Be More Pirate workshops

Stepping far far away from the usual innovation and change frameworks, our workshop dives back into history to see what lessons can be learned from the Golden Age of Piracy, then explores how pirate principles have been applied successfully by individuals and organisations across our network. 

The purpose is to help you identify the rules and norms that are no longer working, and help you to rewrite them. It blends the inspiration of Be More Pirate, with the updated approach in How to Be More Pirate, blending storytelling with practical application to ensure that like the pirates, teams walk away with a stronger crew, increased honesty and tangible actions to test out. 

They can be delivered in person or online, and have certainly proved to be more entertaining than your average zoom call. If you’re interested in a shorter, pirate themed inspirational talk, you can book Sam, or Alex via their personal websites

What make it different? 

• Our insights and strategies are based on the experiences of real people who are continually pushing, trying and testing new ideas, which makes our workshop honest, and relatable.

• We ensure each workshop is bespoke, selecting themes and examples relevant and useful to your industry or context: no cookie cutter approach here. 

• It will definitely challenge all your preconceptions about pirates, rule breaking and rebellion!

How it runs:

Format: 

We advise taking 2.5-3 hours, with four content sections (as below), each part beginning with a stimulus squared off with a question which is then discussed in small groups, or break out rooms, and fed back to the whole team.  

The goal by the end of the workshop is to have a series of new rules that the team commits to trying out for an agreed period. These are decided using a pirate-style democratic vote. We uncover where common frustrations lie but stick to a solutions based approach; this is about turning frustration into fuel.  

PART ONE: rogues to role models

The pirates’ rebellion is far more about the rules they wrote, than the rules they broke.  We begin with an introduction to pirate history, reframing pirates as social and business role models – pioneers of equal pay, equal say, diversity and equity amongst their crews. 

These new rules, the ‘pirate code’ was the backbone of pirates success and forms the blueprint for your team or company culture, but do you know what you stand for, and are you really living by your principles day to day?  

Part Two: rule breaking

So many of the rules we follow day in day out are past their sell by date and need an upgrade. But knowing how to break the rules, responsibly and strategically is another matter. Disrupting the norm is often viewed as a risk, but we’ll show how intelligent disobedience and the ability to avoid group think, often results in a safer, stronger, teams.  

By the end we’ll map out the rules that are most getting in your way.  

To really be more pirate you need to be prepared to go off the edges of the map, into unknown territory. We'll run through some examples of steps you could take to become bolder, braver and more unpredictable, without getting lost altogether. 

pART three: the edges of the map  

To really be more pirate you need to be prepared to go off the edges of the map, into unknown territory. The unknown holds new possibilities, but first you have to embrace the uncomfortable space – the fear (dragons). We'll run through some examples of steps you could take to become bolder, braver and more unpredictable, without getting lost altogether, and come together to look at what big opportunities are just off the edge of your horizon?

PART four: writing new rules

 Becoming a pirate means setting new precedents - offering better alternatives to a system, process, rule or norm that no longer serve your purpose or your people.  

Yet, big ambition is broken by day to day reality of tasks and to-do lists, especially in stormy times. So the most important part of the workshop is what happens next - what new rules are you writing and how are you going to make them real? Alongside ensuring each team member plays their part in creating the future, we’ll cut through the dishonesty of so many change initiatives and work our how to create and build momentum, remove common obstacles and create new rules that will last.

We’ve worked with:

Contact

If you’re interested in booking a workshop, and would like to know more or enquire about prices, please get in touch.