01.06.22

Meet the Members: The Culture Club

A global pandemic is sure to shake things up. As droves of people drop their 9-5 in search of something flexible and meaningful, we’re seeing a shift in the workplace.The traditional office and the working day has come under scrutiny, with a worklife balance considered more important than ever. Enter: The Culture Club.. We spoke with Founder and Culture Specialist, Nikki Burslam about how you can turn great culture at work into something tangible, something to be celebrated.

The Culture Club are all about creating a positive work environment and giving people a reason to really care about their work, a feeling of fulfillment in contributing to something bigger than themselves.

You can find them nestled in their cosy top-floor studio at Brunswick Sq, amongst disco balls, champagne-filled fridges and resident pooch Basil. They certainly practise what they preach!

Can you tell us what you do and what an average work day looks like?

 

Our name says it all really. We specialise in company culture and help companies of all shapes and sizes become places where people love to work. An average day at The Culture Club always involves helping make better days at work for people across the world.

Practically speaking though, yesterday we were working on a new learning platform to help a business manage and communicate change, designing an event for one of our big pharma clients, and running a workshop to launch our new Employee Experience model called ‘’It’s all about ME.’

How has the world of culture at work changed since the pandemic?

 

Whilst the pandemic was horrendous for so many reasons, one great thing to come out of is the shake up it’s had on how we think about and approach work. I think it’s given us the biggest opportunity to shake up how the world works that we’ll ever see in our lifetime.

People have discovered how important our wellbeing is and how more flexibility and freedom to work in a way that suits us is so important.

Companies have actually started to care deeply about company culture and have realised just how important it is.

It’s an exciting industry to work in at the moment and the possibilities to find different and better ways to do business are endless, so long as we can forget and unlearn all of these traditional ‘9-5’ ways of working that we’re all so used to – easier said than done!

What excites you most about the creative process?

 

The thing that’s most exciting for me about the creative process is the impact it can have on shaping and shifting culture, and that creativity can take so many forms.

For us, the creative process can involve coming up with concepts to communicate an idea or help a project to stand out, but it can also mean solving problems and finding creative ways to change perceptions and behaviours.

So sometimes you can see our creativity delivered in a traditional ‘campaign’ sense, but more and more, we’re using it to start movements through creative hacks and interventions.

That means if you’re an employee in a business that we’re working with, you may not see loads of values posters, but you may be part of a ‘fuck up party’ to help celebrate failure and encourage innovation, for example.

What are you listening to/watching at the moment?

 

We actually have a ‘watchlist’ Slack channel. I’ve just had a look and we have some pretty varied taste! Anything from The Staircase, Killing Eve and my personal favourite – Succession – to our guilty pleasures; Married at First Sight Austraila, Selling Sunset and Tyler Henry’s Life After Death (he’s a Hollywood Medium).

If you ever pop up to the studio if Jess is around, you’ll probably hear Taylor Swift on repeat.

We also love books. Between us at the moment, we’re reading Humanocracy, Atomic Habits and The Checklist Manifesto.

What kit/tools can you not live without?

 

All the usual stuff + our ‘Fridge of Self-Actualization’ (AKA THE BOOZE FRIDGE) and disco ball.

 

Anything you’re working on at the moment that’s exciting you?

 

We’ve just launched The Clubhouse, our new best practice collective for people who are passionate about company culture.

We’re really passionate about education, knowledge sharing and shaping the industry by building a community of people who are up for joining us in our mission to make better days.

Why did you choose to come to Gather Round?

 

We’ve known about Gather Round for some time and love the spaces you’re creating. The environment is great to work in and we wanted to be part of a likeminded community full of interesting people! A few Culture Clubbers also love Tuesday Yoga – and obviously it’s dog friendly, so Basil can come to work too!

Thanks Nikki! Be sure to follow The Culture Club crew on Instagram to see what they’re up to next.

 

You can also keep up with us on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter, for all things creative.