SECBE’s Post

Make sure you’re registered! 🙌🏼 Our next knowledge session event is live: 'Building Inclusive Teams: Lessons from the Housing Sector' 🏡 Make sure you save the date and get registered on the link below, the Webinar will be on the 15th May between 14:30-16:30 👍 Joining Nina Lockwood will be: Julia Rouse of Entrepreneurship at The Manchester Metropolitan University, and Elaine Johnson, Director of People at Great Places Housing Group. They’ll be discussing how to increase the diversity of customer-facing teams so that they better reflect the people they serve. Julia and Elaine will be sharing best practice and insights derived from their own extensive professional experience in the housing sector – an industry with lessons in this area which are also highly relevant to public transport. Topics to be covered will include: ✅Inclusive recruitment ✅Supporting career progression of existing employees, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds ✅Leadership – and unpicking the norms of leadership ✅Pitfalls of positive discrimination Julia and Elaine will be drawing on their own experiences from the Boost Programme, a scheme designed to encourage organisational change, create a supportive environment for colleagues and enable Great Places to become more ethnically diverse. Please click the link to register: https://lnkd.in/ergt8vQ9 (All registrants will receive the recording if you cannot attend the live session) #Webinar #KnowledgeSession #Housing #Transport

🎙️One week today! 🎙️ Our next knowledge session event is live: 'Building Inclusive Teams: Lessons from the Housing Sector' 🏠 Joining Nina Lockwood will be: Julia Rouse, Professor of Entrepreneurship at The Manchester Metropolitan University, and Elaine Johnson, Director of People at Great Places Housing Group. They’ll be discussing how to increase the diversity of customer-facing teams so that they better reflect the people they serve. Julia and Elaine will be sharing best practice and insights derived from their own extensive professional experience in the housing sector – an industry with lessons in this area which are also highly relevant to public transport. Topics to be covered will include: ✳️Inclusive recruitment ✴️Supporting career progression of existing employees, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds ✳️Leadership – and unpicking the norms of leadership ✴️Pitfalls of positive discrimination Julia and Elaine will be drawing on their own experiences from the Boost Programme, a scheme designed to encourage organisational change, create a supportive environment for colleagues and enable Great Places to become more ethnically diverse. Please click the link to register: https://lnkd.in/ergt8vQ9 (All registrants will receive the recording if you cannot attend the live session) #Webinar #KnowledgeSession #Housing #Transport

Leadership is, by definition, a lonely place. And ‘outliers’ might well be valuable, given what we have learned since 2008, from behavioral economics, and the risks around ‘group think’. Progressive Local Authorities, such as Angus Council, are recognising, that creativity and innovation are something design minds can help with in these challenging times... It’s been another brilliant week with the #AngusCouncil team. There is a gathering ‘can do’ momentum around increased cross departmental working. Colleagues have, and are, rising to the very real impacts of climate change – Brechin, amongst others, post storm Babet being evidence to that. And we continue to develop time tested tools – such as [Masterplan] Frameworks as pragmatic tools to enable MULTIPLE local place plans. Our complementary differences are what make us strong, working within a complex wider system. That is understood by Angus Council leadership. Collaboration rather than petty competition demonstrates enlightened thinking and shines a light towards a brighter future. Those who embrace working on a basis of trust and mutual respect for our diversity of skills and talents, will be the powerhouses of positive change. Our Angus Council plan has been updated for 2024, democratically, and as the central plan locally which sets the values, direction and overarching priorities for Angus. Aligning with both international and national policy, it recognises pragmatic processes to address the illusive ‘delivery’ conundrum critics of the Christie commission highlight. And it does that through innovation and good leadership. To try to create a different way is however, uncomfortable. Fear of the unknown is hardwired into us all – for good reason. Creative design minds understand this.  But by accepting and embracing that discomfort, we find the conditions to grow, to be creative and to be the positive innovative change we ALL need in these challenging times. Practical highlights from the last few weeks include: 1.     Scottish Government support for a long-term ‘whole place approach’ to help the residents and business in Brechin with their multiple plans;   2.     Co-ordinating Place frameworks being recognised as helpful tools in achieving the requirements of our UK government and with communities like Arbroath;   3.     Working with Scottish Community Development Centre SCDC, in strong alignment with the co-learning and need for whole place governance models which create stronger local partnerships. I’m looking forward to being part of our recruitment interviews on Monday morning Creativity and ‘can do’ for the whole #team will be high on the agenda…

A final post of the year from me with a few highlights from 2024. ▶️ Personal Highlight: I successfully applied to join the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Strategic Investment Fund External Panel. I've learnt a lot from the Investment Team and the other panel members and look forward to what's to come next year. ▶️ Business Highlight: Our winning of the G4C North West 2024 Award for Commitment to Employee Training & Development, especially the judges notes about our submission. It's something we put a lot of time and effort into, so it was great to see this acknowledged: 🏆 The judges noted clear evidence of a great dedication to training their employees and hiring entry level staff, like apprentices, into the business. 🏆 This company shows support to various organisations outside of the workplace. One example being the CRADLE organisation who provide care to anyone affected by the death of a baby during pregnancy. 🏆 The winning company has placed strong initiatives in place such as their carbon management plan where they include representatives of all experience levels from their organisation. ▶️ Collaboration at its best: From attending MIPIM and UKREiiF to helping gather over 300 attendees in one day discussing key topics for the property and construction sector. Collaboration, teamwork, and persistence at their best. ▶️ Looking Ahead to 2025: We’ll carry on developing local talent, keep pushing boundaries in sustainable building services design, continue collaborating, and help play our part in driving towards stronger city regions and a low-carbon economy with local businesses part of the work stream achieving growth, creating jobs, and reinvesting in the local economy. Steven A Hunt & Associates

CULTURE | At A W Edwards, culture is at the centre of everything we do – the culture of our people, of our business, of how we work together and with others. Last week, we were pleased to host a delegation of our Global Executives in Sydney:   Pascal Minault, CEO of Bouygues Construction Julien Toqueboeuf, CFO of Bouygues Construction Pierre-Eric Saint-Andre, CEO of Bouygues Bâtiment International Bruno Botella, APAC CEO of Bouygues Bâtiment International Pierre Skorochod, CFO of Bouygues Bâtiment International Anne-Sophie Duc Dodon, Chief Projects Officer of Bouygues Bâtiment International   They had an action-packed schedule with site visits, meetings, and a Cocktail Event. Visits like these offer us an opportunity to reflect together on our strategy, assess what we have achieved, and identify where we can improve. A W Edwards has had a successful past year, and we are tracking well on our objectives. As always, our strategy is anchored in 4 fundamental values: Teamwork, Trust, Simplicity and Pioneering Spirit. These values contribute to our Culture. #culture #simplicity #trust #teamwork #pioneeringspirit

Day 1 of a #sharednarrative for #Plymouth! The POP team with amazing support from @annette and @jen our learning partners have been working on our #narrative. The aim is that it becomes a shared narrative with others across Plymouth. In light of recent events this feels even more important. The stories we tell ourselves have dramatic impacts on what we can imagine for the future. At our AGM this year we'll introduce a shared narrative for the city that we have been crafting this year with input from many, before hosting an open dialogue to dive deeper into our collective story. We believe that by sharing, and learning from each other, we can better create a future that's vibrant and inclusive: ‘more’ Plymouth, not ‘less’. A place where diversity, excitement and creativity thrives – we believe it is in the differences between us (liminal spaces) that the excitement lies. But in order to #BeMorePlymouth, we must first see more Plymouth. Come and join us for the conversation. I believe that we need a rebalancing #FromItoWe - this is what underpins the shift we need. When we start making this shift everything looks different. #economies #power #funding #organising #structures #recruitment #financialcontrol #risk #meetings #timeframes #decisionmaking #impact #learning #accountability and many of the rules we generally take as base assumptions start to unravel when we put the collective and individual into balance. Over the next 5 weeks I will be making a daily post taken directly out of this #sharednarrative. I hope this helps you engage with our thinking and our work. This is important stuff - we urgently need to hold conversations that actually matter. Not about whether mine is better than yours, or whether we are hitting arbitrary targets but missing the point - but about how we create the future. Full Plymouth Octopus(POP) narrative: https://buff.ly/4dQZbD1 POP learning and thinking: https://buff.ly/4fZAcPG Dark Matter Labs @Annette https://buff.ly/3YSF4Ac Sky Space Team Development Cic @Jen https://buff.ly/3yMsPK #BEMOREPLYMOUTH #fairer #greener #futurism #regenerativefutures #learning #sharednarrative #plymouth #systemconvening #community #grassroots #funding #grantmaking

“This is Manchester, we do things differently here.” Tony Wilson.   Befitting for the GCUC UK team, who are bringing together disrupters and professionals to talk all things flexible workspaces. Really excited to get the conversation out of London, to learn more about who’s doing what, how they are doing it and why it’s working… or not.   It’s not too late to buy a ticket… or convince whoever you need to as its on Thursday 6th June! (I’ve been given a discount code too GCUCUKFRIEND15).   Really looking forward to catching up with industry peers and clients, and sharing my thoughts before lunch on accreditations, who wants what and whether it’s another badge or one of honour. #theoffice #Offices #OfficeInvestment #OfficeDevelopment #CRE #CommercialProperty #PropertyNews #UKProperty #ESG #SustainableProperty #Sustainability #EcoProperty #ESGStrategies #ESGRequirements #capitalmarkets #sustainable #flexibleworkplace #flexibleworking

Did you manage to catch our last knowledge session? 🎙️ You can watch here in full, or pick individual segments: https://lnkd.in/eyJrX-Y5 'Building Inclusive Teams: Lessons from the Housing Sector', was a discussion between Nina, Julia Rouse, Professor of Entrepreneurship at The Manchester Metropolitan University, and Elaine Johnson, Director of People at Great Places Housing Group. They discussed how to increase the diversity of customer-facing teams so that they better reflect the people they serve, and also shared best practice and insights derived from their own extensive professional experience in the housing sector – an industry with lessons in this area which are also highly relevant to public transport. Topics covered: 🏠Inclusive recruitment 🚎Supporting career progression of existing employees, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds 🏠Leadership – and unpicking the norms of leadership 🚎Pitfalls of positive discrimination We'd love for you to give it a listen and let us know your thoughts! 📩 say-hello@intuitiverecruitment.com #Webinar #KnowledgeSession #Housing #Transport

During my recent visit to our Manchester team, I was struck by the change and promise that the city holds. Admittedly I may be biased having been born and brought up in Manchester but it has always been a place of aspiration and what is happening now is truly transformative.   One exciting development is the launch this month of the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc), which is set to be a game-changer for the region. This initiative represents a significant investment in technical education, focusing on equipping young people with the skills that are in demand by local employers. By aligning educational outcomes with the needs of the regional economy, Greater Manchester is ensuring that its next generation can build successful and fulfilling careers without ever needing to leave their hometowns. This is not just about education; it's about creating a future where talent is nurtured locally, driving the region’s economic growth and stability.   At the same time, the strategic acquisition of the former Central Retail Park by the Government Property Agency is another pivotal development for the city. This site is set to be transformed into the Manchester Digital Campus, reinforcing Manchester and the broader North West’s role as a critical hub for government services. But this project is more than just a real estate transaction; it represents a long-term vision for anchoring public sector operations in a city that is increasingly recognised for its strategic importance on both national and international stages.   These developments underscore what’s possible when place-based leaders, who truly understand their communities and their unique strengths, are empowered to make decisions that drive growth and development. The region is setting a powerful example of what can be achieved when place-based leadership, skills development, and strategic investment come together with a shared vision for the greater good.   Greater Manchester is not just keeping pace with change; it is leading the way, showing how a place can thrive when it harnesses the full potential of its people and its resources. A great reason to be proud to be a Mancunian!   #Manchester #SkillsDevelopment #Devolution #MBacc #ManchesterDigitalCampus #StrategicInvestment #Productivity #Innovation #Community