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MERSEYSIDE ACME SKILLS BANK ADVISER OF THE YEAR Quality before quantity Nominating Barbara Sinclair of Sinclair Associates for the Award, Pauline Rowe of North End Writers said “while the quantity of advice has not been extensive in terms of hours, the quality of Barbara’s insightful advice and support has been second to none…crucial at a time when the trustees of North End Writers were still developing their skills.” Barbara helped the writers’ group, based in north Liverpool, to produce a strategic three-year development plan that would enable them to ensure they were properly resourced and had a clear vision for the future. The plan was produced to their complete satisfaction, and Pauline gained confidence about project planning and organisational strategy, as well as building her skills in financial systems and reporting, contributing to effective decision-making by the trustees. Pauline described Barbara as “kind and practical, calm and supportive”. The judges felt that Barbara’s sensitivity to the organisation’s needs and down to earth approach to getting things done were a winning combination. What impressed them too was the obvious pleasure and benefit that Barbara had got out of the relationship. She says “I was very proud of North End Writers for the way they took advice and developed successful strategies. I gained a valuable insight into the working of a writers’ group and their ability to bring out strong creative instincts and talents from a diverse range of abilities. Many of these techniques have formed the basis of passing on skills to others in the workplace and in other community areas of my own life.” There’s no doubt that this project benefited from the conscientious and thorough approach of both sides. Equal Runners up: Rachel Higham was Change Programme Manager at Marks & Spencer Money. She helped Activate Arts in Liverpool to design and implement a new and effective accounts system. Viv Emmott, Activate’s Director, developed a greater understanding of basic accounting requirements and effective monitoring processes. She says of the project “Rachel listened to our needs, offered advice and support and designed a system to enable us to address those needs. We have reduced the time spent on basic accounting, time which can now be spent on our artistic work.” Rachel commented “Working with Activate forced me to be more creative and far more cost-conscious together with taking the skills of a smaller organisation into account when developing a solution.” Jeff Ziegler of Specialist Search was nominated by Ludus Dance in Lancaster for his assistance with the production of a three year marketing strategy. At the start of the project, Ludus employee Jamie Wooldridge had just taken over as Head of Marketing, but admitted that he had little marketing experience and was keen to learn from Jeff. A comprehensive marketing strategy was produced, but he most startling outcome was that Ludus achieved an increase of nearly 70% in sales of dance classes over the previous year, thanks to Jeff’s expertise, wisdom and tenacity. Jeff admired the way Ludus embraced what at first seemed alien concepts to them, and found the experience invigorating and rewarding. Other nominations
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