Innovation at TMC is a springboard...

...for young people to support economic recovery in their world....a space to play and venture to develop skills ... a rehearsal for the real world...a place to work on ideas to take action....

We want to work with young people so they are in a position to say...

“...now I can get a job and start in my business...if I need further nourishment, I can go back and discover my skills with The Mighty Creatives.”

To help us get it right, we would love to hear from you in a few words, a story or an image that tells us.......

Where do you want to be in 2020?
How could TMC help you get there?
Who does TMC need to work with?
What skills do young people need to get where they want to be?

What do we do with wonderland?

During the conversation with Becky and Sarah about innovation, enterprise and skills on 15th July, we hit on two themes we wanted to explore further; how can we use stories to capture the journey of ideas and how we craft ideas into shape (pan for gold)?

Thinking about these two themes, we talked about the importance of space. It can be hard to find or be given the space to dive into an idea once we decide we have struck gold. The journey of an idea can be difficult and we need to be able to try things out, get things wrong and see things in a new way.

Aha, we thought, just like Alice in Wonderland! Alice is determined to follow the curious white rabbit, not knowing or even thinking about where it would lead. She enters Wonderland and her little world of experience is turned upside down.

Nothing is as it appears to be, or as she thinks it should be. Everything is new and unexpected. Butterflies are bread and butter flies, caterpillars talk, and we celebrate unbirthdays rather than birthdays. It can be daunting and chaotic and there is often no rhyme or reason for why we follow an idea so faithfully. But the wonderland of ideas is also a place where anything is possible and we are given presents of things we already have, but didn’t know we have.

In Alice’s case, the adventure ends in her waking up from a strange dream “wake up Alice!” but you and I know that once we have had such experience, the way we see things and the things we want to do because of what we have seen, will never be the same again.

"it's black and white"...

A conversation with Pat Moores

With a background in business and the experience of working with schools developing and leading business and enterprise at the heart of education, Pat contacted The Mighty Creatives and myself to share her thoughts on the new business proposal for the unit.

We met in Northamptonshire on Friday 16 July to grab a precious hour and a coffee to share and exchange thoughts on the potential of business and enterprise work with young people in the East Midlands.

We discussed:

What is needed from adults to ensure an offer like this can thrive?
• Investment
• Commitment
• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Time
• Clarity of vision
• Community engagement

“In order for business and enterprise to work in schools particularly it must be woven throughout the fabric of the organisation. It is that simple – it’s black and white” (Pat Moores)

Where should the focus of enterprise be?
• Material wellbeing
• Job creation

“it’s about getting to what really makes a difference to young people – to the community, a real physical difference.”

Pat shared three things for consideration in building the plan:
• Business partners (real world connections)
• Learning (the skills)
• Accreditation (qualifications)

Positioning The Mighty Creatives at the heart of this work, as a bridge between business, education and qualifications.

Young people have the ideas...the key is who is listening? who is supporting? what’s changing? who is taking action on this?

What we need to understand to develop this approach?

• Who are the employers?
• What do business get?
• What do they offer young people?
• Are we supporting “young people into the framework of working?...”

What do employers say that they don’t get? Young people leaving school with life skills, communication, literacy...

We need to nurture an offer and support young people and their communities to “just do it!”

My sincere thanks to Pat for her time and inspiration during this conversation! We are now planning to take this conversation forward with a research bursary for Pat to scope the potential of this work for The Mighty Creatives...

More on panning for gold

Ideas can be tricky. Some of them burn out quickly whilst others will develop beyond imagination. Where do they come from? How do you know when you’ve happened upon an idea that will not only sustain excitement in its creator, but inspire others to be part of it and provide the world with something magical? Not necessarily something entirely new, but something so essential or so captivating that we won’t know how we did without it.

In a discussion about innovation, Becky, Karen and I rested upon the topic of ideas. Trying to get to the bottom of them, we talked about ‘light-bulb’ moments, about the need for focus. As we sat in a classroom in Hardwick, quietly waiting for an idea about ideas (no pressure), the image of an exploring child, sifting pebbles and earth came to us and we moved toward the metaphor of panning for gold.

We are subject to a constant flow of thoughts, dreams, information and moments of inspiration – our own and other people’s. We obsess about some of it and ignore other, less attractive details, but it’s not ‘til we go through the silt and the gravel of these that we get the precious, genuinely sparkling idea we’re after.

From time to time we might get lucky, but gold panning is a craft that might reveal the idea we’ve been waiting for.

Young people in their society, their environment and their business

Are we developing Young entrepreneurs?


the thinkUP forum continued on the 15th July to explore the business focus of the unit using the images and our shared definitions as a starting point.



How do young people imagine and realise the possibilities for action in their society, in their environment and in their business?


We discussed the power of telling Stories to unlock NEW IDEAS. Telling stories of their world in different places and spaces to help young people, TMC and our partners understand a child’s eye view of the world.



Young people making their mark on the world, using innovation and creativity, identifying new ways of working and leading challenging action in their lives.

• Footprints (collective action regionally)


• Handprints (collaborative action locally)


• Fingerprints (individual action)

TMC will seek to design an offer where by which we will seek to invest in Young People through providing the space, time, resources, people, and skills to unlock new ideas and grow young entrepreneurs.

How?...

thinkUP Forum 15 July 2010

How do we begin to define innovation, enterprise and skills?

The thinkUP team discussion explored in detail the answer to this question as a means to begin to scope the business focus of our offer. We captured below a summary of the thoughts we explored and refined during the session.

What do you think?...

WE think innovation is...
• Imagining the possibilities..
• Enabling young people to take new directions...
• Innovation at the heart of TMC to feed Innovation from TMC ...
• Spaces and places for telling stories that nurture new ideas
• Panning for gold, looking for the TMC sparkle
TMC and young people in Wonderland - A place for creating the conditions for innovation at the heart of The Mighty Creatives. A space for using stories that exist to capture the journey and ideas towards new business.

WE think enterprise is...

• the art of business
• making money
• taking action
• realising ideas that are new

Origins - Derives from the old French word meaning meaning business

Quote: "Dérivé de entreprendre, daté de environ 1430-40 dans le sens de prendre entre ses mains. Aux environs de 1480 il prit le concept actuel de prendre un risque, relever un défi, oser un objectif".
Translated - meaning ‘to undertake’ from around 1430 – 40 in the sense of ‘to take between the hands.’ Around 1480, the concept took on its current meaning, which is ‘to take a risk, raise the stakes, dare to have an idea.’

Skills

• investing in labour and the craft
• growing the skills and tools for business

Is enterprise the journey, the pathway, the (ad)venture to creating business that leads to action and change?

The three pillars of enterprise:
• People (Social)
• Planet (Environmental)
• Profit (Economical)

Is it the art of business?

Young entrepreneurs having an idea to meet a need and take challenging action in the real world...

thinkUP is launched

12.30pm Thursday 15 July 2010, thinkUP team arrives at Hardwick Park Centre in Derbyshire, the setting for the launch and first meeting of the thinkUP forum.

What is the thinkUP forum?

thinkUP is a small forum of core staff from The Mighty Creatives charged with the task of growing the work of the Innovation unit and driven by BIG ideas for innovation at the heart of The Mighty Creatives.

The thinkUP forum is led by myself, and supported during phase one of the process, by Programme Managers Karen Efford and Sarah Bailey.

With no set agenda and a picnic, we created the space and time to begin the journey... a journey that we have agreed to share with you and invite your reflections and input into our work.

As a forum we agreed that this blog would be the point of communication and engagement of the wider staff team at TMC, young people, our partners and stakeholders to work towards the creation of a PLAN for the future business offer of this unit.

So we invite you to sign up and join in "Imagine the possibilities with us"...

Becky, Karen and Sarah

The thinkUP Team