Corporate Street

I’m running hopelessly behind on blog posts, so here goes with another one about a corporate booking I was involved with just over a week ago. I’ve been skiing with Captain Chris and his family for many winters now, and he had often said to me that he would love to organise a work trip from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Over the course of last summer he went about ‘Reaching Out’ (here goes with my first phrase of the corporate buzz word bingo) and swiftly moved onto ‘Socialising an Idea’ (I think that means spreading the word, for those not working on Corporate Street!) Captain Chris ‘Got the ball rolling’, booked flights for people and then swiftly welcomed me ‘On board’.

Leading up to the Team bonding weekend, I had to ‘Work closely with management’ (!)……………. STOP………..I can’t cope anymore with this Corporate Catchphrase nonsense, back to normal Hemsley waffle for a bit. In a nutshell, I was assigned to teach four beginners: Vickie, Karen, Sheena and Mark. Whether I’m teaching Accountants, Hairdressers, Bankers, Shopkeepers or Fund Managers, skiing is a complete ‘Level Playing Field’ (!) experience when it comes to learning to ski in Méribel. Surely Accountants are human beings after all aren’t they? At the start of the second morning, one of the team (who shall remain nameless to spare embarrassment in the office), asked me why her clips on her right ski boot didn’t match her left ski boot? I scratched my bald patch a bit, because they looked a matching pair. Just as she was trying to slam this boot into her ski bindings I received a call from Lara who was looking after another small group, “Martin, do you have anyone struggling with their right ski boot?”

Thank goodness for mobile phones, hence being able to re-acquaint the correct right ski boots to their rightful owners. It could have been a long painful day for two skiers, we ended up with a ‘Win Win Situation’ (oh rubbish I’m falling back into Corporate Street). Anyway, being a patient ski instructor I tried to figure out how to adapt my teaching styles to benefit each person, a ‘Blue Sky Thinking’ (here I go again, apparently that means thinking out of the box) approach seemed more appropriate than ‘Boiler Plate’ (I’m losing the will to live again, just go and Google that one if you’re even vaguely interested, because this is getting beyond me now).

One highlight from that weekend for me was watching Mark The Spence build confidence, control and reach the impressive milestone of turning around six ski poles and watching him explode in celebration. I’ve never seen anything like it, the amount of passion that had built up and then suddenly released was quite emotional and humbling at the same time. I don’t care if most skiers can’t relate to this achievement anymore, trust me, it really is a big deal. Mark quickly went ‘From Hero to Zero (boooom, that’s the first corporate buzz word I actually understand). Great effort Mark.

It was a fun three day weekend for Captain Chris and his Team, and a truly enjoyable experience for me. I so hope that everyone has now been converted to this amazing sport in the paradise of the French Alps. This private ski instructor almost feels as though he has learnt a new foreign language as well, let’s ‘Roll It Out Globally’ (that one is completely lost on me yet again). Oh hang on, who’s this steaming down the nursery slope? Oh look it’s smiling Sheena.

“Hey Sheena, how is your right foot feeling now you’ve got your own boot back?”Martin