Top hats, 7,000 staff and 21 minutes of racing: how Ascot makes the day
Spotify How do you preserve the traditions of a 300-year-old British institution while building a culture fit for its next phase of growth?
Ascot Racecourse CEO Fliss Barnard joins Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Humanforce’s Dom Fraser for the first episode of Making Culture Count: Lessons from the Frontline of Fan Experience, a new three-part series exploring how organisational culture shapes the experience of sports and entertainment fans.
Barnard explains why culture is inherent to the Ascot experience, particularly when scaling from around 200 permanent employees to 7,000 during Royal Ascot. She explores the move towards directly hiring more frontline staff, and how training helps ensure the brand comes through in every part of the experience.
Elsewhere in the show, the trio discuss Ascot’s ambitions for international growth; balancing heritage with accessibility; the role of technology in improving customer service; and why Barnard is introducing a new leadership programme as the organisation enters its next period of change.