Why | What | How | Who

Why we're here

[One Vision]

At BizzBeats nothing motivates us more than seeing people thrive and contributing to both their personal and professional development. We also have a passion for music and social change and have combined these three key ingredients to build something that we feel really makes a positive contribution to our society; on an individual level, a team level and on a social level.

Like many of you, we recognise that both business and society are constantly and rapidly becoming more complex. Customers' needs change daily and - to make it more challenging - they are often conflicting needs.

Organisations often respond by getting more complicated: more procedures, overlay functions, sub-KPI's, scorecards. Despite all technological progress, productivity and engagement remain under pressure and teaming true collaboration with individual entrepreneurialism is still a tricky balancing act.

We believe the more open-minded, adaptable, creative and cooperative team members become, the better equipped they will be to deal with growing complexity in simple, unexpected, innovative and effective ways.

What we do

People's talents or skills frequently stretch far beyond the challenges offered by training events ... and often their own imagination. The Bizzbeats alchemy of music and coaching creates a real time challenge that helps them discover and unlock these abilities. We have developed a unique and modern learning experience that challenges your team members to come on a journey of self-discovery. Our approach increases your team's cohesion and engagement; helps your team members uncover talents and knowledge they didn't know they had; taps into their creative mind and makes them fully realise their responsibilities and those of the other team members.

We start by giving those taking part a seemingly impossible task.

The Challenge
The team will write and professionally record a CD of 4-6 original tracks, which will be performed at the end of the day. But, that's not all. There's also the music video, event documentary, marketing campaign and fundraising strategy to raise at least £1000 for your nominated charity ... all in one day.

Explore | Create | Discover

This work places participants in an intense environment where they need to tap into their creative side and work towards a very tight deadline.

We take participants well beyond what they habitually feel capable of. In this pressure cooker situation we can uncover the individual 'default' traits of the participants. It is our role to observe and gently guide the participants and maintain a positive and safe environment in which to complete the challenge and help them reflect on the experience afterwards.

Music as a training tool
For most people writing, performing and recording music is way out of their comfort zone. So that's where we start. Your team will be asked to create, from scratch, 4-6 new songs. This is very different from many other music-based training approaches where a whole group makes one song or just the lyrics based on an existing tune. It's also more challenging and rewarding. Every band member will be essential to the song and its performance.

BizzBeats makes this happen by providing musical support from qualified musicians with real music industry experience. They will coach the team and assist them in learning how to play an instrument, make a song and record it. Our set up is totally portable which allows great flexibility in terms of training location and combine the best 'old school' musical instruments with state of the art equipment.

The bigger picture
Essentially, we are asking the team to set up and run a business within one day. A sound marketing and fundraising plan will need every bit as much of your team's creativity, collaboration and energy as the creation of the music. Our methodology allows for people to both try new things and play to their strengths; more importantly, everyone has an equally active role to play.

Compared with traditional team development days BizzBeats offers many advantages:

People will remember it (for many years) because it is truly different. Play a bar or two from one of the tracks they themselves helped create and they find they're back in the band! With music and lyrics we are stimulating the emotional and creative side of their brain, which is where long term memory sits.
Because our event provides a common purpose (i.e. the charitable goal) it pulls teams together in a different way. It galvanises them. Working for the good of others is something that makes individuals work on themselves without over analysing the process, relaxing inhibitions and helping stop participants holding back. The personal benefits become clear later when, after the flush of success, quiet reflection allows them to see how they worked, contributed and changed. The charitable goal adds a kick to the process too; requiring team players to be selfless in the service of a greater goal and in so doing leads to better team support and self-governance.
There is no classroom style 'teaching' involved here. It's an emotional roller coaster that leaves the team feeling they have come through an adventure of sorts - collectively. This creates what we call "emotional glue" - new levels of trust, openness and authenticity. It helps people to create new relationships, which will transfer back to the workplace.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the event is not a simulation: it is a real activity for a real life customer, who more often than not is in the room with them. It makes a real and permanent difference to peoples' lives. It is worth doing, and this raises the stakes, the commitment, and ultimately the power of the learning. We do not blink when we issue the brief. We know it is completely doable once the group starts to believe in themselves.

Outcomes
This challenge lends itself to getting the best from people and getting them out of their comfort zones without getting cold, wet and hungry. We aim to guide the participants away from their familiar practices, experiences and approaches and open their minds and hearts to stimulate intuition, inspiration, creativity, engagement and joy.

Our exceptional business coaches, musicians and facilitators will guide and support your team on their BizzBeats journey. The team observations and discoveries are an essential outcome. Both the team and the BizzBeats coaches will have the chance to very quickly learn a great deal about the default behaviours and revealed talents of the people in the room.

Your team walks away with a story - an emotional and collective experience: of working from a different source of creativity; of achieving something worthwhile and permanent that they originally thought impossible; of pride and satisfaction when they hear and see the results.

Getting Started

[This is how we do it]

Pre-Event planning
During the planning phase we will discuss your team characteristics, organisational challenges, desired learning outcomes and areas you'd like participants to focus on. Together we'll select the venue, your preferred charity or one of our partner charities and organise the event logistics. How much do you want us to set up in advance? We can create the online donations page, warn the press and local media and do all sorts of things in advance if necessary.

A typical BizzBeats program takes a full day. Depending size of the team, objectives and other circumstances we can extend the program or divide over multiple days.

The Day Arrives

[Perfect Day]

The Intro
The event itself will be the most memorable occasion your team will experience. After the initial brief and charity presentation we will split the group into focused teams each with their own dedicated facilitator or coach. Typical teams are 4-6 music teams, a video team, a marketing and a fundraising team.

The Chorus, Verse & Bridge
Each teams receives a detailed brief. During the day participants will be encouraged to 'go the extra mile' and deliver great results in every area. A mid point break is scheduled to align progress and share inspiration.

The Outro
Finally, there is time for sharing and celebration - uncovering the results of the fundraising, performing the final pieces, reflecting together on the experience and enjoying the hard won sense of accomplishment.

Venue
You'll need a room that fits the whole team, plus 5-7 break-out rooms for the bands, internet facilities and electricity ... that's it - good to go. It could be on your own site, a hotel or other venue. We are also happy to host the event at our base at Q-Factory, Amsterdam. The benefits of using our HubTowers is that we can bring them anywhere, we can play them anywhere and the volume levels can be completely adjusted to meet the constraints or opportunities of the situation, from being quiet to cranking it up.

People & Equipment

BizzBeats works with experienced business coaches and qualified industry musicians. We are united by a love of music, personal development and creativity. The emotional rollercoaster of BizzBeats events are thrilling and uplifting for coaches too and their enthusiasm for their work is contagious!

In the UK BizzBeats operates with a professional mobile studio. The Amsterdam based BizzBeats team works with an armada of HubTowers.

HubTowers and music coaches will assist the team in learning how to play an instrument and record their songs by seamlessly integrating 'old school' instruments with iPads, drumpads and editing options. With the HubTowers you can play everywhere. Our HubTowers are portable and sound levels can be adjusted to the circumstances e.g. listening though headphones or amplified over a sound system.

Charity partners
In the UK we have worked with smaller charities to raise funds and awareness- these include dEBra, Kids Company, Whizz Kids, but also SightSavers.

In both the UK as in the Netherlands we would like to partner with a few charities with a fit to our approach en values, and generate national or global significant impact. If you are a charity interested in partnering with Bizzbeats then get in touch today.