Educational institutes to community- do you copy?

"Hello, this is your local Tertiary calling....Community....are you there?"

So is it that no-one is listening, or it simply the fact that Tertiaries do not know how to effectively manage the 'Third Area of Work'?  Steve Maharey, Vice Chancellor of Massey University recently referred to Stakeholder Engagement as this 'Third Area' in his recent interview last weekend on
Q & A.


http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/steve-maharey-university-education-headed-video-5448324

So the checklist for Tertiaries is Simple:

1/ Students
2/ Research
3/ Engagement

'The Third Area of Work', simply put is engagement of community.  This would be in the form of short courses, consultancy, research, perhaps joint commercialisation projects, or more simply, school liaison for future students.  Perhaps its industry engagement- having a supply of takers for the products of their labour- graduated students?

I am passionate about this area. I have spoken to no fewer than 4 institutes in the recent weeks, all with the same story.  Our tertiaries don't see themselves as Sales engines.
Well, I do have to tell the institutes, you are wrong!  Of course you sell things!  You sell courses, research and consultancy.  Ah, you say...but I work in a capped environment.....I say, but you still have to meet your numbers and deliver on your promises.  Isn't the International student market where we are competing on the world stage....its most certainly about sell, sell, sell.  So why are our domestic and international markets so different- .......government calling- are you there??  A small issue around funding and capping I imagine.  Just a guess?

It still surprises me why our business diplomas and degrees lack sales papers.  Even last week I spoke to someone studying a current Diploma in Business- I asked them if any sales papers were included and they said no!  No wonder we don't have a Sales focus- one of our most popular business programmes in NZ and it totally lacks one of the key elements needed in almost all businesses!

If you want to sell to community, you must gain trust and respect.  You must engage with them on a regular basis, not just when you want donations or help at graduation ceremonies.  You need to form real relationships based on delivery, quality and reputation.

This is why I'm  staggered that institutes are still managing without Stakeholder Engagement systems to track and manage these key relationships.  After-all as Steve Maharey puts it "Its the 3rd Area of Work".  So I leave you to ponder on this thought.  Institutes have Student Management Systems to track Students,  Research Management Systems to track research, Finance Management Systems to track Finance.....but no systems to track Stakeholder Engagement.  If this is the Third Area of work, where is the third system to track these important engagements?

I truly believe this is a critical area to track and manage and a risk area if you don't.   Business Mechanix www.businessmechanix.co.nz have a wealth of knowledge in the area of Tertiary Stakeholder Engagement as well as Commercial Stakeholder and contact management, they can put a relationship management solution in today to help get this sorted as well as processes to manage and training for your staff.  If you aren't doing something about it....who's to blame?  How important is your third area of work?

RIP Parekura Horomia - why diet and exercise is vital for NZ's future

I have been listening all week to lovely messages about Parekura Horomia, a popular Labour MP who died this week.  As an avid watcher of Parliament TV, as well as a qualified personal trainer with Merit in Sports Nutrition from AUT, it pains me to see talented people like Parekura Horomia die at the age of 62.  To know he was so behind whanau and our culture and to see in his younger years he was a boxer and played a lot of Rugby, I often ask myself what when wrong.

We need people like Parekura Horomia to keep our society balanced and to keep our culture and history alive.  We also need role models for our young people.  It pains me every time I saw Parekura Horomia, Gerry Brownlee and Paula Bennett in the media or on Parliament TV.  Again, I have a great deal of respect for both of these people as leaders in their field, although I do not agree with the way that they are presenting to society in the form of their weight and often the significant health issues that come with being so over-weight. 

Like many over-weight people, Mr Horomia had struggled with his weight and previously revealed he was a chronic asthmatic and had an enlarged heart.

I have personally trained executives with enlarged hearts and asthma as well as seriously overweight people.  All of these people could exercise and eat healthy and the impact of doing so was a more positive outlook on life.  There are benefits all round...there for the taking if we could just get people to apply themselves.....

People in the spotlight are role-models for our society and it is vital for the health of our country that they are construed as fit and healthy people.  Our country depends on having strong, fit and healthy people for our future economies.  We need talented people to live long enough to pass knowledge and wisdom onto generations to follow and we need them healthy during their working life to be the best they can be....and know this themselves.

I often hear things from my corporate personal training clients clients as to why they cannot get their nutrition or diets under control like- "I don't have time- I'm so busy" or "I travel a lot so can't control what I eat" or the other lines are "Something came up and I had to go out".  Excuses mean avoidance.  People are simply lying to themselves.  Getting to the root cause of why is often the biggest issue.  Many people can have problems at home, suffer from depression, low self confidence or simply find it easy to not bother as they think no one cares, or their 'busy' lifestyle can justify their reason for not eating well or exercising.  I too am busy.  I simply make the time to do these things.  Again- we are personally accountable for our actions, no one else.

Food addiction and lack of exercise can be caused by many factors and being under stress produces cortisol hormone which can be a blocker on the path to successful weight loss.  Uncovering the root cause of why people are overweight can unleash some dark secrets, however this is the first part of the journey to sort things out.  If you are over-weight- the first questions I would ask of yourself is "Are you OK?" 

If you answer no, you need to fix these issues first- seek help from professionals, medical profession or friends and family.  I personally have an issue currently which is preventing me going back to swimming or cycling as every-time I get out there, I can't breathe properly.  I love to do both but feel like I am going to run out of breath.  I have since visited specialists to find out that I have a chronic sinus condition that was not treated correctly, despite me going to 3 doctors.  After a CAT scan and some serious medication, I am finally feeling like I can breathe again and yes, I am starting to feel OK.  This means I can give the swimming and cycling another go, which is very exciting for me as it was a blocker for these sports.

The bottom line, quite simply put is that there is no excuse for poor diet and lack of exercise.  We all have to make choices everyday- which lane to take on the motorway, what tie or dress to wear in the morning, what to eat for breakfast and lunch and if we will take the lift or the stairs.

So what do I suggest as a personal trainer as well as a busy CEO?  Here are my top tips:-

* Understand health and nutrition is a lifestyle choice, not just a diet or exercise programme for 12 weeks.
* Use Incidental Exercise where-ever possible- always take the stairs and not the lift
* Don't try and get the car park nearest your destination- use one further away or better yet, walk to your meetings.
* Choose a form of exercise you can enjoy with your partner such as walking, kayaking hiking, cycling and book in advance into your calendars time to do these activities together
* Understand that food contributes to 80% of weight issues.  You do have a choice as to what and how much you eat.  Every time I put something in my mouth I think about when I am eating it, what I am doing to burn the energy and what nutritional value it has.
* Watch liquid calories.  You don't have to drink juice, beer, wine or anything with sugar in it at all.  Opt for vege juices if you need to or water or last choice, diet drinks but restrict these to only 1 or 2 per day along with healthy food intake.
* Start a weight loss challenge with your friends and family- we just did this through www.skinnyo.com  and members of my family lost up to 8 kg each over a 3 month period- the site emails weekly reports on who is winning and has a facebook style post where you can update statuses regularly.

NZ has one of the highest obesity rates amongst Maori and Pacifica in the world, we need to be encouraging our generation to be healthy.  To do this, we need to educate our communities and have fantastic role-models we can all look up to.  This is my plea.  If you are over-weight or need help, either help yourself or seek out someone who can help you.  There is always a way and it will be for your own healthy future, and for the future of your family, friends and of course NZ as a healthy nation.

Parekura Horomia- your death has not been without purpose.  You have stirred emotions in me of sadness, anger, frustration and a genuine want to help get the message out that we must as a nation work towards healthier lifestyles - including nutrition, health, mental wellness and exercise.  May you Rest in Peace.  NZ please take the message on.  The time to get fit and healthy is now.

What my 25 year old self would say to Bruce Ross, my leadership coach

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The great disruption in education is finally here

I just pinched myself.  I am so excited to be part of a sector that is undergoing such revolutionary change.  On one hand I am surprised I would feel this way and be ready to be part of it, on the flip side, its the challenge I've been waiting for. 

Business Mechanix, are thought leaders in the Tertiary Education sector, globally- we know education and technology and know intimately how to combine the two.  We are asked to sit on panels overseas about technology in education and are nominees for awards on a regular basis with our education solutions.

This is why I am so excited.  Our team has the opportunity to be part of the largest transformation we have ever seen in education globally.  This is in the true transition to Online Education- not just e-learning as we once knew it in the 90's but real qualifications, gained online.  We have the opportunity to do something about incorporating gamification into education as well as levels of mastery and supporting learning providers to do so through our intimate knowledge and involvement in the building and supporting of educational technologies over the past 10 years or more.  Some people call them MOOCS (Massively Open Online Courses) or some simply Online Education- educational content available to be consumed over the Internet - anywhere, anytime, globally.
Massey University has a great reference site here if you want to learn more about MOOCS, however the movers and shakers are constantly changing so keep an eye out as this shift will happen so quickly, just like the .Com bubble, it will progress and change shape quicker than traditional teaching methods ever have.. 
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~dviehlan/Resources-for-MOOCs-and-Badges.html

Not only this, NZ  will finally be shifting to a true Export Education sector- not just this every institute competing with international agents for getting the next International Student to jump on a plane to NZ and study because the revenues are good and us paying commission to people offshore for the privilege.  Real Export Education.  In 2010 there were 60,000 enrolled International Students in NZ bringing in a total of $709 million in revenues- on average around $12,000 per student.  This is a drop in the water compared to the 1.3 trillion students out there.  The potential is huge.  The USA know this and so do Europe.  We need to understand our point of difference with our online qualifications and shoot for the gap before we lose out all together. 

The latest Export Education from the NZ Government is here- Moocs I am sure will completely change this way of reporting also....it will have to!
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/InternationalEducation/ProvidersOfIntEd/ExportEducationLevyAnnualReport2010to2011.pdf

The other challenge as I see it will be the creation of 'learning hubs', which will quickly become a new trend around the globe.  This is open spaces, not just in Universities and Polytechnics, but anywhere which supports a learning environment.  Some people find it hard to learn at home- others love it.  The concept of learning spaces will quickly dominate.  We have seen this on a small scale already- I was working for the University of Auckland when they opened the Information Commons a number of years ago- I remember discussing with other staff- "where were all of these students before they started coming here?".  I witnessed the same thing at Wintec with their fantastic Hub opened a few years ago where students constantly flock to, using the campus supplied technology.

Today, I had the pleasure of being shown around AUT's new Sir Paul Reeves building in Auckland by https://twitter.com/belindanash from AUT.  I was delighted to see the number of learning spaces they had created- and she was delighted in showing me and so proud of what AUT had achieved.  The learning spaces were everywhere and the combinations and different spaces and areas which allowed different ways and approaches for the learners to connect and learn- from booths with flat panel TV's the students could connect to, to large 'bed' style loungers where students could lock themselves away from the world.  This learning space was catering for BYOD in a sense of the term.  There were plugs EVERYWHERE for power for the devices and charging stations, even flat panel TV's the students could plug into for group presentations in booth style areas.  The bean-bag area proved popular- even spaces which may previously not have been used by staircases have been well utilised so students can have a choice of area, outlook, seating and study options.  There are more great pics of the new building here:http://pinterest.com/autuni/sparkling-new-building/.  Big ups for AUT- they have done a great job of these new learning spaces and the new building, a bit different from the days I studied there, besides the library I can't think where else I ever went to study!

Encompassing the idea that students don't just learn in the classroom is a critical concept to grasp.  Student learn anywhere and everywhere....online, together and alone.  Across the 12 floors at AUT I visited, nearly every space available was taken with clusters of students, simply lounging across the study areas- with their devices, gaining their education.  Of course traditional learning still continued in the classrooms I saw, but I can quite honestly say I would have seen as many students in the classrooms as in the learning spaces....a shift in the way students are consuming learning materials?  Students should not have to study in the library as tradition dictates- they can, do and will study and learn anywhere they please.  In the UK,  in 2009, 15% of Open University students took their Online Learning on a Mobile in a Bus!  What is that saying about the future of education!

I recently spoke about this topic in our Business of Education Roadshow Event which ran nationwide in March 2013 and realised immediately that the NZ education sector are slowly starting to come on-board with collaborative online education across the sector and realise its for the best of NZ Inc....on the global stage.  We have to stop thinking locally and start thinking globally.  Our talented educators deserve this, the NZ economy deserves it and our world is demanding it.

I would truly love for us to stand united and put our 'Made in NZ' brand out there on the global education landscape. Not only this, when I watch Q & A on TV Sunday, I don't just want to hear our main NZ exports are Milk, Meat and apparently as our stats below depict, edible offal!  Surely we can get NZ Export Education to feature higher than edible Offal!  See the statistics below from Statistics NZ on our top exports.  We have the opportunity to do this, and the time is now.  With 20% of the worlds population as students- an incredible 1.3 trillion people, this is our market to play in- lets do something with it!

http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-in-profile-2012/exports.aspx

Main export commodities	2011	2006
	NZ$(million)
Milk powder, butter, and cheese	11,334	5,762
Meat and edible offal	5,398	4,500
Logs, wood, and wood articles	3,200	1,960
Crude oil	1,997	513
Mechanical machinery and equipment	1,733	1,791
Fruit	1,487	1,161
Fish, crustaceans, and molluscs	1,382	1,146
Aluminium and aluminium articles	1,260	1,261
Total – all commodities	46,072	32,430

Finally we are about to encounter the "great disruption in higher education".
Its not about .COM.....its about .EDU.

The coming 12-24 months will see a major shift in higher education in both technology disruption and competitive shakeouts, and I want to be part of it.  Yes, I want to be part of history making in NZ.  Taking an industry that I am truly passionate about, in which  I live and breath daily. Having the opportunity to springboard this onto the world stage is an honour, I welcome the opportunity to work with like minded educational institutes who want to be part of this "disruptive shakeout in higher education"

We will be putting export education truly on the map on a massive scale.  Not just about focusing on bringing International Students into NZ- but taking our quality education to the world, however to do this, there are a check list of things that need to be thought through and the impact assessed, including and not limited to the following:-

• Free Trade Deals and Export Education- there is opportunity to leverage what is currently in place on a Massive Scale
• We need to work with the NZ government on the current EFT Funding models and how this applies to online EFTs, there will need to be changes in this area as the whole idea of capping at this level really goes out the window.
• Assessment models- this could be our biggest concern, how this is achieved needs to be carefully thought through and evaluated as I am sure if we put a Mooc out there and 40,000 students submitted work, compared to 140 face to face that our talented academics may be running for the hills unless a new assessment process is put in place for these programmes
• Viability of Free Moocs, those of which needs to be partially charged for and those which need to be fully charged.  Revenue targets and P & L needs to be considered, these need to be looked at in the commercial sense.
• Multi-lingual support for students and timezones- play in the global world, experience global issues- now a true 24x7 environment
• Pastoral care- those students transitioning from an online environment to an on premise experience will expect the same standard of responsiveness you give them online as face to face.
• Governing Laws for each Country- this applies to everything from where your data is sitting (course content) as well as sanctions in countries- you will need to well understand how these impact export education and the students you will be educating.
• Institutional change management- perhaps the biggest change.  What do we do where our service delivery engine may be so opposed to the idea- there needs to be a comprehensive risk management and change management plan in place.  not all people will be on the bus, but you are going to need some they are the delivery engine and often creators of your products..this article clearly states some big opposition already (thanks @belindanash for sending this link through).

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/22/72-of-professors-who-teach-online-courses-dont-think-their-students-deserve-credit/

Other items of consideration would be:-

• Verification of identity process would need to be robust and auditable and processes in place for spot checks of authenticity of student identity
• Global agreements and relationships abroad that agree to support recognition of our qualifications and quality.
• Processes and systems which support mobility of both students and academics across countries and geographic boundaries and the laws which govern these (ie start qualifications in NZ online and complete in the USA)
• Embargo's and sanctions between countries and how this impacts release and issue of educational qualifications through online learning.  Such as those sanctions with Iran: http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Treaties-and-International-Law/09-United-Nations-Security-Council-Sanctions/Doing-business-with-Iran.php.  As a note to this point,  presently, NZ has sanctions with the following countries and groups (as per http://www.mfat.govt.nz 9 April 2013.  The first thought that did concern me with the Al Qaida and Taliban sanction- that no group should be participating in training of military activities.  The "training" part stood out to me, given with Online Learning and Moocs, it does become more of a challenge to verify identity- so how would you even know if you were training Al Qaida or not?....something to ponder on...

Al Qaida and the Taliban

Cote d'Ivoire

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Eritrea

Iran

Iraq

Lebanon

Liberia

Libya

Sierra Leone

Somalia

Sudan

• Assessment tools online to support a changing method of learning and large volumes of submitted content
• Ability to teach for learning styles (Kinesetic, Visual and Auditory) but what about submission of work/ answers to support these learning styles and how will this impact assessment (ie some submit a music video, others a painting, others and Essay or some a power-point- no wrong answer method.
• Stair-casing between different Online providers- will this even be possible ie Edx vs Coursera or new platforms?
• Marketing and educational programmes and initiatives would be required to increase visibility overseas of our educational products, qualifications and quality systems in place.
• How our qualification map to off-shore careers and roles- this will play an important part to the 'value' of our qualifications- commercial deals should be lined up with employers willing to take qualified online learners once completed to solidify this value.
• Shifting our Academics to a face-to-face delivery model to a non-face to face model including the inclusion of pre-recorded content, also checked for quality...and how this impacts academic freedom as it currently stands.

I refer to this extract from the 2006 report, the facts have not really changed...

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/Publications/international/export_education_in_new_zealand_a_strategic_approach_to_developing_the_sector_-_an_overview

"Over the last few decades, international education experience has become increasingly commonplace. Nearly two million tertiary students worldwide are involved in formal education outside their own country. This figure is likely to reach 5 million over the next 20 years. Increasingly students are also involved in forms of international education delivered by foreign providers in their own country, such as offshore campuses and distance education.
An ever-increasing number of institutions and countries are participating in a global education market characterised by:

• steadily increasing mobility of students and staff
• intensifying competition between institutions and countries
• greater focus on the strategic benefits of engagement in international education
• more complex and interdependent institutional arrangements
• more diverse forms of delivery
• internationalisation of the curriculum
• reform of programme structures, credit systems and recognition agreements to support mobility
• greater attention to institutional and professional development and support issues
• increasing diversity of students participating in international education
• greater - although still limited - awareness of equity issues in international education."

We are in a technological and mobile world and times have changed and we need to change to meet these times.  I am looking forward to the 'great disruption in NZ education' and look forward to the near future and what it holds for us.  Exciting times...bring it on!

Telstra- how could you get locked out of your own exchange?

Vodafone, you purchased a lemon!  On asking a Senior Manager at Telstra "I can't understand how you got locked out of your own Exchange Cabinet (for 1.5days)", the Manager replied "Its not the first time, and probably not the last time".  He went on to say "Last time a key broke off in the lock and we managed to get a locksmith in within a few hours", "we do have backup keys and processes".  He then went on to say "I'm not sure why we were locked out in this instance or why its taken so long to get the locksmith to unlock it (the exchange cabinet), I will be investigating to work through how this occurred". 

So this exciting incident happened to my Business Consulting and IT Company about a month ago.  I've had it sitting in my draft blogs while I have been touring around the country presenting for the past few weeks, pondering if I  should share my experience with the world.  I dropped it into my presentation on a few occasions to see what people thought,  based on their reaction, I most certainly need to share this with you!

Going back a month to March 2013....

We were  informed during the Telstra Customer Services process above, that on the Friday morning the locksmith was on site with a Downer technician and the locksmith had been 'unable to break into the lock' on Thursday and was there again on Friday still trying.  Subsequent to this, we were also informed by the Downer contractor that 'the door is not normally even locked". 

What sort of security is that to a Telstra Exchange housing precious CBD business connections!!!

 On Thursday morning, we were also informed that the Telstra Exchange cabinet was housed in a 'leased premise' and that they could not call the locksmith to break in, as this would have to be done by the building manager, who for almost the whole day on Thursday they had been unable to contact.  To rewind a few days prior to the lockout, on the 19th Feb, Tuesday this week, as the CEO of Business Mechanix, I lodged a formal complaint with Telstra our issue with constant broadband drop-offs and stressed that as an IT company this was critical to our business.  Most days over the past 3-4 weeks, we have been having micro outages on out ADSL broadband lines (yes, we do have 2 lines- both with Telstra), the Complex Faults team at Telstra  confirmed that they were seeing "at least twice per day up-to 2 minute outages on the line concerned".

We have been waiting now for nearly 2 days for Telstra to 'break into a premises' they seem to rent where the exchange is being held for a chunk of the Auckland CBD equipment.  This is important as changes on the port for our Internet connection with them to fix our issue need to happen inside this particular Exchange, inside this Telstra point of presence.  The odd thing was, when their 'sub-contractor' from Downer came to our business and then said he'd have to go out to the Exchange up the road, we were very shocked to hear "my key doesn't work, I've been locked out of the Exchange.  That was around mid-morning yesterday- Thursday.  Then we were told- 'we'll get a locksmith".  By afternoon it was "we're still not in- we have to contact the building owner and get them to change the locks through their locksmiths".  By evening it was "we've been unable to contact the building owner to get them to do this".  After coming in to work this morning to find out Internet was down AGAIN, we were then told late morning "the locksmith can't break into the lock". 

When I questioned the Senior Manager at Telstra about why there was only a sub-contractor on site with the locksmith and no Telstra rep, he went on to say "Our property people should have been there at a minimum'.

I then went on to ask him why when the Complex Faults Manager had given me his first name and mobile phone number (we'll call him 'Bob'), when I rang back through to customer services to speak to 'Bob's manager about the situation,which did not appear to be getting any better, they said 'do you have a surname', I said no I did not, but I have a mobile number.  She said 'there are pages of 'Bob's' here.  She finally found him and when I asked her for his surname she said 'we're not allowed to give out this sort of information'.  Which I thought was rather strange as 'Bob' himself had given me his mobile number. 

When customer services called me back she said 'Bob's managers not here today, I can get his manager to call you though.  Which he did, I also raised the issue of why I was not provided with Bob's surname.  I was horrified by the response.  It went something like this "We have pre-determined certified Pseudonym's for staff, the customer service team/ call centre can just give the predetermined Pseudonym out if they feel uncomfortable giving out others details".  So at this point in time, I'm not really 'feeling the love" from Telstra as I've just found out that 'Bob' may actually be 'John'.  I have also found out that this will have impact on perhaps of ever getting the matter resolved if I write a formal complaint an this will need to be decoded by someone on the other end who understands and can interpret Telstra's Pseudonym's.

I'd say if you are currently with Telstra and run on their exchange to have a good hard look and ask the question about where you are actually connected to.  Not something you would normally ask....but seriously- locked out of the building that hosts a critical part of their main exchange.  SHAME ON YOU TELSTRA.  This should NEVER happen and has been handled appallingly.  I have spoken to Telstra already myself earlier this week as the problems landed on my desk and have also been impacting my own work as I too have been unable to connect to the Internet.  I have been handed around the Telstra customer Service Team and have been dealing with a Complex Faults Manager- lets call him 'Bob'- who when I phoned and asked for his surname as I was told 'there are pages of Bobs's in our team'- when they did find him- through the mobile number he had personally provided me and I asked for the managers surname they said "we are unable to give out this sort of information' SHAME ON YOU AGAIN TELSTRA.  So much for a personal service!  When I finally called to asked to speak to 'Bob's Manager', I was told, Bob's manager is actually out of the office today, but his manager is in and he'll give you a call in the next 5 minutes

Telstra's complex faults team have told us "We can see drop offs at least twice per day for around 2 minutes at a time", so they know there is an issue of some sort.  When we have staff constantly running things up to the cloud, a 2 minute drop can cause major catastrophes, and already has were some of our developers have lost work during save processes and more.  We do have a second line which we are able to use, but we are already pushing our connections as hard as they can go.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that Ultra Fast Broadband only comes to our Nelson Street CBD address in June 2013, so that is not an option.

It concerns me greatly about the amount of calls and prodding we have had to make over this issue.  We have had 3 people from our organisation spending hours a day either restarting Internet Routers due to the line drops or simply sitting on the phone trying to get through to someone at Telstra to get the issues sorted.  Yes, we have been able to get through, but the issues have not been resolved.  This issue has been a complete debark able and after logging a formal complaint earlier in the week, its now Friday and given the locksmith has still not even managed to get into the Exchange, what hope do I hold out for things being fixed by Monday?  Not much.

Surprisingly, I got a call from Telstra to tell me 'someone is in your Basement now looking at the demarcation point".  I asked him if he was sure and he said, yes, there is a technician in your basement.  I told him that was a very unlikely even as we don't actually have a basement in our building.  At that point he said- I'll just check where he is.  He came back and told me, he was at the Comms cabinet in the ground floor.

I will say that the Customer Services Team did eventually come out on site, but by this stage, I was fed up.  Why should it take weeks to resolve these sort of issues!  They did offer to get someone to contact me about their Fibre solutions which I agreed to...that was nearly a month ago and I'm still waiting!  In the meantime, I was overjoyed to see the Ultra Fast Broadband being installed on my street.  I am so excited as we now have the option for decent fibre, although I have since been told although the cable is in the ground and attached to our building, we are in for an up to 6 month wait to be connected. 

Seriously, what is up with our Telco Industry in NZ!
When my UFB is installed and running, I may just post another blog about my experience cutting over to it!

A Mentors Perspective - Imagine Cup NZ 2013 Innovation Category Winner

Winning the Imagine Cup NZ Innovation Category 2013- A Mentors Perspective

Last night I had one of those ultra-proud moments. I don't have children, but that moment when the name of the Imagine Cup Team I have mentored for the past 3 months got called as the winner, I actually heard myself squeal like a little girl!  I was so proud of the team and what they have achieved to win their category. I do have to admit I was equally excited to see Sam 'The TV One  Weatherman' and Microsoft NZ MD Paul Muckleston presenting them with their awards and the $6,000 cash they deserve.  Just a shame Shawnee was in hospital and could not be with the team to share in the success on the night.

This team have truly triumphed in the face of adversity.  During the process, the team leader, Brian's wife was very sick in hospital for a long period of the competition, meaning he was studying, looking after the kids and trying to work on the competition.
1 week before the final, the graphics designer broke her ankle at a Roller Derby and was Skyped in from hospital for the judging round.  Then on the Saturday, Marcel, one of the developers was driving up from Hamilton and his car literally blew up on the Bombay hills leaving an Oil slick behind them, which meant they missed their practice time.  To make matters worse, at about 7pm on Saturday night, one of the team accidentally broke one of the rarest cables around needed to project from their Surface RT to the projector for the judging round.  I truly congratulate Team Cold with My Storyteller.  They have done an amazing job and really pushed through cool, clam and collected with all of the things thrown at them during this contest.

This team has really had it thrown at them.  As a mentor I have thoroughly enjoyed supporting this team through these ups and downs and just being their for them....even at 10.30pm on a Saturday night in our boardroom going over and over the presentation!
 My leadership mentor tells me I do my best work in my creative rather than analytical mind.

I have found using my leadership abilities with this team challenging and rewarding.  Seeing these students from The University of Waikato win the Innovation category last night re-affirmed to me that it really is possible to be creative and innovative, no matter what is thrown at you.

So what did they create?  A very cool application that is designed to bring parents and children together through the art of StoryTelling.  The team built a Windows 8 Application which runs on a Surface touch device and allows the storyteller to be web cam recorded telling a story.  The graphics of the story show and the person reads along with the words presented to them.  This application also allows the parent to customise the story with the child's name, gender and relationship to the child and these attributes are also embedded into the story.

The application is a global application with a wide market.  They have also created graphics allowing the parent or caregiver to customise skin-tone, eye colour and hair-colour.

The thing that I have most admired about this team is something we should all take note of.  Hear are the winning traits as I see them:-

1/ They each knew their unique roles in the team and the responsibilities of each member
(ie.  2 developers, 1 project manager, 1 graphics designer- create the application, work on the management of task and create the graphical interface)

2/ They had a clear and strong leader
(yes Brian- you were a brilliant leader- and it showed!)

3/ They had a clear vision and goal of what it was they wanted to achieve AND they all believed in it.

4/ When the going got tough, the team got tougher
(When their car broke down on the Bombays, they just kept practicing their presentation to passing cars, the objective being to get toots from trucks!)  They did not worry about what people thought, it was more about optimising the time they had to prefect and achieve their goal.

5/ They were willing to seek out, listen to and take external advice from their mentor and others
This team actually knew the value of external input.  I admired them immensely for this.  They were not proud, they just wanted so badly to succeed.  Its so important to know you can only be the best you can be by listening to others and perfecting yourself.

6/ They were open to different perspectives on what they were doing
Keeping the door open and not shutting out new ideas is critical to business and team success- are we really listening to those other perspectives or is it more "I hear you, but I'm not listening?

7/ Constructive criticism was part of the process and not only did they ask for it directly, they embraced it when they got it
(They even asked me directly for this as a mentor and also watched themselves on video during their practice presentations, they wanted feedback and were not afraid to ask for it when they wanted it)

8/ They had passion and it showed in everything they did- whether they were being judged or not

9/ Even when they thought they might not make it, they still kept going, knowing their might still be a chance- no matter how small the odds were

10/ They used innovation and creativity to bind the team together as the under-lying and fundamental principal.

If there is one thing I can finish with, it is taking a leaf out of this teams book.  I was such a small part as their mentor in what they did- simply being there when they needed me and giving advice and feedback when asked and using my toolkit of skills to help where they were weak and I was stronger.

Congratulations Team Cold- you will always be winners in my eyes and I will never forget the experience you have given me as your mentor- I feel privileged to work with you all and the team.....now lets try and get you to Russia as a category winner- first meeting after Easter!!!

Enjoy your time in the spot-light team- you deserve it!

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/news/microsoft-imagine-cup

http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2013/03/imagine-cup-2013-winners

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/nz-winners-announced-for-microsoft-imagine-cup-2013

NZ vs USA- are we leaders or followers?

After spending the last week in the USA, my mind is still boggling- electric cars, pimped out planes like nightclubs, free wireless everywhere and SUPER fast broadband.  I literally downloaded a 12MB MP4 movie in about 10-15 seconds.  I could not believe it.  Admittedly, I was at Microsoft HQ and the movie was demonstrating our Kinect for Windows ability using the technology as a language teacher.  Nothing seams to be a barrier in the USA, and if it is, they do all they can to take it away.
Even on the news, they were talking about doing road-works on the I-5 freeway and this would be disruptive to people sleeping so the council gave out free earplugs! 

So I feel I need to get a few things off my chest!  Firstly, I was amazed at how excellent the service was in the USA, from the minute we landed, almost until the minute we left.  From the bus driver in San Francisco who was joking with his passengers, to the retailers who when you say 'thank you' almost always say 'you're welcome'.  I only had 1 bad incident in the USA, and this was at LA airport, which to be honest is more like a form of organised chaos anyway.  The lady at the information counter sent us in completely the opposite direction of the international terminal and we ended up walking about 2km to get there.

So to my blog topic- NZ vs USA- are we leaders of followers?  Ten years ago I would have said we were leaders.  I know there are some amazing pockets of innovation.  I'll be bold and even say my own company, Business Mechanix leads this in many areas and we discovered this by measuring ourselves against our global competitors last week in Seattle USA.  We have what others want.  We are developing products and tools in gesture driven technology- Kinect for Windows, our product- called ASLO - Advanced Simulated Learning Objects.  We already have a US school interested in a pilot as they have never seen anything like this, even in the USA. 

So this is why I summarise we are not generally leaders in NZ in the innovation space on the global stage.  Firstly, it seams we are great at coming up with excellent ideas, but how offer do they really get integrated into everyday life?  Here are 25 examples of what I saw just living over in the USA for a week and how it changed everyday things I do...


1/ Border Control- USA to Canada- fast tag- just hold up your card, scan and drive- no need to talk to anyone just go....
2/ Planes that no longer worry about no smoking signs and have replaced with 'Turn off your electronic devices'
3/ At the shopping mall, there are spaces for electric cars where you can pay by credit card to charge them
4/ You can purchase a thousand dollar item with out a single bit of paper, this even includes signing for it.
5/ There are shops with no tills, just people roaming around with pimped out cell phones with credit card sleeves to pay for your transactions....and there are 12 of these people not just 1 or 2 behind the till
6/ You can purchase $299 BOSE headphones through a vending machine at the airport, or for that matter about 30 other types of technologies, just like you can a bag of chippies or a chocolate bar.
7/ Free wireless is commonplace.  If you don't have it, customers will go somewhere that does. They even have it in the supermarket.
8/ Internet is assumed and FAST- 12MB download in 10-15 seconds- nice.
9/ You can get "all you can eat" everything on your cell-phone plan for $50 per month, including texting, phone-calls and broadband.
10/ Taxes are not 15% in Washington or California.
11/ There are schools that barely use paper in the classroom called 'Schools of the Future' and the kids use inking on tablet devices instead of writing on paper.
12/ Kids are allowed to bring cell phones into class and they are integrated into teaching plans by the teachers.
13/ Service is not just assumed to be good, it is.  People make their livelihoods from it.
14/ There are very few immigrants in low-wage jobs and the people that are in these jobs, such as driving buses and retail, love what they do, and it shows.  The service industry is seen as a valid career path in the USA, not a second job.
15/ Cars have Satellite radio (Sirius) built in (not so good in car-park buildings so we discovered!)
16/ You can shop online on the planes and have it delivered to your door after the flight.
17/ E-Bay is free to surf on some airlines from your seat
18/ You can choose the currency you wish to transact in when shopping with your credit card at some shops - it actually asks you before you confirm the transaction and shows you the converted cost.
19/ Genetic Modification in fruit and vege is common place.  You should see the size of the Grapefruit in the USA- like a small football.  An I picked up a carrot that was almost as long as my arm from fingertips to elbow.  Odd!
20/ Bulk food- when you buy something in the Deli in bulk, it actually works out cheaper than purchasing it pre-packaged.  I think I literally paid $6 in NZ for 1/2 a small pottle of salad from New World before I left. In the US, it would be about $1-$2 for the same amount.
21/ You can get a flu shot at the supermarket...say no more!
22/ The shopping malls and other shops are open until 9.30pm.....every day- Monday-Sunday
23/ The Universities have TV channels where they run documentaries on their work and interesting topics so its shared with the world!
24/ Pedestrians are given respect at crossings and the whole light phasing is designed to help the pedestrian, not wait until all vehicles at every street have finished their phase before everyone else crosses!
25/ Technology is assumed to be part of life, it's not surprising to see children with cell phones or devices from very young ages and its encouraged rather than taken away.  The kids are encouraged to innovate through technology as much as adults.

Come on NZ, lets starting getting some more innovation into NZ in everyday life, including innovative services and pricing!  Let's encourage our clever companies and researchers and innovators.  Government and local government need to work more collaboratively with local businesses to put NZ back on the map in this global world.  We are a great test bed as a country for new innovations.  Lets see some more!!