This session is part talk and part workshop. We aim to give you insight into how important culture is to your business and your happiness, the inspiration to recognise the type of culture you want to build - and the practical tools that will help make your vision a reality.

It begins with a story from the founder of a tech start-up known for its unusual structure - employee owned with a flat hierarchy and ‘radical management’.

From employee theft on minimum wage to frustration as head of departments, Helen describes working in broken cultures. After years of experiencing the price exacted from customers, employees and shareholders alike, she realised that a rigid hierarchical culture hurt everyone - no matter what their place within it. Along with two colleagues, she went on to found Gamevy, a company in which the culture came first - before product or customers. For Gamevy this meant making the company’s aim to increase employee happiness through ownership and freedom.

A new beginning is not the only way to change culture. We can make gradual changes, attract adherents, dictate top-down changes, organise grass-root campaigns … What all of these have in common is the need to communicate with one another what type of culture we want and how to get there. The way we choose to communicate can have a huge impact on how likely our cultural change is to take root and succeed.

Pete will run an interactive workshop session in which participants work in small groups and explore different types of communication. Specifically we practise how we might shift from advocating (telling people what we think the solutions are) to enquiry (figuring out together what might be going on and what to do about it). This turns the vision of ‘culture change’ into some practical skills in uncovering assumptions, asking key questions and kickstarting change. Participants can apply the insights and practises straight away in their work.