Raising the roof

For the final episode of this season's Raising the Roof, we got an insight into the inner workings of customer experience (CX) at Octopus Energy from Pete Miller, Co-founder and Head of Customer Experience.

Pete shares how Octopus Energy has gone from a start-up challenger in the energy sector to one of the UK's most talked-about brands by putting customers at the heart of everything it does, focusing on what customers really need and making the small moments matter.

In this episode of Raising the Roof, we’re joined by Helen Bevan, a leading expert in culture change who spent years helping transform the NHS. Helen walks us through her lessons on leadership, culture and psychological safety, and explains how organisations can make change happen and make it stick. She explores why some transformation programmes succeed while others fall short, and offers insights into how we can all help create the conditions for lasting change.

Credit: The three percent rule by Innovisor, 3% of people consistently shape the perceptions of upwards of 90% of their colleagues.

In this episode of Raising the Roof, we welcome back AI expert Guy Marshall PhD for a follow-up conversation on how artificial intelligence has evolved since we last spoke in 2024 and what it means for the future of work. What was once a future-looking topic has now become part of everyday life and work across sectors, including social housing. But how can organisations behind the curve catch up, and where do the responsibilities and ethics lie?

Credit: Cloudflare Radar – In 2026, the number of AI agents exceeded the number of humans on the internet.

Karina O’Gorman, Marks and Spencer’s Head of ESG talks us through their famous Plan A approach to sustainability, and how it helps protect their magic. We hear how it’s embedded across the business to get everyone on board (including customers), and how they cut through the noise surrounding greenwashing to do the right thing, because there is no plan B. 

Credits:

National Audit Office: Heating the UK’s 28 million homes accounted for 18% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available.

Unlocking the power of data. Leanne Hurrell, Head of UK Regional Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), talks to us about breaking silos to drive outcomes for customers. The value of data is in the action, not the collection, yet how many of us are guilty of gathering information and not using it to it’s full potential?

And with guests from places like Amazon Web Services and Marks & Spencer, it's been worth the wait. Come back next week to tune in, new episodes landing each month shaping not just the housing world, but the wider world too.

In this episode of Raising the Roof, Nick speaks to leading performance psychologist Dr Rob Archer at Cognacity, who’s worked with everyone from Olympic athletes to Formula 1 teams and high-pressure boardrooms. Together they talk about how building better daily habits help people do their best work, and avoid burning out.

In this episode of Raising the Roof, Nick taps into the expertise of psychotherapist and ex NHS strategist, Catherine Asta. She shares her late autism discovery and helps you master neuroinclusivity in the workplace and beyond.

Credits:

• Only 22% of autistic people are employed - Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• Around one in seven people in the UK are neurodivergent - NHS Employers