News from Grahame Robb Associates

Launch of Crucial Accountability (a Crucial Conversations Companion Course)

22 January 2013 - This one-day companion course builds on the skills you learned in Crucial Conversations and introduces you to a powerful set of new skills to resolve your most challenging accountability issues. It enables those who already have knowledge of Crucial Conversations skills to diagnose why someone keeps falling short of expectations and then helps them derive a plan that both motivates and enables the other person to successfully change his or her behaviours. These additional skills are perfect for crucial accountability conversations that seem resistant to dialogue skills alone.

For details of the first UK public training programme on the 31st January in Reading, call 01962 779911/22.

If you go down to the woods today...

10 December 2012 - Unique Outdoors (a trading name of Grahame Robb Associates Ltd.) is now taking bookings and enquiries for group days out. Anything from stag/hen parties to school trips. Children’s birthday party slots are filling up fast so speak to the team at Unique soon to avoid disappointment. New party packages including archery, high ropes and survival skills all coming for 2013! Click here to find out more!

Woodland Laser Combat

10 December 2012 - Click here to watch our new 'Woodland Laser Combat' video! More accurate and less painful and messy than paintball! Get a team together and test your nerve, skill and tactical cunning in a 2 hour battle in our deep, dark woods at Wokefield Park, Mortimer, Reading!

GRA to support Charity Burns Night for 4th year with another Mini

6 December 2012 - GRA are supporting the British Heart Foundation Burns night dinner hosted at DeVere Venues Wokefield Park in Reading, and guests attending this prestigious event can buy raffle tickets to win a 'Mini at Midnight' donated by GRA. Last year we raised a massive £82,570 on the night.
We are currently running a competition at Wokefield Park to guess how many mini packets of Love Heart sweets will fit into a mini. If you cannot visit Wokefield Park Executive Centre with your answer please email Gaynor Sorrill at gaynor@gra.uk.com to win one of the many prizes!

Richmond Events HR Forum

6 December 2012 - GRA were proud to provide the Keynote speaker at the Richmond Events HR Forum at the Royal College of Physicians on the 6th November. Joseph Grenny, Author of 4 New York Times best sellers, and co-founder of VitalSmarts, gave an inspiring, informative and fun speech to an audience of over 100 HR Directors and outlined ways that they can be 10x more successful at bringing about lasting change in their organisations.

Cultural Operating System Conference

5 December 2012 - GRA ran a highly successful event on the 5th November for around 80 clients, with Joseph Grenny from VitalSmarts, on how the develop a 'Cultural Operating System', and build a high performing culture. The conference, held at the new National Football Centre at St George's Park, included case studies workshops with some of our key clients - Abbott Vascular, Old Mutual Group, Kent Community Health NHS Trust, Serco and the RYA, outlining how they have use GRA to support culture change programmes. For more details of the Cultural Operating System concept, click here

APM South West Branch Event

7 November 2012 - Richard Pound, Business Development Director at GRA, spoke on the subject of 'Influencer' to a group of around 80 project managers at the APM South West Branch event in Bristol, highlighting the importance of 'influence' as a skill and the relevance of behaviour change to the success of projects in today's demanding environment. Click here for more details of Influencer.

Unique Outdoors organise 'Santa Shoot' in support of the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance

28 June 2012 - Unique Outdoors (a trading name of GRA Ltd.), working closely with Santa Cruise, raised £1080 for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance.

Over 80 people from the Berkshire area came along in teams to compete against the Santas and each other in a 'Woodland Laser Combat' tournament at Wokefield Park, near Reading. Teams from Grahame Robb Associates Ltd., De Vere Venues, BMW and local communities showed their support. The cub scouts also attended, cooking a continuous stream of bacon sandwiches and burgers for the troops.

The money raised added to the £33,000 pot accumulated over the last 7 years. For more information about their good work visit santacruise.org.uk. For more information on Unique Outdoors, visit uniqueoutdoors.co.uk

GRA sponsor another Mini for charity

27 January 2012 - Grahame Robb Associates in partnership with De Vere Wokefield Park have supported the 3rd annual Variety Club Burns night dinner hosted at De Vere's flagship hotel in Reading. Raising a massive £82,570 on the night in support of this amazing children's charity, this brings the total fund raising over the past 3 years to a whopping £207,000.

Guests attending this prestigious event bought raffle tickets to win the Mini Cooper donated by Grahame Robb Associates Ltd. and De Vere Wokefield Park and the lucky winner, Duncan Parsonage, received the keys to his new car today - which he promptly gave to his wife Helen.

For more information on the Variety club and the excellent work they do for young people see the Variety Club web site.

GRA sign agreement with iKwest

5 July 2011 - Philip Ray, International Development Manager for iKwest at Mobilitas Spa, and Grahame Robb Associates Ltd. signed an agreement today for GRA to use the location-aware smartphone app as part of their management development programmes.

After thorough testing of iKwest in 2010, GRA became Mobilitas Spa's first associate in the UK and will be including the smartphone application as a standard feature on many of their Corporate Outdoor Learning Programmes and their recently inaugurated Unique Outdoors (activities for all the family) business, based at Wokefield Park.

Philip visited Europe in June to explore the market and identify some of the 200 international associates the Chilean company will be appointing throughout the world as part of its globalization strategy which commenced in July with the opening of the Mobilitas US office in Silicon Valley.

Indispensable By Monday - cut costs and boost profits

24 March 2011 - If you want to save money and boost profits while engaging all your staff in the effort, then coming to the launch of 'Indispensable By Monday' will be a smart move.

The launch will be on 6th May 2011 at Holborn Bars in London. See the invitation for more details and book your place.

Unique Outdoors

11 March 2011 - Today the web site for Unique Outdoors goes live.

After over 20 years of using the outdoors as a great experiential learning tool for business leaders, we are letting everyone experience the great activities we can offer at Wokefield Park, near Reading. Have a look at the new web site and especially at the events we have running over the Easter and May bank holidays, in conjunction with special accommodation offers from DeVere. Come for the day or the weekend.

GRA sponsor a BMW Mini for charity

10 February 2011 - Leading names in the meeting, conference and training industry rubbed shoulders with celebrities and sports stars at the end of January at the De Vere Venues Annual Charity Burn's Night. Investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre and England Goalkeeping Coach, Ray Clemence, were just some of the names attending the evening which raised over £67,000 for the Variety Club.

One highlight of this spectacular fund raising evening was the 'Mini@Midnight', sponsored for the second year by GRA Ltd. This was raffled in aid of the Variety Club of Great Britain. The picture shows the prize draw in progress. The stunned winner was absolutely delighted with his new car.

Powerfan available for booking

1 September 2010 - The Powerfan at Wokefield Park is available for booking on Tuesday & Thursday evening through to the end of October and all day Saturday through the autumn and winter.

See the Powerfan page for more information.

Silent Danger

19 August 2010 - We are delighted to announce a new conference on the 8th December at the De Vere Daresbury Park, Warrington, Lancashire where you can learn about the recent Silent Danger research. The conference will explore the five common, yet avoidable, workplace dangers and detail how to create a culture of accountability and safety in your organisation.

Call us for details or send us your details.

PowerFan launch a great charity success

22 May 2010 - The launch of the new PowerFan at Wokefield (Reading) last Saturday raised over £555 for the Joe Glover Trust. People of all ages had a go (or two) at stepping off the 15m/45ft platform and enjoying the quick flight back to earth, with a gentle touchdown. There were those who thought they could not do it (but did) and others who commented on how much higher it seems when you are up there!

Some pictures. You can try it for yourself: bring your work team, friends or family. Just call us to book on 01962 779922.

The PowerFan comes to Wokefield

10 May 2010 - Last week saw the installation of the new Power Fan at Wokefield. Never heard of a Power Fan? See the first picture and try it for yourself at the charity launch on 22nd May 2010. Early booking advised!

Vitalsmarts' Joseph Grenny on ABC news

10 May 2010 - Joseph Grenny, co-author of the best-selling book "Crucial Conversations", has given a short interview on ABC News outlining some hints and tips for employees to effectively ask for holiday time and ensure they really get the time they need.

Watch the clip.

Silent danger

10 May 2010 - We are delighted to announce a new Conference on the 7th July at Wokefield Park, Reading, where you can learn about the new "Silent Danger" research. The conference will explore the 5 common, yet avoidable workplace dangers and detail how to create a culture of accountability and safety in your organisation.

More details

March 2010 - Champagne Prize Draw

9 April 2010 - Many thanks to everyone who entered the champagne prize draw located on our stand in the Executive Centre at De Vere Wokefield Park, Reading.

The winner of this month's bottle of champagne is Bob Houghton. We will contact Bob shortly to arrange delivery of his prize.

Thanks once again to everyone who took part

GRA climb Mt Kilimanjaro

7 September 2009 - They have reached the top! Alex was hallucinating, Vicki had a sore ear. But otherwise all happy and tired.

4 September 2009 - At 15.00 (UK time) Grahame called for the update, he sounded in good spirits but hadn't been in touch for the last couple of days due to poor phone signal. The trekkers are at Baranco Wall, only 2 camps away from the top of Kilimanjaro. They had a tough day of walking yesterday 9 hours in total. A couple of injuries as well, a number of people suffering from blisters and Alex has managed to burn his ears!

Sadly the phone cut off before we could get any further information....

2 September 2009 - At 09:42 (UK time) Grahame called to say they were all in the 'wagon' heading towards the face of Kili to begin their 7 day climb passing Zebra, Giraffes and Wildebeest on the way. According to Vicki the Giraffes are really cool but she really wants to see some Elephants. The weather is really nice over there, warm and sunny during the day but freezing at night apparently! Sharon isn't talking to anyone at the moment... she is psyching herself up for the climb!

1 September 2009 - Grahame Robb and daughter Vicki, Sharon Clish and son Alex are climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money for Wave 105 Cash for Kids! So far they have arrived in Africa a few days ahead of the climb to help them acclimatise. Yesterday they climbed Little Meru at 12,800ft (3 times the size of Ben Nevis) it took them 8 hours to summit on the second day of climbing.

Unfortunately KLM lost Grahame's luggage luckily he has it back now but his camelback was stolen meaning he is now going to have to carry bottles of water up Kili, which they set off for tomorrow. They are however all in very good spirits and have already seen Buffalo, Giraffes and Baboons!

Karen Robb: Crucial Conversations Master Trainer

19 June 2009 - GRA is pleased to announce that Karen Robb has recently achieved Master Trainer status in Crucial Conversations, and is now the only Master Trainer to be based in the UK, and one of only 36 Master Trainers in the world. This is a great personal accomplishment for Karen, which has involved months of assessment and development support from VitalSmarts. It is also a significant benefit for you as clients, as we are now able to more effectively and flexibly offer trainer certification programmes within your own organisations, as well as run our own public 'open' trainer certification programmes. For more details of these click here. Well done Karen..!

England World Cup Winners take on new challenges at the GRA Corporate Outdoor Learning Centre

27 May 2009 - Grahame Robb Associates had the privilege of playing host to the ECB England Women's Cricket Team over the May Bank Holiday weekend. After their recent success in the World Cup in Australia, the girls are now preparing for a busy summer season which contains an Ashes Series and 20/20 competitions. GRA provided the Senior and Academy squads, accompanied by members of the ECB Senior Coaching and Management Staff, with a learning and development day at our Outdoor Learning Centre in Wokefield, near Reading.

"Thanks again to you and the team for a fantastic day yesterday. What a day for it and what great fun! I think the girls collectively will have taken a lot from it, which bodes well for the coming matches against each other and Pakistan. I also think the girls got a lot out of it individually as well. There were definitely some big challenges and fears overcome yesterday in my group alone which will be priceless for some of these girls in terms of giving them the belief to perform at the next level. Brilliant!" Simon Crampton, ECB Team Sociologist

See some of the action for yourself at the ECBtv web site

GRA celebrates its 20th birthday in 2009

1 May 2009 - GRA continues to go from strength to strength and, on our 20th birthday, we are pleased to announce that the last 12 months have been the best 12 months in GRA's history. "The significant impact that our services have had with organisations in helping them develop their staff and achieve the results they require has been instrumental in our success", says Grahame Robb. "The business offerings have diversified in the last 4 years and with the successful acquisition of the 15 acre Corporate Outdoor Learning Centre in Reading in 2007, coupled with the rapidly growing business around Crucial Conversations and Influencer, we are well positioned to help our clients survive and thrive during these difficult times."

Influencer training launched in the UK

30 April 2009 - We were delighted to hold the first UK open trainer certification programme for Influencer: The Power to Change Anything in April 2009. The programme was very well received by all those who attended. They saw the power and relevance of the concepts to solving and overcoming major organisational challenges simply by changing behaviour. You may want to look at training programme dates.

Support to the British Sailing Team

1 April 2009 - GRA has just renewed its contract with the RYA as the Learning and Development supplier for Skandia Team GBR, the British Sailing Team in the Olympic and Paralympic Classes. We are delighted to be supporting the team up to 2012 in London and look forward to helping the team secure medal positions, as they did so successfully in Beijing.