Creating the culture you want
It’s sometimes tempting to look at organisations like Google or Virgin, and think ‘we need a culture like them’. But what is effective for one organisation is rarely right for another. Every organisation needs the culture that best enables it to achieve its purpose and goals, matches its customer and client expectations, and attracts and retains employees who share its way of thinking.
Identifying culture that’s aligned to your strategic direction
We have worked with numerous clients to identify the culture that is aligned to their strategic direction and will most effectively and efficiently deliver their business plan. Our approach involves understanding where your organisation is heading, identifying the preferred culture, and co-creating it with employees so that they actively build it and feel genuine ownership.
Defining culture is just the start
Our work has involved supporting the Co-op, Sainsbury’s Bank, BGL Group (comparethemarket.com) and The Crown Estate, in developing the values and behaviours that enable them to have a culture that is distinctive to their organisation, their purpose, and that delivers rewards. In addition to rising levels of employee engagement, these organisations are also benefiting from strong business performance, with the Co-op growing membership and market share, Sainsbury’s Bank and BGL reporting growth, and The Crown Estate delivering record performance.
What they also share is the understanding and commitment that defining your culture is the start (rather than the end) of something. Success also requires authentic leadership, genuine engagement, compelling communications, and integrating and actively embedding mindsets and behaviours into day-to-day decision making, planning and evaluation. In doing so, your culture becomes not only distinctive, but quite simply ‘the way we do things around here’.