Corporates go back to nature
Corporates are encouraged to trade their suits for tramping boots when heading into the bush for this imaginative take on a business meeting. Jo Lines-MacKenzie reports.
In the bush of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, chief executive Grant Johnson’s team were having a business meeting.
The founder of Cambridge software development company Rocketspark wanted to treat his team after their hard work during Covid-19 and a team building session in the outdoors was the ticket.
‘‘In the digital world we live in we are always connected and always on and it’s a pretty rare day you completely disconnect from people, from devices and you are in nature and just be,’’ he said.
The team of 13 were taken hiking, on a wild food foraging session, and a bush boardroom feast before a glow-worm kayak at night, courtesy of a business idea that aims to get corporates outdoors for a different kind of team building exercise.
Pre-pandemic, 99 per cent of Nature & Nosh founder Kylie Rae’s clientele were tourists. With the closure of the borders she had to think quickly to reimagine the business and remarket it toward Kiwis.
A lightbulb moment when out walking one day resulted in the launch of a bush boardroom with other outdoor activities.
Not having any private land and unable to use DOC land, Rae approached Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, 68km south of Hamilton. The 3400-hectare conservation area is an ancient ecosystem which has been recognised as a reserve since 1912.
Johnson said it was special experience’’.
‘‘Even when we pulled up in the car park there were kaka flying past.’’
The group’s first task was to hike in silence for 30 minutes to take in their surroundings. ‘‘ a true
‘‘ I was like, ‘ flip that seems like a really long time,’ because I was really looking forward to hanging out with the team, and I was like, ‘half an hour of silence?’ But it was really good.’’
A wild food foraging session with an expert showed the group what they could and couldn’t eat out in nature, and they ate the prepared food on the boardroom table.
The table is made from tawa and rata which had been milled off Sanctuary Mountain. Rae then had a Raglan builder construct it.
‘‘ He’s done a really beautiful job of it.’’
The table seats up to 14 under a canopy of ferns and native trees.
‘‘ As the team arrived you could see them really stop and look and see what was there, and they started hoovering down the food,’’ Johnson said.
Johnson chose the package which included a partnership with Lake District Adventures, who do an evening/night glowworm kayak on Lake Kara¯piro.
‘‘It’s really cool these amazing places are in our backyard.’’
Rae believes outdoor sessions can encourage new and surprising creative thoughts, while also helping rid stress and anxiety.
‘‘There is a lot of magicalness when you combine exercise with an outdoor setting. It’s been proven to relieve stress and anxiety, more than just going to the gym or sitting in the bush, and improves your sleep quality.’’
There is an events centre nearby with power, amenities and wi-fi should the weather turn.
For Rae, the idea of sitting inside an office doesn’t tickle her fancy. ‘‘You could come to a room with four walls or you could come and sit in the middle of the bush with a canopy above and the birds making noises all around.’’