Have you ever felt threatened as you’ve gone about your business, or have your employees found themselves in situations where they felt vulnerable? Enter Mark Wingfield, who must take the award for the most unusual business training idea this year – corporate self-defence.

Article courtesy of InBusiness magazine

Mark is a black belt with a business background – he has a blue chip corporate background with giants such as JCB and CAT – and he’s fluent in German. Alongside his international sales and marketing consultancy, MW Sigma, based in Derby, he runs Max Self Defence, offering ‘team-building with purpose’.

He says a little self-defence training can be an invaluable investment for employers, and a fun way of team building for staff. “People are the most important asset in any business,” says Mark. “Many firms run social events that help develop their teams, so we’ve developed this way of having great fun, strengthening team spirit and providing some safeguard for this valuable investment.

“If a company spends money to ensure its employees can defend themselves, whether it’s in a work context or in their own time, this cannot be judged as anything other than a commitment to its personnel.

“The good news is that the official statistics for violence against the person are down very slightly over the last few years in Derbyshire – but business professionals are unlikely to spend all their time in Derbyshire.”

He foresees many areas for his growing business - where frontline personnel have to deal with the public, sometimes in emotionally charged situations – medical staff, for instance, or those involved in the justice system. Many a lawyer has to negotiate their way around less than savoury characters.

“It could be for anyone,” says Mark. “An accountancy firm to nursing staff, small business owners to office managers - the key skills do not rely on fitness or strength, but technique. We also teach people to be more aware of their surroundings, and how to avoid getting into trouble in the first place.”

Mark does not condone any company that puts its employees at risk - he makes a valuable point about the psychology of not getting into dangerous situations in the first place. He argues that simply by being more aware of one’s surroundings, of how a situation is developing and simply being more confident, can make the difference between diffusing someone’s anger or of it developing into physical violence.

“This is not about turning people into black belts in a few hours. For instance, we don’t recommend taking on anyone who is threatening you with a knife, but we do teach techniques to dramatically reduce the risk of a severe injury if you are cornered.”

Mark has worked with a number of companies so far, and says it is genuinely good fun: “There’s a serious point to what we’re doing, but during the courses we spend half our time laughing.”

Mark’s five top tips for keeping yourself safe:

1. Be aware - Don’t walk around in a daydream, or preoccupied with other business such as a mobile phone (a desirable item for muggers).
   
   
2. Learn a basic defensive stance to protect your face and upper body from a threat and be ready to respond.
   
   
3. Be prepared to scream and shout to put off an attacker and raise help.
   
   
4. Be ready to use reasonable force to protect yourself and others.
   
   
5. Run away from a situation as soon as possible – don’t fight on if you don’t have to.