THE latest Inspiring Your Future event around the topic of Healthy People, Healthy Business, was held at the Pirelli Stadium this afternoon starring several guest speakers from the world of business and sport.
The event, sponsored by Smith Partnership, aimed to help business leaders question what they are doing to look after themselves and their wellbeing and how doing so can subsequently benefit their companies.
A key lesson from the event was that being aware of one’s own wellbeing and mental health can only benefit any one of us, and in doing so business leaders can subsequently help benefit colleagues and their businesses as a result by producing stronger teams.
The event was opened by Burton Albion Commercial Director Fleur Robinson and hosted by BBC Sport journalist Mark Clemmit.
The first guest speaker was Dr Dorian Dugmore, a Director of Corporate Wellbeing at the Football Association as well as a world leader in cardiovascular health and wellness.
Dr Dugmore discussed cardiovascular risks in management around sport and how that can apply to business, pointing to famous examples within sport of how management affects heart rate and health.
He said: “I think the event is superb. The message that sport can pass on to business, and that business can pass on to sport, is absolutely fabulous.
“The two can learn so much from each other and to put an event like this on to capitalise on that is outstanding.”
Thea Roberts, Executive Coach and Mentor, was next on the bill, offering advice to business leaders in management roles, drawing on her experiences of 27 years in commercial leadership roles, up to and including Management Director at some of the country’s leading businesses, including Mars and Marks and Spencer.
Thea said: “I was really excited to attend today because I thought not only would it be great to share my learnings but I could learn a lot from the two other speakers.
“What I wanted to do was share some real-life experience and it’s important not only that we share ideas, but that we start conversations.
“If just one person walks out of this room and starts a conversation about wellbeing in business, then we’ve all done our job.”
Following lunch, Darren Harris - former Team GB Paralympian and England’s most capped blind footballer - took to the stage for an interview with Mark Clemmit to discuss his career and philosophy, before Thea and Dr Dugmore both joined Darren on stage for a group Q&A.
Darren said: “We’ve had some wonderful guests here today - my Q&A was about the importance of health and how it’s been massive in my career as an athlete. “Health is easy to neglect and business owners have all these stresses and pressures - but you have to put your health first as without that, you’re not going to run a very good business.”
James Johnson, Head of Employment at Smith Partnership, said: “It is essential now that people are looking after the health of their workers.
“We ourselves have introduced, since the last session we had in January 2019, an employee assistance programme with 24-hour telephone counselling and face-to-face counselling on a confidential basis, yoga sessions and a happiness survey.
“That all was prompted by the (Inspiring Your Future) session last January.”
Nik Hardy, President of Burton and District Chamber of Commerce, said: “It has been very thought-provoking and I’ll certainly take away some of the information I’ve had today.”
Duncan Goodfellow, leader of East Staffordshire Borough Council, said: “It’s been a really, really fascinating day and thank you to Burton Albion and Fleur Robinson for arranging it.
“It’s been so good to see so many local businesses here to support it. Health and wellbeing is obviously massively important and I personally have taken away lots of interesting strategies from today.”
Burton Albion Commercial Director Fleur Robinson said: “This was yet another successful Inspiring Your Future event and I would like to thank our guest speakers for their time, and Smith Partnership for sponsoring today’s event and their continued support of the football club both on and off the pitch.
“Too many leaders continually monitor their business’s statistics, but not their own health, and we hope that all the business leaders in attendance today will be able to use some of the tools and lessons from our speakers and apply them to their own lives.
“While creating this environment for leaders to share and talk about how they can better take care of themselves, as well as their business, we were also able to raise £500 for development of ladies football.
“Inspiring Your Future continues to grow and we look forward to hosting further insightful events in the near future.”