The theme of this workshop was ‘Creating and Developing the Culture for Sustained High-Class performance in Sport and Business’.
Accolade Wines is not well-known by this name, but the company owns many pf the most famous Southern Hemisphere brands such as Hardy’s and Kumala. It is the biggest wine distribution centre in Europe, filling, capping, labeling and packing one million bottles every day. What is hugely impressive about the company is the employee engagement, along with the vision and purpose which appear to be understood and supported by staff at all levels. The morning was spent finding out about Accolade, initially via Richard Lloyd the General Manager and then via a guided tour, during which delegates had the opportunity to talk with many members of staff.
The afternoon was richly rewarding, with inspirational presentations from Pat Lam, Head Coach at Bristol Rugby and from Jess Thirlby, Anna Stembridge and Eboni Beckford-Chambers of Team Bath Netball. They all provided inspirational stories regarding their journey towards creating the culture they seek in order to be leading clubs in their field.
England rugby coaches Russell Earnshaw and John Fletcher provided an entertaining vision for creating a learning culture for long term involvement and enjoyment of sport.