Session: Strategies to Create and Sustain Strong Corporate Culture in Both Prosperity and Hardship
We’ve all seen the corporate inspirational posters with pictures of eagles, trees, and rowing teams boldly advising us about Teamwork, Attitude, and Excellence. Unfortunately, glossy photos and catchy slogans don’t create a thriving company culture that fosters an environment of innovation, creativity and success. So, what does? What can you do to create, revive or change the culture within your organization? And as if it isn’t hard enough to do this during times of prosperity- how can you also do this during a downturn?
Michele Dobnikar brings more than 30+ years of experience working at every level of the technology industry. From running a large Care organization of a fast-growing technology company to being President of an organization that needed to reinvent itself during the recent pandemic. She’s seen what works and what doesn’t. Michele will share the valuable insights she’s gained and advice that’s proven to be successful in creating winning company cultures. A common thread throughout her career is a steadfast belief that creating epic experiences requires epic people.
Her presentation will be structured in 3 parts:
Strategies to create culture during corporate times of wine and roses
Retaining culture when a business is struggling
Rebuilding culture after a major company pivot
When times are prosperous, organizations often identify the need to create dedicated teams and strong leaders that will propel the organization at the pace it needs in order to take advantage of a favorite market position. Michele learned early on that you can teach specific job skills to employees but it is equally important to immediately show them how they can be engaged and be rewarded for excellence. Culture is not a one size fits all approach. Companies that find ways to recognize people in their spaces, for example an engineer opposed to a customer care associate, are ultimately successful in creating a holistic company culture.
During turbulent times, when resources are low and budgets dry up, incentive and award programs are often the first to go. Ironically it’s during these times when a strong company culture can carry a company through to the other side. Michele’s experience provides her with a unique perspective and understanding that it is not always about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s also important to dance in the rain. Without a budget, Michele managed to keep the culture strong and retain employees ultimately guiding the organization to a new, brighter chapter.
In the final part of her talk, Michele will discuss how to rebuild culture after a major shift or change. If a company wants what it’s never had, then it needs to do things it’s never done before.
Bio
Michele Dobnikar, president of GlobalMeet has built a reputable career in business technology over the last 30 years. She’s worked in every facet of the virtual events industry and has led countless teams and divisions throughout every industry subsector. Her decades of experience spanning all levels of production, sales, and management have allowed her to gain comprehensive knowledge of conference production and all the industries that fuel it.
Michele began her career when online collaboration was just beginning and has witnessed first-hand as we’ve shifted to a forward-facing digital world. Her expansive knowledge and industry insights have helped to spearhead the industry’s most reliable and secure virtual events platform on the market.
As president of GlobalMeet, Michele has assisted Fortune 500 companies in creating memorable online experiences for their customers and staff. Companies come to GlobalMeet because they know it’s a technology they can trust, the only scalable and secure solution built and backed by event professionals.