It’s not the first time we’ve seen this approach during a Raising the Baa teambuilding experience though you may be wondering “where are the sheep?”
Good question.
The strategy is sound – create a human fence – nearer the sheep is better!
Never mind, it makes a lovely image and conveys a close-knit team 🤗
London-based Ascential (now part of Informa Group) couldn’t have picked more perfect weather for their off-site retreat to a farm in Hertfordshire.
Congregating at Stevenage station we organised a bus to transfer them the short distance to the farm where they held their own meeting for the morning in an outbuilding. Bit different to the swanky hotel conference rooms they’re more used to in Cannes or Las Vegas – just what their team leader wanted.
Smart attire was similarly swapped for jeans and wellies for their afternoon in the field, where they wholeheartedly embraced the challenge of herding sheep 🐑
Despite the odd escape from their clutches, I’m delighted to say that the Ascential team achieved the task we set, with just a little coaching from our Head Shepherd Chris.
After being absorbed into the Informa Group and ahead of their busiest season of events, a complete change of environment plus a mindful yet instructional activity in the outdoors were key requirements for Dina and her team.
Here’s how team member Simon reflected on his experience of Raising the Baa:
“It really gave us a good insight into us as a group and some of the challenges we face. Not necessarily specific to sheep obviously, but actually more about how we can tackle things together.
And it just really opened up your eyes to being able to take that back into a working environment, based on some of the challenges we are experiencing. Because these are not specific to a farm, right? It’s not specific to ‘how do we herd sheep’? It’s actually about how do we collectively get to this end result? What are the objectives we’re trying to achieve?”
So glad it got ewe thinking Simon!
