Jewish Community Professionals’ Conference 2022: Organisational Culture – are you a passenger or a driver?

On Thursday, the third annual Jewish Community Professionals’ Conference met at the London School of Jewish Studies with over 60 community professionals from 29 organisations to advance their own learning and development.

This year’s conference opened up discussions around organisational culture within Jewish Communal Organisations.  The space offered an opportunity to develop and nurture value and pride in Jewish community professionalism, create new connections, share ideas, thoughts and creativity.

The day was opened by Michelle Janes, JLC Co-CEO and Executive Director of Lead who invited participants to share challenge and success as well as re-connecting with colleagues. In her session focusing on creating a culture of value she introduced the attendees to a new initiative that the JLC and Lead will be developing over the next 12 months to support the recruitment and retention of professional staff in the UK Jewish community.

Participants also heard from Dalia Fleming, Executive Director, KeshetUK and Alex Foley, Head of Community Life, Keshet UK on understanding Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation. Psychologist Michael Wellin explored how the psychological contract can be used to implement organisation culture change.  Emma May, Director of Operations and Employment, Work Avenue and Lynne Cantor, Relationship Manager, Resource used their session to focus on recruitment and retention of staff, an issue increasingly relevant today. Whilst Kate Bernstock of Sadeh Farm spoke on Judaism, land work and social justice and how they are linked. Finally, Alex Bloom of Telos Partners spoke on the power of a growth mindset in creating a culture of success.

Michelle Janes commented: “It was thrilling to be able to finally meet in person again and bring together communal professionals to tackle some of these vital issues. Professional staff in our community work incredibly hard and this conference was an opportunity to take stock and continue our individual and collective professional development”.

Participants of the Conference praised the JLC and Lead for providing “excellent opportunities to engage with peers whilst learning new skills and knowledge”  One participant commented that the day was “A very worthwhile and important day in the communal calendar for communal professionals” whilst another noted it was "A fantastic opportunity to at last reconnect in person with like-minded professionals, taking time out of the day to day to focus on the bigger issues, share and collaborate".