who we are & Why we do what we do

our vision-opt.jpg — ... is to guide people towards broadening perspectives and self discovery through immersion in tailored challenges in glorious environments

FULCRUM is both a commercial and a social enterprise. We provide Team Building Events to commercial organizations for a fee. Some of these organizations also contribute resources to our social enterprise arm through their own Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. These contributions enable us to run Events with community groups, creating positive social change.

See Why "FULCRUM"? and our social justice agenda Living a Rich, Full and Meaningful Life for more details, as well as the summaries of our underlying concepts outlined below.

Our Events are mentally, physically and emotionally stimulating. We take considerable efforts, with you, to adapt opportunities to the participants, accommodating personal factors such as age, ability, skills, resilience and aptitude to create circumstances for optimal performance.

Our Events aim for development within and outwith the person. Where personal change is possible and desirable, we move with this. Where issues arise from outside, we move to transform our circumstances. See this BLOG for some ideas of the kinds of questions we might use during the facilitation of this process.

The experience involves the whole person and as such gives the chance to learn about all aspects of ourselves and others. Benefits include building confidence and self-esteem, a developing acceptance of and compassion for self and others, closer bonds with others and enhanced problem-solving skills.

Here are some underlying concepts:

Plutarch:“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.” — **Plutarch:**
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.”

kindling

At FULCRUM we aim to stimulate learning, be it about ourselves, our peers or our world. Our intention is to use fun, intrigue and enjoyment to fuel motivation, personal awareness and sense of belonging. Problem-solving and communication skills are honed at the same time.

Rather than approaching learning as the filling of an empty, passive vessel, we use guided discovery to ignite a fire for imagination, growth and productivity.

Our Events are designed to draw out skills, knowledge and understanding at the same time as presenting opportunities for pure enquiry, to test out alternatives and to grow as a consequence.

Malaguzzi:"We value space, to create a handsome environment and its potential to inspire social, affective and cognitive learning. The space is an aquarium that mirrors the ideas and values of the people who live in it" — **Malaguzzi:**
"We value space, to create a handsome environment and its potential to inspire social, affective and cognitive learning. The space is an aquarium that mirrors the ideas and values of the people who live in it"

immersion

We create the space for stuff to happen, rather than telling people how and what to think, do or feel. Through immersive experiences, adventure learning and skillful facilitation, our events plunge participants into circumstances that expand the imagination from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

From this, an increased feeling of belonging arises as new understandings are forged, assets in the group are shared, a collective consciousness is developed and personal worth is enhanced.

Csikszentmihalyi:"The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhi… — **Csikszentmihalyi**:
"The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."

in the flow

When our skills suit a task we are successful. If we can do the task easily, we might be relaxed; if it's too easy, we become bored or apathetic. We also become disengaged and apathetic if the task overfaces us. If, however, the task is important and we don't have the skills, we worry or become stressed.

The optimal state is when our skills are being stretched by a task that is just beyond our ability. This is the FLOW STATE. To develop our skills, we need to keep increasing the challenge. This is why you see elite performers practising for hours on end and being novel in what they attempt.

Read here for a description of 10 Characteristics of being in the FLOW and here for how pilots maintain their optimal performance by dealing with fatigue and stress.

Mezirow:"Perspective transformation is the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand and feel about our world." — **Mezirow:**
"Perspective transformation is the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand and feel about our world."

TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING

Sometimes the understanding we bring to a situation is helpful, sometimes unhelpful. Our Events present disorientating dilemmas to challenge the ways we think. They encourage critical thinking to question whether our underlying assumptions are helpful or whether we need to think again.

Here's a good overview of Transformative Learning Theory

David Elkind:“Learning teaches us what is known, play makes it possible for new things to be learned. There are many concepts and skills that can only be learned through play.” — **David Elkind:**
“Learning teaches us what is known, play makes it possible for new things to be learned. There are many concepts and skills that can only be learned through play.”

freedom to play

In play, we are absorbed in the moment, we are utterly present and yet often have no self-consciousness. We might be learning, applying, making mistakes, discovering, honing… we are certainly having fun, all in a free, sometimes near ecstatic frame of mind.

FULCRUM brings this sense of play to personal development, group interaction and social well-being.

Grundtvig:"In wealth, we have come far when few have too much and fewer still too little." — **Grundtvig:**
"In wealth, we have come far when few have too much and fewer still too little."

social justice

We aim to make the world a fairer and easier place by drawing on the resources available in wider society to create opportunities for insight, growth and development, particularly for people who experience significant struggles in their lives. As well as personal learning and group cohesion, FULCRUM exists to promote social justice, transforming lives of people who may be facing multiple disadvantages by giving them tailored access to opportunities they may have been excluded from or have removed themselves from in the past.

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.
Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.
Be curious.
And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” ”

— Stephen Hawking