Culture Consultancy

🤔 Does your culture give you a competitive edge? If the answer is ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘don’t know’ this is for you…   In our new eBook we look at 5 high-impact culture focus areas that will give you the best ROI in today’s rapidly changing world.   👉 🔗 Get your free copy of ‘Get the Culture Edge’ here: https://lnkd.in/e4q68brT #CultureMatters #FutureOfWork #Leadership #CultureChange #EmployeeEngagement

What’s the ‘red thread’ of culture running through your organisation? The larger an organisation grows, the more unrealistic it is to expect a culture to be 100% uniform. There will be nuanced differences between teams, divisions, geographies. These microcultures and variances in cultural expression are important. Diversity reduces risk and increases innovation, among other things. BUT… There needs to be enough “sameness” to create a cohesive whole. Customer experience, employee experience, values, vision - if there are discrepancies in these areas across different parts of the organisation, then cracks are very quickly going to appear. These cracks might look like: ⚠️ Low team engagement levels ⚠️ High employee churn ⚠️ A loss of productivity ⚠️ Reduced customer satisfaction ⚠️ Stalled growth and revenue And a million and one things on top of that. Creating a cohesive culture - one that balances consistency with freedom, and is robust enough and flexible enough to weather whatever the future holds - takes deliberate strategic action. If you need support to ensure your culture is both fit for purpose today and future-proof, get in touch to see how Culture Consultancy’s specialists can help.

Imagine this: you’re in a field with a team of colleagues. You’re all blindfolded except for one guy who’s been given a whistle. That guy has to shepherd the blindfolded lot into a pen - without speaking. No, this is not a bizarre fever dream! It’s a teambuilding exercise we’ve been running at Culture Consultancy for almost two decades - and it’s just as effective now as it’s ever been. In part, it’s a lesson in creating effective terms of engagement. Without words, it’s essential to work out how to use the whistle effectively to communicate important information. Is it one whistle for “forward”, two for “left”, three for “right”? How do we explain how many steps to take? Or do we try to learn Morse Code and spell out actual words with dots and dashes? But it’s also about trust. Do you trust that your leader is leading you in the right direction? Do you trust that your colleagues are doing the right thing even when you can’t see them? Do you trust yourself to remember those rules of engagements effectively and not bring the team down? Positive, effective cultures have to be built on these twin pillars of trust and communication. Without either, you’re likely to end up in a ditch or a cow pat, be that literal or metaphorical!

Can you describe your vision for your business without using words? Sometimes you’ve got to get out of your box so you can look at a problem from a new perspective. A few months ago, the Culture Consultancy team were working with an executive team at a global manufacturing company who were struggling to articulate their vision for their business. They’d been at it for weeks but they were getting bogged down in the detail, everyone was getting frustrated and it was holding up the culture change work they really need to get on with. So we got the coloured pens out. Within 30 minutes, we’d simplified all that complexity and confusion, and had a picture of the future they wanted to create. At the end of the session, one of the participants turned around and said, “I can’t believe it, we’ve literally been at this for weeks and got nowhere, and then we do half an hour of drawing and we’ve cracked it!” It’s so easy to get stuck in linear thinking, doing things the way we’ve always done them. But if you want new ideas or solutions, you need to use new techniques. If you’re struggling to articulate your vision for your business - or even just for 2025 - try stepping away from your spreadsheets and grabbing the coloured pens.

As we step into 2025, it’s tempting to get swept up in resolutions and fresh starts. But real progress often comes from reflecting on the journey so far.   What worked in 2024? What didn’t? And most importantly - what lessons are you carrying forward into the new year?   At Culture Consultancy, we believe that reflection is a powerful catalyst for redefining not just personal goals, but organisational cultures too.   Leaders who prioritise culture ask themselves: ➡️ Are we living our values, or just talking about them? ➡️ Do our people feel empowered and connected to our purpose? ➡️ Is our culture enabling us to achieve our ambitions, or holding us back?   It’s also important to celebrate the positive aspects of your company’s culture - those moments of connection, innovation, and shared purpose. But let’s not forget: culture change is an ongoing journey.   Here’s to a 2025 of thoughtful reflection, continuous adaptation and embedding futureproofed cultures 🌍✨   #ReflectonAndRedirection #FutureOfWork #LeadershipIn2025 #HappyNewYear

Thank you to our clients, partners and team for your support and collaboration this year, it means so much to us.    Wishing you a festive season filled with joy and connection. Here’s to another year of shaping futureproofed cultures together. Exciting things are ahead for 2025 – stay tuned! ✨   Warm wishes, Jo & Derek    #CultureConsultancy

Thank you to our clients, partners and team for your support and collaboration this year, it means so much to us.    Wishing you a festive season filled with joy and connection. Here’s to another year of shaping futureproofed cultures together. Exciting things are ahead for 2025 – stay tuned! ✨   Warm wishes, Jo & Derek    #CultureConsultancy

Day 12 of our 12 Days of Culture Highlights Culture was at the heart of everything that Culture Consultancy did this last year. Seeing our clients transform their cultures – and pick up awards for those achievements – has been immensely rewarding. But, as I reflect on what leaders need to focus on as we move into 2025, I’m drawn to the 5 key focal areas we wrote about in Get The Culture Edge* 🎯 Focus 1: Clarify and communicate your purpose and vision 🎯 Focus 2: Mobilise your leaders to drive the culture 🎯 Focus 3: Empower your managers to unlock performance 🎯 Focus 4: Drive Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) 🎯 Focus 5: Making the desired cultural changes stick Which of these do you think your organisation most needs to focus on in the coming months? Would be interested to read your thoughts in the comments – and I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful few days of holidays ahead. * P.S. you’re welcome to access your free download of the guide here: https://lnkd.in/eEk6kzre #CultureHighlights #CompanyCulture

Day 11 of our 12 Days of Culture Highlights   I’d love to take the opportunity today to celebrate the various ways we collaborated to achieve real impact in 2024. It’s almost inevitable I’ll miss something out here, so let’s say this is a selection of the collaborations that really moved the needle for Culture Consultancy in 2024! 🔥 A lively panel discussion in Manchester with the fantastic Claire, Jennifer and Léon, sharing insights and ideas around how to unlock business performance by building strong workplace cultures. 🔥 Also in Manchester for the E3 International Agency Network panel discussion, where we talked about multi-generational workforce dynamics, DEI and neurodiversity. 🔥 Natalie Saunders of Culture Consultancy chatting with Karen at Business Culture Awards & Business Culture Connected about gender equality and inclusion in football. 🔥 Jointly hosting a CPO breakfast with Catherine Osaigbovo, Partner at Page Executive, where we brought together an inspiring group of leaders to explore how pay equity, data transparency, and culture change intersect with broader #DEI goals. 🔥 Natalie Saunders was invited by HCG to speak about DEI at the Francis Crick Institute. Natalie shared a wide variety of insights and ideas for making DEI transformative not performative. The big picture with all of these collaborations is that we achieve more working together in partnerships. So, who will you look to partner with in 2025? #CultureHighlights #Partnerships #Collaboration

Day 10 of our 12 Days of Culture Highlights   Today, please indulge me while I share moments that made us proud in 2024! 👏 In the space of 24 hours, going from celebrating amazing achievements at the Business Culture Awards & Business Culture Connected to sleeping rough in South London, taking part in Centrepoint’s Sleep Out to support vulnerable young people facing homelessness. (see https://lnkd.in/ehXYaNEq for more details) 👏 Published our “Get The Culture Edge” eBook, which was a significant undertaking and has been downloaded countless times from https://lnkd.in/eEk6kzre 👏 Worked on what it takes to create a team that's better than high-performing. We call this a CoCo Team – and you can find out all about this here: https://lnkd.in/eZgyrySU 👏 The lively discussion that ensued during our November webinar on the top 5 culture priorities every leader should be focusing on today. This built on the findings from “Get The Culture Edge” and you can catch the full recording of the session here: https://lnkd.in/efD3pDgk Thank you for indulging me! Now, over to you – what are you and your team most proud of having achieved in 2024? #CultureHighlights #CompanyCulture