Chamber productivity campaign focuses on harnessing resilience
The fourth week of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce's (GBCC) annual Growth Through People campaign begins today, offering a range of events and resources focused on how people can grow through harnessing resilience.
Growth Through People aims to help local firms boost productivity through improved leadership and people management skills.
Delivered by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce with a range of partners, it includes free training sessions, workshops and webinars alongside research and thought leadership content, all delivered together with Chamber members.
The 2021 campaign attracted around 400 delegates. 24 thought leadership blogs, advice from 16 local leaders in social media videos, and a 4-podcast mini-series on the Chamber Podcast were shared. The campaign hashtag reached over 300,000 accounts on twitter alone. The 2021 campaign was delivered in partnership with over 50 Chamber Member and stakeholder organisations.
2022 will be the sixth year the Chambers have run the campaign.
This week of the 2022 campaign, Growth Through Harnessing Resilience week will feature an event and a webinar, alongside thought leadership blogs and podcast content.
The first session this week, 'Managing Digital Resilience' taking place on 22 March online (via Zoom), will explore how leaders and managers of businesses across Greater Birmingham can approach fostering digital resilience, by developing their staff and utilising best practice, expert advice.
The session, chaired by Chamber president Deb Leary (pictured), will feature expertise from Claire Wise, head of Talent and Lee Johnson, chief technology officer at Air IT.
Claire Wise leads and manages the Talent Team for the Air IT Group which encompasses everything People and HR-related, from recruitment and learning and development to HR systems, policies and processes. Claire 's background is in Learning and Development and Talent Management, and her passion is seeing people develop and grow, making sure that they are part of a great place to work where they are supported and guided to reach their full potential.
Lee Johnson is chief technology officer at Air IT. He develops and guides the implementation of Air IT 's technical strategy, whilst working across the business to support the Client Services and Service Delivery teams with the management and provision of new and existing services and solutions. He also leads Air IT 's specialist cyber security division, Air Sec.
On 24 March, the 'How to Navigate Conversations About Mental Health and Wellbeing' session will be held at South and City College Birmingham.
The session will be led by Diane Rance, associate at Work Horizons and Darea Flanaghan, Thrive at Work Engagement manager at the West Midlands Combined Authority will explore how to support employee wellbeing and discuss wellbeing with your staff (whether working remotely or on business premises) and showcase available resources and best practice approaches to navigating this topic for local businesses.
Diane is a qualified executive coach and mentor with over 25 years ' organisational and people management experience, including at executive level in the automotive sector. She coaches and mentors senior leaders and their teams in a variety of sectors, including senior civil servants and owner/managers, and often around the challenges of managing and leading individuals and teams. She has an Advanced Certificate in Executive Coaching, an MBA from Aston University, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Darea leads the Engagement team at the West Midlands Combined Authority. The Thrive at Work programme is an accreditation which provides a framework for organisations to work through with the aim to grow a healthier and happier workforce
Darea is a steering group member with Engage For Success and an ambassador for Mind, last year receiving a Global CEO award for Diversity and Inclusion recognising her work with growing champion networks and delivering workplace mental health programmes.
Being an authentic leader and encouraging individuals to be their best self is at the heart of her work
Growth Through People will end with a conference on 30 March at Eastside Rooms.
A line-up of high-profile of speakers - including Birmingham 2022 chief executive Ian Reid and the West Midlands Combined Authority 's Race Equality Taskforce chair Yetunde Dania - will address delegates at the Chamber 's Growth Through People conference, which will offer firms the opportunity to learn from keynote speakers, expert panellists and interactive workshops.
The 2022 Growth Through People campaign is sponsored by and delivered in partnership with Aston University, Birmingham City Council, South and City College Birmingham and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Emily Stubbs, policy and projects manager at the Chamber said: “We 're incredibly excited to explore harnessing resilience during this week of our 2022 Growth Through People campaign.
“After the unprecedented events of recent years, it is critical that leaders and managers have the tools and best practice techniques to ensure that their workforce are resilient and prepared to face future challenges. We very much look forward to hearing from our fantastic expert speakers at this week 's sessions. ”
Click here to find out more about and book your FREE place at Growth Through People events and webinars, including Managing Digital Resilience on 22 March and How to Navigate Conversations about mental health and wellbeing on 24 March.
Click here to find out more about the Growth Through People conference.