Organisations need to think differently in a post-Covid world – leadership expert

Businesses need to change the way they think in order to thrive in a post-Covid world.

That’s the message from a culture change expert, who spent more than 30 years working for the police and pioneered the way for many other BAME officers and staff.

Kul Mahay (pictured), a former Superintendent in Derbyshire Police, feels that while progress is being made when it comes to creating cultures where people want to work to their full potential, there is a way to go.

Kul works with universities, healthcare providers, public sector, policing and private sector businesses across the UK and abroad to transform cultures and develop leaders.

He says that the world is in a different era within the workplace and owners and leaders need to wake up to this to stay relevant in today’s world.

He is on a mission to help organisations create human centric cultures where everyone works beyond their perceived potential.

Kul said: “A few years ago the whole world was stopped in its tracks by covid and subsequent lockdowns. People were forced to stay at home.

“We were surrounded by news of death. On top of this, incidents such as the murder of George Floyd in the USA served to further increase anxiety levels.

“People started talking about psychological safety. They had the time and space to introspect and reflect on their lives, including their work.

“We experienced some of the greatest loss of talent from organisations, cited as the ‘Great Resignation’. In the UK we saw unprecedented levels of industrial action, which was more than just about money. People want workplaces where they feel valued, heard, seen and valued. It goes way beyond the ordinary concepts of EDI that we have talked about for so many years.”

To accelerate this conversation, Kul has brought together the Human Centred Leadership Conference, taking place on 22 May 2024 at Millenium Point, Birmingham.

Kuls added: “I wanted to bring together leaders from public, military, governmental, private and third sectors to engage in meaningful conversations about the future of workplace culture.

“From powerful speakers, through to conversations on stage and discussion panels to respond to audience engagement, we hope to arrive at some key learning points about what the modern workplace culture could and should look like.

“We have moved through various eras in the 40 years that I have operated in the workplace. From the era of the ‘what’ in the 1980s where our focus seemed to be on our products and services and how we could do more, to the 1990s obsession with continuous improvement. The 2000s saw us increasingly searching for our purpose and our wider social responsibility.

“But 2020 changed all of that and introduced the era of the ‘who’ meaning to focus more on the needs, wants and desires of our people, customers, communities and staff. With social anxiety on the increase, multi-dimensional workforces, a real desire towards value-driven approaches, I believe human centric leadership is where we need to be.”

Kul has worked with all sizes and shapes of organisations on culture transformation and leadership development and says that these are the issues he is hearing time and again, from executive boards all the way to the front line.

“This is why I believe that this conference is a landmark opportunity to start the conversation around this important issue. It is no longer confined to box referred to as ‘soft skills’ but it is a business imperative,” he said.

Find out more about the Human Centred Leadership conference on 22 May.