Downtown in Business Manchester recently hosted a special event at the incredible Dakota Hotel in the heart of Manchester city centre.
The event entitled ‘Culture, Values, People’ discussed how it is imperative to create the right culture to attract and retain the best talent our cities have to offer.
The lunchtime event hosted by Downtown Manchester chair, Jacey Normand heard from Lisa Morton, CEO of leading PR firm Roland Dransfield, CEO of the successful Make Events, Holly Moore, and Founder and Dan Donachie, Executive Coach and Consultant at Business Consulting Services, Embodyism.
All the speakers shared their experiences and knowledge of creating cultures that suit their businesses.
Lisa explained how creating a cultue for her business wasn’t easy and how to start with she did not communicate what was important to her as a person, but now she does. Lisa also explained how her 26 year old business is now known for it’s values and with everyone working to the same values it has created a company where individuals are allowed to express themselves and be more productive.
Dan shared his experiences from the days he was involved in top level sport and highlighted how certain characteristics are transferrable from sport into business and vice versa. Creating the right culture in a top level sports team can lead to winning trophies and success, this is something that can be replicated in business. Dan described how culture and values aren’t static and are a ‘living thing’ as they can evolve and change as targets are met.
Holly commented that when she was starting out in business she wanted to be a boss that people remembered for good reasons, stating that everyone will have two bosses who they remember one for good memories and another for not so good memories. Hooly also discussed how it is important for employers to ensure there are internal and external values that employees know off by heart, she also discussed how getting the balance of core values and a culture is tricky to get right.
All the panellists agreed that there is no one single solution for creating a culture as all businesses are different. A culture that works for one business will not for another, with Holly pointing out her events business relies on people who want to get together and collaborate.
Downtown Director, David Matthews commented; “It was fantastic to hear from Dan, Lisa and Holly today. The three speakers really gave a great insight into how creating the right culture for a business can lead to success. A massive thank you to Dakota hotels for hosting the evenin the in incredible outdoor dinign area too.”
For information about future downtown events contact mili.dacosta@downtowninbusiness.com.
