Name: The cultural imperative – how leaders hardwire organisational success
Start: 2026-03-18T17:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-03-18T19:00:00+00:00
Location: Projects Nile House

$The cultural imperative \u2013 how leaders hardwire organisational success$

What’s your culture triggering? Reward mode that boosts performance or survival mode that drives disengagement?
About this Event

Every organisation has what Occupational Psychologist Maria Paviour calls a ‘cultural imperative’ - a set of unspoken rules shaped by what leaders prioritise, measure, and tolerate.

This imperative is so powerful, it hardwires team members’ brains and triggers either survival mode (cue defensiveness and disengagement) or reward mode (encouraging creativity and trust). And every organisation has one - whether it’s unconscious and sabotaging your strategy, or intentional, and driving resilience, wellbeing, and high performance.

Join the CIPD Branch in Sussex for this science-led session on how organisational culture shapes the behaviours of our teams and individuals - and how you can harness its power.

Expect a provocative and inspiring environment where you'll:

Discover how leadership decisions rewire employees’ brains
Learn to spot your organisation’s hidden cultural imperative

Explore how you can hold leaders accountable for culture - and unlock performance by design, not default.

There'll also be time for questions, debate and networking - connecting you face-to-face with fellow people professionals from across the county.

About the speaker

Maria Paviour

Maria Paviour is an HCPC-registered Occupational Psychologist and founder of Optimism Consulting. With over 25 years’ experience, she helps organisations translate human behaviour into measurable performance, engagement, and productivity gains. She is the creator of the world’s first workplace wellbeing software, recognised by two UK Prime Ministers, and a UK and EU Government award recipient.

Maria works with senior leaders to tackle disengagement, presenteeism, and cultural drag using neuroscience-led, data-driven approaches that stand up to commercial scrutiny. She is a founding member of the Parliamentary Policy Liaison Group on Workplace Wellbeing, a regular international speaker, and an Amazon bestselling author. Her forthcoming book, The Cultural Imperative, explores why culture is now the primary driver of sustainable performance.

Please note:

Reminder emails will be sent to you the day before, with a further reminder on the day of the event.
Photography and video production may be taking place at the event, and these images may be used in the CIPD newsletters.
By attending the event, you are giving consent for your image to be used on any CIPD promotional materials.
As we are supplying refreshments, if you can no longer attend, please cancel your place either on Eventbrite, or by responding to the confirmation email.
This event may include an external speaker who has prepared their own presentation. Any views or opinions expressed by the speaker are their own and do not reflect those of the CIPD.
If you require any reasonable adjustments to enhance your experience, please get in contact with us by responding to this email and we will do our best to accommodate.