Organisational Culture

We conducted a Q&A interview with Paul Heywood, Founder and Managing Director of Halcyon Life, regarding resilience programmes and employee engagement.

1. Could you introduce yourself and what you do?

I am Founder and Managing Director of Halcyon Life. Previously, I was IT Director at 3i, a FTSE100 Private Equity firm, and at the law firm Fieldfisher. I have also held senior positions at Allen & Overy, WHSmith, L’Oréal, EY and Ford Motor Company.

Workplace Wellness programs are all the rage these days – and rightly so.

You don't need to be a doctor, analyst or accountant to realize that healthier employees are going to take less sick days and be more productive while at work....which obviously helps the bottom-line.

And it's also true that for many employees, a healthier body also leads to less stress, emotional well-being and a happier mindset.

Simply put, a fit and healthy workforce makes good business sense.

All too frequently we think of projects in terms of schedules, requirements, budgets, resources and the like. We plan meticulously for them and hold onto the axiom that failing to plan is simply planning to fail. But how many of us actually plan for the human side of a project – the social, emotional and responsive elements of a project?

Let’s face it, we’ve all been in situations where (despite meticulous planning) we hear or say something along the lines of “Hmm! That’s not what I was expecting”, “Oh! I thought you meant this” or “Sorry! I wasn’t aware of that”.

The first challenges are cutting through the noise and getting to the heart of the matter. The IT sector pretend transformation is all to do with technology (usually the box of tricks they’re selling). They frequently publish blogs and articles to convince you to “transform your business by moving to the cloud”. Most mainstream IT advice will create operational efficiencies at best, but not transform the organisation.

I had a client once with a member on his senior team who was known for his destructive and upsetting behaviour. The team was in disarray, and each of the other members pointed to Charlie as the central cause.

We conducted a Q&A interview with Cherron Inko-Tariah MBE, Founder of 'The Power of Staff Networks' and Consultant, regarding staff networks and diversity and inclusion.

Could you introduce yourself and what you do?

A FTSE 250 company we worked with, was passionate about developing a culture of continuous improvement. People from every level of the organization had ideas on how to improve their Customer’s experience and understood the issues which made processes ineffective and inefficient. Equally, there was a common belief that previous attempts at driving improvement have been very “hit and miss”. Review of the data confirmed that they were right – most of the improvements attempted had either not been successful or had not been sustained.  

We conducted a Q&A interview with Roderic Yapp, Director at Leadership Forces and TEDx Speaker, regarding leadership and the generational gap.

Could you introduce yourself and what you do?

There is some form of management reality beyond the “100 days” journalistic cliché: How does an incoming executive make an impact in a new role? What are the real timeframes to look at, and what can be expected and over what horizon? What are the key issues that should raise a red flag during the first few months in a new senior position? and those which can be ignored?