Leading with Purpose: a new campfire catalyst programme for business founders and leaders

25/1/2019

We're excited to be launching a new programme for founders and business leaders, based around a fire in the wild.

We're fusing reflection with immersive nature activities to help you reconnect your business with your values and your purpose. It's called Campfire Catalyst: Leading with Purpose.

It starts March 21st, in Brighton. If you'd like to join, early bird tickets available til Jan 31st.

Details here (please share!)

The Teams They Are a-Changin’ - so what does ‘team’ mean in 2019?

23/1/2019

Technology now enables anyone to run a business wherever, and however, you choose. Coupled with a fundamental shift in attitudes to work, it’s clear that the very concept of what a ‘team’ means in the modern organisation is changing dramatically. As CEOs and team leaders you ignore these developments at your peril.

How can you embrace these changes and continue to create happy, productive and successful teams for 2019? asks Lauren Psyk

Remote workers at a co-working space: Photo: Shridhar Gupta/Unsplash

Read time: 4 mins

In 2019, people no longer ‘go to work’ in the same way they used to - in fact, you could say work is no longer a place, but a space. Business teams are not just spread across a city, but often across the globe. Many employees now enjoy flexible and remote working, which can no longer be seen as a perk but a central part of working life.

The digital world is not the only driver for this change in where and when we work. There has also been a dramatic shift in our very attitudes to our careers. Increasingly, salary is not seen as the key marker of success.

Goals for career fulfilment now include being valued as an individual, working fewer hours, protecting your mental health and working for a more socially responsible organisation.

When looking for new roles, a positive work/life balance comes before salary or career progression as one of the most important things employees seek. Bestselling books such as The 4-Hour Work Week promote the idea of living more and working less.

Alongside this, social media means your employees are all busy cultivating a strong ‘personal brand’ online and individualism is valued above all else.

In recruitment, the power is increasingly held by the applicants, who see themselves very much as their own brands and are asking: “Does this company fit with my values and my ethos? Can they give me the work fulfilment I’m after?”

If you can’t deliver the lifestyle that a talented, young graduate is looking for, there are plenty of other creative, forward thinking startups and organisations who can.

How Spending Time Around a Fire Had Unexpected Benefits, Both for Myself and for My Business

17/1/2019

Getting a different perspective with like-minds around the fire was worth the investment, and got me some great new clients, says PR and communications consultant, Jill Woolf

When I saw the email come through from the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator for a ‘Mentors Go Wild’ event set in the great outdoors in Stanmer Park, my first reaction was “They’ll never get me in wellies round a camp fire!” I left the email in my inbox and carried on with daily life.

Something about it must have resonated though because I was drawn back to it and reconsidered.

As anyone who knows me well would expect, my initial concerns were over shallow (I prefer the word ‘practical’ – it’s all about personal branding) things like what the weather would do to my hair, and what would be the best thing to wear.

Having assuaged my doubts on these, I focused on the benefits – spending time out of the office, getting back to nature, learning new things, looking at issues from a different perspective, sharing with strangers who didn’t know me and therefore would respond with potentially fresh ideas and views – and suddenly the idea seemed delightful.

No email, no mobile phone, no interruptions for a whole morning. A focus on my own thoughts, plans and ideas. Learning. Listening. Interacting. Sharing. Helping others.

And so I booked myself on, found my wellies and joined in.

New venture - Wild Crafted Sauerkraut

5/12/2018

Our new venture for the winter months: wild crafted sauerkraut and kimchi, handmade with organic vegetables plus wild plants that we've foraged from along the South Coast. They're healthy, naturally probiotic and really good for your stomach.

First one is South Coast Kraut, coming soon to a market near you!

Team Building Away Day for NCD Alliance

5/12/2018

Well that was a good day. Fab team session with a great group from all over the world.
Thanks Guys.

7am on the beach. Just before we went into the sea.

15/11/2018

Sea swimming as the sun comes up building #resilience as part of Meaning conference. Great to see @happystartups in the sea.
#schoolofthewild #Meaningconf #meaningfringe #brighton #energising #itsnovember

Brighton Night Walk

14/11/2018

. Up in the woods the stillness seeps into our bones, while the city glitters below.

Come say hello! @tedxbrighton

26/10/2018

Nigel mans our stand at TEDx Brighton, with a question: What kind of leader are you?

#schoolofthewild #leadership #whatkindofleader

Getting ready for @tedxbrighton Thanks to @pearcemarketing for the design

25/10/2018

The Best 3 Plants to Have in Your Office - they'll quickly boost your wellbeing at work

15/10/2018

Biophilic design is the new trend for bringing nature into the design of your home and workspaces. It has huge benefits, says interior designer Chloe Bullock

l first learnt about biophilia whilst watching Biophilic Design – the Architecture of Life. It’s a film about the overwhelming benefits of buildings that connect people and nature: hospitals where patients heal faster, schools where children’s test scores are higher, offices where workers are more productive, and communities where people know more of their neighbours, and where families thrive.

I loved it. It all made so much sense.

There’s lots of research that shows we need nature at a deep and fundamental level, but our cities and buildings are often designed in ways that diminish the environment, and alienate us from the natural world. Biophilic design, in contrast, shows the way toward creating healthy and productive habitats in a modern way.

Biophilia itself means the human need for connection to nature - the idea that we possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life.

Coastal Foraging

14/10/2018

We almost cancelled this Coastal Foraging Class - really glad we didn't as the weather was great despite the gloomy forecast! Thanks to @forage_brighton for a great walk and tasty wild snacks.

#schoolofthewild #wildfood #wildgut

Why Spending Time Outside Will Help You Be a Better Leader

4/10/2018

There's a reason they say it's lonely at the top.

For the leader of any organisation, you may have lots of people working for you, but with the challenge of a changing and diverse workforce, a never ending conveyor belt of meetings, reports, and decisions, with uncertain outcomes and the pressure to deliver, you can end up feeling pretty isolated and wondering how best to lead effectively.

You’re not alone: 60% of leaders say feeling isolated affects their performance, and instead they get caught up in the small details and push aside the decisions that really matter. [†]

Good session with a group of green business leaders working on #leadership and #innovation

29/9/2018

Great session around the fire with eight leaders of organisations, working on leadership and innovation in the green economy. An event we ran for Brighton University's Green Growth Platform.

#aroundthefire #natureinspires #schoolofthewild #sustainability #sustainabilitymatters #connection #weareallhuman #whatsneeded

Pictures from Wild Wine and Foraging with Brighton Wine Company

27/9/2018

Pictures from our Whittling & Mindfulness Class - Carving Some Time

25/9/2018

Guelder Rose berries. Taste and smell like old socks.

24/9/2018

Guelder Rose berries taste and smell like old socks. Makes good jelly though says Mike. The rain doesn't dampen spirits on our Wild Wine and #Foraging morning with Brighton Wine Company.
#schoolofthewild #foodforfree #wildfood

Pictures from our Coastal Foraging Class near Seaford Head

23/9/2018

Coastal #foraging walk in the sun. Learning about samphire sea kale sea beet and many more yummy wild plants. #schoolofthewild

9/9/2018

Thumbs up @real_patisserie! #plasticfree

30/8/2018

3 Ways Nature Has Helped Me in My Work, and How It Can Help You Too

27/8/2018

"From de-stressing to being more creative, my work has benefitted from spending time around a fire with other business people," says Amy Lishman of Brighton Chamber. "Here's how it helped me..."

I’m lucky that in my job I’m not constantly stuck in front of a screen for 8 hours a day. I get out and about and meet people across Brighton and attend networking events in venues across the city.

Most of these events and meetings are indoors though - in offices, coffee shops and co-working spaces like Platfr9m and Freedom Works.

So when I was invited to attend Mentors Go Wild, a session run as part of the NatWest Business Accelerator programme and facilitated by School of the Wild, a morning of conversation, teamwork and communication – all outdoors in the beautiful Stanmer Park – I literally jumped at the chance.

We did a number of exercises throughout the morning led by Nigel and the School of the Wild team. All designed to help the group get to know each other, discuss challenges and opportunities, and bring a group of seemingly disparate individuals together.

I’m not going to spoil the surprise of the innovative exercises we did, but instead I offer three things I learnt from working outside for the morning.

Delicious wild cocktails easy to make when you know how!

25/8/2018

Delicious wild cocktails, easy to make when you know how! Another fantastic class by Caroline and Jessie.

WeWild #schoolofthewild #wildfood

19/8/2018

Bigup in the programme! #schoolofthewild #summercamp

16/8/2018

Where Have All The Wildflowers Gone?

29/7/2018

With few wild plants surviving the UK’s recent dry weather, we’ve been forced to cancel our latest foraging class - it’s a worrying sign for all of us

Today this South Downs meadow is full of dry grasses (pic 2018)

Last summer the same meadow was full of wild herbal plants like Yarrow, Wild Carrot, Knapweed, Agrimony, Eyebright, and much more (pic 2017)

We’ve just cancelled a Foraging and Health class.

Six weeks of no rain have left the South Downs parched, with very few wild herbal plants to be found on the chalk grasslands where we planned to be walking.

I’ve spent the day on the phone to herbalist Lucinda Warner trying to decide what to do.

We talk about options but the land is just too dry to forage.

“There’s a few small examples of Plantain and Yarrow up there,” she tells me, but, “no St John’s Wort, no Agrimony, no Mugwort, no Eyebright…”

Nothing like the abundance of wild flowers we’ve found over the past few summers.

How does your team come together on new projects?

28/7/2018

Staff from Matchbox Mobile show how it's done, aceing the team fire lighting challenge, one task at a time.

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School of the Wild
c/o ONCA, 14 St George's Place,
Brighton BN1 4GB
Tel: 01273 721258
email: info@schoolofthewild.com

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