Speakers
Howard Krais
Interactive
We are entering a new era for how we communicate and engage with employees. At the heart of this change, how we listen to employees is becoming central to business success.
Following the recent publication of their book “Leading the Listening Organisation” co-authors Howard Krais and Mike Pounsford will explain why listening matters and how to do it well.
This will be an interactive and practical session. They will explore what listening means, the benefits from effective listening and what gets in the way. They'll talk about the importance of the role that leaders play so they ‘listen up’ to make it easier for people to ‘speak up’ beyond the typical ‘big survey’.
Learn lessons from extensive research and the experience of others in the session. Tackle some of the biggest challenges with listening and leave with some great insights and practical tips into how to get this critical part of the communication mix right.
Three takeaways from the session:
Aimed at the following practitioner levels:
Howard co-founded True, a business set up to help organisations build winning cultures through maximising the potential of their people in early 2023.
Before True, Howard spent much of his career in senior in house communications and engagement roles at businesses such as Ernst & Young, GSK and latterly Johnson Matthey.
Over the last six years, Howard has co-authored on work focused on how organisations listen. Following four ground-breaking reports, a book, entitled “Leading the Listening Organisation” was published by Routledge in December 2023.
Howard was President of the UK chapter of International Association of Business Communicators for two years (2019-21), and Chairman of Wealdstone Football Club (2007-16).
Mike Pounsford founded Couravel in 2001. He works with clients to increase employees’ understanding of business strategy and to design and lead conversations for change. International clients in the private, public and third sector include BAE Systems, Tata Steel Europe, Thales, The Walt Disney Company, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and Oxfam.
Mike pioneered employee research in Europe for Towers Perrin (Willis Towers Watson) in the 1980s and founded brand engagement specialists Banner McBride (WPP Group’s fast-growing organic start up) in the 1990s.
Mike is a co-author of ‘Leading the Listening Organisation’ (Routledge, 2024), is accredited under the NTL International Organisation Development programme and is an IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator.
He is a keen guitar player, the proud father of Poppy, Emily and Georgia and the grandfather of Ossie.