Feature Story for TOK...

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Feature story in the Dunfermline Press, June 29, 2010
(No direct link available i'm afraid but imagine it nice and colourful with some nice pictures of the team!)

"The setting's a bit unorthodox, perhaps: a rather grand room in the Mansion House, a large, Victorian property in the middle of Edinburgh Zoo.

And there's something a bit unorthodox, too, about the 30-odd strangers who've gathered for the event: they're a curiously eclectic bunch. The managing director of a small design company chats briefly to two people who run a recruitment business. A senior executive with a major bank shakes hands with a man who runs a plumbing business from his home. A builder talks to a hairdresser.

None of them realise that in the next couple of hours they'll be:

 Moving Polo mints with their mind.

 Untangling skipping ropes.

 Getting increasingly frustrated in a team-building exercise involving garden canes.

 Oh, and taking part in a mass sleep-in.

Welcome to a Fun@Work Day, one of a recently-launched series of motivational events for corporate clients organised by Dunfermline company Tree of Knowledge.

Nothing that happens at the event is what might be called ordinary, even for Tree of Knowledge, a firm that delights in being wacky. To start with, the day is led by the company's managing director, Gavin Oattes, a former primary school teacher and stand-up comedian. It might equally be led by Colin Mcleod, who trained as a forensic scientist and who now has a sideline as psychological illusionist dubbed by his peers as “the next Derren Brown”, or Eddie Leahy, a former PE teacher who sings and plays lead guitar in one of the UK’s most exciting new bands.

Tree of Knowledge have been doing daft things for a living for several years but what makes the Fun@Work Day a bit different, even for them, is the people they're motivating. They're all adults.

Based in Dunfermline Business Centre, Izatt Avenue, Tree of Knowledge work mainly with teenagers. The company provides a range of innovative services and tools to schools throughout the country, and reckons it's motivated more than 250,000 pupils in Scotland. One in every two schools in the country has one of the firm's trademark products, an Apodo, an oddly-shaped, multi-coloured toolkit tailor-made for a range of interactive enterprise activities for young people. More than 600 schools have another Tree of Knowledge product, a Peapodo, which is designed for primary pupils.

Now, though, and particularly after a six-figure management buy-out last year, Tree of Knowledge is increasingly in demand in the corporate world. Blue-chip organisations to have used their services include Scottish Government, The Prince's Trust, KPMG and Scottish Natural Heritage, and with every Fun@Work Day the firm's client base grows.

Gavin Oattes explains why: “People in the corporate world are responding to our key message that having fun is good for them and for their business. We try to help them rediscover their inner child, live life to the full and realise that if you are happy at work you are also productive.”

Having fun at work might seem a tad frivilous at a time when many business are struggling but Gavin maintains that bringing a little joy into the workplace is something to be particularly valued these days.

He explained, “It is important, even when businesses are going through tough times, that you try to see the positive in things. I firmly believe that it's up to every individual, not just company directors, to make the workplace enjoyable. Everyone has a responsibility to everyone else, no matter what role they may have. One negative person can have such a big impact on everyone else so just think of the impact on a business if everyone was positive about themselves and what they do.”

The firm's mission, then, is to help people rediscover their inner child and to tap into the sense of wonder, joy and achievement many people lose as they get older.

“Just think about it,” urged Gavin. “It's reckoned that the average nursery-age child smiles 374 times a day yet the average adult smiles just 11 times. That can't be right.”

And there are smiles aplenty at the Fun@Work Day, with the session featuring amusing anecdotes, a smattering of one-liners and a clutch of activities designed not to embarrass but to illustrate in an entertaining way the power of positive thought.

Gavin explained, “When I tell people I'm a motivational speaker I am immediately aware that there's a huge stigma attached to that. People think of some sort of happy-clappy song time but that's not what they get from us. Sure, we do things that are a bit silly but we don't want to make people feel uncomfortable. I've been to courses that are full of role play, with people being expected to pretend they're a fish, for example. Oh dear!”

Needless to say, Tree of Knowledge practice what they preach. Their office in Dunfermline Business Centre, Izatt Avenue, boasts a massive gong which is banged loudly whenever there's something to celebrate. Colleagues regularly hand out lollipops to each other. And why not try phoning Tree of Knowledge out of hours? The recorded message says it all.

As Gavin said, “If we can't have a laugh, who can?”

 Tree of Knowledge will be at Dunfermline High School on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th June to deliver one of their trademark workshops, 'Intriguing Futures', to S6 pupils. The course helps pupils to embrace and overcome personal challenges by unlocking confidence in the abilities and enjoying new responsibilities. It's intended to leave them feeling empowered and excited about their own intriguing futures.

So what goes on at a Fun@Work Day? Here are a few activities.

Guests are split into teams of six and each team is given six skipping ropes, tied in unfathomable knots. The task is to untie the knots as quickly as possible while holding one end of a rope at all times. A tangle of bodies follows before the winning team emerges to be given a classic Tree of Knowledge prize – a Curly Wurly.

Each team is given a garden cane and set the seemingly simple task of lowering it to the ground while resting the cane on fingertips. It requires teamwork and a bit of leadership; a metaphor for life, really.

Everyone gets a Polo mint, a length of thread and a beer mat-sized card which shows the four cardinal points of the compass. The task is to make a pendant with the mint and thread and dangle it over the card. Gavin instructs his guests not to move the pendant in a north-south direction. All are astonished to find it moving as proscribed. It then moves east-west on demand, and then in a circular motion, while all the time the guests insist that they are not moving the pendant. Mind over matter?

Just before the mid-session interval, the guests are effectively sent to sleep. Using hushed tones and soft music, they're shown how to relax, something Tree of Knowledge believes everyone should do at some point in their working day. After 10 minutes or so, everyone in the room appears to have nodded off. When they wake up, they're energised and raring to go."