Three Hands > Programmes > Learning
Programmes and services
LEARNING THROUGH COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Three Hands' Socially Responsible Development™ (SRD) programmes enable learning — from formal team, talent, management
and leadership development, to informal learning via exposure to themes and issues in society — through real-life
community and social projects in both the UK and developing countries. We design and implement tailored projects, which aim to deliver significant and sustainable benefits to dedicated
partner organisations (for example, charities, NGO's, schools and social enterprises), and which provide a vehicle
for structured and deliberate learning and development. Because this takes place in challenging and authentic
environments — real communities and with real partner organisations — participants experience a strong sense of purpose
and commitment, leading to high levels of buy-in. Throughout, individuals, teams and groups are supported by our expert facilitators, who use their experience to help
participants tackle their learning and development objectives before, during and after the project takes place. "It's real, it's live and the results really matter." There are three main formats for our Socially Responsible Development™ programmes: One-day programmes The most common business objective we tackle through our one-day programmes is team development.
We help teams at various stages of development, from new teams that are forming to well established teams that
are high performing. One day offers limited time for in-depth team change; however, we maximise the impact we
can have by using a tailored, intensive review process to help individuals link the day's project back to the
workplace, and particularly to their personal development plans and the team development agenda. The projects themselves are based on charities' needs and might include a demanding gardening project, running
an event on behalf of a charity or delivering a sports day for young people living in areas of high deprivation. We've recently run one-day programmes for teams from Orange and Travelex. Our case studies
include some examples. Two to five day intensive programmes These are our classic Socially Responsible Development™ programmes, which offer intensive experiential learning through in-depth
community or social projects. We've tackled a variety of learning objectives through these programmes, from personal skills development through to management
and leadership development, often as part of broader company management and leadership development initiatives. These SRD programmes
also offer leaders the opportunity to get closer to the issues in society that are pertinent to their businesses, for example by
interacting with their end users, working in a community from which they recruit staff or understanding more about a workplace
issue such as disability. Projects we've devised with charity partners have been incredibly varied, from working with a charity's young 'hard to reach'
service-users to promote the charity, devising a fundraising strategy and building a sensory garden, to raising money and awareness
for a charity, launching a horticultural project and working with local people to rebuild teachers' houses in Malawi. Wherever
possible we build in high levels of interaction with charities' service-users and project beneficiaries. We've recently run powerful SRD programmes for companies such as BSkyB, Kroll and Compass Group.
See some case studies. Continuous programmes The third format for learning through community engagement is a continuous programme, whereby a group or a team is given a
number of weeks or months to complete a project. We provide the structure — for example, an opening meeting and a clear objective
and deadline — and we then oversee the team or group working with in partnership with the charity to complete the project. Learning objectives range from personal skills and capability development through to testing management skills in a real-life
environment. We facilitate the learning through regular, pre-set meetings with the participants. Examples of projects include organising a charity ball, planning and delivering a major anniversary celebration on behalf of
a charity and working with a charity to produce a book about its work. Our case studies include some examples.