Building bonds

The TCM Group was first introduced to Margaret through a successful mediation of a difficult working situation, which led to the cultivation of a longstanding relationship with TCM CEO and Founder David Liddle. Witnessing the healing power of positive  communication first-hand sparked Margaret’s interest in the use of restorative justice in the workplace. TCM had proven its firm stance as a proponent of justice, leading to its partnership with Margaret in embedding internal mediation schemes through various universities. The origins of mediation lie in values of compassion, collaboration and courage – ideas which transcend to the creation of a transformational culture. This venture connected with Margaret’s working ethos and knitted together her preexisting ideals into a tangible business model, leading to CCCU’s onboarding as a Transformational Trailblazer.

Shaping culture

The Transformational Culture Model™ centres on eight enablers: values first; evidence based; the people and culture function; leadership and management; the Resolution Framework™; wellbeing, engagement and inclusion; sustainability and social justice; and brand, reputation and risk.

With its values firmly in sight, CCCU had started ground on inclusion and sustainability initiatives. The University is unique as it has a whole university approach to responding to its staff and students as an entire, unified community. Specialists had been hired to lead on and modernise intersectional inclusion, focusing specifically on gender and race, working as a People and Culture Inclusion team under the Head of Organisational Development. Conversations were also circulating about joining the Race Equality Charter. The sustainability strategy was also taking shape. A strategy had just been signed to discover how sustainability ideas could be embedded within the university curriculum. An institutional framework will launch in 2022 to align these progressive initiatives with digital transformation.

Aligning ideals

CCCU’s inspiration to join the Trailblazers initiative was threefold. The central values of the Transformational Culture Model™ aligned with the university’s organisational aspirations to be more inclusion- and sustainability-focused. Equally, they resonated with the dynamic of the Transformational Culture Hub as a cross functional team bringing people from all departments together, homing in on the practice of collaboration as a driving force of the organisation. Thirdly, CCCU wanted to craft a concrete plan and ethos that reflected their modern, progressive values of embedding inclusive justice in the workplace.

Committing to the future

Margaret cited the flexibility of the Trailblazers initiative as an attractive buy-in. A 5D Review, delivered in January 2022, effectively tests the partnership between TCM and CCCU, assessing ideas before implementation with a low level of commitment. The Review scopes out an in-depth examination of culture, leadership and people measures with a road map for practical change and improvement in five stages.