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Harmonics to Shine a Light on Homelessness

Harmonics is delighted to back Focus Ireland’s Shine A Light event in the Mid-West and be an ambassador for the business community. On Friday October 18, the eighth annual Shine A Light Night will see business leaders sleep-out at Limerick’s historic King John’s Castle in addition to locations in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Cork.

Harmonics is proud to be associated as a local Mid-West business with Focus Ireland because of the work they do in changing lives. Much of our work at Harmonics is supporting people who have lost their jobs and we help them to get back on track with our career coaching and financial advice.

We look forward to encouraging many more businesses and their teams to join us.

More details about the Shine A Light Night can be found below.  Please join us!

Focus Ireland announce King John’s Castle to host

Shine A Light Night 2019

The rate of homelessness in Limerick is increasing at an alarming rate with 265 adults currently without a home. In response, Bord Gáis Energy has confirmed the extension of its longstanding partnership with homelessness charity, Focus Ireland, to sponsor its annual fundraising initiative – Shine A Light Night.

On Friday October 18, the eighth annual Shine A Light Night will see business leaders sleep-out at Limerick’s historic King John’s Castle in addition to locations in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Cork. Employees of businesses around Ireland can also sign up to support the initiative by pledging to fundraise and sleep-out at their workplace.

Shine A Light Night challenges business leaders across Ireland to sleep-out for one night and in doing so, raise vital funds to help alleviate homelessness.

Speaking at the event, Kate McGrath, Project Leader of Focus Ireland Mid-West Services said, “Focus Ireland works tirelessly with people experiencing homelessness to help them secure their home or to ensure they leave homelessness for good. We also work extensively across the area of prevention to make sure many other families and individuals in the Mid-West never become homeless in the first place. We rely on the support of organisations like Bord Gáis Energy to make a success of fundraising events like Shine A Light Night and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for their generous support.”

Shine A Light Night is being backed by 2018 All-Ireland winning Captain Declan Hannon: “It’s great to show my support for such an important charity like Focus Ireland. I’m well aware of the work Focus Ireland does in Limerick and I hope our county can again lead the way in showing our support for such an important night. The evening will be made extra special as it’s taking place in the historic King John’s Castle, a building which is synonymous with the city.”

There are 1,700 families homeless in Ireland today and this number is growing. In Limerick, Focus Ireland provides prevention and housing advice, support services for families, support services for young people, short and long-term housing, and research-based services.

Commenting at the launch of Shine A Light Night in King John’s Castle, Darren Staunton Key Account Manager with Bord Gáis Energy said, “The current homeless crisis in towns and communities across Ireland is worse than ever. It is heart-breaking that 3,749 children in Ireland today have no home. Bord Gáis Energy is committed to supporting Focus Ireland in the crucial work it does to address the causes of homelessness and increase support for those who are at risk of losing their home.

“Shine A Light Night is an incredible initiative that has gathered more and more support year on year. However, with the alarming rise in homelessness, we need this year’s event to be bigger than ever in raising vital funds to support this devastating social issue. We are extremely proud to sponsor this year’s campaign and as an official sponsor of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, we are delighted that Limerick Hurling Captain Declan Hannon is joining us in supporting Shine A Light Night. We urge every business in Limerick and the surrounding region to join us, sign up and give one night to make this the most successful Shine A Light Night yet. It may simply be one night of your life, but it can save suffering for those who are homeless.”

To date, Shine A Light Night has raised over €4m for people experiencing homelessness in Ireland. In 2018, this support enabled Focus Ireland to help over 15,500 people. With the support of the business community, every day Focus Ireland moves a family out of homelessness into a secure home of their own.

Leading people management organisation Harmonics has committed to taking part in Shine a Light 2019. John Fitzgerald MD of Harmonics said “Harmonics is proud to be associated as a local Mid-West business with Focus Ireland because of the work they do in changing lives. Much of our work at Harmonics is supporting people who have lost their jobs and we help them to get back on track with our career coaching and financial advice”

Concluding, Niall O Callaghan, Managing Director of Shannon Heritage said, “We at King John’s Castle are humbled to host Shine a Light Night 2019. We are delighted to make this historic venue available to help put the modern crisis of homelessness into clear focus and I encourage the business community to join us on October 18th. It promises to be a special night and I would like to thank everyone who made it possible.”

For further information contact Aoife Sheehan, Limerick Area Fundraising and Marketing Executive for Focus Ireland on 086 8532201 or at aoife.sheehan@focusireland.ie

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News Webinar

Fuel 50 Webinar: Future-Proofing Careers

Future Workforce Readiness: Key Insights from the 2019 Research Study

Watch a recording of this webinar where John Fitzgerald shares highlights from the Harmonics’ Future Workforce Readiness: Research Study 2019.

This study set out to discover how “future ready” the workforce really is by examining the five characteristics critical to future career readiness. Join us to:

·   Learn how to plan for systemic change that will transform organisation culture & capability

·   Discover how organisations upskill and build greater capability and employability

·   Gain rich insights from a global perspective on Leadership, Organisation Change and Future Workforce Readiness

According to John, “Future Career Readiness is the critical indicator that illustrates the gap between your current and future workforce readiness to change. Yet it is the one thing that never gets measured.”

Watch now: https://www.fuel50.com/webinars/future-proofing-careers/

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Blog

Summit Helps Businesses Prepare for Change

Future Proofing Organisations Summit in Limerick

Harmonics recently hosted a Mid-West Region Global Summit on Future Proofing Organisations at the Strand Hotel, Limerick.

Watch this short 5 minute video which captures the key points from the diversity of speakers and global panel at the event.

Over 80 Local Senior Business Leaders from some of the largest employers in the Mid-West Region met Change, Leadership and Coaching Practitioners from the USA, South America, Canada, UK, Europe and Australia to share their diverse insights on Change, Leadership and Communication.

The event was a resounding success with excellent speakers from home and abroad, covering a wide variety of topics. There is exponential change happening in organisations in the region and this means the structures and systems that served us well in times of certainty are now impeding progress as they move to more agile models to adapt and pivot quickly to stay ahead of change.

Marie Toft delivered an impactful presentation on the power storytelling through video and how companies can connect emotionally and stand out from their competitors in an authentic way.  Marie is CEO of Emotionise & Former Senior Producer with RTE & BBC and works closely with Harmonics to help employers create emotionally connected messages to attract talent.

Neville Bourke, Organisation Change Specialist with Futurus OCM and Eugene Barrett, Site Director, GE Cork shared insights on the transformational change that GE as an organisation has undertaken and the people change journey over the past two years.

Gerry Cahill, Site Director, Roche in Clarecastle also spoke in a refreshing, honest and vulnerable way on how he and his team in Roche worked to build greater capability and employability with all of their people over a 3-year period ahead of impending site closure.

John Fitzgerald, Founder and MD of Harmonics, shared the findings from a Harmonics global research project on the Future Workforce Readiness. It showed a gap between individuals’ perception of their future career readiness versus their actual level of readiness. Some headlines of note show 1 in 5 are actively seeking to leave their current employers, while 34 is the age when career growth declines for women. In fact, a staggering 42% of all those surveyed had either hit a career ceiling, become frustrated or described their workplace as toxic. The research survey is free for anyone to complete on www.futurecareerreadiness.com.

Global Perspectives were shared from a panel of OI Global Partner Leaders on a range of topics from growing emerging leaders, how to manage the ageing workforce, workplace trauma and transversal change. The Summit ended with collaborative round table discussions on the topics raised and how they related to businesses and Leaders in the region.

John Fitzgerald MD of Harmonics who was the brainchild behind the summit said, “The Future Proofing Summit was really well received. I am hearing from our local Leaders today and they want more events like this where they can share best practice and all learn from each other in a collaborative environment. This co-operation is how we continue to grow the Mid-West Region and future proof our regional businesses and their workforce”.