Launch of Work Wise Team Challenge

March sees the launch of another new Cares programme element. Work Wise Team Challenge has been developed to allow the popular activity of team volunteering to support SBCs work in the field of youth employability. WorkWise is a broad collection of fun and practical based workshop exercises covering a wide variety of employability skills, a WorkWise day is build from a selection of these activities depending on the skills and aspirations of the volunteers, and the needs of the partner high school or youth group. The delivery of a WorkWise Team Challenge is simple, company volunteers wanting to try a new challenge can sign up for WorkWise and receive a half day training on delivering the chosen elements of the programme from a member of the Cares team, the team are also supported by their Cares representative on the delivery day (or half day). It's flexible, fun and simple to run, ideal for teams with a limited amount of time to volunteer, or the time to prepare and develop their own in-house programme.

Jon Dye, Head of Reporting Assurance for Clydesdale Bank, and 5 members of his team supported the first WorkWise Team challenge this month which took place at Drumchapel High School. "I think that both days were very successful and personally I took a lot away from it - I really think the pupils did too."  The day was made up of a series of fun challenges and sit down workshops which a group of specifically selected pupils took part in. The feedback from the pupils showed that as well as really enjoying the day, they learned a lot about communication and the importance of team work, specifically how their part in a team can make a difference. Having run the event and enjoyed it so much, Jon and his team are now looking at ways in which they can further work with the pupils, possibly by hosting a visit to the work place or with follow up sessions.