Ice cold in Buxton

On 19 July 2006, on the hottest day in recorded time, several LIS staff set off in two minibuses and three cars to Buxton, in the hope that it would be snowing (it wasn't). They were:
Sonya, Marian, Parvinder, Lee K, Christine Wiltshier, Cindy, Gurdev, Anni, Alli, Jill, Arwen, Dave B, Maria H, Helen, Sheena, Lydia (Ked Rd)
Maureen K, Gill, Alexandra, Hilary, Gloria, Catherine V, Jeanette (Mickleover)
Kelvin, Richard C, Sally, Anne, Rachel, Rob M, Kay T, Heather W (Brit Mill)
They were met at the other end by a very friendly bunch of Buxton staff, and they were:
Maria, Emma, Michael, Catherine D, Heidi, Lesley, Maggie, Yvonne (and Pam who was covering in the Learning Centre).
This is what we did:

1 Drank tea
















2 Got to know each other through a fairly silly wake-up activity called line-up. Team C were caught cheating and had to be spoken to.


3 Had a presentation/Q&A session with Maria and Emma on some of the downs (difficult first year, bring a woolly hat in the winter), but mostly the ups (great working relationships, diverse students, nice buzz) of working at Buxton.




4 Were taken for a tour of the Dome, which was looking stunning.







5 Ate lunch. This got very good feedback, as follows:
Good food
superb lunch
good lunch
good food ... etc
You get the picture.

6 Participated in a session on team-building led by Suzanne Morton, a freelance trainer. Staff were divided up randomly into 'families' (Royal family, musicians, Pink ladies and T birds, etc) and had to find each other.



Everyone then reflected on the difference between work groups and teams. There was in-depth analysis of the failings of the England football team which concluded that they were all playing out of position, and Sven should have played to their strengths. Though maybe they were just overpaid and overrated.

The teams were then given their task:
to design a logo and slogan for LIS, plus a book or web page, to say what LIS should be about in the future, and what they were proud of. The bad news was, this had to be constructed from coloured card, bacofoil, straws, ribbon, sellotape, marker pens and balloons (£14.00 the lot from Wilko's - advert). This task was the biggest journey of the afternoon. I think it's fair to say that every group moved from 'stumped and horrified' to a powerhouse of intellectual creativity in about 45 minutes.

Each group then had to present to everyone else and explain what their construction was all about to the visiting VC. Heather was temporarily promoted to VC to judge the results and it went to her head a bit.

These were the banner ideas the 6 groups came up with:

Learning is splendid
... the only people to come up with a striking logo which somehow represented the internet and a book.


















Let learning lift you
...a hot air balloon - inspired and inspirational

















Be enlightened
...light bulbs on balloons - we should market this idea right now in time for induction.
















Bridging the gap (to learning)
... this was the most conceptual, and very professionally presented as a team. The final effort to bribe the VC with a special balloon was noted.

















Gateway to your future - it's easy PC (get it?)
...this group laughed the most. Sheena was heard to say that it may not have been the best but they had the most fun doing it. Lee won the Perrier award for most promising comedy newcomer for his presentation.
















We listen while you learn
... somehow managed to make the letters LIS into a human profile - came out looking a lot like one of those fruit and vegetable heads by Arcimboldo. Really strong on the personal approach.
















My overall impressions were that LIS staff have a really clear idea of what they are here to do, and once you set aside the details (books, computers, e-resources), supporting learning is always at the heart of it. Most people are also far too modest about how well they do this.

Everyone worked together fantastically, hopefully got to know a few faces and exchanged experiences, and the creations were amazing (available from me for display if anyone wants them).

One the whole, it was a pretty optimistic day with everyone feeling fairly positive about the future. This is what they said:

"The team activity highlighted and celebrated our strengths as team in LIS and was great fun."
"Excellent chance to meet and bond with other colleagues."
"Friendly atmosphere, not too intensive, good fun."
"enjoyed using the Blue Peter materials."

We said goodbye and went home.

Thankyou to Maria for providing lunch, and to all her team for their welcome and hospitality, to Pat for paying for the transport, and to Maria (again) and Chris Whitehouse for paying for Suzanne to come in and lead the session. And to everyone who turned up and put their creativity and ingenuity to work. It was a pleasure to spend the day with you all.

Heather, 25/7/06