Sheep Dip with Raising the Baa
Discover how to keep your team engaged, happy, connected and productive - with and without the help of sheep.
Building the best team in your field.
Sheep Dip with Raising the Baa
Pick Your Own - with Emma of Semper Hopkins Creative Workshops
What struck ewe most from this episode - and why?
Re-use, recycle, re-purpose.... and create something you will use and be super proud of for years to come.
One of the outcomes of a workshop led by my guest Emma Semper Hopkins.
We love Emma for her intelligent, down-to-earth, no messing Yorkshire lass approach.
And from visiting her premises we felt these vibes there too.
Hence our invitation to Emma to be included in our bespoke Pick Your Own collection.
Whilst hundreds of companies have brought their teams to a farm to herd sheep, we know that the field-based exercises are not for everyone.
So we've raised our own 'baa' and created Pick Your Own. A bespoke collection of sustainable and meaningful activities to bring teams together in the countryside - just perfect for everyone's wellbeing.
Thank ewe for tuning in :-)
Pick Your Own brochure - download here
Click here to book in an Exploratory Call with Caroline
Connect with the speakers via LinkedIn:
Emma Semper Hopkins - Director, Semper Hopkins Creative Workshops
Caroline Palmer - Top Dog and co-founder, Raising the Baa
What are your main team challenges and desires? Maybe we can help?
Book in a 15-minute Exploratory Call now and let's see.
[ Bleating noise] Hi, welcome to Sheep Dip, the podcast that invites you to swap your boardroom for a barn. I'm Caroline from Raising the Baa, and this season we're chatting with the collaborators from our new offering, which is called Pick Your Own. This is a carefully curated collection of sustainable and meaningful team building activities, which we run alongside herding sheep. So let's get on with the show.
Emma:Emma. How are you today? I'm very well. Thank you, Caroline. How are you?
Caroline:Yes, I'm good, thank you. Very, very well. It's a lovely day today, so that always helps. Why don't you tell us who you are and a little bit about your background?
Emma:Well, I'm based in Cheshire, originally a Yorkshire Lass. We run creative workshops for team building days, leadership and development, and also for people wanting to learn upholstery. My background was originally in corporate food retail, so my career journey changed, shall I say, when I had my son Alfie, who is coming up to 10, and we set up an upholstery business. So the first five to six years of the business, we were transforming furniture and designing and making furniture and then we leapt into the world of teaching about five years ago which is all that we do now so we've got an education centre is the best way to describe it where we teach upholstery, leather crafts and some floristry workshops. We also obviously go out on the road hence what we're talking about today so we can also take our workshops to people that can't get to
Caroline:It's interesting you've come from a corporate background. One or two of our collaborators have also come and I think it's a very interesting take. I mean, I'm from a corporate background, very different to yours. My background for people who don't know was in the agency world, really, in the whole world of marketing. I did also have a stint at the Body Shop International and also at the, what was the Millennium Dome, which is now the O2. So yeah, my job was to get people to come and visit. So I suppose my job hasn't changed that much really, has it? Two decades later, that's a bit scary. Yeah, but I just think it's interesting because because you and I will have worked as part of teams. And I mean, in my day, yes, we used to go off on the odd jolly, but it was, to be honest, more like that. It was a jolly. Whereas I think nowadays there's a lot more, well, apart from the fact there isn't necessarily the money just to go out on a jolly, companies are looking for more than just the jolly. They do need the jolly bit because actually if you haven't, we always say, if you're having fun, you're going to learn, you'll sort of learn consciously. But what sort of things do you, I mean, would you agree from your corporate background, particularly, would you think, yep, that's right, things have changed, people are wanting a bit more for their buck now, basically?
Emma:And I think, yeah, it has to, really, because people... can socialise whilst they're learning as well. I think what we deliver with the workshops, it allows the learning in terms of what you need to do from a business perspective to have those tangible results for maybe communication skills or whatever it is that you're wanting to build on. But people learn by doing and when you're in a really safe place, people also get to learn more about each other than they would if they're on a social because I think it goes past that superficial conversation. You're doing something together that's similar so it's going to bring you together whereas in a work environment or if you're at the pub or eating for example all you're doing is talking to the person in front of you or to the right and the left whereas actually doing this type of dynamic you're getting an opportunity to speak to everyone and especially if you're in a scenario where you've got multiple levels of business coming so meaning from like senior management through to administration it's also a safe space to take the layers out and I think it's a really good opportunity for those people that wouldn't necessarily get in front of their boss or their senior management to actually get an opportunity to shine they might not get that in the work environment as much when you're busy in the day job you just very much I'm not saying you work in silos but you're almost working within the department rather than get an opportunity to see the other people I think it's much more needed to have both getting the a return on investment for the company, but also the employees of the team getting something out of it as well. And I think that's what our workshops do. Your sheep herding gives them that different opportunity to try something that they would have never done before. And most people have never done leather crafts or upholstery. So it's win-win for both.
Caroline:So what led to running the workshops for businesses? What made you make that leap from sort of teaching it to individuals to business?
Emma:I always knew there was a gap in the market just then when I started teaching it was always going to be a subconscious move to then move into corporates but obviously teaching individuals you're doing more skill transfer versus teaching in a team environment is very different because you're learning about the skills of communication and resilience and mindfulness whatever it is that we're doing as well as doing the skills as in learning upholstery that That's kind of the second layer. It's almost like the workshop facilitates what the bigger problem is that we're doing. So it was just more of a natural progression and I'm very passionate about bringing it into corporates because I'm more interested in people being curious about creativity. So trying to inspire people to do stuff out of just work life because I think it's very easy for us to get trapped into work, home, nothing for ourselves. So this is also encouraging people to try something different that we then could potentially take on as a hobby.
Caroline:Who's been the company that you feel has had the most impact from your activity so far?
Emma:That's quite an interesting question because I think each workshop delivers different impactors and it depends on what business problem we're solving. So I wouldn't single any one business out. I just say some businesses come purely to play and have fun and they get lots out of it that they wouldn't usually be thinking about as in they're just coming to have for the experience, but they're getting lots out of it as well. But it's also lovely to bring in teams. So we worked with a charity in May where they were building furniture furniture for their day centre so they were actually bringing in the board of trustees and the senior leadership team to bring them closer together but they were actually making furniture that's going to be like a legacy in their business so I'd say that for me is almost a double impact because I know that they've made something really special but it's going to be used their people as in because they service children and adults with learning difficulties I know that that's then going to be used as a community project so it's a bit of both I'm I like working with people and however I can have an impact or there's a positive impact is win-win.
Caroline:That's so special, isn't it? That one, that's great. Because, you know, at the end of the day, charities... They have to have their leadership teams. They have to be operated like businesses, even though I know that they have to be really conscious of the budgets. But the lovely thing about that is they have, as you say, they've done something that then can have a benefit and something they probably needed anyway.
Emma:And they've got that lasting memory that they've done it together. They can always say, I've made that or we've made that, which is, yeah, just a really special, special thing.
Caroline:Definitely, definitely. The other thing I think is really special is that you are a B Corp, which is wonderful. So why did you, what made you go for the B Corp certification?
Emma:So as a business, we'd already, ethics has always been a part of our core from the very beginning, using and reusing old furniture and bringing new life into it. Whereas teaching, we've always, we use new materials, But meaning we use new materials from certified sources. So it's either recycled or it comes from a certified source. It took it to a next level going for B Corp. It almost just filled the gaps of the strategy that I didn't have. It took me to a next level. And now... Now that I'm doing it, I just feel that I should have been doing it all the time. I was doing 80% of it anyway. And then when I started going through the process, I realized it was part of my strategy that we're missing. And that's really just plugged the gaps. And it's just made me so much more laser focused because everything that we do now, it kind of goes through that decision-making process and it's just reinforced everything we do. And I think it's just a lovely community to be part of as well because B Corp is all about collaboration. Obviously it's doing everything with impact and purpose um so that was another reason it just it just felt right
Caroline:That's brilliant. That's great. Do you think your most recent corporate background at Co-op had some influence on that at all? Were you already sort of thinking like that? Do you think it was just a part?
Emma:I've always, it's one of my values. It's been, it runs deep. If you cut me in half, that kind of, it runs through me. So it's always been part of what I do as in that I chose to work for the Co-op because it was the company that had values. Whereas when I set my own business up, it had similar values. So it's always been ingrained in what I do. yeah so I would say yes in answer to that question it probably has driven some of it but it's also led to some of those decision making processes in terms of suppliers that you work with and choices that you make in terms of purchasing and it is a massive because it's not a learned behaviour. I think it is something that you want to want to be able to do and it's it's our decision to do it as in we've only got one opportunity to make a difference and we should all be making those small changes and that's something that we teach when we do our workshops we talk about how to source materials and where to buy them from and I'm not precious about hiding that information I'm very open and sharing is caring in my world you know it's part of what we do we share where we get our products from we've got very much an open book in terms of where we get materials and supplies from because we want people to be able to go off and do it again.
Caroline:That's good. In terms of people you work with as in clients that is do you find that it either helps you to attract certain clients or are you consciously looking for companies who hold that as a great value?
Emma:Consciously looking for purpose-led businesses so even you don't need to be B-corp to be a purpose-led business you can make an impact like you're already doing like you're saying you're living and breathing it you don't need to just have that um that certification to but yeah i do look to work with businesses with integrity and i want to be working with businesses that are caring about their employees that are working with community that were aligned on values because i think it just makes that relationship because i want to work with businesses on the long term and gain it's not just a one-off and so that's one of the reasons why I keep on upskilling in lots of other things so once I've done an upholstery workshop I might want to do a leather workshop and then there'll be something else that will come back and do because once you get to know a team you're not having to get to know them again and again and again it's not just one in one out people is a journey it's like it's um it's you're ever forever growing you're forever nurturing even the best high performing teams need learning and development and And it's those businesses that we look to work with, businesses that haven't necessarily tried to start from the bottom. We're trying to make them even stronger. And I think that's where we're aligned. And I suppose that back bit also comes from my history at the co-op, having longstanding relationships with clients. Getting to know them on a personal level, getting to know the teams, what makes them tick, because then when it comes to actually running the workshop, it makes it all the more seamless because we're just part of their supply chain on that ongoing basis.
Caroline:And I think, well, I know that you, like us, and I don't know if you have the same challenge when you're communicating and you're marketing, but we do team building with sheep, if you like. We challenge people to herd sheep. You challenge people to build something through the means of upholstery, to put it very, very simply. But there's so much more to it than that. And you, like us, I know, offer the whole kind of the workshop element. It's not just come along to build something and go, that's it. It's not just that, you know, yes, they get a nice warm feeling from doing what they're doing and having great time without it but it's also so much that follow-up isn't it and making sure those lessons learned are not just left at the workshop or in our case left at the farm they are taken into the workplace. What sort of things are you, I know you've got something exciting coming up, what sort of things are you doing to enable that?
Emma:Leadership and development training so that's where i was saying we do the team building and the fun element but then where we're filling the gap is on really that training programme so depending on what the business challenge is we will answer that. So whether it's communication skills, whether it's building resilience, leadership, leaders training, whatever it is, the workshops that we do normally will be part of facilitating and the delivery of it. But there's no role play in it. It is actually learning and doing, but transferable skills that you'll be able to take back to the workplace. So like feedback, communication skills, listening, actually learning curating experiences within our workshop setting that aren't role play that are actually you can quite easily be able to say if you're wasting materials what's the impact of doing that so if because obviously we provide all of that but if somebody made something wrong because they haven't followed instructions or whatever it is if that was in a workplace scenario that would be costing a business money in either time or materials and it's just getting people to think differently and when they're aware of those when they go through a role play or a situation they'll be able to take that back to the workplace we will also do things like accountability calls as well so if a business wants that we'll be able to say three months past the workshop we'd say what the learnt are they actually taking that into account it's it's really exciting because i think it's just a really different way of learning but we learn by doing and that's the best way to it's on the job experience call it whatever you want but it physically it's you remember it. And if you've made a leather belt with us, that you wear every day at work you'll remember it because you'll physically have it on you or if you sat on a stool that you made and it's back in the workplace you've physically got a tangible reminder because that's one of the things we spend so much time on computers and behind screens most of our stuff you can't touch it's like today you're over there I can't physically give you a hug and you don't get that human connection and that tangible instant results and that's what one of our workshops does you've got that lasting reminder which is really important for people
Caroline:And it's about the shared, I mean regardless of what the activity is and we've got all sorts of great activities within the Pick Your Own selection, but it is about those shared memories those shared experiences isn't it? I mean we have clients who come to us, i might speak to them years later they've moved on they're in different companies oh you know i still talk about i still talk about the herding sheep with so and so and i t's really lovely and i'm sure you'll get the same. I know you're relatively new compared to us but you know I'm sure you're going to get the same sort of thing because it's something different they're unlikely to they're not likely unless they suddenly go oh my goodness me i'm going to take up up holstery which i guess some people might do but most people will do it and it'll be a one-off [yeah it will be a one-off] and that's great .
Emma:Send me pictures years later of the finished piece and the feet are still on it it's still like find a place in the living room or wherever
Caroline:Yes exactly well i think we're going to have to have you uh make some sort of sheep model in your workshops i think we're going to have to have a real collab aren't we we'll have to have us along to make our own sheep footstool.
Emma:You can come and learn to one yourself. Just bring the hide and we'll be able to do that.
Caroline:Just bring the fleece that Chris gets paid tuppence for and make them into some footstools. That'd be great. Yeah, sheepskin footstools, and stools are very popular. Just one final question really is, it's purely practical really, just give us a quick rundown. What sort of timings are your workshops? How long do they last? What's an ideal number? Just to give people a bit of a flavour, wherever they might do them.
Emma:Yeah, so working with yourself on the collab stuff, we run three-hour workshops. We've got a couple of those where it's making leather belts or we make upholstered notice boards. So if somebody's doing a workshop with you, either in the morning or their afternoon, we can revert and do the other side of it .And it also offers that opportunity to be indoors so if you want half a day in the fresh air and then want a little bit of chilling time we also offer that situation. We also offer a range of one day full workshops but that's for more bigger pieces of furniture so where we've got storage crates, footstools and stools, they run over six hours um so still complete in a day and we work with groups of 12 to 16 people. We can be flexible in terms of locations and we also have our facility up here in Cheshire as well
Caroline:Yeah that's a perfect number isn't it 12 to 16 really? I think in actual fact working in a team you shouldn't be much more than that anyway it's not really a team it's more like a department...
Emma:Yeah. And we rotate, depending on the setup of the room, and we rotate people around so you're not with the same partner all day, because we teach it step by step there's an opportunity to mix you up and so we just rotate people around the room so they're with different people as of they're making as well. So it's a really nice way to network shall we say so you're not, we make sure you're , not sat by the person that you're sat next to in the office all the time
Caroline:That fundamentally is what it's all about regardless of your activity it's just about being able to get to know people a bit more and understand the way they tick. And that you know that will then have an impact on how you are at work with them so you all get the most out of each other.
Caroline:So that's brilliant. Thank you so much Emma it's been lovely to speak with you again and we look forward to seeing you again soon so if anybody is interested in doing a sort of collab or a combo rather of a sheep herding and upholstery and it might be that the teams are doing half and half or it might be that we're doing you know some are doing indoors some are doing outdoors, or it might be that you want to do both, they're both applicable. So details are going to be in the show notes for anybody that wants to find out more and we will be popping up on socials throughout the year I'm quite sure.
Emma:Thank you very much for having me.
Caroline:Thank you Emma, have a good day.
Caroline:So are you ready to give your team a day that's truly memorable? Why not book a call with me via the link in the show notes or simply visit raisingthebaa.com. We would love to create the most extraordinary team in your field. Bye for now.
Caroline:[ Bleating noise]