Baring all for their business

A pair of Newcastle companies has taken an alternative approach to the traditional dress-down Friday as they strip completely for a TV documentary.

Newcastle-based onebestway and sister company angelfysh were picked by Virgin1 for the ‘Naked Office’ experiment, aimed at building relationships and profits, to test a different approach to work developed by international business and leadership guru David Taylor, author of the ‘Naked Leader’ trilogy.

David worked with onebestway’s staff on their psychological approach to work. His theory is that shedding clothes acts an equalizer - allowing teams to work smarter, and be more honest and transparent with each other.

David said: “The entire team bought into the challenge, which involved baring a little more each day, both in a physical sense and emotionally. In this situation what starts to happen is that as people strip off, they also strip off their defences and can enunciate issues that bother them, leading to frank discussion and the empowerment of all involved.

“What’s important to note is this is a business strategy - it’s not about nudity but being comfortable with each other and bonding in order to take a company forward. There have already been huge strides taken at onebestway and I’ve no doubt they will capitalise on what they’ve learnt to great success.”

Mike Owen, onebestway’s managing director, said: “What we learned was that you always need a destination to head to and that getting there has to be based on group work, whether or not there is one natural leader in situ.

“Would we do it again? No, but that’s because we have lived and learned these particular lessons already. We’re absolutely glad we did it though - thanks to David the team is more tight-knit, creative and productive than ever

“It’s been challenging, emotional and insightful and ultimately we’ve come out much stronger.”

The Naked Office documentary airs at 9pm on 9 July on Virgin1. For more information, please visit www.onebestway.com or www.nkdleader.com.