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A sold-out CultureCon™ Sydney 2024 featured special guest speaker **Johann Hari**, bestselling author of _"Stolen Focus,"_ and Australia's leading voices on workplace culture.

From EY's transformation journey after tragedy to the Australian Museum's culture revolution, leaders shared honest stories about what it takes to build better workplaces.

Big issues discussed included toxic leadership, new workplace safety laws, diversity, artificial intelligence, and our collective crisis of attention in an increasingly distracted world.

This blog offers key takeaways and wraps up with **7 concrete actions** to build healthy and productive workplace cultures.

[FREE DOWNLOAD: The ROI of a Healthy Culture](https://ideas.growthfaculty.com/l/1071223/2024-06-12/5q9w2b)

Cultural Educator and Advisor for Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council in Sydney **Brendan Kerin** gave a moving welcome to country and welcome song played on the yidaki (dubbed the didgeridoo by colonialists).

MC [Tracey Spicer](https://traceyspicer.com.au/about), journalist, speaker, and author of _"Man-Made,"_ then introduced CEO of The Culture Institute and CultureCon™ founder [Karl Treacher](https://cultureinstitute.com.au/about-ver4/) who stressed the importance of healthy work cultures.

He told delegates that surveys have found 58% of employees **trust strangers** more than their own boss, and 75% of employees have experienced a [toxic workplace](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/Toxicworkplaceculture) in the last 5 years (68% cite leadership as the cause).

He introduced the audience to the term “sonder” which is the realisation that other people live a life as vivid and complex as your own...a key factor in any culture transformation.

CULTURECON™ SYDNEY 2024 OPENS!

[David Larocca](https://www.ey.com/en_au/people/david-larocca), EY CEO & Regional Managing Partner, Oceania, spoke of EY’s whole-of-firm transformation journey which began off the back of a tragedy in 2022 when a young colleague took their own life in the office.

“It was a shocking day for all,” he said, and it led to an independent culture review of the Australia and New Zealand firms led by Elizabeth Broderick AO. EY decided to be completely transparent with the findings, releasing them to their people and the public.

“I knew we weren’t perfect. It’s better to surface difficult issues,” explained David.  4500 people were spoken to with the results showing that while 94% felt safe and 74% rarely felt excluded, 15% had experienced bullying, 10% sexual harassment, and 8% racism.

EY Oceania accepted all 27 recommendations which included reducing overwork and excessive work hours, building awareness across the firm of the impact of harmful behaviours, recognising contributions to improving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and improved leadership capability.

**Making Good Progress**

A task force was established. David said through listening, learning, and establishing foundations they are making good progress. They have strengthened avenues for people to go to with their concerns and focused on what is acceptable and what isn’t.

Better resourcing decisions “where AI is our friend” is part of the transformation. David spoke of “thrive time” where productivity benefits of using AI is measured in minutes that are given back to the team members.

David said EY emphasised that “this is not on my team” was not acceptable. “We’re one team, we are in this together,” he told his organisation.

**The Year of Unlock**

This year two of the transformation is “The year of unlock” and they are measuring key metrics on:

·        inclusion and safety

·        harmful behaviours

·        long working hours

·        leadership capabilities and change

 “We also have feeling measures – how are people feeling?” says David, and there are town halls and listening circles.

EY Oceania has also started conversations with its competitors on work hours “How can we work together on this?”

On Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) EY Oceania has discussed ‘What does a future state look like?’

“We are clear on what we’re shooting for,” says David. “We want to be the most attractive employer and we’re a people business.”

For other organisations considering taking a similar approach to EY Oceania, he had this message: “Bring it on. It’s got to be confronting, ‘cos if it’s not, you’re not getting to the heart of it.”

DAVID LAROCCA – EY OCEANIA TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

Director and CEO of the Australian Museum [Kim McKay AO](https://australian.museum/get-involved/staff-profiles/kim-mckay/) said her cultural transformation started on her day one as CEO at the entrance.

“I walked in the entrance and all I could smell was hot chips,” she told the audience. “It was wrong for this institution.”

Kim moved the café and the entrance and fixed the coffee in the café while she was at it, and so began a cultural change at the museum which will be 200 years old in 2027.

With 400 staff, one third of whom work in science research, a priority was making the staff feel “extremely valued.” Her strategy to change hearts and minds was sometimes as simple as walking around smiling and talking and being nice, plus getting to know their names.

“Smiling is important for CEOs,” she said. As is communication.

“Communicate, communicate, communicate and communicate more,” she advises.

**Goals and priorities**

Kim said she told new people joining the museum team what its goal was (to focus on the public) and why we thought they could help affect change.

Priorities for the museum are climate change and first nations people. Kim established the Climate Solutions Centre, and promoted Laura McBride, a Wailwan and Kooma woman as Director, First Nations at the Museum.

Kim said the senior executive team were committed to learning and all were doing AI courses.

KIM MCKAY – AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM

Among many issues for boards such as climate change, cybersecurity, and AI, the number one issue is culture, says Australian Institute of Company Directors senior policy adviser [Laura Bacon](https://www.aicd.com.au/about-aicd/authors-speakers/laura-bacon.html).

She shared an ASX Board Director’s quote: “The culture is set by the top and if the board doesn’t believe in the culture, then neither will the CEO and that attitude will show all the way down.”

Laura told the audience that misconduct can be an indicator of broader issues, and power imbalances, gender inequality and lack of diversity across leadership teams were common denominators in organisations with cultural issues.

Laura said the board’s role in culture is to define it, align culture and strategy, set the risk appetite for culture, monitor and assess it, and probe and challenge what it’s shown and told.

**Better Board Practices**

As an ASX Board Director said, “Board tours can be like a royal visit.”  Laura said better board practices included making culture a regular board agenda item, selecting a CEO who is willing to spend time discussing culture with the board, interrogating data and metrics, consulting with the workforce, and looking for genuine ways to “walk the factory floor.”

She recommended leaders read [Governing Company Culture](https://www.aicd.com.au/organisational-culture/business-ethics/change/governing-company-culture-insights-from-australian-directors.html) and [Positive Duty: Preventing  & Responding to Workplace Sexual Harassment.](https://www.aicd.com.au/content/dam/aicd/pdf/tools-resources/director-tools/organisation/aicd-sex-harassment-playbook-final.pdf) 

Above all, it’s about doing the right thing, said Laura. “\[Culture\] is possibly the most human thing the board touches.”

LAURA BACON – BOARD CULTURE GOVERNANCE

AI scientist and advisor [Matt Kuperholz](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kuperholz_ive-been-focused-on-developing-and-deploying-activity-7237457396082565120-PIrz/) says AI is a tool but “it’s unlike any other previous tool that we’ve encountered.”  Matt says AI is neither good nor bad, but nor is it neutral.

“I never think that AI loves me,” he said. “I think of it like an alien.”

Matt says AI is improving exponentially, and humans and our culture have not evolved to work in an exponential world.

While he believes AI will help with climate change and disease, he says the issue is more an alignment problem – getting the goal right.

**Safety and AI**

Anything will be possible with AI, he said, but we must ask “Is it secure? Is it safe?” before we employ it.

Like the brakes on a racecar are there so it can go faster, Matt believes responsible AI is the brakes you put on before you go about changing your culture.

“How many of you have made an ethical AI statement to your organisations – ‘This is how we’re going to do it?’” he asked the audience. “Don’t be passive.”

**Tags on content**

Matt also shared that he would like to see “nutrition labels for our information diet.” That is, he’d like to see tags put on all content to indicate if it was human-created or AI-created.

“Putting \<h> for human” with a digital signature or a photo could help a browser filter out human-created content.

Otherwise, we should distrust by default the ‘humanity,’ veracity, origin, originality, and quality of everything we read, see, or hear.

**Get educated**

“We need to do more,” says Matt. He advocated for organisations to get educated and get confident. “Co-pilot is coming whether you like it or not. Embrace it and understand the challenges.”

“Spend the day and get it to quiz you on topics. It’s indistinguishable from magic.”

*   _Author's note - \<h> - FYI, this summary blog has been written by a human with the exception of the action points at the end._

MATT KUPERHOLZ – AI AND WORK CULTURE 

Empowering High-performance Teams with Technology for Success was the theme presented by AWS and Swimming Australia. MC was [Jo Grubb](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jogrubb/), AWS Head of Enterprise Skills Transformation APJC.

Swimming Australia’s GM or Performance Support & Olympic Campaign [Jess Corones](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-corones-bb198b25/) said her organisation was “diving deep into a period of innovation.”

She shared how AWS was helping design bespoke training programs for each athlete.

“We want to be the F1 of Olympic sport,” she told the audience, explaining how AWS’s relay app helped with consistency of results, and its Lane 4 app used real-time insights and data modelling that was personalised for each coach.

**Swimming Australia CEO**

Just as [new constitutional changes](https://www.swimming.org.au/articles/agreement-reached-between-swimming-australia-and-world-aquatics) were announced  in the media, Swimming Australia CEO [Rob Woodhouse](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-woodhouse-76332110/) joined a panel to speak about a strategic refresh of the organisation, saying he’d identified “what was missing was leadership.”   “It’s there now,” he added.

Rob spoke of the importance of decision-making. “It’s critical. People want clarity from their leaders, colleagues, and teammates,” he said. Understanding your purpose and core values helps you make decisions based on that. “They may not be right but it gives clarity, and you can back track \[if needed\].”

**Olympian Elijah Winnington**

Fellow panellist, Olympic swimmer and athlete leader [Elijah Winnington](https://www.swimming.org.au/performance/dolphins/athletes/elijah-winnington), shared that character was a pillar of a high-performance culture. He told the audience that “character x process = results” and that culture was the collective results of people’s character.

“If 20% buy in, and 80% aren’t in it, the 20% can make a big difference,” he said.  

Elijah said the AWS data was such an advantage, even for athletes when a race didn’t go well.

You can point out positive data points: “You improved in that area. Imagine if you improved in this area?”

“Don’t lead with emotion, lead with fact,” he advised the audience. “You’re not there to baby them but to find the solution.”

Elijah also stressed the importance of giving colleagues natural opportunities to connect.

“The temptation is to throw in an ice breaker. However, we focus on dinners and lunches.”

**Michelle Hardie – AWS**

[Michelle Hardie](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-hardie-8643258a/?originalSubdomain=au), head of ProService ANZ, Amazon Web Services (AWS) said gathering the right data and the right metrics was key to helping clients.

Success in turning data into strategy comes from:

·        Strong leadership alignment

·        Setting an aggressive goal helps to move the organisation faster

·        Skills, not just in tech teams, but across the organisation. This helps you think about ‘the art of the possible’

·        Thinking big and starting small. Experimenting and feeling safe to fail

·        Really listening to the team

AWS PRESENTATION WITH SWIMMING AUSTRALIA

Bestselling author of _“Stolen Focus”_ [Johann Hari](https://johannhari.com/) began his keynote with a statistic illustrating a “massive crisis of focus and attention.” He shared that our attention span has dropped to 45 seconds (less than a third of what it was two decades ago).

“Attention is our superpower as a species,” he said. “When you can’t pay attention you are less competent.”

Hari says he was finding it harder and harder to read books, hold long conversations, and watch films.

“The stories in my head were that I was getting older, lacking willpower, and using smart phones.” But he discovered his attention was being “stolen by powerful forces.”

The catalyst for starting his research was watching people viewing the interiors of Graceland on an iPad instead of looking at the actual room in front of them.

**The “Switch Cost” Effect**

Hari said his research showed how switching focus led to the “switch cost” effect. The cost is that we make more mistakes, we remember less of what we do, and we are less creative.

Hewlett Packard research of two groups showed that a group interrupted by emails and phone calls suffered a 10 point loss in IQ. Another study by Professor Michael Posner found that if you are interrupted by a text message, it takes you an average of 23 minutes to get back to your initial level of focus before the text.

Hari also showed that humans sleep 20% less than our forebears did, and that has changed our cognitive load. Part of the problem is the surge of energy we get when it starts to get dark. Turning off our smart phones when we’re ready to go to sleep simply alerts the body it’s time for a burst of energy.

**Recommended Actions**

Hari recommended we:

·        Regularly lock away our phones in a K-Safe

·        Get children off social media

·        Aim for a “flow” state, as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This is achieved by setting aside a significant amount of time to do one thing, having a goal that is meaningful to you (and reminding yourself of the goal) and pushing yourself to the edge of your abilities

JOHANN HARI – KEYNOTE 

**Kristy Macfarlane**

Diversity Partners senior associate [Kristy Macfarlane](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristy-macfarlane-934472109/?originalSubdomain=au) kicked off the discussion, saying research shows inclusive cultures were twice as likely to achieve outcomes.

She asked the audience to think about a time when they felt included, when they felt happy, empowered, on top of their game.

Kristy said that while there are plenty of people who don’t feel safe and don’t speak up, she thinks about how far we’ve come. Organisations are measuring how psychologically safe their teams feel, and gender equality is improving.

“2009, ASX200 - women occupied 8% of board positions; there are 37% as of this year,” she said, although noting that 26% still have no women on the board.

**Katherine Boiciuc**

[Katherine Boiciuc](https://www.ey.com/en_au/people/katherine-boiciuc), EY Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Oceania, who told the audience she “doesn’t human on Fridays,” explained that high performance meant embracing the imperfection of creating a whole new skillset and leaning into the opportunity of AI.

“You will have a career in tech whether you like it or not,” she said.  

As an example, Katherine shared that her 11,000 team members comprised 7000 who had chosen careers in technology, but the others had become “masters of AI” in the past 18 months.

She said pairing this up with graduates’ fresh eyes and long-term employees’ wisdom was levelling up the graduate’s skills by four years.

Katherine says people will put off one hour to upskill on using safe and responsible AI, yet superusers can save 7 to 14 hours a week by using AI.

**Phil Moss**

NAB’s Leadership Coaching Senior Manager [Phil Moss](https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-moss-a61a65103/?originalSubdomain=au) said high performance comes down to knowing what someone’s demotivators and motivators are.

“I inspire, not demand, performance,” he told the audience. This meant connecting people to a vision and making sure they understood how their individual role was connected to the goal of the organisation.

Phil said that he used observational coaching skills.

“I see humans, not leaders or professionals,” he said.   

Drawing from his experience in sports coaching and leadership, Phil shared that helping people be better was “more rewarding” than being the trophy winner. And he discussed how fear of failure was an enabler.

“It means having a crack,” he said.

**Melina Cruickshank**

Chief Product & Audience Officer, REA Group, [Melina Cruickshank](https://www.rea-group.com/about-us/our-people-and-story/leadership/melina-cruickshank/) said there was cynicism among employees around the term “high performance.” So, she preferred to talk about the components in conversations and relationships.

Melina is a believer in the challenger mindset, encouraging team members to “rumble” on disagreements – in a nice way, with transparency.

“No-one tolerates the corridor conversations once that’s embedded,” she says.

Melina says REA invests in its people and continually educates its team about why DEI is important.

“Younger people, they’re down with this \[DEI\],” she says.

She also shared the bonus system, which rewards better behaviours.

“50% is based on what you delivered, 50% is based on the way you delivered it,” she explained.

**Natalie Philips-Mason**

[Natalie Philips-Mason](https://inc-change.com/), Inclusive Change Chief Ally and Founder, congratulated CultureCon™ 2024 for providing a quiet room for neurodiverse people – something she’d recommended when she’d done diversity mapping at last year’s conference. She also congratulated event MC Tracey Spicer for sharing that she had a dynamic disability (one that fluctuates in severity).

“How many leaders know what that is?” she challenged.

HIGH-PERFORMING CULTURE: PANEL DISCUSSION

[Lizzy Geremia](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzy-geremia-gaicd-1b3a3a/?originalSubdomain=au), Global Head of Brand & Culture, Reece, spoke about evolving a winning, high-performance culture. With $15.9 billion AUD market capitalisation and a spot in the ASX50 Reece still operates like a small business with 70% family ownership, an 84-year-old founder who comes in every day, and his son as the CEO.

“We really focus on our culture in each of our branches…we are proud to have a Net Promoter Score in the 50s and that is a gift we need to protect,” says Lizzy.

**10 Values Steering Reece's Culture**

Lizzy initially was against Reece’s 10 values (“3 to 5 please!!”) but has come to appreciate the true stories behind each one. The values are: _Create Customers for Life, Be Your Best, Team First, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Innovate Big and Small, Try, Try, Try, Own It, Keep it Simple, Do the Right Thing, Be Humble._

Lizzy says each branch is encouraged to rage against bureaucracy and run their business as if it is their own.

“Their store is the community hall for tradies,” she says, adding that some tradies will interact with Reece for their entire career.  

In a bid to attract tech people and the next generation Reece has moved its headquarters to Melbourne city from suburban Burwood.

LIZZY GEREMIA: REECE'S HIGH-PERFORMANCE CULTURE

Founder of Elevate Consulting Partners and SafeSpace@elevate, [Prabha Nandagopal](https://www.elevateconsultingpartners.com.au/) worked on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidance material around the [Respect@Work](https://www.respectatwork.gov.au/) and new [‘positive duty’ requirements](https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-08/Guidelines%20for%20Complying%20with%20the%20Positive%20Duty%20%282023%29.pdf) in the Sex Discrimination Act.  

She says more than 1 in 3 people (33%) have experienced sexual harassment at work (46% for LGBTQI)  but the greatest challenge is under-reporting.

Elevate Consulting’s tool SafeSpace@elevate is a reporting and support service designed to mitigate risks early.

She told the audience that employers can now be liable for failing to prevent sexual harassment, without the need for a complaint to be lodged with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Prabha says positive duty requires what is practical and doable. She said culture change starts with conversations:

·        Make standards of behaviour a standing item at meetings

·        Implement a simple policy, and put posters on the wall

·        Find ways to proactively eliminate the opportunity for harassment

PRABHA NANDAGOPAL – CULTURE REGULATIONS

**Kathryn van der Merwe**

[Kathryn van der Merwe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-van-der-merwe/?originalSubdomain=au), Group Executive – People, culture & Communications, Telstra, recommends organisations get clear with the definition of culture: “Shared everyday habits.”

She says scaling a business needs discipline and a structured approach. She recommended social learning that drives home why culture really matters and creates “aha” moments for leaders.

“Be a bit relentless,” she advised.

**Danny Almagor OAM**

Small giants Family Office & Small Giants Academy co-founder [Danny Almagor OAM](https://www.smallgiantsfamilyoffice.com.au/about) talked about the role of empathy in cultural leadership.

“It’s about understanding each other….It’s not always agreeing,” he explained.

Because “we all have blind spots,” Danny runs impact safaris to see how others live differently.

He encourages leaders to ask themselves: “Where can we learn from people who are different from us?”

**Georgie Harman**

[Georgie Harman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgie-harman-720a1688/?originalSubdomain=au), CEO, Beyond Blue, talked about authentic leadership.

“I’ve learnt the lesson the hard way that the only way I can lead is to be myself.” She says she’s spoken openly and candidly about living with depression and that has opened the door for everyone to be like that.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve, it’s never been career-limiting,” she said.

Georgie says Beyond Blue “is over-indexed on everything” including empathy. “We can be too polite to each other,” she says. This gets in the way of curiosity and results, so “we’re working on that.” The organisation now emphasises empathy _and_ results.

Georgie shared how the organisation has narrowed its focus to prevention and early intervention, and the transformation meant saying goodbye to a lot of people. The leadership team asked the remaining and new staff to “design our future state culture” and signed it off.

“If it’s designed by you, you’ll own it,” she explained.

**Mundanara Bayles**

[Mundanara Bayles](https://www.theblackcard.com.au/our-team/), Managing Director & Co-Founder, BlackCard, paid tribute to the intellect and productivity of Mary Graham and Lilla Watson, Aboriginal Elders and educators and long-time course developers and lecturers for the University of Queensland. The BlackCard approach is based on a cultural competency course developed by the two women.

“I have a deep sense of obligation to share knowledge that has been shared with me,” Mundanara told the audience.

She appealed to leaders to acknowledge the wisdom of the traditional owners.

“You have a privilege to engage with the culture of this land – how do you see the culture of this land. It is part of you if you live in Australia,” she said.

Mundanara explained that this knowledge makes for a better society, as Aboriginal is “non-ego, non-competitive, and non-judgmental.”

CULTURAL LEADERSHIP – PANEL DISCUSSION

According to Future Fit Learning founder [Andrea Clarke](https://www.andreaclarke.com.au/), “We face more change more often and we do it on diminished reserves.”

This leaves some leaders to retreat.

“Some of us are quietly stepping back,” she says. Yet, growing and confidently adapting requires leaders to look up and out.

This requires being “obsessed with learning” to be confident and stepping forward and making decisions.

**3 High AQ Habits**

Andrea listed 3 high Adaptability Quotient (AQ) habits:

·        Engage with signals of change: Look for weak signals of new trends that are specific and surprising. Read widely and use Google Alerts

·        Run “what if” scenarios: When you test multiple versions of the future we move beyond the obvious. Don’t dismiss, delay, or deny changes you see coming

·        Look back to look forward: What did you believe to be true 10 years ago that is now not true? How intentional are you about the personal timeline into your future?

 “Move from responding and reacting to change to influencing and shaping change,” she counselled the audience

ANDREA CLARKE – THE ADAPT ADVANTAGE

**Audit Your Culture Honestly**

·        Conduct regular, transparent reviews

·        Accept confronting truths about workplace issues

·        Measure both metrics and feelings

**Prioritise Communication**

·        Make culture a regular board agenda item

·        Increase frequency and transparency of communication

·        Create safe channels for feedback

**Implement AI Responsibly**

·        Develop ethical AI guidelines

·        Focus on upskilling teams

·        Use technology to reduce workload, not replace human connection

**Ensure Inclusive Leadership**

·        Balance empathy with results

·        Create psychological safety

·        Recognise and value diverse perspectives

**Protect Focus Time**

·        Implement strategies to reduce interruptions

·        Create dedicated time for deep work

·        Support work-life boundaries

**Build High-Performance Culture**

·        Balance delivery with behaviour in evaluations

·        Create natural opportunities for team connection

·        Encourage healthy disagreement

**Embrace Continuous Learning**

·        Stay current with industry trends

·        Run "what if" scenarios regularly

·        Look for weak signals of change

CultureCon™ 2024 was proudly presented by Growth Faculty and The Culture Institute. We thank our sponsors AWS, EY, Great Place to Work™ and Haworth, and our incredible speakers and panelists. We hope for those who attended you feel more empowered to be a culture leader into 2025 and for those who missed out - please join us next year!

7 ACTION POINTS FOR LEADERS

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Growth Faculty recently launched a good value [Enterprise plan](https://join.thegrowthfaculty.com/enterprise/) for **larger companies** to develop leadership skills across their whole organisation.

New events are being added regularly to this highly curated program. Keep an eye on the website Growthfaculty.com for fresh additions to the line-up.

CultureCon™ 2024 Sydney – Insights and Actions

Highlights from CultureCon™ work culture in Australia conference

Keep informed
Stay Inspired

CultureCon™ 2024 Sydney – Insights and Actions

Highlights from CultureCon™ work culture in Australia conference

Keep informedStay Inspired

Keep informed
Stay Inspired