Steve Simpson

Session 1: Manage Your culture – Manage Your ‘UGRs’

During these times, your workplace culture has never been more important. Given the stress, fear and uncertainty being experienced by everyone, everywhere, it’s imperative that leaders both understand and strategically manage their culture.

While culture has been talked about a great deal in recent times, many leaders struggle to gain traction in attempts to improve it. That’s where Steve Simpson’s concept of ‘UGRs’ comes into play. UGRs – unwritten ground rules – are people’s perceptions of ‘this is the way we do things around here’. It’s the UGRs that constitute a team’s culture.

In this session with Steve, you will be introduced to the UGRs concept. Steve will share how organisations across the planet, including McLaren Automotive and Next in the UK, Kmart Australia and New Zealand, and Toyota Australia have used the concept to transform their cultures, resulting in fundamental improvements in performance.

This will have a bias to the practical!

When: Wednesday 8th July – online via Zoom, link TBA

Attendees need to have attended Session 1 before attending Session 2.

Session 2: Leading Cultures During and Beyond the Disruption

Fear, uncertainty and stress – three fundamental emotions that we have all experienced over recent months. It’s not a question of ‘if’ your people have experienced these strong and potentially debilitating emotions – it’s merely a matter of ‘how much’ and where they are in the cycle right now.

This leads Steve Simpson to believe that there are four critical cultural attributes that organisations must be focusing on now. Steve says we can put ‘values statements’ on hold right now as these four attributes are more important, and more likely to ensure organisations get through this crisis and grow into the future.

Steve will share the four attributes and will demonstrate the link to UGRs – where the UGRs concept can be used to bring these cultural attributes to life.

Steve will also share his three principles necessary for any organisation wishing to transform their culture – principles he created in response to a request from the senior executive team at McLaren Automotive.\

Click here to view video featuring McLaren Automotive and UGRs

When: Wednesday 12th August – online via Zoom, link TBA

About Steve Simpson

Great corporate cultures enable business goals to be achieved and fuel employee engagement. Great corporate cultures create a measurable point of difference in terms of individual and organisational performance. Importantly, great corporate cultures can’t be copied.

But they don’t just happen by chance.

Steve Simpson has been invited to speak at conferences around the world for his truly unique insights into workplace cultures and how to unleash the potential that lies within.

Whether it’s creating a culture to deliver great service, helping leaders understand their role in shaping the culture, helping teams perform better, equipping people to revel in change initiatives, or getting people to take safety seriously, Steve reveals how his concept of UGRs – unwritten ground rules – can be used to effect lasting, positive change.

Steve’s insights are not based on theory. In addition to his conference presentations, he has worked in-house with a range of organisations on different continents over extended periods of time. He knows the pitfalls, traps, objections and issues that emerge when people are challenged to re-think the ‘way we do things around here’.

Steve is the author of two books including ‘UGRs: Cracking the Corporate Culture Code’. He is the co-author of a further three books, the latest being ‘A Culture Turned’. He has a Masters Degree from the University of Alberta, and was invited to undertake an Australian city lecture tour to co-present with Harvard University Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter.

Steve has worked with organisations in countries including the UK, the US, the UAE, South Africa and various Asian countries.

Professional Speakers Australia recently recognised Steve’s achievements by awarding him the prestigious Australian Educator of the Year Award.

This person online: