Osteopathy

Objectives: 

• Ice breaker (which builds a connection between pairs)
• Participants will have to interact and adapt their communication skills to help their team member 
• Participants will reflect and evaluate their performance as a pair
• Improve communication and listening skills and to highlight the importance of trust when working in a team or pair

Overview: 

This physical task engages the whole person in supporting a colleague and ensuring their safety through good communication.  The activity can be used at any time during the session, however it is highly effective as and ice breaker.  It is a fun method to start participants communicating and is simple to deliver in an appropriate environment and can be adjusted depending upon group size, age etc. However health and safety is paramount and you must consider the appropriateness of the group and room for this challenge.

Activity:

You should initiative this activity by stressing the nature of the challenge and stressing that the safety of those involved is paramount.  You can also agree across the group that “stop” can be initiated by any member of the team by raising a hand if they don’t feel that it is safe to proceed.  This can be actioned by anyone and will not result in any penalties.

To run the task, gather the group outside the room and:

1. Scatter furniture that can be used as obstacles but ensuring that safety is not compromised. 
2. Put team members into pairs and should decide amongst them who is to be blindfolded first. 
3. The sighted and blindfolded member should stand at one end of the room. 
4. Aim of the task is for the sighted individual to guide their partner across the room and giving concise information to avoid the obstacles. 
5. Once each team reaches the other side, the pairs are to swap roles 

It could also be possible to create a preferred route or course (as seen in horse show jumping) which they need to accomplish (if you didn’t wish to use obstacles for safety or mobility reasons) which would lead the pair to particular numbers/letters indicated on the wall.

Subject specialisms could also be tested by placing knowledge based answers on the walls and asking the pairs to walk to their answer through the course (see QAARunaround for details of how to do a multiple choice but don’t mix the games in play for safety reasons).

Skill Development: 

This task requires listening and communication skills and also helps builds trust and connections across the pairings.  However the skill development and improved future practice comes from evaluating performance across the group and understanding how and when particular techniques were effective and what lessons that provides for the future.  It is important to acknowledge fears and concerns, or frustrations between the pairings but keep the discussion to the general learning, rather than focusing upon particular experiences of individual pairings as the depth of learning will come from the lessons that can be applied in future group work or communication challenges.  These lessons include clear communication; agreeing ground rules for working together; recognising the need of feedback or support; understanding the importance of clear short messages within these circumstances etc.

Resources:

• Blindfolds
• Large room  - large, safe, open space
• Items that can be used as obstacles which will act as safe barriers (not fall over; not hurt if walked into – no sharp edges)

Objective:

• To provide students with a greater understanding of the principles behind effective communication.
• To provide students with a greater understanding of the importance of a personal brand, and how a personal brand is developed.
• To provide students with a greater understanding of how communication strategies and brand apply to individuals and businesses in a social media context.
• To provide students with the ability to utilise social media to generate opportunities for themselves and their enterprises. 

Overview:

'Being Heard' is a presentation which can be delivered to a group of any size, and tailored to ensure its relevancy to any audience. 

The ability to communicate effectively through social media is becoming of increasing importance, to individuals and to businesses. Those who master it, are able to generate more leads, find more opportunities, and get their message heard more clearly, than those who don't. Though social media itself is anew phenomenon, many of the principles behind its effective usage are not: clear communication skills, and a strong brand identity, lie at the heart of it. 

Being Heard is a workshop which to introduce students to these themes, discussing the importance of social media as a communication tool, exploring communication strategies and effective branding, and investigating cases where these have been put to effective use within a social media context.

The activity is designed to fit within a typical one hour lecture session, with ample opportunities for extension, and through practical activity, group discussion or independent research, could easily form the basis of a more comprehensive scheme of work on the subject. The AV presentation for use in the delivery of the workshop can be downloaded via the link to the 'ZONE Enterprise Hub' webpages listed in the resources and references at the end of this document. 

Activity:

(See Resources / References for materials to accompany the delivery of this activity).

Activity Part 1: Introduction

• The themes of the workshop are introduced to the audience.
• The group share which social media platforms they use, what their aims and objectives are with using each, and fi they have ever reflected on how to use these platforms to greatest effect.
  

Activity Part 2: Communication

• The group explore principles behind effective communication (I any arena), namely; presentation structure, the use of tools, and powerful delivery.
• Here, the group explore how they would structure presentations on various themes, how tools (pictures, videos etc.) could make this delivery more effective, and how the use language and tone impact on information being communicated.
• This section follows the format of the workshop 'How to Speak in Public', a guide and resources for which, can be found in the 'Resources / References' section of this document.
  

Activity Part 2: Personal Brand

• Students are presented with the logos of various companies, and discuss the words and feelings which a brought to mind when they see each.
• They discuss what the reasons for these are, and the actions companies have taken to bring them about.
• Next the process is repeated with individuals (as opposed to companies) and the same questions are explored.
• Students reflect of the words and feeling they would wish to be brought to mind when their name was heard (and their objectives in wanting these associations). They reflect on the actions they could take to bring about these associations. 
  

Activity Part 3: Social Media

• Students discuss how each of the points discussed in communication and branding applies within a social media context.
• Real world case studies are explored, seeing how individual social media posts, series of posts, and users' platforms as a whole, adopt the above to great effect.
• You may wish to include your own case studies in this section, to ensure the workshop is up-to-date and maximally relevant to the audience. 

Activity Part 4: Conclusion

• The main themes of the workshop are re-capped.
• Students are invited to share a post regarding their experience of the workshop, via their own social media channels.
• You may wish to recommend a specific hash tag for students to include in this post. 
  

Skill Development:

• Students will have greater awareness of the importance of strong communication skills and a well-developed personal brand, and a better understanding of how to achieve these.
• They will understand how these themes relate to social media, how social media can be used advantageously, and how this related to their own studies, careers and endeavours. 

Resources:

• Copies of the slides which accompany this presentation can be downloaded here ? Being Heard [PDF]
• For a How To Guide expanding upon the communication elements explored in Being Heard, see 'Workshop: How to Speak in Public.'

References:

• Zone Enterprise Hub, Topic: ZONE Resources. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk

Associated Case Studies

• Workshop: Being Heard (QAA 5,7)

Objective:

• Cultivate an entrepreneurial mind-set.
• Recognize limitations of entrepreneurial thinking (what holds one back).
• Practice improvisation for idea generation and creativity.

Overview:

This series of three short improvisational exercises offers students the opportunity to identify personal limitations to idea generation and reflect on situations where creativity may have been stifled. Students will consider their personal abilities and reactions to their improvisational abilities, as well as approaches to incorporate improvisational thinking in entrepreneurial endeavours. The overall goal is to demonstrate how students can develop an entrepreneurial mind-set through improvisation. Such exercises are routinely used for developing improvisational actors as well as for pre-show warm- ups for the actors. This methodology was created in the 1960s and remains the standard by which individuals learn to improvise. Improvisation is an important component of the entrepreneurship method because idea generation and the ability to incorporate relevant, timely information are critical skills for developing new ventures that will not only survive but thrive.

Usage Suggestions 

These exercises work for all audiences, undergraduate, graduate, or practitioner. It is particularly relevant for new venture creation courses, entrepreneurial creativity and/or leadership courses, entrepreneurship boot-camps, and workshops.

Activity:

Pre-Work Required by Students

The optional readings may be used for pre-work or post-work, depending on the audience (see ‘Theoretical Foundation in ‘References’).

Time Plan (1 hour)

This exercise can be extended to longer sessions so that students can begin brainstorming entrepreneurial ventures. For the purposes of an initial introduction to improvisation, this teaching note has been written so that the exercise requires at least 60 minutes.

Introduction 0:00–0:05 (5 minutes)

Begin the exercise by introducing the concept of improvisation: Ask students generally if they know what improvisation means. Opening questions for the discussion can include:

• What does improvisation mean to you? 
• Where have you seen improvisation? 
• Has anyone performed improvisation? Seen it performed?

Overview 0:05–0:15 (10 minutes)

Explain how the students will learn the basics of improvisation and see how they could apply it to entrepreneurship, in particular idea generation and creating new ventures. The instructor can show examples of comedy improvisation performance (either live or through video clips from YouTube. Some good short examples include scenes from the ABC show Whose Line Is It Anyway? An example clip can be found at http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v5Qd8bvNW9_h4).

After sharing an example, discuss how performing improvisation can be learned: there are lessons offered for comedy improvisation and improvisational acting performance in improv theatres worldwide. An established framework exists to learn how to improvise. For this class, improvisation equals thinking on your feet. They will now be “in” an improv classroom, and every improvisation theatre class begins with warm-ups. In order to think on their feet, they have to get up on their feet.

Warm-Up 1 0:15–0:20 (5 minutes)

• Tell them to begin walking around the classroom and to observe every single object in the room.
• Then tell them to point at objects as they walk past them.
• As they point at each object they are to say what it is out loud – only they cannot call it what it actually is. They are to label it something it is not. And they are to do it quickly. Provide a quick example by pointing to an object in the room like the board and then say out loud “dog,” and then point at another object like the desk and call it “potato” or whatever comes to mind.
• After one to two minutes of them walking and pointing and labeling out loud, ask them to stop and be silent wherever they are for a group discussion. When they stop, have them discuss how the experience of labeling objects was for them. Try to push them to explain what they were feeling. Some of the following questions can be used for this debrief: 
• How was this experience?
• Did you find this exercise difficult to do? Why?

Summary of Warm-Up 1

Students should experience and be able to articulate:

• How difficult it is to break away from known “answers”;
• How frequently they can get stuck in known patterns of thinking;
• The ease with which they start creating patterns with a known grouping (e.g. eggplant, cucumber, tomato, lettuce), which is a way to make the experience easier (get the “right” answer) as opposed to pushing and fostering creativity;
• The need for students to want to be in control, rather than searching for newness or playing;
• Feeling the sense of awkwardness in saying the “wrong” label out loud, but having others around doing a similar activity makes the exercise less awkward;
• How easy it can be just to listen to others and follow their answers rather than coming up with their own new idea.

Warm-Up 2 0:20–0:25 (5 minutes)

• Tell them to begin walking around the classroom again.
• When they come up to another student, they are to point at another student and name an animal, any animal that comes to mind, e.g. two students face each other and one points at the other and says “horse.”
• Then tell them that the student who has been pointed at and labelled with a type of animal has to make the sound of the animal. If they do not know what sound the animal makes, they are to make it up and make some sort of sound.
• Then they switch, and the student who just produced the animal sound – in this example, the horse sounds – points at the first student and names an animal, e.g. “cat.” This student then makes the sounds of whatever animal he or she was given.
• Once the interaction is completed, and both students in the pair have completed their animal sounds, they are to find new partners and repeat the warm-up exercise with two or three other students.
• After two to three minutes of animal sounds, ask them to stop and be silent wherever they are for a group discussion. Have them discuss how the experience of making animal sounds was for them. Try to push them again to explain what they were feeling. Some of the following questions can be used for this debrief:
• How was this experience? Did you find this exercise difficult to do? Why? 

Summary of Warm-Up 2

Students should experience and be able to articulate:

• Feeling a great sense of awkwardness – they are doing something they would normally be comfortable doing with children, but typically have never done in a classroom of adults or peers;
• Not knowing the right “answer” or sound a particular animal makes, they would feel very frustrated, and then forget the instruction they were given to just make it up;
• Once again, the ease with which they follow patterns – patterns offer a way to make the exercise “easier,” as they offer a means to come up with an answer or a label quickly rather than pushing creativity;
• How difficult it is for them to have no control as to what they have to do, rather than stepping back, enjoying the ambiguity, and searching for newness or playing;
• The fear they have of being “foolish” in a professional setting, how they do not want to be embarrassed by acting silly in front of others, and, in addition, the fear of feeling guilty, foolish, or rude for labelling others as certain types of animals with distinct connotations;
• This fear leads to self-judging and/or editing before they label their peer with an animal or before making the corresponding animal sound.

Warm-Up 3 0:25–0:35 (10 minutes)

• Tell them to form groups of four wherever they are in the room.
• Then instruct them to play a game of word association, where anyone can go first, say a word, whatever word comes to mind.
• The person to the left listens to the word and then says a word that comes to mind based on the word he or she just heard.
• They continue in this way until you stop them, and they are to go as fast as they can (tell them to listen for further instruction).
• Once they get started, let them go for a minute or so, and then very loudly instruct them to “Switch directions!”

After another one to two minutes of word association, ask them to stop and be silent. You can have them return to their seats at this point or have them stay where they are for the final group discussion. Now have them discuss how the word association experience was for them. Most will say this was easier to do, as they were in a group setting. So push them to explain what was happening rather than what they were feeling. Some of the following questions can be used for this debrief: 

• How was this experience? If this was easier than the last two warm- ups, why?
• If you found this exercise more difficult than the last two, why?
• What happened when you were told to change directions? Why did this happen?

Summary of Warm-Up 3

Students should experience and be able to articulate:

• The ease again they experienced of getting into routines or patterns – how much they wanted to “control” the situation and outcomes;
• How much they were trying to be clever, or funny, rather than just coming up with any word that came to mind and following the exercise;
• Typically they do not enjoy the ambiguity and opportunity to play and explore newness;
• Self- judging occurs again, they feel limited in the direction for the exercise, and what words they allow themselves to say owing to their need to feel included or pressure to continue established patterns rather than pushing creativity and undefined randomness;
• Students typically are not listening to the last word they just heard, and instead they focus on the words that people two ahead of them in the exercise are saying, as this way they can plan their response (this is highlighted with the change directions instruction).

Discussion 0:35–1:00 (25 minutes)

Once the students return to their seats, have them form groups of three to four and discuss what might be preventing their idea generation efforts related to initial new venture concepts. They should explore what holds them back when considering what they might do. Have them discuss the specific difficulties they experienced personally during the improvisation exercises and how they might get past these limitations to develop a more entrepreneurial mind-set. Have a member of each group report out one recommendation for fostering creativity through improvisation. A closing discussion should include how to incorporate improvisation in their idea generation practices.

Teaching Tips

It is important to keep the warm-up exercises moving fast. It might be helpful to tell the students before they begin the exercises that they will feel really uncomfortable, but feeling uncomfortable is the point of the exercise. In the debrief discussions, some students will genuinely enjoy the exercises and will say they found nothing in them difficult. Asking for a show of hands of those who found the exercise difficult to do first is often a better way to begin the debrief, before asking about how they found the experience (in case the students who enjoyed the exercises stifle the discussion). In warm- up 3 it is very helpful to move around the room encouraging groups to speed up their words so that there are no long pauses. It is important for them to think quickly and see how to come up with new ideas rather than thinking or planning and judging their ideas before they see where the new ideas can take them.

Skill Development:

Key Takeaways

• How to incorporate improvisation to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set: being quick on your feet and adapting or reacting rather than planning and pre-judging.
• Identifying and recognizing personal limitations to entrepreneurial thinking (why students are held back from creativity in idea generation, what their personal pitfalls are).
• How to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set by incorporating tenets of fast and free thinking through improvisation for idea generation and creativity.

Resources:

The full text ‘Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach’ can be purchased here > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Entrepreneurship-A-Practice-Based-Approach/dp/1782540695

References:

This exercise is taken from;

• Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.118 - 124). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub.

Attribution

• These exercises are based on foundational exercises used in improvisational training, widely taught in improvisational theatre courses worldwide.

Theoretical Foundations

• Spolin, V. 1959. Improvisation for the Theater: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Johnstone, K. 1999. Impro for Storytellers. New York: Routledge/Theatre Arts Books.
• Hmieleski, K.M., and Corbett, A.C. 2008. The contrasting interaction effects of improvisational behaviour with entrepreneurial self-efficacy on new venture performance and entrepreneur work satisfaction. Journal of Business Venturing, 23(4), 482–96.
• Neck, H.M. 2010. Idea generation. In B. Bygrave and A. Zacharakis (eds.), Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship (pp. 27–52). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• Balachandra, L., and Wheeler, M. 2006. What negotiators can learn from improv comedy. Negotiation, 9, 1–3.

Author:

• This exercise is taken from, Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.118 - 124). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub, and is reprinted with the kind permission of the authors.

Objectives: 

This is a lively exercise which works well with 25 or 36 learners, respectively in groups of 5 or 5 at a carousel table.

• Learners will identify individually problems in a given context or scenario.
• Group prioritisation: groups will next prioritise problems in order of importance, or difficulty.
• Group editing and refining: groups will formulate the most pressing problem to briefly complete the starter: what can I do when’.
• Individual learners put ‘on the spot’ will creatively state a tactic to a ‘What can I do when …’ problem from another group.
• Individual thinking and oral communication: by the end of the round, everyone in the whole group has had a go at suggesting a solution for one or more problems – no passengers!
• Analysis and reflection: members of the group which thought of the problem will discuss pros and cons of the various solutions they have heard.

Feedback from participants who have engaged in this activity is very positive indeed, and they often comment that ‘the time flew by’, and ‘we wished to do another round of this straightaway’.

Overview:

This creative problem solving exercise starts with learners in groups identifying specific aspects of a problem situation they may encounter, and phrasing the problem in the format of ‘What can I do when…’ questions. Each group supplies one question, which is written up on a slide or flipchart. Then a system is used where one member of each of the other groups in turn suggests a tactical response to the problem being addressed, and after all the tactics have been heard, the problem returns to the group who thought of it, who then discuss the pros and cons of each of the tactics they have heard from the other groups.
The exercise can be used for a wide range of problem scenarios, but is particularly productive when addressing interpersonal or communication contexts, or working with ‘difficult people’.

Activity:

The processes described below typically take around an hour with a group of 25 learners, but can be extended to two hours by using a second round of the whole sequence (by which time the learners will be much better able to engage with the process based on experience, and will often have come up with more-challenging questions, causing deeper thinking).

1. Divide the total number of learners into groups of (approximately) equal size, e.g. 25 learners into 5 groups of 5 at carousel tables. (It is best to do this group formation randomly, avoiding the disadvantages of ‘friendship’ groups and ‘left-over’ groups!). Name the groups A, B, C, D, E.
2. Set the context for the problem-generation phase. For example, the problems of working with learners on an ‘enterprise’ module could be addressed by asking everyone to think individually of their worst nightmares in the context of working with such learners, and jotting down individually on one or more post-its their nightmare in the format of ‘what could I do when…’
   (Completions in this particular instance may well to include ‘…a learner repeatedly doesn’t turn up?’, or ‘…a learner won’t join in?’, or ‘…a learner becomes aggressive to other learners?’, or ‘…I run out of ideas to use with the group?’, or ‘…time runs out when I am only half-way through an exercise?’ and so on).
3. When each learner has jotted one or more problem-questions down, ask the groups to prioritise the problems identified in by their group members, and work out the most important to tackle (or the most difficult to tackle), then the next most important, and so on. 
4. Ask group A to read out their top completion of the ‘What can I do when…’ starter, and write it up exactly in their words, on a slide or flipchart. Then ask group B for their problem, then group C and so on, writing them up in turn. If a group comes up with a problem too similar to those already written onto the slide or flipchart, ask the group for their second-most-important problem and so on.
5. Set the ground-rules for the report-back from the groups. Group A’s question goes first to Group B, where one person described what they might do to address the problem. Only one person can speak; it sometimes takes a little time for a volunteer to come forward. Next, one member of Group C is sought to respond, and so on to Groups D and E in turn. It can be useful to brief Group A to make brief notes of the gist of successive responses.
6. To respond gets harder as it moves from Group B onward. Each successive respondent must think of a different response from those which may already have been given. At this stage, the facilitator may choose to throw in one or two further solutions, if the groups have missed anything important in their responses.
7. Finally, Group A, who own the question are asked to consider the responses from Groups B-E (plus any offered by the facilitator), picking the best one, and coming up with any further alternatives they have thought of. All members of Group A can join in this discussion.
8. Next the question from Group B goes in turn to Groups C, D, E and A, again only one member – a different member of the group coming up with a solution. In the event of too long a pause, the person from the group concerned who answered last-time round can nominate someone from their group to respond.
9. Continue until all five questions have gone round the groups.

This process means that just about everyone has a turn at answering one of the ‘What can I do when…’ questions. If there were six groups of five members, everyone would have a turn, but it is probably best to leave the flexibility of one person in each group not being required to answer, in case any of the learners has a particular problem with ‘being put on the spot’ in this way. However, if a second round of questions is then generated, the response can start in each group with the person who did not speak in the first round.

An alternative way of running this exercise includes asking for ‘what would make this situation worse?’ (i.e. ‘what I should not do when …? responses – ‘negative brainstorming’).

This can be great fun for a second round of the whole exercise.

Skill Development:

1. Identification of problems individually, followed by discussion and prioritisation of problems in groups.
2. Refining of an identified problem, by turning it into the ‘what can I do when…?’ format.
3. Oral quick-thinking and communication, as each group member responds to a ‘what can I to when…’ question.
4. Building on what has been already said earlier in the round, when the next respondent has to in effect think of ‘what else can I do when…?’ as responses can not be repeated as the round continues.
5. Listening to the various responses by the group ‘owning’ the question, noting down the gist of each for subsequent discussion, then analysing the pros and cons of the various responses.
6. ‘Negative brainstorming’, if the exercise includes ‘What would make this situation worse?’, which can often yield further ideas for actual solutions to the problem.

Resources:

• Post-its for individuals to jot down ‘nightmares’ to base their ‘what can I do when …?’ questions upon.
• More post-its (possibly a different colour) for groups to write their final versions of ‘what can I do when…?’ questions down on, before prioritising which they want to submit to the other group rounds.
• A few pens to give away if needed.
• Flipchart or PowerPoint display to show the questions.

 References:

• Race, P. (2014) ‘Making Learning Happen: 3rd edition’, London: Sage. (Note that one Chapter of this book is entirely composed around ‘what can I do when …? questions, (in the broad context of teaching, learning, feedback and assessment), each followed by the sort of responses which can be given by participants working in the creative-problem-solving mode described in the above activity).
• Race, P. (2015) ‘The Lecturer’s Toolkit; 4th edition’, Abingdon: Routledge.
• http://phil-race.co.uk

Objective:

• To explore the need for feedback and support within the learning process
• To understand the elements that support skill development and build confidence in execution

Overview:

This simple task is designed to help students understand the importance of effective support and feedback during any learning process, but particularly mastering a skill. This approach seeks to use a fun activity (standing on 1 leg) to demonstrate the importance of practice and guidance in achieving goals and improving performance. Reflection upon the learning experience seeks to provide lessons for future learning and illustrate how support, guidance and feedback can improve performance and experience.

Activity

This activity invites individuals to undertake the challenge to stand on one leg for the longest time. This challenge should be set by asking individuals to guess publicly how long they will be able to undertake this task.

(In a large group, you can ask everyone to keep their hands up if they feel that they stand on 1 leg for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15, etc until there are only a few left and ask them to state their time!)

Then demonstrate the task (or invite the person who had the most confidence in their ability to do it the longest) to undertake the task (*with the option to raise the arms from either side, at full stretch to meet above the head, hands palms-together).

Then invite each individual to think about what they need to improve the time they initially suggested - seek examples of

• Research
• Partnering or mentoring
• Questioning/ scoping
• Guidance
• Practice
• Advice
• Expertise

that might be sought to help them – and give them time to improve their time through practice before testing the group / individuals in a timed test.

Once these have been identified, invite them to take the support they think they most need (a partner; a mentor; printed guidance) or to undertake research (using smart phones or lap tops) and be prepared to repeat the task in 10 mins. They can use this practice time in any way they consider effective to improving their performance.

Repeat the challenge and explore with the group who, if anyone, improved during the 10 mins practice and what helped their performance. Explore with the wider group what supported them and gave them confidence in the challenge.

Explore the issue of skill development as part of their reflective practice (See QAA5ReflectiveDiary) by outlining how they have improved upon skill development in the past (learning to drive; learning the piano; golf; swimming etc).

Skill Development:

Effective skill development is created through practice, repetition, guidance or mentoring. Exploring with your students how they developed their knowledge and understanding of the task, and what or who helped them will help identify these core themes. Explore how their research, partnering, mentoring, guidance, questioning, advice etc helped them and identify lessons for future skill development.

By broadening out the discussion to include wider examples of skill development (learning musical instruments; learning to drive; learning to swim etc) you can explore the role of effective feedback and also role models and mentors in their development.

Use this simple task to draw out examples from the group and collate the lessons that they can take forward into future learning.

Resources:

Prepared set of support as print outs – questions; advice; guidance (printed out to share or per person should they be required) – or on a slide to showparticular groups or individuals who are interested.

Suggested Questions

1. Should you think you should have your eyes open or closed? Do you want a blindfold?
2. Is it better to move quickly or slowly?
3. Should you start quickly to get the task over with or start slow and risk running out of time?
4. Would working with a partner (or partners) make you feel more secure, or distract you?
5. Which bit of your body are you concentrating on?
6. Would music help?
7. Which leg should you use?
8. What surface do you want to stand on?
9. Are those the right shoes for this task?
10. What will you do with your arms?
11. Will you do your own timing?
12. What muscles are you contracting?
13. Would it help if you were getting feedback about how it looks during the task?
14. Would you like to receive comment at the end?
15. What research could you do before you tackle this task?
16. Have you ever done this before? (where? When? How did it go? What did you learn?)
17. Would it help to see it performed again?
18. What are you thinking about whilst you do this?
19. Do you want a practice run?
20. Do you want to watch someone else learn to do this?
21. Do you know about your vestibular system? This is a mechanism in your inner ear that tells you when you start wobbling, and how much and in which direction, and is your main tool in balancing. Becoming more sensitive to it will improve your balance greatly
22. Are you using your core muscles?
23. What are you looking at whilst you do this?
24. Are you in the correct mental state for this timed challenge?
25. Why is this task important to you? Why are you undertaking it?

Guidance: 3 stage approach

INTIAL ACTIONS

1. Ask your partner to hold the watch and stand close by to catch you in case you start to fall.
2. Decide which foot to lift (left foot if you're right-handed, right foot if you're left-handed)
3. Place an object approx 1m in front of you on the floor (a candle; book;)

PREPARATION

4.Stand barefoot on a flat, hard surface, approx 1m back from your object.

5.Anchor your feet ('plant' your feet on the floor) and stand evenly, spreading your weight evenly across your body, and breath several times slowly to anchor yourself.

6.Before you start, shift your weight very subtly to your chosen foot, without lifting and then settle yourself in this position and breathe deeply again.

7.Think about your foot anchoring down in the soil, and lightly tense your core muscles in your body (core stability) to ensure you are stable.

8.Settle your vision onto an immovable object little way in front of you in the floor.

ACTIVITY:

9.Lift chosen foot about 6 inches off the floor, bending your knee at a 45-degree angle.

10.Breathe slowly throughout, keeping your focus on your immovable point in front of you.

If you feel wobbly, try bending the standing leg very slightly at the knee.

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Objective:

• To provide students with an opportunity to identify and reflect on their own skills.
• To provide students with an opportunity to generate business ideas, and identify opportunities.
• To provide students with knowledge and understanding of how to write and structure a business plan.
• To provide students with an understanding of how to use a business plan effectively.
• To provide students with an awareness of the advice, resources and support available to them.

Overview:

A well-structured, well-research and well-written business plan is an invaluable asset to any new enterprise. Yet many students considering starting up report difficulty in developing business plans and in particular, plans which actively work for them and their business.

Business Planning is a workshop serving as an introduction to the subject, inclusive of opportunities to reflect on skills and generate ideas, and information regarding how to build a strong and cohesive plan around those ideas, and advice regarding using that plan, to turn those ideas into successful businesses.
 
The activity is designed to fit within a typical one hour lecture session, but inclusive of ample opportunities for extension, through practical activity, group discussion or independent research, and could easily form the basis of a more comprehensive scheme of work on the subject. It is designed to be appropriate for students of any level or programme of study. It was originally developed through the HEFCW funded pan-Wales Enterprise Support Programme.

Lesson plans and AV presentations for use in the delivery of the workshop can be downloaded via the link to the ‘ZONE Enterprise Hub’ webpages listed in ‘References’ and ‘Resources.’

Activity:

The activity follows the structure outlined in the ‘Business Planning’ PowerPoint presentation, inclusive of all links and examples.

_{Figure 1. PowerPoint presentation which accompanies this activity.}

Pre-Activity

Students are not required to prepare anything in advance of this workshop. For workshop leaders, preparation is minimal, other than ensuring supporting AV resources are displaying correctly.

Introduction

• Students are welcomed and introduced to the themes that will be covered during the workshop.
• The group may be invited to share their own business experience or business ideas.

Why Bother?

• Students are asked to discuss and share where they see their ideas and business endeavours 10 years from now.
• Students are provided with a basic definition of a business plan.
• Students discuss the purpose of a business plan. Points are suggested and debated.

What to think about?

• Students are asked to reflect on the skills which they possess.
• Students are asked to explore and identify the products and services they can offer, supported by their skill set.
• Students explore how, by reflecting on a particular product or service, they can consider pricing, branding, marketing and sales.
• An indicative example is offered within the PowerPoint presentation to illustrate this. If desired, you may wish to reinforce this by working through a real example offered by a member of the audience.
• (An activity allowing students to identify their skills, and explore opportunities in a greater degree of depth can be found in How To Guide ‘Workshop: Breaking Problems Down and Putting Solutions Together.’)

What to write down?

• The key elements of a basic business plan are covered step by step, with class discussion of the key points at each stage. Namely, the elements covered are; The Executive Summary, The Business Vision, Marketing, Running the Business, Finance.
• Students are introduced to SWOT analysis. If desired, a member of the audience may be invited to offer their own business idea as an example, which a SWOT analysis can be worked through for collectively.
• Students are introduced to cash flow forecast. Again if desired, an indicative example may be offered to demonstrate how the forecast works.

Help and support

Students are provided with links and information regarding the support, advice and assistance available to them as they develop their business plans.

Conclusion

The key themes covered in the workshop are re-capped, and students are invited to ask any outstanding questions which they may have.

Post-Activity

This workshop is intended only as an introduction to the subject of Business Planning. Following the activity, students may utilise the information provided to research and develop their plans independently, or each element of the workshop may be revisited and explored in more depth by the group.

Skill Development:

Students will leave the workshop with greater confidence in their ability, with a better understanding of their skills, and how these skills will support the development of their endeavours. They will have a better knowledge and understanding of business plans and how to develop them, and a greater awareness of how to use business plans to effectively support them in their endeavours.

Resources:

PowerPoint Slides accompanying this activity can be downloaded here > Business Planning [PDF]

References:

Zone Enterprise Hub, Topic: ZONE Resources. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=37§ion=11 . [Accessed 05 August 2015].

Objective:

• Develop an understanding of the benefits of producing a business plan, for them and  their business
• Develop an understanding of the costs and resource implications of producing a business plan to them and their business 
• Alleviate concerns and promote their ownership of the business plan 
• To evidence the power of group work as ideas and issues are considered from different perspectives and shared through small group work

Overview:

This activity is designed to provide an opportunity for students to develop their understanding of the purpose and benefits of producing a business plan as well as expressing any concerns or issues relating to the process.  

Activity:

As an individual task – invite each student to consider the opposing statement below (that preparing a business plan is ‘a waste of time’ and ‘a valuable exercise’ and to make a list of the reasons why someone may agree with each of the statements. 

Each point can then be researched, discussed in small groups, and challenged within the small group situation to create a consensus for presentation.

The activity should be concluded by asking the group to agree where they would rank themselves on the continuum and make their position to the wider group.

This will create a range of presentations, which will draw out of range of concerns and issues, that can then be discussed and explored across the wider group.

Preparing a Business Plan

A waste of time ......................................  A valuable exercise
0                                                                          10

This can also be repeated, following business planning work, to provide a useful reflection tool at the end of the business planning process, when students are invited to consider the statements again having completed the business plan.  This can provide an indication of any change in the entrepreneur / small business owner’s view.

Skill Development:

The decision making within this task is both individual and within a group and therefore develops consensus building through discussion and debate.  The discussion will build deeper understanding of the business planning process and build confidence around this area, whilst the presentation skills to the wider group will build confidence in public speaking and debate.

Objective:

• Know about a range of ideas and concepts about enterprising mind-set and entrepreneurship
• Reconnecting with your creativity 
• Introduction to design thinking and exploring a challenge 
• Apply design thinking to addressing a challenge 
• Developing a chosen idea (including proto-typing if possible) 
• Introduction to engaging others in your ideas (moving beyond a ‘Pitch’) 
• Introduction to crowd funding and funding the idea from within the student and stakeholder audience (external if possible)

Introduction: 

This session suits larger groups of learners being introduced to the concept of enterprise, creative thinking and solving complex challenges. Working with interdisciplinary groups works best to encourage maximum creativity and adds depth to the chosen solution. An introduction to effective engagement with audiences which moves beyond a pitch is introduced and the session closes with the audience crowd funding the idea using specially designed local currency. 

Activity:

This is best run over a 4-6 hour period and can be split between 2-3 sessions to allow for further research into the challenge. Session starts with some team building activities set firmly within the context of the challenge. This can help students to better appreciate the challenge area and develop empathy with various perspectives/realities in relation to the challenge.  

Then follows some creativity exercises with an introduction to design thinking. Teams then apply this process (as time allows) through to completion with ideally prototypes being developed (if not posters/electronic adverts etc). 

Then the large group is introduced to the need for effective and authentic engagement of themselves and their ideas (moving beyond the ‘pitch’). Individual or group presentations are developed and practiced. Depending on timing and group size, there can then follow a couple of rounds of presentations with a final selection presenting to the whole group. Ideally this should include at least one external stakeholder/s linked to the challenge context (clinical/engineering/finance etc) able to provide authentic feedback. 

It can be fun then to introduce/revisit the concept of crowd funding and provide everyone in the audience with some currency (we have developed some university notes) and get them to fund their favourite proposal. Of course it could be that there will be some real funding available…

Impact:

This works best with some facilitators to help support the various groups as they progress through each activity and often can make a significantly positive impact where groups from different curriculum areas meet for the first time. Utilising external stakeholders to share their challenges can also help to add real value and excitement for learners. Learners tend to enjoy the active nature of the workshop and the rigours of presenting to an external stakeholder with potential solutions to the challenges set. 

Learner outcome:

Tend to see an increased awareness of wider enterprise and boost in confidence in terms of team working, design thinking, negotiation and engagement with audiences. A useful taster for deeper enterprising learning. Skilled reflection is vital throughout and post session/s through on-going programme.  Depending on the nature of the ‘challenge’ this can be extended to a module/programme duration.

Resources: 

• Team building activities based in context – e.g. Clinical setting/Engineering/Creative/Education. 
• Usual flip charts and pens etc. 
• Raw materials for prototyping if possible 
• Electronic devices to film short presentations 
• Bespoke Currency for crowd funding session 
• Prizes 

References:

Brown, T (2008) Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review, June 2008  (pages 85 – 92)
Dweck, C (2006) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, By Dweck, Carol S. ( Author ) Dec-26-2007 Paperback
Krueger, N.F.Jr. (2010) 13 Looking Forward, Looking Backward: From entrepreneurial Cognition to Neuroentrepreneurship in Acs, Z.K and Audretsch, D.B. (eds.), 2nd Edition of the Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research, Springer 
Westfall, C (2012) The New Elevator Pitch: the definitive guide to persuasive communication in the digital age, Marie Street Press  

If you would like to have your How to Guide featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.

We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the How to Guide.

• How to Guide Template
• Template Guidance

If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.

If you would like to have your Case Study featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.

We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the Case Study.

• Case Study Template
• Template Guidance

If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.