Revolutionising Gumtree before home time
Enabling Enterprise is a non profit organisation who want all students to develop enterprise skills, give students experiences of work, and aspirations to succeed in life. One way of doing this is connecting schools with local businesses. This explains why from my desk window I could see a neat line of year 4 school children approach our office’s front door. I leapt from my desk and headed down the stairs to greet them. I shuffled past as each child was handed their individual security passes.
In the room I met other Gumtree staff members from my team who had Kindly volunteered their time to help facilitate the activities. Enabling Enterprise provided two staff members, I watch alongside my colleagues as the children settled down into groups and sat at tables in teams of about 5–6. These tables where not designed for children. You instantaneously realise how small these children are. The Enabling Enterprise staff had great control over the children. While waiting silently you could see the children looking at me and my colleagues with curiosity.
First there was an introduction to Gumtree, what we do and how we do it. Many of them were very knowledgable and had stories of their parents using the website. The aim of the day was to be inventors, somehow they had to come up with ideas to make the lives of a Gumtree employee better.
In order to come up with the next big thing in corporate efficiency they were gonna have to meet the employees. In their teams they got to interview Gumtree employee’s with a variety of job titles. The students asked questions about their day to day tasks and problems they may face.
To gain a greater understanding of the work lives of the various employees they inspected the facilities. In their teams they would be escorted around the Gumtree offices across 3 floors. To avoid disruption, the teams were taken for guided tours with intervals of a few minutes. They got to see a variety of people carrying out their jobs. There peered through glass partitions into real meetings and examined various other crevices .They looked for problems, they took notes and did not hesitate to ask questions.
The teams were competing against each other to create the best invention to improve the working lives of the Gumtree employees. After the tours the teams reconvened back at their tables, the teams regrouped and discussed their ideas. They illustrated, documented and rehearsed for they were expected to present their Inventions to the senior management team of Gumtree to be judged.
I was lucky enough to witness a few of the pitches. The children demonstrated good presentations skills, introducing fellow team members, problems they observed and explained their ideas with great pride.
Judging was conducted by senior management who kindly gave up time from their busy schedules to consider each invention. The judges retreated to the corridor and deliberated. Deciding on a winner was difficult as the quality of inventions were high. Feedback was given to each team and a winner was announced. The winning team received a limited edition Enabling Enterprise branded pencil.
The children and teachers each then received a goodie bag featuring a selection of trinkets from both Gumtree and eBay. Overall the day was a success, enjoyed by both the students and the volunteers. I’d highly recommend Enabling Enterprise to any workplace.
