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A unique team building workshop, using exercises inspired by forests to help your team be more open, feel more connected and work together better in dark and uncertain times.

so valuable and so very needed

How to face the challenge of the darker winter months, when your team are spending a lot of time in front of screens.

Your team may be busy working from home, but when you can’t meet or gather and everyone is spending less time outside, chances are some people are feeling demotivated, lonely and disconnected, especially now. Boosting human connection, so you all stay positive and aligned has never been more important.

​What if you could learn a series of practices to support a more connected and positive team, and gain fresh perspectives from one of nature’s life-affirming ecosystems?

Thinking Like A Forest takes inspiration from forest ecosystems and explores how to integrate this into your organisation/team.

Looking at the different layers in a forest - from what’s going on underground to what is happening in the canopy - we help you work out what matters so that you can be more resilient and face a cold tough covid winter together. 

This programme is good for organisations who want to:

● stay positive and connected while working from home
● boost morale and wellbeing
● access the hive mind inside your business

● explore fresh perspectives with your team
● engage with change in a meaningful way
● find ways to be more regenerative

What happens

Thinking Like A Forest blends online and outside-in-nature sessions to help bring your team together and lift your mood and your spirits.

Forests are places where lots of different elements come together as one, so learning from these interconnections and relationships in a team setting has the power to help you adapt to change, build resilience and wellbeing, and involve everyone in talking about how you work together in greater harmony for the benefit of the whole.

Listening and sharing as a group, you'll discover how the relationships between the fungi, trees and birds in a forest can help you stay positive through the winter, and explore how to adopt these forest strategies so that you can thrive and grow together.

The aim is that you’ll unlock creative ideas, develop richer collaborations, and be better placed to navigate the way ahead.

You'll leave the session with insight and actions to continue the process both on your own and in your team.

Group size: from 8 up to 20 people​
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Thinking Like A Forest supports you to work with these questions:

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• How do you grow and maintain a positive culture during a post-lockdown winter?
• How do you create space for collaboration when everyone's working from home?
• How do you come together and align in a joyful way?

How it Works

Thinking Like A Forest comprises two x 2-hour group Zooms a few hours or (ideally) a few days apart, plus a nature session in between:

Zoom Part 1: Forest Thinking: how a forest’s ecosystem can inspire your team
 +
Nature Session: An outside activity for each of you to energise and discover new perspectives 
 +
Zoom Part 2: Bring To Life: building on the learning, agree actions to take forward 

Structure:

Each Zoom session includes listening, learning, sharing in small groups, and a forest ecosystem exercise, the invitation is to spend an hour or so in a wild place between sessions doing the homework we will give you.


Nature time:

The time in wild nature is a powerful antidote to screen time: we show you how to engage with it to boost wellbeing and your sense of belonging, and access a different part of your mind, to give you fresh perspectives and deeper insights that come out of a quieter and wilder space.​

Location:

We meet you where you are at: this is an online course, so can be held anywhere, at any UK time.

What you'll takeaway

You'll feel a stronger connection with your colleagues and your team.
You'll learn how thinking like a forest can help you navigate the winter.
You'll learn how to engage with nature as a powerful antidote for the stress and loneliness of online working.
You'll generate new ideas for how to adapt to changing times.
You'll feel positive, invigorated and connected.

The facilitators

Nigel Berman

Nigel is founder and Chief Wild Officer of School of the Wild. Based in Brighton, he is passionate about nature and meaningful conversations that inspire change, and facilitates team and leadership sessions for a variety of digital agencies, NGO's and corporates. Nigel has spent 25 years leading businesses - from publishing to e-commerce - that communicate different ways of seeing the world. School of the Wild is his way of helping to reconnect people and planet, he's also a handy forager and fire-maker.

Charlotte Du Cann

Charlotte Du Cann is an associate of School of the Wild. She is a writer and editor, and teaches collaborative writing and re-connection with the living planet. After working as a journalist during the 1980s and travelling in the 90s, she settled in Suffolk and began to document grassroots arts and activism in response to climate change. She is the author of 52 Flowers That Shook My World – A Radical Return to Earth, and is co-director of the Dark Mountain Project. She swims in the North Sea and the River Waveney, and makes a mean nettle pesto.

For more information, and to book:

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Want something different? Talk to us about a bespoke tailored event.

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Price

corporate, charity and small business rates available

Please note: the price depends on numbers, organisation type, and if part of a series of sessions: contact us for more details

FAQs

Why split the sessions?

We recommend scheduling the 2 x Zoom sessions a few days or a week apart, because:

• this avoids Zoom fatigue
• it creates space for reflection, which is a key part of learning
• it keeps the positive momentum going over a longer period
• NB it also works if they are held on the same day, ideally at least 3 hours apart

Why do the nature ACTIVITY BETWEEN SESSIONS?

• Placing the nature activity in the days (or hours) between the Zoom sessions allows your team members to find the right place, at a time to suit them
• by setting aside time for it rather than rushing it or squeezing it into a short workshop, allows your team to experience the full benefit, and for something new to emerge
• it informs the discussion in the second Zoom session

Why include nature?

The benefits of spending time in nature are well known. Humans have an innate affinity with the natural world, which is why Vitamin N (Nature) is:

• an antidote to stress and loneliness,
• it’s energising and relaxing,
• it remedies distracted thinking,
• and it enhances creative thinking.

The upshot: Nature is crucial for your mental health.

Yet in these rapidly changing times, many of us are sat in front of a screen for hours at a time, and don’t make time to connect with the earth. We’re missing out.

The nature activity we've created is a way for you to share an experience with your team that has meaning and is regenerative, while being physically distant. 

For more information, and to book:

Enquire now

Want something different? Talk to us about a bespoke tailored event.