Session overview

Culture isn’t an HR issue. It isn’t something that happens on away days or lives in a values statement on the wall. Culture is the lived, daily experience of every tenant, every colleague, every contact with your organisation. And if your board isn’t paying attention to it, who is?

In a sector facing unprecedented scrutiny, where the Regulator is watching, tenants are rightly demanding more, and the reputation of housing associations is under the microscope, trust has never mattered more. But trust isn’t built through grand gestures or corporate strategies. It’s built and broken in the small moments, repeated and remembered.

Join Vinay Parmar, one of the UK’s leading voices on trust, loyalty and customer experience, for a session that will challenge housing association boards to think differently about their role in shaping culture — and why it matters more than they might think.

Trust is your most valuable asset. It takes years to build and moments to lose. Isn’t it time your board owned it?

What the session will cover

We’ll be exploring the questions that boards should be asking — but often aren’t:

• Why should boards care about culture? Isn’t that for the exec team to worry about? (Spoiler: no.)
• What is trust, really — and how do you know if you have it? What does trust look, feel and sound like inside a housing association, and what destroys it faster than anything else?
• Culture is experienced in moments — so which moments matter most? What are the interactions — with tenants, staff and partners — that define how your organisation is genuinely perceived?
• How does board behaviour shape organisational culture? What signals does the board send — consciously and unconsciously — about what’s really valued?
• What’s the connection between internal culture and tenant experience? If your people don’t feel trusted, what chance do your tenants have?
• How do you measure something as intangible as trust? And what should boards be asking for in their assurance and reporting?

What you’ll take away:

• A practical, grounded understanding of why culture and trust are governance issues — not just operational ones
• A new lens for reading the health of your organisation’s culture from the boardroom
• Insight into the specific moments and behaviours that build — or quietly erode — trust with tenants and staff
• Practical questions your board can start asking right now to get better sight of your culture
• A fresh perspective on what “good” looks and feels like — drawn from Vinay’s three decades working with organisations who get this right
• The confidence to make culture a standing item, not an afterthought

About the speaker

Vinay Parmar – Keynote Speaker & Trust and Culture Expert

Vinay Parmar is one of the UK’s leading voices on trust, loyalty and customer experience. He works with organisations to help them understand how trust is built, how culture is felt, and why the smallest interactions often have the biggest impact on reputation, loyalty and long-term success.

Drawing on decades of experience, Vinay brings a practical and thought-provoking perspective on what it really takes to create organisations where people feel valued, trusted and willing to stay connected. His work helps leaders move beyond theory and think more clearly about how culture is shaped in the everyday moments that matter most.

Who should attend?

This session is ideal for:

• Board members and Chairs who want to understand their role in shaping organisational culture
• Chief Executives who want board colleagues to be better partners on culture and trust
• Governance and Company Secretary leads thinking about how culture features in board reporting
• HR and People Directors who want board-level buy-in for culture as a strategic priority
• Anyone in the sector who has sat in a board meeting and wondered why nobody is talking about what it’s actually like to be a tenant — or a member of staff