When I was asked to put a proposal together for Brown-Forman’s BenRiach distillery I was in fact ‘cacking my pants’. This wasn’t my first corporate ‘gig’ but it was my first distillery. How would a traditional trade industry take to my ‘hippie thinking’? (ref, direct quote from my father). Proposal sent, session underway.
What I hadn’t appreciated until now was the creativity, curiosity and openness that the wonderful employees of BenRiach would have. I was so happy to see that a book regarding the Company’s diversity and story on the reception table and on the wall emblazoned was be CURIOUS. What a great start to my session.
The session was created to get to know people as human beings. What was there values, skills, nature. Sometimes when we forget the truth of the situation as we are wrapped up in the reaction/feeling and sometimes we forget who as humans, we are. We are conditioned by society, by people, by our corporate culture. We forget that our reactions as humans to a situation may be very different to our reaction to a situation in work.
There were some surprises, some laughs, some great discussions and not once did we discuss job titles or our roles in the organisation. How refreshing to be discussing ourselves as people. For some this was uncomfortable, how unusual to be speaking about our feelings and our though processes with people that we work with. However, how refreshing that we could start to see these people, that we spend a huge amount of time with, for who they really are and what makes them tick.
We meditated a lot. We looked at how our breathing can counteract the fight or flight response in all situations. This concept of meditation was completely new to most of the group and everyone gave it a go. We finished with a gratitude practice which counteracts our negative bias. By practicing gratitude we start to see the good in things, the good in life, the good in the moment.
I certainly found a lot of good in working with BenRiach. What a great bunch of people, a great story, a great future and in the moments that we spent together – for this I am grateful.
If you would like to know more about the corporate sessions I can run for your business, please get in touch with me directly.
