7220 Sheep Herded!

3315 Sheep Herded!

Talk of the Barn
A day of insights, a lifetime of application.
Talk of the Barn
A day of insights, a lifetime of application.
Talk of the Barn
A day of insights, a lifetime of application.

Time to stop, think and listen to our heart

Time to stop, think and listen to our heart - chandan-chaurasia-_PBW5ZyPiOA-unsplash-1200×480

Whether working all the way through lockdown or just returning to work, we’ve all had to adjust to different routines and behaviours.

March to July is normally rammed (naturally!) with client team building programmes, so we have used the time to work hard behind the scenes in readiness for the inevitably changed needs of business leaders.

In whatever shape Raising the Baa evolves, our heartbeat, what makes us tick, remains the same.  Even though the business came into being 8 years ago, we hadn’t actually published our Values. In fact if I’m honest we didn’t even stop and think about them until relatively recently.  And that’s the key isn’t it – stop and think.

Thanks in no small part to Darrell and his team at Cre8ion, we took time to re-visit what Raising the Baa is all about – our Mission, our Vision and our Values.

And it’s been great fun!  Our Values are nothing new. They’ve been important to us since inception. We just hadn’t stopped to crystallise them and commit them to paper.

Quite simply they are our DNA. As you know us I trust you won’t be surprised.  Not least of which to hear that the word SHEEP spells them out:

S – SUSTAINABILITY

Both senses of the word:

Our vision, of successful collaboration amongst rural farming communities in Ethiopia, will be the most meaningful legacy we can create, way beyond the ‘business’ of Raising the Baa. We work alongside our charity partner Send a Cow, whose values and ethos we respect and share, to achieve this powerful goal.

Sustainable also refers to our eco-principles. We always have and always will continue to strive to minimise our carbon footprint through our means of conducting business and careful selection of all stakeholders.

H – HEALTH

Our core activity takes place in the fresh air and space of rural countryside, often with views that make people gasp with joy. Coupled with the exercise of moving around, minimal screen-time, talking and laughter, our programmes are without doubt good for mental and physical health.

Looking after the health and wellbeing of our team, or as we refer to them, our flock, is paramount. Other than when running client programmes, we all work remotely from home so we virtually get together each week as a minimum and have a social, team-building (it would be rude not to!) activity at least twice a year.

The shepherds present at every programme are primarily responsible for the welfare of the sheep and we only work with fit and healthy livestock on well-maintained farmland.

E – EXTRAORDINARY

So often described as quirky, different and niche Raising the Baa pioneered sheep-herding as a means of team building and development. To this day we are the global leaders in our field.

We thrive on using our ‘ewe-nique’ and innovative activity to build the most extraordinary teams amongst our client companies, encouraging the most creative and lateral thinking.

Beyond the field and into the client organisation the transformation continues, taking teams from great to extraordinary.

E – EMPOWERING

There is no one solution to the sheep-herding tasks we set our clients. The team is totally empowered to come up with their own strategy and plan, collaboratively working as a team to successfully herd sheep.

Similarly our charity partner Send a Cow doesn’t impose solutions, they help the families grow from within.  And we are working alongside them to help enable this to work in Ethiopia where owning a sheep can be a lifeline for a struggling family. Raising the Baa donates a minimum of one sheep for every client programme.

Our human flock is all self-employed, all strong and creative people who we empower to come up with their own ideas and solutions.

P – PLAYFUL

Our brand essence – our language, the bright colour, the sheep illustration in our logo – is playful. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We love what we do and have fun doing it.  Quirky yet professional is our mantra.

Playful learning so aptly describes our offering to core activity – and it’s been scientifically proven that we learn more when we’re having fun.  As adults at work, we tend not to have enough fun. We’re here to prove that time with our co-workers can be, and should be, fun!

So there we have it. It’s still work (or rather words) in progress though it feels good to spell out our Values.

Are you nodding in agreement or a bit curious?

Time to stop, think and listen to our heart - sheep-wo

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