Apricot has been working on some exciting ventures this year and we are already well under way with many projects in both the US and Australia.

The Salvation Army, Western Territory, USA.

There are two major projects we have been working on for the last 8 months.

Firstly we are helping to build the relationship of the  Salvation Army with the Californian Government. For over 120 years The Salvation Army has run hundreds of programs and spent hundreds of millions of dollars, assisted millions of Californians without any formal relationship with the Californian Government. Apricot is helping TSA to see what they are actually doing now and in the past and how to communicate that great story to the Government

The second project is one that is very moving. We are working with the Adult Rehabilitation Centres (ARC’s) to help build greater links with the graduates into the broader Salvation Army community and programs. This is what has also taken me to Hawaii and Los Angeles. There are 22 centres in the Western Territory and has the largest residential rehabilitation program in the United States. They receive no Government funding for this and it is free to the participants, financed through The Salvation Army thrift stores.

I continue to work with BlueScope steel in Kansas City, Kansas. This organisation has been through great change and it has been a real pleasure to work with a number of the senior executives as well design an innovative CSR program working with recently released prisoners.

We have also just begun to work with Ambulance Victoria. This is an organisation that has been under incredible change for the last couple of years. Here we will be helping AV to understand its internal culture of the organisation and be clear about what behaviours and culture they want to drive their success for the future. This organisation has been in operation since 1880 and has a long and illustrious history. With non-profit organisations, the change of culture internally can be a real challenge. Many people working in such environments have a sense of duty or calling. We want to tap into this commitment helping to design behaviours that work best for the employees and the organisation.

Another exciting project is with University of Tasmania. We have been working with the executive team here for about six months. This project is to work with the executives to help develop a team to achieve the goals for this changing institution.

These are only some of the projects Apricot Consulting is working on at present. We continue to work with others and with many more opportunities lining up, the future is looking bright. Keep an eye out on Twitter, Facebook and the website for more information.

derek.linsell@apricotconsulting.us