The Business Case for Culture

Workshop Facilitator: Michael Henderson, Cultures at Work

Every organisation with more than three people has a culture, whether it knows it or not. Organisations that know what culture actually is and how it operates deliver higher levels of performance at lower costs.

In this workshop, Corporate Anthropologist Michael Henderson will guide participants through the fundamentals of understanding and working with your company culture to leverage performance. Specifically, Michael will show you how to:

• Define clearly, what culture actually is and what it does in your business;
• Realise the importance of cultures impact on business performance;
• Understand the primary mistakes most organisations make with their culture and how to avoid them;
• Explore and evaluate the six primary areas that comprise a business case for culture. Which apply to your business? At what level of cost and/or contribution?
• How to use the six primary areas of culture as a quarterly audit of your many cultures and subsequently, how to align your culture for better performance and staff experience.

Michael Henderson has a degree in Anthropology (the study of human cultures). He has 35 years experience in studying, advising and educating organisational cultures around the world supporting them to learn how to optimise their culture for improved performance. He has been the cultural expert advisor in over 300 company culture transformations around the world. His clients include The NZ Rugby Union, McDonalds, Suncrest Bank USA, BUPA Hong Kong, CitiBank Singapore, NZ High-Performance Sport, The Australian Navy, Bank of Melbourne and Kennards Hire. Michael is the author of eight books on organisational culture, values and leadership.

Unlocking the Business Development Conundrum in Your Firm

Workshop Facilitator: Michael Schiffner, Collective Intelligence

Most lawyers don’t become lawyers to sell; yet at some point in their career they are required to help win work and generate fees for the firm. For many lawyers this can lead to anxiety as it often sits outside their comfort zone. It can also create frustration for the leadership when lawyers push back on the firms business development requirements of them.

In this insightful workshop, business development advisor Michael Schiffner will share his experience as to how many firms have overcome the struggle to unlock the business development dilemma with his teams support.

Participants will be led through a series of activities and discussions to explore ways to overcome the complexities and constraints that typically limit the success of firm wide business development initiatives. Key takeaways include drafting a business development strategy for the firm and ideas on advising beyond clients and brand.

Michael Schiffner has a proven track record of helping professional service firms build high performance business development habits that generate revenues. Michael’s Melbourne-based consultancy, Collective Intelligence has a proprietary, coaching-based approach that supports professionals to authentically improve their relationships from first coffee to trusted partner, and everything in between, ultimately embedding high performance business development habits that make it more enjoyable to grow a practice. As a former Associate Director with KPMG Australia he was instrumental in the establishment of KPMG’s BD Academy where he clocked over 600 hours of BD coaching influencing $12 million of new revenue for the firm in 2013. His clients include: PWC, KPMG, Hall & Wilcox, White & Case and Russell Kennedy.