Show Notes
What does it really mean for an organisation to know its culture, and is it possible to borrow the best bits of someone else’s? Who should hold responsibility for shaping culture when roles and structures are shifting so fast? And as AI transforms the workplace, can it be a genuine ally in culture change rather than a threat to it?
Leah De Silva, Senior Programme Manager for the CIPD Trust, is joined by authors of Rapid Reculturing, Alex Bailey, award-winning psychologist, and Kerri O’Neill, Chief People Officer at Ipsos UK and Ireland, and two-time CIPD HR30 recipient.
Recorded: 18 September 2026
---
Additional resources:
Tool: Quick wins to improve workplace culture Factsheet: Organisational climate and culture People Management: Why measuring organisational culture often goes wrong Book: Rapid reculturing: Transforming organizations at pace and scale
Your next listen:
CIPD Podcast 220: Do leaders establish culture, or are they a product of it? HR People Pod 46: Measuring culture, driving performance – with Hani Nabeel CIPD Podcast 233: Courageous conversations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from CIPD
What opportunities does building commercial acumen as a skillset bring for the profession? Does quality of management matter more than any productivity metric? And what does it take for organisations to be bold about AI, without being reckless?
AI governance, the framework that ensures AI is deployed ethically, transparently and with proper accountability, is no longer a secondary concern. It is foundational to organisational stability and trust. Yet governance has not kept pace with implementation, exposing organisations to real business risks: loss of trust, reputational damage or litigation. But good AI governance doesn’t slow innovation. It establishes the foundations that make innovation possible.
The CIPD’s latest Resourcing and talent planning 2026 report, supported by Omni, reveals that an increasing number of organisations are extending their workforce planning timeframes from the short to the medium term. Overall, 24% take a short-term approach (up to six months), down from 31% in 2024. However just a fraction of organisations (16%) are planning more than two years into the future.
According to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are approximately 548,400 refugees in the UK – yet many highly qualified, experienced people remain locked out of meaningful work. Not by ability, but by structural barriers: recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidates, unrecognised or unfamiliar qualifications, and in many cases, a basic misconception among employers about whether refugees can legally be employed at all.
When it comes to AI-generated grievances, is this really a new problem for the profession, or a familiar one that AI has simply thrown into the spotlight? Has ‘resilience’ become a bit of a tainted word, quietly placing all the onus on the individual to cope? And during a period of labour market stagnation, how do organisations create the conditions for innovation to thrive without relying on an inflow of new talent?