BAROUDEUR CONSULTANCY
Education | Sustainability | Wellbeing
Hi, welcome to Baroudeur. We're a small, Scottish consultancy specialising in facilitation and stakeholder engagement traversing education, sustainability and wellbeing.
We deliver stakeholder engagement to help organisations decide what to do next
Deciding what to do sounds simple… but for charities and publicly funded organisations it can be pretty complex. Sometimes to the point that they end up doing nothing, or worse, they keep on doing things they shouldn't.
Change, development and innovation are hard, especially when you add a smorgasbord of stakeholders with diverse needs and expectations.
For us, rule number one is never pursue new audiences at the expense of your existing ones. In other words, whatever you do next, make sure you bring your existing stakeholders along with you - adventures are better when you bring your pals along for the ride (and can be quite brief when you don't).
Nice intro, but what does Baroudeur actually do?
We're obsessed with making the complex simple. To misquote Einstein, it shouldn't take Einstein to work out what you're trying to say. Here's how we do it...
PLAN
We build a systematic, objective stakeholder engagement plan around specific themes or opportunities relevant to your project, organisation or sector
ENGAGE
We work with you to map and prioritise your stakeholders, then we consult with them via approaches like interviews, surveys, discussions and focus groups
ANALYSE
This results in A LOT of data. We analyse this (usually with some clever software), identifying common perceptions, concerns, behaviours and beliefs
REFINE
We develop initial ideas and test them with you and your key stakeholders, assessing their feasibility and relevance and prioritising those with the greatest potential for impact
PRESENT
We provide evidence-informed recommendations for what you should do next. We present this in an accessible, honest and insightful format. Simple as that
The Baroudeur ethos
Baroudeur was born from a desire to embrace the ever-blurring lines between our personal and professional lives, to create opportunities to combine our passions with our professional expertise and to work in a way that facilitates the lives we want to live. We only pursue opportunities that we are truly excited about, and only when we're convinced that we can deliver them to an exceptional standard.
We specialise in identifying, mapping and capturing the perceptions, behaviours and beliefs of your stakeholders. We bring a diverse, innovative and human approach to engagement and research. Done well, this is what makes the difference between a great idea and a great outcome.
The Baroudeur team
Niall Shannon - Director
Career in three words:
Education, Engagement, Outdoors
Working style as a bike race...
A cyclocross race - full-gas from the start, decisive, finds the best line/approach then commits... might crash occasionally
Mike Dennison - Co-Director
Career in three words:
Business, Tourism, Cycling
Working style as a bike race...
A multi-day MTB epic - meticulous planning and attention to detail, calm and deliberate... demands lots of food and coffee
Kristen Layne - Research Advisor
Career in three words:
Research, Strategy, Active Travel
Working style as a bike race...
A Grand Tour - strategic, saves energy for when it matters and flourishes on the big stage... here for the champagne and yellow jersey
So why Baroudeur?
Say it "Ba-roo-der".
It's a French word meaning one who attacks/adventures. In cycling parlance, it's used to describe the riders who achieve success in less conventional ways, through intelligence, bravery, grit and flair. Through their endeavours they captivate and impassion, they collaborate and unite. Their success is invariably hard-earned, but critically they wear it lightly and appear to take pleasure in its pursuit.
It’s everything we want Baroudeur to be, if only it was easier to say/spell.