The time I cried in a client meeting

22/5/2019

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

The other day I go for an early 8am coffee with a client. The HR director of a large charity, she has kindly agreed to meet me to explain why they have decided not to go ahead with my proposal for a leadership programme in nature.

Circumstances have changed. They’ve just done a 360. It has thrown up some unexpected stuff and the CEO has decided to go with a different plan.

It’s fine, I understand. And anyway I appreciate that she cares enough to explain this face to face.

Over coffee we have a wide-ranging discussion about culture, and the challenges and tensions of an organisation that has frontline support staff and also a retail arm, with different issues, different needs, and different personalities.

And then she mentions homelessness.

That’s when things take an unexpected turn.

For some reason I’m compelled to tell her what happened the day before. A visit to a meditation class has kickstarted my on-again-off-again resolution to be more generous to the growing number of people begging on the high street.

On my way to get some lunch, there's a toothless guy sitting on the pavement by the Barclays cashpoint, as I drop some coins into his hand, I ask him how it’s going.

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Is 24-hour Always-On Connectivity Causing a Burnout Culture in Your Organisation?

18/4/2019

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What does burnout mean for your organisation and how can you use culture change and the power of nature to help your teams to thrive instead? Here’s a 5-step toolkit to cope with an always-on world.

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash

In a 24-hour, globally connected world, we are always-on - spending our entire lives connected to technology, with instant access to the world around us.

There are undoubtedly positive benefits to business and organisations from this state of 24-hour connectivity.

You can be more productive by managing projects using cloud based tools; you’ve got the convenience of being able to access everything you need, from meals to travel, with the touch of a button; and you can easily serve international markets during their waking hours, as working across different time zones and having staff based across the globe is becoming de rigueur.

However, it's also becoming clear that it’s not all sunshine and roses.

You may be able to have a gourmet meal delivered at all hours of the day and night, but what is this state of being always-on doing to your mental and physical health, and the health of your team?

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Collaboration, impact, and purpose. How our campfires help business leaders develop a plan for the future.

15/4/2019

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In the last few months, School of the Wild has been convening groups of business leaders to explore what we can do to address global social and environmental challenges, and how to make the world a better place. Here, business coach Neil Pavel explains what he experienced around the campfire.

What happens when leaders, business owners, senior managers, and people who work for themselves get together around a campfire in a new and natural environment and are asked: “What conversation would you like to have that will make a difference in the world?”

I have experience of this twice now after Nigel, who runs School of the Wild, invited me to attend a couple of the Leading with Purpose campfire catalyst sessions that he facilitates.

For a few hours, myself and the other people in these groups shared our stories, ideas and insights into leadership and responsibility, and about culture and the future.

Being outside has an immediate impact.

I notice how we all think and behave more-than-slightly differently. There’s an openness to the conversations, less boundaries, and lots of trust.

Having the time and space to reflect on leadership and impact with a bunch of complete strangers allows a wide range of subjects, voices, and opinions to be heard and mulled over.

Being outside has an immediate impact. I notice we all think and behave more-than-slightly differently. There’s an openness to the conversations, less boundaries and lots of trust.

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Conversations that matter on a team away day

13/4/2019

Conversations that matter: culture, impact, legacy. And fireside rapping. Space Doctors team away day in the woods.

The woods are where we do our best work

11/4/2019

Mark and Rosie, key members of the School of the Wild team, get the woods ready before the client arrives.
#teamawayday #schoolofthewild #natureisouroffice

How can your organisation have more impact and make more of a difference?

25/3/2019

How does your organisation stay connected? How can your team have more impact and make more of a difference? Making meaningful connections and having conversations that matter to address these questions at a team building away day in the woods today.
#team #strategy #nature #business #schoolofthewild

How connecting around a campfire can help you reignite your purpose

24/3/2019

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Marketing guru and writer-photographer, Lauren Psyk, came to a Leading with Purpose campfire catalyst session. She wasn't expecting it to be so powerful. This is her story.

photo of Lauren Psyk by Saskia Nelson.

In my twenties, I was attracted by the bright lights of London and had ‘trendy’ marketing jobs with media organisations.

From an outside perspective I had what every young professional wants - I worked on partnerships with music and media brands, I got to go to glamorous events and trendy media industry parties and I had a decent enough salary to enjoy the London life.

Back then, nobody talked about millennials, the buzz word at the time was urbanites - and I was living the stereotypical urbanite life; work hard, play hard, spend hard.

Lack of purpose

But despite my initial excitement, within a couple of years it became clear to me that I had set off on the wrong path. Neither my job nor my lifestyle were going to make me happy or give me any sense of fulfilment. Life and work felt meaningless, empty and vacuous - essentially I was lacking any sense of purpose.

So I quit the media life and went to work in Government communications, on a THINK! road safety advertising campaign aimed at reducing deaths and injuries amongst motorcyclists.

My work had meaning and I felt fulfilled. I got a huge sense of achievement from the fact I was doing something with purpose, and which had a positive impact.

Eventually I left London to seek a healthier and more balanced lifestyle by the sea here in Brighton, and I started designing a career that fits around my needs and values.

More recently, I have worked a lot in the charity sector and on projects which give me creative freedom. But purpose, and doing work which has a positive impact is still a core part of what drives me.

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What’s the point? How to maintain your business mojo in the face of crises and uncertainty.

24/2/2019

In such a rapidly changing and unpredictable world, identifying an overriding purpose for your business is more important than ever. Being a greater force for good and achieving personal fulfilment are arguably just as important as pursuing profit alone. Here’s why connecting with your purpose is a vital part of a successful business strategy.

Read time: 4 mins

The world is changing and the future is unpredictable. Brexit, climate disruption and the transition to a digital economy are just some of the more obvious challenges facing today’s business leaders.

In the face of these uncertainties, and with the daily demands of running a business, it’s easy to see how your purpose can get lost.

The urgent day-to-day pressures of meeting deadlines, finding clients and managing a busy team can often become more important than what seem like idealistic notions of ‘purpose’. This may lead you to feel a dichotomy between being true to your values and running a successful business that earns you a decent living.

The desire to do some good, rather than chase purely short-term financial goals, is something you may end up putting aside.

And if you’re an entrepreneur or a startup, you need to achieve credibility, clients and an income quickly in order to grow your business. It’s all too easy to grasp at partnerships, projects or areas of work that don’t meet your wider objectives just to get your business off the ground.

As Andrea Collings, Director of Brighton based startup Terrier Marketing, says:

“When we first started out, we were chasing clients who weren’t the right fit for us, just to get up and running. Eventually we realised we needed to take a step back and reconnect with our purpose. We said to ourselves: 'Hold on a minute, why are we doing what we do? We didn’t start out to work this way, we have certain values to uphold, and these have become lost.' We’re now attracting and working with clients who are the right fit for us, and we are right for them.”

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

23/1/2019

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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.

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

17/1/2019

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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.

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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.

The 3 Best Plants for Your Office - they'll quickly boost wellbeing and productivity

15/10/2018

Biophilic design is the new trend for bringing nature into the design of your home and workspaces. These 3 plants are the best for your office, 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.

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

3 Ways Nature Has Made a Difference to My Work at the Chamber of Commerce

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 of Commerce. "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.

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.

The Matchbox Mobile crew show off the knives they whittled in the woods

25/7/2018

. #schoolofthewild #teambuilding #awaydays

Summer Team Building Away Day: How a day in the wild builds Team Spirit

25/7/2018

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Take advantage of the warm weather to hold your team away day in the Great Outdoors. Taking your team into nature has lots of benefits.

An away day in the wild builds camaraderie and team spirit

A few weeks ago we ran an away day for the UK Green Building Council, a passionate and busy organisation who advocate for a better built environment.

We got their team of twenty to connect around the fire, take an inspiring tour of the Brighton Earthship, and do some whittling and foraging.

Usually based in an office in London, the activities and time together in nature really worked - Julie Hirigoyen their CEO wrote that the day gave them a “palpable sense of calm and togetherness which is still with us a week later.”

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Bringing the Meeting Room to the Woods: Exploring the Future of Medicine at a Horizon Scanning Workshop in the Wild

6/7/2018

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The Academy of Medical Sciences delve into the future of medical research at an innovation away day workshop around the fire

All pictures: Academy of Medical Sciences

Who are they?
The Academy of Medical Sciences is a fellowship of 1,200 of the UK’s best medical science researchers working at universities and hospitals across the UK, with a mission to improve health through research.

Looking at the future of medicine
It’s March 2018, and the Academy are running a series of Horizon Scanning workshops across the UK to look at the future of medicine over the next 30 years.

The workshops are bringing the Academy’s fellows and grant awardees together with curious creatives from various research disciplines, to explore what areas of medical research and innovation will have the greatest impact on society by 2048 (when the Academy turns 50).

The Academy have asked School of the Wild to host the Brighton workshop - the idea is to hold it away from the usual world of universities and hospitals, in an environment not normally connected to research, to inspire attendees to think more broadly about the future.

Futures consultant Oliver Grant is leading the sessions with support from Academy of Medical Science (AMS) staff, and writers and graphic visualisers who record the conversations.

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How a Change of Scene Changes the Conversation

17/5/2018

How fresh air can lead to fresh thinking and why that's important if we're to reframe our ideas about today's challenges.

Dialogue and conversation are integral to every business. Despite the wave of new apps and technologies that offer better business processes at a click of a button, a fundamental element to any successful business is still face-to-face communication.

Innovation, strategy, creation, and implementation are all human-centred processes that rely on people talking to each other.

As Steve Jobs said, “There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.”

And with flexible hours, the increase in time spent in front of screens, and the demands of city life, it's never been more important to get teams communicating and working at their best.

With workplace relationships being so very important, more and more organisations are becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of team dynamics, and are taking steps to improve company culture to create the conditions for better conversations.

A 2017 report by Mazars found that culture is one of the top three priorities for company boards, and that the importance of corporate culture to business success is an area of growing strategic importance.

However, with virtually all employers thinking about improving conversations in the office, at School of Wild we believe getting out of the office might be a better option.

Nilofer Merchant, author and business innovator, spoke about the benefits of outdoor meetings in a TED Talk in 2013. She found a direct link for how walking meetings can change how we think: “Fresh air drives fresh thinking,” she says, and delivers some scary statistics about the health risks of spending too long indoors to back it up.

“Nowadays people are sitting 9.3 hours a day, which is more then we’re sleeping,” she says. “Sitting is so incredibly prevalent we don’t even question how much we’re doing it, and because everyone else is doing it, it doesn’t even occur to us it’s not okay.”

But it’s not just health risks that can be reduced by getting outdoors. As Merchant found, going outside brought benefits to conversations too.

She explains, “There is this amazing thing about getting out of the box that leads to out of the box thinking, whether it’s nature or the exercise itself, it certainly works.”

And the science is there to confirm it. One study discovered that simply being exposed to office plants can boost employee wellbeing and productivity by 15%, which gives an inkling into the dramatic benefits that being outdoors can bring.

According to another study by the University of Kansas, being absorbed in nature can help increase creative problem-solving ability by as much as 50%.

With the multitude of distractions that office screens and phones give, it’s no wonder that getting away from the office is a good way to change a conversation.

6 Reasons Why Taking Your Team Outdoors is Good for Business

28/4/2018

Spending time in nature is a powerful way to boost your workplace culture and employee wellbeing, and has a dramatic effect on creative thinking and team cohesion, says Liz Naven

In the past few years, culture change and workplace wellbeing have become staples of the modern office. Prompted by research demonstrating the inextricable link between employee happiness and productivity, organisations are placing serious attention on initiatives to improve employees’ experience at work, inspired by forward-thinking companies such as Google and Zappos.

Although your company may not have a budget as large as these tech giants, chances are you're looking to replicate the same positive company culture with practical alternatives that make work a positive experience for all, with a consequent impact on your bottom line.

Leadership and team development, combined with flexible working hours, on-site massage and fitness classes, and duvet days are just some of the perks you might already be offering in a bid to increase employee happiness, engagement, and productivity.

The results are usually worth the effort: organisations who get culture right, combined with properly-designed wellness programmes enjoy large financial returns, amongst other competitive advantages. For example, according to research from Harvard Business Review, Johnson & Johnson's wellness programs cumulatively saved the company $250 million on health care costs, with a return of $2.71 for every $2 spent, between 2002 to 2008.

Yet are you overlooking the most effective activity to transform culture and wellbeing? To create a positive workforce full of high-performing employees, you may just need to send your team outdoors.

Being outdoors in nature has a dramatic range of benefits, for both physical and mental health. Time spent outdoors boosts mood and energy, improves attention and encourages connection and community.

If your business aims to put culture first, wants to prioritise the wellbeing of your employees, and improve workplace productivity, getting your teams to spend time in nature as part of their working life can be a vital piece of the process.

Here’s 6 reasons why taking your team outdoors is good for business:

Take Your Team on an Away Day in Nature. You'll love the results.

23/4/2018

2 Comments

Been given the task of arranging a team away day and wondering where to start?

Our outdoor team away days in the wild are the perfect way to bring people together.

An away day outdoors in nature has lots of benefits - including dramatic impacts on creative and innovative thinking, and decision making. Plus time in nature is a great leveller and breaks down personal barriers, making it much easier to connect with each other.

We cater for groups of various sizes from 6 to 35 in the Brighton and Sussex countryside, and we'll help you arrange your team away day with ideas that suit your specific needs.

From a foraging walkshop to a creative campfire, we listen to what you want, share ideas and put our planning expertise into practice. You get an away day tailored to achieve your desired outcome.

There are plenty of options to explore, from facilitated conversations to bonding exercises. We have covered spaces in case of bad weather and all our team away days are designed with one purpose in mind - to keep your team effective and energised.

So leave everything to us, you can just relax and enjoy the experience.

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Rooftop whittlers. Team away day activities for Then Somehow

20/4/2018

Being open in the open. Inspiring campfire conversation with Brighton business leaders and mentors

19/4/2018

Business leaders, mentors and entrepreneurs getting to know each other better around the fire at a Creative Campfire. Nature helps to breakdown personal barriers and makes it easier to connect.

What happens when medical research meets fire?

15/3/2018

Using fire and whittling to support a campfire conversation during a horizon scanning event for the Academy of Medical Science. A shiver runs down my spine when a cancer research fellow brings up the issue of being integrated humans and the need to be more connected with nature, and the effect of environmental factors on health, such as todays news of microplastics in bottles of water.

Find out more about our away days and programmes for teams and organisations here.

<<Previous

Fieldwork

The time I cried in a client meeting

Is 24-hour Always-On Connectivity Causing a Burnout Culture in Your Organisation?

Collaboration, impact, and purpose. How our campfires help business leaders develop a plan for the future.

Conversations that matter on a team away day

The woods are where we do our best work

How can your organisation have more impact and make more of a difference?

How connecting around a campfire can help you reignite your purpose

What’s the point? How to maintain your business mojo in the face of crises and uncertainty.

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

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

Team Building Away Day for NCD Alliance

The 3 Best Plants for Your Office - they'll quickly boost wellbeing and productivity

Why Spending Time Outside Will Help You Be a Better Leader

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

3 Ways Nature Has Made a Difference to My Work at the Chamber of Commerce

How does your team come together on new projects?

The Matchbox Mobile crew show off the knives they whittled in the woods

Summer Team Building Away Day: How a day in the wild builds Team Spirit

Bringing the Meeting Room to the Woods: Exploring the Future of Medicine at a Horizon Scanning Workshop in the Wild

The Academy of Medical Sciences delve into the future of medical research at an innovation away day workshop around the fire

How a Change of Scene Changes the Conversation

6 Reasons Why Taking Your Team Outdoors is Good for Business

Take Your Team on an Away Day in Nature. You'll love the results.

Rooftop whittlers. Team away day activities for Then Somehow

Being open in the open. Inspiring campfire conversation with Brighton business leaders and mentors

What happens when medical research meets fire?

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