Team building - the Fab 4 way

Feb 18 2008

THE Beatles and football were the two words John MacCarfrae heard all the time when he was on holiday abroad and told the locals about where he had come from.

As he is a self-confessed Beatles fanatic, the 45-year-old from Crosby, was very proud of what he was hearing, but soon realised that there was a lot more to the record-breaking band than helping the tourism industry.

He said: “Every time I said I was from Liverpool, people would always say the same things. After thinking about it I thought: The Beatles aren’t just about tourism, they’re about education.”

Mr MacCarfrae, 45, has over 25 years’ business, academic and consultancy experience, so decided that using his favourite band would be the perfect way to help him in his latest project, team building exercises.

The ideas for “Fab 4 Training” first came about in 1999, and, after two years of studying the band, his vision of what he calls “Edu-trainment” became a reality.

He now says he has developed a unique educational product that could allow people to relate to the four lads from Liverpool, who became the most famous band in the world.

Mr MacCarfrae said: “The Beatles got to where they were because of teamwork. There were only four of them and they had no special ingredient. They were not just the greatest band, but also the greatest team.”

Mr MacCarfrae has practised what he preached and has got a group of people behind him that he relies on in order to continue his good work, including a tribute band the Mersey Beatles and Max “Ringo” Frudd, who is Europe’s number one Ringo Starr impersonator.

“The team behind me is great, I handpicked the guys myself and they are all very dedicated and all Beatles fanatics. They are perfect.”

Fab 4 Training uses the example of The Beatles’ rise to the top to help people improve their lives and Mr MacCarfrae and his team have devised different themed seminar presentations using the band’s songs and their individual personalities in order to motivate people.

He said: “We’ve presented to workers from the NHS to Marks & Spencer, and it always seems to work.”

And he says the feedback he receives is testament to the success of the training. He added: “People have told us that it is the best they’ve ever had because it looks at team building from a totally different perspective.

“Although we mainly deal with company’s wanting to give their staff extra motivation, we have also dealt with people having trouble with their lives, like young offenders and drug addicts and, in some cases, our training has changed their lives.”

Mr MacCarfrae and his team have travelled across the UK and America spreading the word about their training and he said that it was a fantastic experience.

He added: “It was brilliant, I was talking about my home town and my favourite subject in front of people from Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Africa and they were all listening. I felt so proud to be from Liverpool”.

“With 2008 being the Capital of Culture, all eyes are going to be on Liverpool and the Beatles, so I’m hoping that I can link the training in with it, to show even more people what we do.

“It’s so exciting, nothing’s ever the same and this year should be great.”

IF ANYONE wants to find out more about Fab 4 Training, then contact John MacCarfrae at info@fab4training.com or 01928 568064.