​Exams and tests are done, and our children are just about ready to pack away their supplies until next year. Or… in the case of many of us, the supplies have been so ‘well used,’ that we are beginning to think of our ‘back to school budget!’

Summer is a great time for our children to relax, but it is also a time where we can have learning loss, escalated behavioral challenges and other things most parents would like to avoid. Stepping into summer with intention can help create stability, lower learning loss and of course, ensure you have fun!

What do you want the summer holidays to look like for your children? This goes beyond camp registrations, or flight bookings, and gets to a deeper level of what do you want your child to accomplish daily.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing some summer learning tips, but for today, I thought I’d get you going on my top 5 Summer Tips.

1. Play! Your children have been longing for time to play and relax. Structured activities are great, but also remember to allow your children unstructured play time to explore.
2. Read. Whether you are reading to them, or they are at the stage that they are reading independently, make reading part of your daily routine.
3. Visit. Whether visiting family members, a new beach, or other countries, look for opportunities to explore and create new experiences.
4. Talk. Look for opportunities to have conversation. Whether your child is a toddler or a teenager, conversation expands vocabulary and expands the mind.
5. Create. There are lot of mediums that your children can use to create. Paper and crayons are an easily accessible one, but don’t forget about blocks, logo, playdough, paint, glue, scissors, and trash to treasure items like shoe boxes, egg cartons and fancy packaging. The summer is a great time to allow them to get lost in their creations.

Stay tuned for more!

I absolutely love working with small groups. It gives us an opportunity to dive deep into discussions on the topic area. Earlier this week we met with 3 team members from the Turks Head Brewery, and we discussed Customer Service.  We focused on the following:

• Who We Are and What We Do
  
• Establishing Your Attitude
  
• Understanding the Customer's Needs and Situation
  
• Dealing with Recovering Difficult Customers
  

We look forward to working with them again very soon!

Last week I finished off the week with the Health Professionals Authority. They reminded me of important it is to get in alignment when problem solving. Often when problems occur, it is tempting to jump right into solving them. It's important to take the time to know and understand the challenges and its intricacies and assure all team members are on the same page. This same page doesn't just include what the problem is, but what the solutions will look like. This is alignment. 

On Friday, June 23 we were happy to support Mrs. Melisha Williams on her grand opening of Oasis ABA Consultancy. Oasis ABA consultancy will provide specialized therapy services for children and young adults with learning and behavioral challenges. It will also provide parent training and support for many families in the islands. Congratulations Mrs. Williams on this enormous achievement. We wish you all the success with your future endeavors.

Connect with Oasis ABA Consultancy at 649 343 5534   or [email protected]

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Executive Leadership teams is quickly becoming one of our most requested workshops for management teams. DEI is a topic that can no longer be ignored. Diversity is a fact in our society, and if it is not managed, it can great a great deal of complexities. Complexities challenge our ability to have an inclusive environment, which effects how employees feel, there sense of belonging within an organization and as a result, there productivity.

Yesterday, we continued with the Royal Turks and Caicos Police force as we make our way through DEI training with their management teams.

On Friday I had the pleasure of spending the day with the Invest Turks and Caicos team. Our Collective Success for Teams, is a great way for staff to spend a day together to define or recommit to their collective success.

Successful teams are like a rowing team. Each member of a rowing team has the responsibility of ensuring they are ready physically and mentally for the task. When they then climb into their boat, the focus is put on their goal. To achieve this goal, they need to be in sync. Without unity, they don't have a chance! It's the unity that powers the strength and speed.

Just like in rowing, with our professional teams, each individual has to know and do their part to add to the team dynamic to chart the pathway to success. Congrats to Invest TCI on a productive and fun day!

As a trainer, I have the pleasure of working with teams in many different fields. When I train educators, it feels like "going home."

Yesterday, I jumped on the Ferry and headed over to spend the morning in North Caicos with the teachers at Adelaide Oemler Primary. Often teacher training sessions are not done as the school year is about to close out, but Alignment for Educators is an important one, regardless of the time of year. Alignment for Educators focuses on guiding participants to have clarity on their intentions and aligning their mindsets and actions to achieve these intentions. 

On Thursday I had the pleasure of working with the Health Professions Authority. Often, when teams are small, we question whether it's still necessary to conduct team building exercises. My answer...YES! Regardless of how bit of small, it's there are a host of benefits to being intentional about the team dynamic that you build.

HPA participated in Building Our Team Dynamic. This workshop reminds us that it is not enough to put a group of individuals together in the same department and call them a team. A team dynamic is built through an intentional effort by all members of the team.

This week we finished up a 12-session program with a group of eager employees at Grace Bay Club We had so much fun working with them and were constantly amazed by their enthusiasm, effort and gratitude!

Our overall aim over the 12 sessions was to provide these employees with the instruction and support needed to improve their language skills in a way that will positively impact their performance in the workplace. We focused on empowering each employee to become more competent in their understanding, reading, listening, speaking and writing of the English language.

Program Objectives are as follows:

• Improve listening and spoken vocabulary.
• Improve oral comprehension skills.
• Improve spoken grammar skills.
• Improve conversational English.
• Answer questions appropriately.
• Ask clarifying questions.
• Complete everyday reading and writing tasks.

​Congratulations Grace Bay Club!

Yesterday we finished up with our second group of participants from the TCI Sports. Commission. 'Thrive' is a small group coaching program that was created to provide organizations with the opportunity to support their staff in improving the essential soft skills needed to be a success in the business environment.

I had just as much fun with this group as I did with the first, as we dove deep into the idea of mindset and the level of professionalism required to 'thrive' in diverse fast paced workspaces. 

'Thrive' is a small program that I created a few months ago geared towards providing junior employees with the opportunity to improve the essential soft skills needed to be a success in the business environment.

I have had the pleasure of working with two groups of employees from the TCI Sports Commission. The first group finished up last Thursday. We had such fun and learning as we dove deep into the idea of mindset and the level of professionalism required to 'thrive' in diverse fast paced workspaces. 

Last week, Mrs. Guilmise had the pleasure of joining a group of teachers from the Department of Education in Grand Turk to be trained on 'The Brain Power Classroom,' a program that focuses on building mindfulness, focus and emotional wellness in students. They spent time being trained by facilitators from New York, and then had the opportunity to try out the strategies and techniques that they learned with students at Ona Glinton Primary School and Eliza Simons Primary.

Learn and Lead looks forward to supporting schools as they embark on a journey to improve the daily wellness of their students.