S4: Decoding Culture Intro to Series 4 Decoding Culture with Dr John Curran

Hi I am Dr John Curran your host of the Decoding Culture Podcast and welcome to series 4. For those that are first time subscribers, the podcast focuses on the ways in which everyday culture and psychology shape who we are as human beings and social groups. As an organisational consultant, anthropologist and executive and team coach, I am fascinated by organisational culture and team dynamics - so these topics will seep into many of my conversations.

I have been talking to some really interesting people for this series. Before I run through who these are, I want good to give you a quick news update on what I have been up to since series 3…..which I am well aware feels like decades ago.

My big and recent news is that have been appointed Professor in Practice at University College London (UCL) anthropology department. The department is one of the most progressive anthropology departments and currently sits 4th best in the world. So it’s a real honour to be part of this. Specifically, I will support them in their new MSc called Anthropology and Professional Practice. This is a really innovative post-grad course that opens the world to students already working in their profession on how to incorporate anthropology into their work.

I am also co-Faculty Director, with Camilla Child at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations on their world renowned Practice in Consultancy and Change programme for those aspiring to become consultants. The Tavistock basically invented modern day organisational development consultancy and many of the theories and approaches around group dynamics. What’s so cool about the underpinning theories and approaches of the Tavistock is that they bring together systems psychodynamics with other social sciences like anthropology as part of the consultant’s theoretical and practical tool kit when decoding team dynamics and organisational culture. This….is….essential when working with the complexities of work place culture.

Last summer I was part of a series of talks over a couple of months at the Science Museum in London for Lloyds Banking Group where I delivered a number of short seminars to many of their senior staff on group and team dynamics and how to manage them. It is really interesting to see how culture and group dynamics are universal topics that all leaders need to be able to understand and work with.

This also shows up in the many webinars I have delivered recently on workplace culture and conflict. I spoke about conflict in the Financial Times Working It newsletter where the FTs Isabel Berwick interviewed me. One key thing I said was that there was no culture if there was no conflict – conflict is something we need to see as communicating something to us and not something we have to smoother. On that note, I have just been a guest on The Financial Times Working It podcast with Isabel and the FT’s Miranda Green where we have been trying to get our head around the complexities of office politics. I will put a link to the Working It newsletter and podcast below.




And…I have just had confirmation from Isabel that she will be a guest on this podcast where we will chat about her new book - The Future-Proof Career: Strategies for thriving at every stage. Can’t wait and Isabel has a fantastic bird’s-eye and worm’s eye understanding of work and work culture.
I have also been carrying out a number of consultancy projects within the National Health Service in the UK. This is an incredible privilege to be supporting senior leaders and teams in one of the most iconic institutions that is part of the UKs national identity. However, Covid-19, underpaid staff, the cost of living crisis, strikes and a lack of funding has understandably had a massive impact on how it is functioning. A focus on the development and training of managers and leaders to support their teams and departments will be one essential area that will demand investment and time. 
Finally, I have become a ‘Play