Corporate Culture

Aletheian Advisors

what is corporate culture and why does it matter?

What is Corporate Culture?

Corporate Culture is about more than a set of values in the annual report.

While it is hard to pin down or define, culture encompasses elements such as:

the things that bind people together and make them feel that they belong
ingrained patterns of behaviour – for example always doing certain things in a certain way, just because it is the accepted way of doing things
a particular thinking style and approach to business
the way that people interact with each other on a social level, such as nicknames, “in” jokes and the groups or cliques that form
attitudes towards things such as risk, failure and anything which is new or different
the nature and style of communications within the company – whether it is authoritarian or conversational, whether it is formal or informal, whether information flows to and from the centre or across the organisation
the priorities of the organisation – not just the things that management says are important, but also the things that are seen to be important
whether the company tends to be focused internally or externally
the degree of cooperation across the organisation
who has power and influence and who does not.

Why does Corporate Culture Matter?

All of these elements of culture impact the way people do their jobs on a day-to-day basis.

People will prioritise the tasks, clients and opportunities that they think are most important to the company and to management. This perception is shaped by the company’s culture. It may or may not reflect the priorities that senior management wish them to focus on (which is why it is so important for senior management to actively manage the company’s culture).

Culture will also influence the way that people think about any given issue. Many individuals will unconsciously adopt the approach, analysis and thinking style that fits in with colleagues. If the culture is risk averse or orthodox in its thinking then this is the approach that most people will take. If, on the other hand, the company welcomes original thinking and appropriate risk taking then this will be how people approach a new opportunity.

People’s actions will also reflect the culture. They will tend to follow any established procedures or ingrained working practices without much question, even if this is not always efficient or appropriate. Culture will determine the amount of cooperation seen across teams. Some cultures encourage teams to compete and to work in silos. Other cultures encourage teams to cooperate. Again, the company’s culture does not always align with the wishes of senior management.

Culture has a huge impact on how people do their day-to-day jobs. This in turn impacts how your strategy is implemented and impacts the results that the company achieves.

our corporate culture improvement process

In any effective change process you must know what you are going to change, why you want to change it, how you are going to change it and what you want the organisation to look like after you complete the change.

That is why our process

establishes a clear starting point by measuring the current state of your corporate culture
identifies which aspects need to change – and why
sets out a clear plan for doing this – with clear, actionable recommendations
helps you to implement this plan
measures the changes that have been made and their impact on your results.

STEP 1: MAPPING YOUR STARTING POINT – MEASURING YOUR corporate CULTURE

We have our own proprietary method of measuring culture.

This takes the form of a questionnaire to be filled in by all staff. It asks people to rate various characteristics related to corporate culture. It is quick to take and so does not require a significant level of resources.

It is important that all staff participate as it gives a complete view of the culture from all angles.

Once we have collated the results of the questionnaires we have something similar to a personality test for the company. It provides data on key features of your corporate culture as seen from all angles, from the bottom of the organisation to the top.

We look at areas of your culture that include what makes people feel that they belong, how decisions are made, how those decisions are implemented, motivation, reward and communication, and who holds power and influence.

Deliverable – the Culture Dashboard

We will present this data to you in the form of a Culture Dashboard. This will give you an overview of your corporate culture.

It will also give you a detailed picture of each variable. If we have enough data to ensure anonymity we can show you the distribution of responses as well as showing whether the responses from your Senior Management Team reflected those from the rest of the organisation.

STEP 2: DEFINING YOUR END POINT – WHAT SHOULD YOUR corporate CULTURE LOOK LIKE?

Your company exists to carry out your strategic plan. The best culture for your organisation is the culture that best delivers that strategic plan – the culture that encourages behaviours and attitudes that are perfectly aligned with your strategy and the way that you wish to execute it.

In order to achieve this alignment we must analyse both your culture and your strategy and find points of misalignment.

We are well placed to do this because of our extensive commercial experience. We have been setting up and running businesses for several decades. We have experience of product and strategy development, marketing, operations and strategy implementation in difficult situations (such as Emerging Markets). You can read about our experience here.

STEP 3: PLOTTING YOUR COURSE - WORKING OUT HOW TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE

Armed with the data from the culture survey and knowledge of your strategy, we will make recommendations covering what needs to change and how to change it.

We will give you a full programme for achieving change via interventions that are specific, actionable and measurable.

You do not change the way that people think, behave and interact with each other simply by telling them to do things differently or by putting up posters with a new set of corporate values.

Our interventions model new behaviours and new attitudes, get people to follow those and then ingrain the new behaviours as the culture changes.

More details of some of the techniques that we use are found in this Knowledge Base article

Deliverable – Culture Improvement Plan

All of this is set out in detail in a Culture Improvement Plan Document.

It sets out a complete plan for achieving the cultural changes that you want to see to support your strategic plan. This includes a detailed schedule and time line and a list of the resources required to deliver these.

STEP 4: TRANSFORMATION – IMPLEMENTING THE CULTURE IMPROVEMENT PLAN

We will support you through the entire process set out in the Culture Improvement Plan. We are advisors who want to build a long term relationship with you, not consultants who do a single assignment and then disappear.

We will hold regular progress meetings with you. At these meetings we can not only assess how the change process is going but we can also make any adjustments that may be necessary.

We can provide resources to guide managers and groups through the process and to lead workshops and meetings.

We can meet your board, shareholders, regulators and other stakeholders to provide them with information on the Cultural Improvement process and on progress.

If appropriate we can provide periodic progress reports.

Deliverable – Progress Reports

If it is appropriate we can provide regular progress reports.

These would report on activities to date and would give an assessment of their effectiveness.

We can also repeat the cultural assessment every 3 to 6 months to refresh the dashboard and give some objective data on the change achieved to date.

Change is never linear – so you should expect some changes in direction and a process that starts slowly and builds momentum.

STEP 5: MAPPING YOUR END POINT – MEASURING THE IMPACT OF THE CULTURE IMPRoVEMENT PLAN

At the end of the programme we will repeat the cultural assessment to measure the difference.

We will also survey people to ask for their perceptions of how the corporate culture has changed and how this has impacted their working life and how it has impacted results.

Not only does this give clear measurement of the effectiveness of the Culture Change Initiative but it can also act as the starting point of a new round of culture change if that is thought desirable.

Deliverable – Assessment of Culture Change achieved

We will produce an updated version of the dashboard based on new data and highlight the cultural changes that have been achieved.

We will also present data from our survey asking employees for their views on the change achieved and the difference it has made.

We can also provide analysis of the results.

Our Organisational Culture Model

We use a proprietary cultural model to assess your organisational culture, to identify areas where adjustments can make and to measure the impact of those changes.