Active Aims - Improve Your Performance

Working with Di Fisher from Active Aims, I can confidently say that wherever and whenever I have worked with her she has shown herself to be a knowledgeable, motivational and conscientious worker dedicated to improving the health awareness and well-being of the community by promoting a healthy lifestyle whilst also incorporating Skills for Life literacy and numeracy needs into the sessions she runs.

I have had the pleasure of working alongside Di for a number of years on various Healthy Living projects connected with public libraries through my work for the MLA London. Most recently I have worked with Di on the Skilled for Health project via Haringey Libraries and Islington Libraries and previous projects have included a Weight Management programme.

There is however more to Di Fisher than the above. Di has a strong desire to improve the lives of those she instructs and encourages, especially among disadvantaged communities. She approaches her work with professionalism and enthusiasm and this has significantly transformed the lives of those who have attended her workshops, encompassing the whole range of Haringey’s diverse community. I have never failed to feel inspired by Di’s ability to embed innovative and energizing ways of getting the Healthy Living agenda across to all learners. She has the remarkable ability to be able to tailor her sessions to the needs of groups as a whole whilst also showing a strong understanding and empathy to the needs of each individual.

My work with Di has been both rewarding and enjoyable and she has shown great personal satisfaction in seeing the improvements in those whose life she touches.

The Procurement Services Unit of The Boots Group is responsible for the procurement of all goods not for resale within the company. We have been working with Active Aims for approximately 18 months on a series of initiatives designed to improve team working and the sustainability of training and development in the organisation.

Active Aims have worked with us and our people to understand their strengths and weaknesses and have subsequently put together a programme from this of workshops and events. These have culminated in the development of a series of team values and team building events. They have used to good effect sports analogies, which have been a novel way to translate sporting success stories into the office environment.

In addition they are currently developing a mentoring programme for the department which will allow skills to be shared and developed from experienced team members to ones who are looking to enhance their working skills. Active Aims will be responsible for the development of the scheme, the training of a manager to run it internally and the coaching of the participants on how to make such a training programme successful and self-sustaining.

We have found Active Aims to be creative in their use of the sporting world to get key messages across, excellent organisers of a team building event off site and diligent in the follow-up activities required to keep such a programme on track.

I have known Active Aims for a number of years and have employed their staff in a variety of capacities during that time.

I was until last year the Managing Director of Instant Library Ltd, a company specialising in information management, with teams of staff working across the UK. The company was committed to training and developing staff, and was an accredited Investor in People.

While planning the training programme, the Management Team became aware that many of the problems experienced by staff related to stress caused sometimes by work-related issues, but more often by issues at home or in relationships.

We decided to use Active Aims to work with staff to focus on a healthy work life balance and, specifically, to adopt a more active approach to health and exercise in order to combat the effects of stress. Active Aims set up a web site for staff, with monthly tips – and prizes for achievers.

We found, to our surprise, that the web site drew teams together: they worked together to take more exercise or drink more water, and in doing so, bonded more effectively as teams. Gradually, we drew Active Aims more deeply into our training programme. Their staff participated in our induction programmes and undertook team building exercises for us. We also used them in programmes with our clients where there was a training requirement.

In May 2004, I left Instant Library and took up a position with the London Borough of Haringey, as the Head of the Libraries, Archives and Museum Service. Working in the public sector is very different from the private sector and I found that staff built up large amounts of time on sick leave. The managers address this situation by "managing the sickness".

I have used Active Aims to take a more proactive approach: we provide a web site encouraging a healthy life style and also use Active Aims staff to provide individual counselling on diet and exercise. Our sickness levels are slowly falling – and staff clearly value the support which they have received.

We have used Active Aims to develop team building programmes – and these too have proved highly effective.

I have no reservations in recommending Active Aims to you. I have found them highly effective and also highly ethical.