Work Hard

When it comes to success in business, work culture is key

Recently named an ‘outstanding place to work’, Julie Brayson’s role as Director of Transformation and Culture at believe housing seems to be paying dividends.

Written by Becky Hardy
Published 30.09.2022

You can burn the candle at both ends all you want, but if your staff aren’t motivated then you may as well be flogging a dead horse.

It’s something Julie Brayson knows all too well. As Director of Transformation and Culture at believe housing, her entire role is centred around making sure the company’s customers and colleagues are always well looked after.

No mean feat, when you consider that believe housing are a not-for-profit housing association with more than 18,000 homes across County Durham and beyond. And with ambitions of delivering ‘life without barriers’ through support for their customers old and new, alongside extensive community funding programmes and huge investment in building new homes and upgrading existing ones, a focus on innovation is essential if they’re to stay ahead of the curve.

Nevertheless, Julie’s dedication has been instrumental in securing the business another ‘two stars: outstanding place to work’ award from Best Companies. In fact, it was Julie who accompanied Chief Executive Bill Fullen to last month’s Live event, where Bill spoke about their work culture to some of the most ambitious business leaders in the country.

Which is why we caught up with Julie to pick her brains about why a dedicated focus on culture in the workplace is essential to success in any industry and to convince her to share her top tips for maintaining employee engagement.

You’re the Director of Transformation and Culture at believe housing. What does that role entail?

My main remit is to be the eyes and ears of the organisation: horizon scanning and seeking out opportunities to improve the services for customers and the experience for our colleagues.

It’s my task to act as an “organisational disruptor” by challenging the status quo and embedding a culture of innovation. I also have the pleasure of leading the People, Culture, Comms/Marketing, Innovation and Transformation teams, all of which I’m incredibly proud to do.

Tell us about your career path so far.

I spent most of my early career in retail. I was a young Mum and didn’t leave school with great academic qualifications so, for a long time, I felt my options were very limited by the choices I had made.

In my early 30s, I was fortunate enough to take part in a leadership development programme, which really made think about my own aspirations for the first time and challenge myself about why I “couldn’t” achieve them. I identified a lot of self-limiting beliefs I was holding onto and learnt how to take responsibility for my own development, as well as create a career plan that would practically help me achieve my goals.

I knew I wanted a role that would give me the opportunity to help others fulfil theirs, which is why I started to pursue a career in people development. I’ve learnt so much from each role since then and the opportunity to be part of a business-wide transformation project for a national retailer is what ultimately started me on my path to this role at believe housing.

So, making the most of opportunities when they present themselves and being prepared to change direction is something I would advocate.

How has believe housing created such a positive working culture?

My role was created to ensure that the development of our culture has a consistent focus as a strategic priority, and to ensure that impact on culture is a key factor in decision making at the highest level.

We use the feedback from Best Companies and our annual Culture Audit to create and deliver a tangible action plan each year to build on the elements of our culture that colleagues tell us they appreciate and find solutions to the challenges they identify.

This year, not only have we maintained our 2-star outstanding to work for ranking, but we also:

  • Made the league tables for housing’s top 10 best associations to work for
  • Ranked as one of the North East’s top 25 best companies to work for
  • And ranked in the UK’s top 75 best large companies to work for

We’ve also created a network of culture catalysts and innovation champions, who have different roles across the business, to keep breathing life into our activities. It’s this practical approach which I think really makes a difference.

 

You’re one of a number of female directors at believe housing. Would you say that gender balance in the boardroom has had an impact on the organisation’s culture?

I hope and believe that having so many female leaders (particularly in the construction and trade areas of our business), inspires women to feel they can pursue a career in a sector that they might not have considered before.

We try very hard to do the right thing for our people regardless of gender, and our vision is to create “life without barriers” – that’s not just for our customers, but those who work for us too.

It’s important that we keep removing the barriers that prevent people from being the best they can at work and having positive female role models in senior roles is a big part of that. It also helps that the chair of our Board, Judith Common, is such an advocate for empowering women and offering them opportunities in social housing.

When the pandemic hit, believe housing decided not to furlough staff. What was the thought process behind that decision?

We wanted to ensure that every colleague felt they could make a valuable contribution, respect our frontline colleagues who were working in very challenging circumstances and find a way to support our customers. So, we decided to take a different approach.

We were limited to offering essential repairs and maintenance only, so rotated our colleagues so everyone could play their part in maintaining services for customers and get involved in supporting customers in other ways, too – such as proactive welfare calls or using technology to diagnose and fix problems remotely.

This helped colleagues stay connected and our customers told us how much they appreciated the support.

 

Many workforces work remotely full-time now. What would you say employers need to be most mindful of to retain employee engagement?

I would encourage employers to recognise that truly flexible working does not involve putting quotas on the number of days a week that staff members should work from the office or fall into the trap of tracking the hours spent working from home.

It’s vital to create an adult culture, focused on output and productivity where possible, so that colleagues have the autonomy to organise their work around customer need and maintain a great work/life balance.

What advice could you share with other employers to help them keep their own staff engaged?

Most organisations conduct engagement surveys, but not many take the time to really get under the skin of what their colleagues are trying to tell them.

Making the time and creating the space for people to come together so that you understand what you do well, and the challenges you face, is such an important step.

Once you have that information, it’s about bringing colleagues from across the business together in the creative process to develop ideas and solutions that will make a genuine difference and ensuring they’re actively involved in the delivery.

 

What do you love most about your job?

Recently, there have been a couple of examples of colleagues applying for roles or opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have, because they feel the environment we’ve created at believe housing allows them to pursue a career and still fulfil their family commitments. Hearing their stories and how the culture here is positively impacting their lives really makes what we do worthwhile.

What would you say to encourage other women to pursue a role like yours?

I think a lot of people have the impression that to be successful in this type of role you need to have all the answers and in-depth technical experience in every team you’re leading, and that puts them off feeling “ready”. I would encourage any women (and men for that matter) considering a role like this to get themselves a great mentor who will share their experiences honestly.

I think they will find that it really isn’t about being an expert in everything. It’s about asking the right questions and creating an environment where your people can reach their full potential.

And if you want to be an expert in something, then make it coaching – it’s the most important skill when it comes to leading a high performing team and challenging your business to do things differently.

And how would you encourage employers here in the North East to invest in their work culture?

There are some incredibly talented people in the North East but it’s a difficult recruitment market at the moment and this, coupled with people still feeling the pull to move out of the region to build their careers, means employers are often fishing in a very small pond for great candidates.

Of course, salary is important to applicants, but we’ve found when talking to candidates at interview that they consistently cite our culture as the main reason they want to work at believe housing. This also resonates with what our colleagues tell us about why they stay with us. I believe that if you want to attract and retain the best talent, investing in your culture is crucial.

Find out more about the culture at believe housing on their website or follow them on Facebook.

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