On Thursday 19 October, Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) is bringing together culture change experts and organisations to share experiences, advice and examples of how to successfully transform your organisation.  The Transforming Culture conference will have a focus on how critical it is to engage and prepare your internal audience for significant cultural change.

AVDC embarked on their own change programme just over two years ago with a clear vision of becoming an efficient, commercial organisation with the ability to generate income to support its frontline services.

Andrew Grant, Chief Executive of AVDC, commented:

“Transforming the culture of an organisation is not an easy task and, from our experience, we have found that the help and support of specialist partners is paramount. We’ve put together this conference to share our experiences and to provide access to a number of experts and other local authorities who will be telling their stories and sharing experiences during the day.”

Joining Karen Jones, Commercial Culture Lead at AVDC, will be Kevin Green CEO of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation who will provide the keynote address. Kevin will be speaking about creating value for customers, the impending talent crisis and why leadership needs to create purpose.

SFEDI Group Executive Chair, Ruth Lowbridge MBE, and Lisa Soderman, Business Development Manager at the Dolphin Centre in Darlington, have been invited to speak at the conference.

Ruth and Lisa will be conducting a workshop, sharing their  experiences of launching the first IOEE Enterprise Academy within the local government sector through the creation and delivery of the Dolphin Centre’s One Outstanding Team Programme.

One Outstanding Team not only embodies the values and vision of The Dolphin Centre‘s approach to staff development, it is creating opportunities for intrapreneurship to shine, and for employees’ to be recognised through IOEE accredited qualifications. More information on the programme is available here.

Other speakers on the day include:

• Judy Benson, Head of People Management Lincolnshire Serco Strategic Partnership
• Katie Taylor and Ed Holt from the Agile Business Consortium
• Grace Clarke, Senior Consultant and Simon Oswin, Senior Principal at Korn Ferry Hay Group
• Annie Righton from Righton Associates, currently Interim Director at Eastleigh Borough Council.

Councillor Janet Blake, Cabinet Member for Commercialisation and Business Transformation at AVDC, explains:

“We recognised that with the revenue support grant consigned to the history books we really are faced with a stark choice; make cuts to frontline services or change the way we operate.  There isn’t really a choice. We must all transform into modern, efficient change embracing organisations, a world away from the old council model.” Janet will be part of the panel to discuss how to assess your transformational journey.

This conference will bring culture and change expertise from a variety of fields in one place, making it an essential event for any organisation looking to be successful in their plans to change the very nature of their business.

To find out more about AVDC’s Transforming Culture conference, please visit www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/culturalchange.