About this Event
Businesses, like people, carry echoes of their past – values, behaviours and personalities that shape the present long after early leaders have stepped aside.
Our first Organisational Ghosts event asked whether inherited ways of working act as powerful anchors that support progress, or invisible constraints that hold organisations back. The room had plenty to say. So we're returning to the theme with a different format, and this time we want to hear from you.
Join us for the next Research in Conversation event, an open forum where our guests share and unpick the stories of organisational ghosts in their own businesses. We'll explore which ghosts needed protecting because of the impact of their lasting legacy, and which needed exorcising for the future resilience of the business.
You're welcome to come and join the discussion, or simply listen in and learn. Both are equally valuable, and there's no pressure to speak.
Led by strategic designer Darren Evans of The Engine Room, in partnership with the University of Huddersfield. With special guests Paul Rendle-Barnes, Dr Shelley Harrington and Gavin Howarth, this relaxed yet straight-talking morning promises honest reflections, real-world stories and practical insights you can apply in your own organisation.
Alongside the main discussion, you'll have time to connect with local professionals, enjoy a relaxed breakfast, and continue the conversation over informal networking.
This event is ideal for:
- Family or generational businesses
- Long-established brands with a rich heritage and/or deep-rooted practices
- Organisations undergoing leadership transition
- Younger businesses with outspoken founders
- Any manager, director or senior leader faced with a shadow of the past but responsibility for the future
"Every business has ghosts. The question isn't whether you have them, it's whether you've chosen to keep them."
Agenda
🕑: 08:30 AM - 08:45 AM
Breakfast and networking to start the day
🕑: 08:45 AM - 08:55 AM
Short introduction to the theme from Darren Evans
🕑: 08:55 AM - 09:20 AM
Facilitated forum
Info: Guest stories of ghosts worth protecting and ghosts that needed laying to rest.
🕑: 09:20 AM - 09:35 AM
Group discussion
Info: How to tell the difference and how to act on it.
🕑: 09:35 AM - 09:45 AM
Practical reflections and takeaways for your own context
🕑: 09:45 AM - 10:00 AM
Further networking to deepen connections and conversations
Event venue & nearby stays
3M Buckley Innovation Centre, Firth Street, Huddersfield, United Kingdom