Assessment & Culture

Companies have become increasingly focused on culture. The bad news is that many culture-changing initiatives still fall short of their intended purpose. The problem Senn Delaney finds is that culture is driven from the top down. Yet most executives are unable to define their company’s culture and much less figure out how to transfer it throughout the organization.

It is widely understood that culture can impede or facilitate performance, and that poor cultural fit is one of the most common reasons why newly hired executives fail. Spencer Stuart finds that despite the growing appreciation for culture, few executives can describe their company’s culture, what drives their culture or whether the current culture supports or works against their business plan.

One lever of performance that rarely appears on a board’s agenda is culture. Spencer Stuart finds very few boards put equal focus on culture as they do strategy, risk or CEO succession planning. Culture has the power to make or break business strategy and even the most experienced executive. Boards can enhance their understanding of culture to improve company culture and foster long-term shareholder value.

In a recent report IIC Partners identifies best practices for retaining future generations of leadership, the challenges of managing multiple generations within the same workforce and the need for CHROs to refresh organizational cultures.

Executive Access interviewed Karan Bajwa, managing director of Microsoft India. In the interview Karan Bajwa discusses how he has been able to focus on team building while simultaneously driving business.

Today, customer experience is what sets brands apart and gives them a competitive advantage. Chief marketing officers today are sometimes faced with a tension between brand experience and their organization’s culture.

Senn Delaney sat down with Carol Ross-Spang, senior vice-president of Human Resources at Methodist Le Bonheur, to discuss the important the role HR plays in leading culture changes in an organization.

A new report from Senn Delaney finds there is added importance in the correlation between a ‘growth mindset’ culture and positive behaviors in an organization. This report was conducted to better understand organizations who value a growth mindset versus fixed mindset.

In a recent article Stanton Chase discussed the different stages of trust within an organization’s culture. They find all organizations function within one of three “trust-stages.” The stages range from a state of trust, state of distrust, or intermediate state. It is the role of leaders to foster an environment where people have a state of high trust.

In a recent article Stanton Chase addressed the flow of information between the vice president of human resources and the CEO. There is a lot of evidence that the vice president of human resources is growing in importance and in competitive advantage. The mere shift in terminology used says volumes about the value placed on the role.