Business Conversations

At our Life Conversations event on Wednesday 31st July, we reflected on the Golden Civilization Conversation on the 1st July with George Kinder. The first stage of that was to look at the scope of the session. We could, in the spirit of George’s book and ethos, come up with the ideal world in which we want to live. We could look at an individual vision. We could find something in between, maybe at Community level. We decided to concentrate on what makes a Golden community.

We came up with the importance of communication, diversity, shared interest, freedom of expression, mutual support and a safe space. There are many types of community according to what we share – geography, profession, interest, caring, project and many more. So purpose, intent and tone of voice (formal or informal for example) need to be established in a flexible way from the outset.

When we had our vision, we looked for obstacles to achieving it. They could be internal (our own reluctance, fear or inertia) or external (politics, distractions, prejudices, issues of permission, class and red tape). We then generated actions and commitments. This is where the group breaks into smaller groups or individuals carrying forward their part of the overall vision.

In the spirit of Communities of profession, we have taken one action of our own, which we hope will meet support from the Business Community. Health and Wellbeing of the people (at all levels of a business) can be a benefit or a cost.

According to the CIPD 2018 Annual Survey on Health and Wellbeing at work ‘absence is at an all-time low (5.9 days per employee per year), but

  • 83% of respondents say people work when unwell
  • 63% say people use their holidays to work, or work when off sick
  • 37% report an increase in stress-related absence

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The three main causes of stress-related absence according to the survey were:

  • workloads/volume of work (62%)
  • management style (43%)
  • relationships at work (30%).

There are aspects that are clearly working in businesses and some areas for improvement.

Business Conversations will two free events as part of the Cornwall Festival of Business run by Cornwall Chamber. They take place at Tremough Innovation Centre (who have provided the meeting room free of charge) on Thursday 31st October at 11am and 2pm.

We will discuss the vision for a health workplace and workforce, the approaches that are already working, the obstacles to improving that and then encourage you to create commitments individually or as a group.

Booking is open, so please do click here – to book your place.