One person dies every 15 seconds.

It may be you today unless you CLICK HERE

Safety is a race we can all win.

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” - Theodore Roosevelt

This was a safety message sent out to staff today - Do you think this is too confronting for a Friday morning?

J.Shea

Jessica Shea

Curtin Bentley 

DOMINOS

The day has finally come. Although, that wasn’t my feeling at all. You would have thought throughout the placement you would be dying for it to finish, end this misery and let me get paid please! But no, it has not been like this, I have loved every minute of it! The biggest thing throughout my placement that made me happy about coming in was the people – they are so supportive, caring and lovely. I understand a non for profit organisation sometimes has a different sense to it but I think this place has a special spark. Last week the whole of the executive surrounded me at my desk, I hadn’t notice for a few seconds and looked up startled. Lee made a joke that this is what they do every Friday – I knew otherwise. I squeezed by apple shaped stress ball they had given to me and smiled. Lee said I was very helpful and loved having me around. Then to be my surprise they gave me a small gift to say thank you. I felt honoured in a way.

The most important part of my internship has been valuing the little things in a workplace. Putting in 100% in even when it may not be that important. It seems as though everything is – it’s like dominos really, if you stuff up something minor and pass it on and then that person adds to it and passes it on and then the next person adds and passes it on, somewhere at the end of the chain there could be about 50 mistakes for the CEO who is horrified!

Dominos is a really important theme in Public Relations and Event Management I think. You are really relying on that person next to you to call that person in advance so they know what time to arrive to the location advised and to ensure they are aware of the location so the meeting or event runs smoothly *Take a breath*. This will definitely occur in every project. Considering:

1. Who what when where
2. Planning and design
3. Costs/Budget
4. Timeliness
5. Research
6. Execution
7. Monitoring
8. Crisis Management
9. Evaluation
10. Change Management

I think we all know ALL projects NEVER finish on time. I swear it took twenty years for Forest Chase to be all finished. 

Does any of you have that place near your house that always has ROAD WORKS signs. Its gastly isn’t it?

I think the morale of my placement was don’t be that road works sign sitting on that same street for twenty years. 

Perfect what you do in a timely Manner.

Thank you for all your posts ladies & gentleman

Please take the time visit Workpower's Website.

http://www.workpower.asn.au/

J.Shea

Jessica Shea

Curtin Bentley 

THIS WORK IS TOO SIMPLE!!!!

An event if coming up for you!

è  A joint initiative between Ararfmi and GreenApple Respite Services (division of Workpower) to develop and facilitate a Peer Support Project.  The project will target Carer’s whose children are affected by a sibling’ mental illness; this can encompass Young Carers who care for a family member. The project aims to provide a peer support network for individuals where they can develop life skills, coping skills and a network of individuals in their life who share or have shared a similar experience in a warm and supportive environment. 

My Job has been to source a contact list for this event and explore costs for community newspapers. This has been completed efficiently – Just waiting on a response from the Community News Group; hopefully we will get a discount as we are non for profit!!

The most interesting part of this activity was discovering how many support and youth groups there are around Perth. Those who think they have no one to turn. This is completely untrue - there are about a 10 trillion people you can call! Here are just a few options:

Connect Groups - http://www.connectgroups.org.au/

Headspace - http://www.headspace.org.au/

Youth with a Mission Perth - http://www.ywamperth.org.au/

While creating another contact list for our stakeholder event coming up (so exciting!)  – you would think this would be simple if you give each division a template to follow, trust me it is not. People are useless!! Due to their carelessness I have to put hours of work into fixing it and chasing up names. I feel this activity is similar to the other Blog posted previously – doing these simple things really well and better than other people would ever do it is very important. Do not look down on tasks you have been given but take the opportunity to show how well you can do it – no matter the simplicity of the task.

Until Next time…

J.Shea 

Jessica Shea
Curtin Bentley

Which celebrities are disabled?

How about this for awareness?

Consider the following four dead-end kids. One was spanked by his teachers for bad grades and a poor attitude. He dropped out of school at 16. Another failed remedial English and came perilously close to flunking out of college. The third feared he'd never make it through school - and might not have without a tutor. The last finally learned to read in third grade, devouring Marvel comics, whose pictures provided clues to help him untangle the words - These four losers are, respectively, Richard Branson, Charles Schwab, John Chambers, and David Boies (Disability world 2012).

Utilising celebrities is one of the many PR Skills that grab attention from people. I thought a couple these quotes would interest some of you and maybe open your heart and minds.

"I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist." - Max Lerner

"Let’s stop "tolerating" or "accepting" difference, as if we’re so much better for not being different in the first place. Instead, let’s celebrate difference, because in this world it takes a lot of guts to be different." - Kate Bornstein

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." - Alphonse Karr

"Each handicap is like a hurdle in a steeplechase, and when you ride up to it, if you throw your heart over, the horse will go along, too." - Lawrence Bixby

This week was based on awareness for me and has really got me thinking. I have spent this week creating awareness throughout the community through initiating leads for Workpower. Positive responses are coming left, right and centre. Week two is going well.

I have applied for many different types of free marketing via radio and community based groups. In non for profit organisations there is obviously a lot of goodwill floating around. It is evident when you market yourself as a non for profit business, people, groups and organisations are a great deal more inclined to reach out to you. It has been proven by all clubs, libraries and radio stations who are more than welcoming to the idea of assisting in marketing Workpower Incorporated.

On the flip side, why wouldn’t you? Each organisation should have corporate social responsibility guidelines and show this through practise. This is an opportunity for business’ to utilise Workpower’s name to market themselves as not only productive and efficient, but also ‘socially responsible!’.

Corporate social responsibility has become like a marketable fashion accessory. It is something business’ put out there like Facebook or Twitter, just because they have to. But realistically, it is a document many organisations place on their website to cover themselves from any negative publicity. For example, Nike; we all remember when that catastrophe happened and I am sure is still occurring! For those who don’t know, Nike had atrocious working conditions, child labour and the hidden sweat shops. They were forced to create a corporate social responsibility document stating principles and guidelines on their website.

Is it just a facade? Do companies communicate this fake identity then do nothing of the sort? Definitely.

http://www.workpower.asn.au/

Jessica Shea

Curtin Bentley

Are you thinking, is it good enough?

The first week is complete. I am experiencing very surprising emotions; relief and excitement simultaneously. Admittedly when I spoke to my supervisor before I entered Workpower Incorporated, she seemed amazing, lovely and stimulating all at the same time. I just hoped these characteristics were going to hold when I met her face to face. To my dismay...and relief, they did! Julia is great, she has helped me every step of the way; with her positive nature and creative flare I feel this will be smooth sailing, fingers crossed!

I think the one thing that an intern worried about is – ‘is it good enough?’

That was my major concern.

Julia has been very encouraging telling me I am doing really well and my first week she seemed surprised in how it is all going. I came back today with a positive spirit and ready to work on my next project. Ok I have got all wrapped up in how my emotions are doing; let’s talk business.

To really understand how Workpower works was to go into the workshop and see what happens. For a quick overview: Workpower is one of Western Australia's leading community benefits organisations, providing a range of support services and programs for people with disability and people with mental illness. I firstly spent a day reading their policies, procedures and communications to understand what is going on and where they were at. That was slightly overwhelming but I knew it would all come together eventually.

I walked down the corridor where the workers were delighted to see me – some of the workers who are disabled rarely get to see new faces so it’s exciting. I had a quick look around and one of the ladies, Sue, told me not to be nervous because they sense it and will jump on you even harder, I thought this was funny. She just told me not to treat them any different as I would her. Which is fair enough but it is hard when you are never around people with disabilities, they were lovely though. I understood by the way Sue spoke to me how much she cared and loved her job.

I was then set to analyse their internal communications survey which had been completed this month. No doubt in every work place there are glitches, problems, people who complain and most of all, there are always things to improve on. There are many divisions inside Workpower that include various sites across Perth. So we analysed these according to site, as there would obviously changing perspectives and opinions according to the site. As expected, ideas and values differed immensely; I read through each response and provided a summary for each person in each division. I then provided a rundown of the whole company and recommendations I felt could improve some problems that existed. This was a little time consuming but I did not want to do it half heartedly, I wanted to go through each opinions thoroughly as it wouldn’t be fair to bypass one person’s problem and not another’s.

As Workpower is a non for profit organisation we have also been thinking of doing some free advertising and or marketing on some community radio stations. So we touched on that Friday, sending a few emails out to gauge the response; Curtin FM seems to be the most expensive by a long shot! Does anyone know if I get discount because I go there?

Anyway, we got a few positive responses - including a RTR FM representative emailing me asking if she could come into our office later in the week! Perfect.

Until Next time....

J. Shea

Jessica Shea

Curtin Bentley