An invite from the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown invited Vision's MD Sharon Roberts to 10 Downing Street on Monday the 8th of March to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing women's leadership in business and enterprise. The meeting was very successful and a number of developments are already being discussed.

The Prime Minister was also very interested in Visions International Development Programme and has personally requested an update following our latest trip to LA for business leaders which returns at the end of this month.

For further information please contact Vision directly.

Photo courtesy of Steve Back of Political Pictures

Regional award for Vision's MD

Vision Managing Director and owner Sharon Roberts, has been successfully appointed as the East Midlands Enterprise Champion, one of nine regional Champions appointed by respective RDAs. The East Midlands Development Agency were tasked with overseeing the recruitment process for this voluntary post and found Sharon to be the perfect candidate to provide them with advice and offer guidance to Ministers from Business Innovation and Skills. The role will involve looking at ways to raise the profile of womens enterprise regionally and nationally. A key element of the project is to promote enterprise to women from low income families.

Laura-Jane Ranby, Business Support Diversity Manager, emda comments, Sharon has been heavily involved with the Womens Ambassadors Network, international trade development and a number of events encouraging women to look at enterprise. She is an inspirational woman on all levels.

As you know, Sharon is an executive management & performance specialist, facilitator, author and motivational speaker. She is an unconventional, dynamic business woman and a self made entrepreneur. She owns and runs Visions two companies which trade in 5 countries. She continues to work in Los Angeles, and is there at the moment, alongside some of the top U.S Entrepreneurs and her new book Formula for Success was nominated for the East Midlands Women of Worth Awards in 2007. Her company Vision Development are specialists in leadership training.

Sharon will now be the regional voice of womens enterprise and a champion for the agenda on all stages.

Vision and Dragons Den

At Vision we are always very proud of the individuals and Organisations who achieve success whilst working with us. Below you will find an article from one of our clients and how she has achieved.

Hello and welcome to Storyshaping. I am Julia Damassa and I am the owner of Storyshapes Limited, the company that makes and sells the tools of Storyshaping and delivers training in the techniques of Storyshaping. Storyshaping supports children and families in creating stories orally. It's a great way to develop communication skills through talk. It is also a great way for us as parents and teachers to actively engage in our children's creative thinking and learning. Storyshapes serve as prompts and visual tactile reminders of the key features of story structure. The collaborative approach is supportive and inclusive, and we may be storyshaping in any spoken or signed language. All ideas are valued equally, and children and families have a real sense of ownership as the authors of their story.

I developed the concept of Storyshaping to help my own family with their Speaking and Listening skills. As a parent and teacher, I want my family to be confident, articulate communicators. Now I extend my skills as the Storyshaper, helping other parents, practitioners, trainees and professionals, to become positive role models in communication for their children.

I love my work and I firmly believe in the far-reaching and life-enhancing benefits of Storyshaping. I feel proud to have shaped the idea into a viable business, which now two years old, is investor-ready and has received several national awards.

I am very grateful to Sharon and Brendan of VISION who are my EMDA Business Champions. Their mentoring and support over the past six months has significantly contributed to my applying for the Dragons Den. Although I am not yet able to mention the outcome of my experience, my raw pitch as part of the application process can currently be viewed on the BBC Dragons Den website.

Brendan, EMDA and City Arts; a case study

Case Study

City Arts enter the commercial world - August 2009

Enterprise & Innovation

East Midlands Business Champion Brendan Blewitt has worked closely with Nottingham City Arts to help them develop a greater awareness of the needs of commercial operations and facilitate their approach to business organisations.

As Gillian Bates, Communications Manager at City Arts, explains: ‘City Arts receives funding from the Arts Council, Nottingham City Council and various trusts. In the present economic climate we felt that it was vital to broaden the organisation’s appeal and identify additional sources of funding within the commercial world.’

Business Champions - a programme created and funded by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) which recruits high-calibre proactive business figures. Working with voluntary and educational organisations, Business Champions support projects where a commercial perspective is needed. For City Arts, involvement with Business Champions would, they felt, help them to bridge the gap between Public Sector Arts and Private Sector Business.

It’s easy to see why Business Champion Brendan Blewett was attracted to this particular project. Now a principal of training organisation Vision Development Consultants, Brendan has a varied background, including two years working as an artist in the heady New York art scene and a further period exhibiting his art in Spain. Add to that his ten years heading a college art department and more recent history in business and you have an individual with a unique insight into the operations of both ‘worlds’.

Brendan identifies one of his key skills as an ability to probe the inner workings of an organisation, to ask the right questions. After some initial discussion, he started work with City Arts with a full day session, looking at the way that City Arts functions. Together with staff he identified key words that expressed their mission and explored how well they are communicating both internally and externally.

His contribution has been invaluable, says Gillian Bates. ‘Brendan has been brilliant. He has been able to understand the way we work, and has made us look much more coolly and dispassionately at City Arts and appreciate how we can make real improvements’

Brendan found that the structure of the organisation made it difficult for City Arts to be flexible, and got in the way of effective communications. As he said: ‘City Arts draws on the skills of people from mental health professionals to community artists. Communication and clear identification of responsibilities and areas of influence among such a disparate group has been a challenge’.

This first session was followed up by a second where they looked more at how communications could be improved through a clear definition of individuals’ roles and responsibilities throughout, and they also identified projects which they felt had a commercial dimension, or would be attractive to businesses. Brendan has also been able to identify and facilitate funding for the project through the Government programme, Train To Gain.

Gillian Bates made the point: ‘We didn’t really know how to go about approaching commercial businesses and whether we would share the same values.’

Brendan has been able to demystify much of the business world for City Arts, providing a language and an approach for them to base their presentations on.

As Brendan put it: ‘Many organisations are aware of their Corporate Social Responsibility obligations and are looking for ways to give back to the community, either through participation or sponsorship. We have been able to identify transferable skills and opportunities where City Arts can work alongside the business community’.

Building for Success

Fantastic News!

Vision has now received funding to work across the City of Nottingham, delivering and co-ordinating a range of courses to improve individuals' employability skills.

Project Theme: Building for Success.

Target Audience: The project is aimed at individuals who are (16+) and unemployed, within the City of Nottingham. This also includes Voluntary/Community Groups and Individuals that work less than 16hrs a week.

Project Aim: Improving personal employability skills.

Subject Themes: All courses are FREE to attend (Subject to Criteria)

· 2 Day First Aid Refresher

· 3 Day First Aid at Work Certificate

· 1 Day First Aid Appointed Person

· 2 Day Paediatric (Excellent for Child Care / Social Care)

· CIEH Principles of COSHH Course Health & Safety

· ‘Principles of Manual Handling Course’

· ‘Understanding the top ten skills that employers want’. Based on a number of surveys by Microsoft, Target Jobs, the BBC, Prospects, NACE and other Organisations

Where and when: (Your place or mine?)

Option 1: You can book delegates on to a scheduled training day at Vision as we have excellent training facilities to improve the learning environment. These include a fully operational Training Room and a professional Board Room. (Please contact for dates and times)

Option 2: Alternatively the training could take place at your Venue if you have more than 7 Delegates to attend the training.

“Learning really comes to life at Vision with interesting and creative resources used to make the training inspiring and memorable”

If you feel that your Organisation or any individuals you know could benefit from any of the above, please call one of our team on 0115 9418242

To take this project forward a partnership meeting has been arranged at Vision on the 30th of September 2009 at 1.30 pm. and because we have no shame we will be offering you afternoon cream tea.

Please could you confirm by email if you would like to attend this meeting.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Sharon Roberts.

Managing Director:

Vision Development consultants

Specialist’s in National & International Business/ Personal Development: