Chamber Event Promotes Positive Business Culture as Key to Success
Date published:
The North East England Chamber of Commerce hosted an event aimed at supporting Chamber members by simplifying and demonstrating what business culture is and how imperative it is to success.
Over 100 people attended the Manage Your Culture, or It Will Manage You seminar, which was led by Matt Somers, Independent Consultant at Culture Partners.
Attendees included representatives from businesses such as Aspire Technology Solutions, Elringklinger, Fujifilm, Port of Tyne and Esh Group, who discussed key goals for their business and what cultural shifts are needed to achieve those goals.
Tim Marsden, Knowledge Manager at the Chamber, said: “Our thanks to Matt for a really engaging, fun and lively session this morning. There was a real energy in the room and it was great to see so many of our members engaging with the subject and with each other.
“As we all strive to create a more inclusive culture, one of my key takeaways from today is that whatever your level within an organisation, you can affect the status quo.
“As a Chamber, one of our focuses for the year ahead is good work, leadership and culture. We want to support our members by providing them with the information and tools they need for sustainable growth, and we’re looking forward to continuing this conversation during the course of the year.
“Our thanks again to Matt – but also to our member’s for embracing this incredibly important subject.”
Whether you are a large, medium or small organisation, there are many challenges when it comes to building culture. The culture of an organisation facilitates the power of your brand, improves business results and helps fulfil organisational purpose. People help drive the culture of an organisation.
The main challenge for the business world post Covid 19 is creating a culture that will engage a workforce whose relationship with work has been changed forever. People must be held accountable for their results, but leaders must create the conditions and experiences that enable those results.
Matt said: “It was great working with the Chamber to create this event. Sometimes workplace culture seems like something only large corporations would worry about, but every member here today realised that with even just a handful of people in a business, there’s a culture at play and you need to take steps to manage it.
“One thing I particularly enjoyed about the event today was seeing people realise that far from being a slippery concept, culture is actually quite a definite thing. It is the experiences employees have which shape the beliefs they come to hold which drive their actions which, in the end, determine our results.”
Matt has worked with multiple high-performance organisations including Citigroup, HSBC and Saudi Aramco. When asked why workplace culture needs to be a priority for businesses, he said: “If businesses aren’t paying attention to culture, they’re putting their results in jeopardy because culture will either drive behaviour towards those results or away from them. This cannot be left to chance.”
Matt holds an MSc in Human Resource Development and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He prides himself on offering accessible, innovative and high-quality development.
The knowledge seminar took place on 20th March at Emirates Riverside – Durham County Cricket Ground and forms part of the Chamber’s knowledge programme.