need to engage with their people on a deeper level. They need to get beyond the material and understand what truly drives their people. They also need to listen to what they learn.
When you think about it, the very terms “Human Resources” or “Human Capital” imply a sense of false ownership. They imply that people are assets that are owned just like the rest of the company’s physical assets. I understand that this has been an incredibly useful metaphor over the past 40 years. It’s helped HR folk justify investment in valuable programs or initiatives. However, although these are both relatively modern terms, they still hark back to the days when people would follow instructions unquestioningly, when lifelong employment was a goal for most people and when people would cope with significant hardships in order to achieve that goal.
If “Divestism” continues at the rate I believe it is travelling, then companies that cling to the notion of people as assets or resources will be left behind. In the future, companies must accept that people will weave in and out of employment with them; that they never truly own their employees and realign their people-related investments accordingly. The companies that truly realign their people systems with the concept of “Divestism” will not necessarily adopt a “retain at all costs” mentality to their people. When their employees part ways with their employer, progressive companies will see this as the first step in attracting them back. They might even support past employees in pursuing their goals outside of employment under some circumstances. The lines between employee, customer, spokesperson, advocate, sponsor and supplier are also likely to blur further with people-related investments justified beyond traditional departmental boundaries. Future editions of our newsletter will explore the specific implications of “Divestism” for business. However, needless to say its implications are broad.
The core of “Divestism”, as I define it, is that at this time in the world’s history, the less obvious, the subjective and intangible aspects of the world, are becoming more highly valued than they ever have been before. Ownership is clearly less valued and perceived as a burden to some. It’s an exciting time to be alive, but it’s also a risky time to hold onto old paradigms whilst running a business.
This edition of our newsletter is dedicated to our Helping Hands Program. This program is truly paradigm shifting in blending Corporate Social Responsibility with Human Resources. It enables employees, customers and other stakeholders to experience what it is to be engaged a truly purposeful activity and in doing so, enables them to reconnect with their company’s purpose. This activity might challenge your current paradigms on a number of levels, but as I’ve already stated, we’re living in an exciting time where big changes are not only possible, they are imperative. Enjoy this special edition of our newsletter and as you do so I encourage you to consider this new concept of “Divestism” and how it is likely to impact on your personal and work life.
Matt Henricks is the Director of HC. He is an Organisational Psychologist with 12 years experience working in HR or related fields. Matt has consulted with many of Australia
Since introducing the Helping Hands team building activity, our eyes have been increasingly openned to the level of need in many disadvantaged communities around the world. Wherever possible, within our newsletters from now on, we will be taking the opportunity to highlight some of the organisations that are trying to make a difference. WEFTshop is one such organisation.
WEFTshop is a volunteer based not-for-profit organisation committed to supporting refugee women from Burma living on the border with Thailand by developing their skills as textile artisans so they can access a fair wage. They work hand-in-hand with refugee artisans to create contemporary designs that feature their unique skills and textiles.
WEFTshop products include scarves, bags, cushions, purse, dolls, dresses, table-runners and table throws and feature their unique appliqué, metal beadwork and back-strap weaving. Handicrafts are one of the few ways to earn money safely in this environment where fundamental human rights such as the right and freedom to work and travel are largely denied.
WEFTshop products can be obtained online at : www.theshopforchange or for a wider selection via the Newtown markets every Saturday from 10:30-5:30 (280a King st , Newtown. Opposite the Dendy on King st).
Please join us at the AHRI HRIZON 2013 Exhibition at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre from 19-21 August 2013 for information on either the Helping Hands Program or Workplace Pulse.
The Helping Hands Program will be at Stand 82 and Workplace Pulse will be at StandT12. Both of our stalls have some great, conference only, offers available. We will also have a business card drop competition for those of you who like prizes!
For those of you who have heard about the Helping Hands Program on radio or television this could be the perfect opportunity to see one of the hands that is built at our workshops and to ask us lots of questions!
Others might have been interested in our new ground-breaking survey website, Workplace Pulse but not had the time to test out our site.
Whatever your reason for coming and visiting us I hope that you all choose to download a free ticket and come along
Students at the Presbyterian Ladies College in Perth recently participated in the Helping Hands activity. As part of their school Science Week, PLC staff and students made 26 prosthetic hands which will go to Cambodian landmine victims. The prosthetic hand building compliments some of the other community aid work they are doing in Cambodia.
In September, HC will be delivering and fitting a number of hands in Cambodia and the PLC girls will donating the hands they built as part of this process.
Although students have done the activity overseas, this is the first time it has been done by students in Australia. It was great to see the diverse range of people that this activity appeals to and confirm that it can be just as effective with a group of students as it can be with employees.
Recently, I was lucky enough to attend the best conference I’ve been to in years. This was largely due to the passion, organisational skills and effort of an incredibly talented HR Professional that I have now worked with for a number of years. I was particularly moved by one activity that she arranged called “HELPING HANDS”. Put simply, this team building exercise is unlike anything I had ever seen before and if any of you are currently planning a conference, offsite or team-building activity, you would be crazy not to at least investigate this activity further!
Here’s how it works. The program is called Helping Hands because it is an activity that challenges participants to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas. What you build with your hands, literally finds its way to an amputee land-mine victim that would not otherwise be able to afford a prosthesis. The plastic hands are composed of moving and non-moving high-grip digits controlled by a spring-loaded mechanism. They are strapped on, not surgically attached, and can be easily mastered so that recipients are quickly undertaking the tasks of daily living such as sipping a beverage, tying a shoelace, holding a pen or computer mouse like you are now!
Participants in the Helping Hands activity learn teamwork by confronting, discussing and puzzling over their challenging and/or engaging activity. As participants realise what they are building, a great sense of purpose and responsibility emerges. They also grow understand what they do professionally and personally can resonate with their customers, their communities and beyond.
The origins of Helping Hands lie with Ernie Meadows, an industrial engineer and his wife Marj, a Californian couple whos daughter died in a car accident. In her memory they created the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation and Ernie Meadows designed the prosthetic hand for the foundation (http://In-4.org).
In partnership with a US-based company called Odyssey Teams, we have recently secured a distributorship of the Helping Hands activity. So, if you would like to run this activity, just let us know. When you buy the activity, it comes all packaged up and ready to go for you to self-facilitate. However, most of our clients also choose to engage us to help bring this amazing experience to life. If you’re interested in exploring this activity further then just let us know by dropping us a line at [email protected].
Christmas Time is a period of giving and reflecting on those things we are thankful for. So if you are still planning activities for your Christmas events why not consider this activity? Another idea would be to use the Helping Hands to help invigorate your staff upon return AFTER Christmas. Why not kick off 2012 by giving staff the renewed sense of purpose they will obtain from this activity!
For more information about the Helping Hands activity please check out the video below:
HC is the exclusive distributor of the Helping Hands (also known as “Build A Hand”) activity within Australia and New Zealand and this article has been written to provide information to clients that might be interested in exploring the activity for their next conference, team meeting or staff retreat. It’s a corporate team building activity unlike any other and is guaranteed to change the way that employees see their work and give them a renewed sense of energy and purpose.
For those of you who have not heard about this particular activity before, then we would strongly advise you to check out the below video. This is definitely one of the cases where a picture says a thousand words!
I’m normally pretty cynical about Team Building / Conference activities. However, the first time I experienced the Helping Hands activity, it literally blew me away. Basically, attendees at this activity get the chance to build artificial hands for later donation overseas. The artificial hands that teams build literally find their way to an amputee land-mine victim that would not otherwise be able to afford a prosthesis.
HERE’S HOW THE PROCESS WORKS…
Facilitation
Professional facilitation, as always, is key to ensuring that you get the most out of the activity. HC has a team of facilitators that have all received specialist training in running this particular program. However, unlike with other team building companies, we think that this activity is just too cool to keep to ourselves. So if you can’t afford for us to facilitate for you, then we provide ALL the information and training that you will need to be able to facilitate the activity yourself!
Activity Kick Off
At the start of the activity, participants are provided with a bag of parts. They typically feel a little overwhelmed and are usually less than motivated to participate as memories of pointless and annoying team building activites from their past flood back to them.
THEN, we show a video which normally hits participants for six! All of a sudden, they realise that the activity they are engaged in today has a purpose. They realise that if they work well together, they will literally be changing someone’s life on the other side of the world….. Needless to say, at this point normally energy levels immediately go through the roof!
The build
In groups of 3, the teams then go about building the hands. There are detailed instructions provided, so all groups are set up for success. As an added challenge, normally participants bind one of their hands during the build process to further remind them of why they are doing the activity. Often individual participants will take on unique roles within the team and, as with any team, there will be interesting team dynamics that emerge to debrief at the end of the activity.
Decoration of the packaging
Each hand is put into a container which has been uniquely decorated by participants. This is a critical component of the activity. Some people will feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of building a hand and will prefer to use their artistic skills during the exercise. BUT it’s way more than just an outlet for those of us that are more artistic than others… finish reading til the end of this article to find out why!
The help desk
During the activity a help desk is setup, where participants can go to ask technical questions if they are having trouble putting together the hand. The person behind the help desk needs to be fully trained in building the hands before the activity commences.
Completion and photographs
Once groups complete the task, they bring their decorated container up to the front of the room and have a photo taken with it as a team. This photo is then put with the hand so that the recipients can see a picture of the people that made their hand for them.
Activity debrief
It is critical to ensure that there is a detailed discussion at the end of the activity. This activity can be a particularly emotional and exciting experience for many people and we find that you just need to provide people with the space to share this with their fellow team-mates. A thorough debrief is also important as it ensures that participants are reminded of the unique challengest that their organisation faces. As with most team building activities, the range of behaviours or mindsets that can be debriefed at the conclusion of this activity is diverse and depends on what your organisation’s intentions are. This is where expert facilitation can really make the difference!
Once the debrief is completed, a “post build” video is played. This video really drums home how much of a big difference the hands that have just been made will make to their recipients. It also is a fantastic way to complete the activity as it ensures that all participants are left energised and with a renewed sense of purpose..
A momento to remember the activity by
At the conclusion of the activity, each participant is left with a small metal key-chain style clip that they can keep. It’s just a little thing. But it’s important as it ensures that once the participants go back to their day-jobs, they still have a little reminder of the overwhelming sense of purpose that they experienced during the activity.
Quality control
Once the activity is completed, all hands are shipped back to the company that designed them to ensure that they are built properly. This company does a range of quality checks and then ships them to where they are needed most.
Feedback from recipients
Wherever possible, pictures of the actual recipients, holding the hands they have been given (along with their uniquely decorated packaging) find their way back to HC and we then send these pictures through to the companies that made the hands. This part of the process is not something that can be guaranteed all of the time. Some of the locations in which the hands are distributed are not technologically advanced. We also rely on a range of separate charity organisations to distribute these and when push comes to shove… if we had a choice, we’d always prefer that they ensure the hands are distributed and fitted correctly than taking pictures for our own gratification.
For those of you wondering about the kind of difference that this activity makes, why not check out the following video:
SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Recycling
There are a range of spare parts and tools that are distributed as part of this activity. These spare parts are returned, along with the hands and are recycled for the next group that builds the hands. This ensures that nothing goes to waste and that the impact of our resources and efforts is maximised within our global community.
Team size
Helping Hands works best when there are 3 people in each group. Having smaller numbers ensures that each person has to take an active role in building the hand. Organisations can choose to have larger teams involved in the activity, but we find that this is less than ideal.
Duration and integration of the activity into your agenda
The activity takes between 1.5 to 3 hours to complete and is the perfect conclusion to a 1 day off-site or workshop. Participants are left feeling energised, inspired and filled with a sense of purpose. Our advice would be to NOT try and stretch this activity out to take any longer than this. Keep it as a high impact component of your broader agenda and make sure that you spend the rest of the time getting through other content as you wish.
Batch size
When you purchase this activity, there is a lot more that goes with it then just the hand. There are videos, spare parts, tools and materials to help bind participant hands. For this reason, the hands are normally distributed in standardised kit sizes of ten. If your organisation only has need for a smaller number of hands than we can also help meet your needs. However, we do have a number of additional requests in such instances so as to make this work.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Why not contact us via email for more information: [email protected]
When you choose to self-facilitate the Helping Hands activity, we set you up for success from the start of the activity. You are not just sent a box full of miscellaneous parts, everything has been meticulously packed to ensure that the process is clear, even to a first-time facilitator.
The kits are designed to be easily scalable for large groups and the activity works just as well for a group of 600 participants as it does for a group of 6. As a facilitator, all you need to think about is how many Help Desk Operators you need to pre-train for larger groups.
Each carefully packaged self-facilitation kit includes the following:
The parts to build 10 separate hands. Appropriate for use with between 10 and 30 participants
Step-by-step facilitation and assembly instructions, program videos and powerpoint presentations to help build these state-of-the-art hands
Spare parts
Tools for help desk officers to use during the exercise
All the materials required to bind a participants hand, if this is the facilitation technique that you choose to use
We are excited by how much media attention the Helping Hands activity has been receiving lately. It is really encouraging to see that everyone that has experienced this activity is eager to share it with as many people as they can. Check out our latest coverage:
I hope we can build on the momentum and enthusiasm in FY13.” – Jac, World Vision
The Helping Hands Program is not just a fantastic idea for your next conference, it might be that unique idea you’re looking for this Christmas!
I believe that our society is at the start of a fundamental shift in the way that we see ownership and the world in general. It is a shift that has already begun to influence people at work and will likely do so for many years to come. However, it’s not just a shift in the way that we see our workplaces, but also our physical possessions, our environment and our relationships. I call it “Divestism” and it goes to the heart of how our world is beginning to change its views on ownership.
So how could “Divestism” have permeated so many parts of our lives without impacting on our workplaces? The fact is it has already had a major impact on the way people see employment, their workplace and their manager. Nowadays employees are looking for more than money and job security. They are looking for challenge, for a sense of purpose and for autonomy. If employees don’t find what they are looking for from their employer they are more confident to leave their workplaces and find another job. Better still, they are willing to work casually, to work for themselves, to have multiple jobs or even invent their own jobs via the internet (or something else that hasn’t been invented yet).
s activity. As part of their school Science Week, PLC staff and students made 26 prosthetic hands which will go to Cambodian landmine victims. The prosthetic hand building compliments some of the other community aid work they are doing in Cambodia.
