ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
WE HELP ORGANISATIONS LINK CULTURE TO STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE
The importance of organisational culture to sustainable performance is well documented. Over the past 20 years, research has consistently shown that culture is a significant factor in determining organisational performance. As importantly, culture is almost always found to be a key factor in organisational failure.
The organisational culture change practices of the past 20 years will not deliver the outcomes businesses need to remain competitive and relevant. Unsuccessful culture change efforts far outweigh those that have positive impact.
At Spring Point we help organisations approach culture as an enabler of business performance rather than seeing it as a compliance activity, or a ‘hit and hope’ project.
WHY ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?
The case for understanding and managing organisational culture as a strategic priority is well formed, with the links to cultre and performance becoming clearer.
78%
of Fortune 1000 CEOs believe culture to be one of the top three factors affecting their firm’s performance. 1
71%
of global CEOs viewed culture as a top factor positively influencing financial performance, including one-third who ranked culture as the primary factor overall. 2
4X
increase in revenue growth among organisations with strong cultures, according to a study by the Harvard Business Review.
Organisational Culture and Employee Engagement
Understanding the difference between employee engagement and organisational culture is essential for making the right diagnostic and strategic decisions. While the two are often used interchangeably, they serve distinct purposes: engagement reflects how people feel at work, while culture reflects how people behave and why. Both matter—but they answer different questions and require different tools.
| Employee Engagement | Organisational Culture | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | How people feel and behave at work day-to-day | The underlying values, norms, and beliefs shaping behaviour |
| Focus | Individual motivation, satisfaction, commitment | Collective mindset, behaviour patterns, ‘how things are done’ |
| Use case | Pulse checks, retention risks, morale, leadership effectiveness | Strategic alignment, transformation, behavioural change, mergers |
| Time horizon | Often short-to-medium term (can fluctuate quickly) | Long-term patterns and embedded assumptions |
| Data type | Primarily perceptual and affective | Behavioural, structural, and symbolic elements |
HOW WE HELP WHEN IT COMES TO ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
We support the Board, CEO, Senior Executives and front-line teams to define the organisational culture needed to enable strategy, and to activate the culture change necessary to generate alignment, performance and create great places to work.
CULTURE ASSESSMENT
We define and measure culture based on behaviours and work practices and the business outcomes they lead to.
Our powerful, evidence based and commercial diagnostics assess your current organisational culture and inform deliberate design of your culture strategy.
CULTURE DEFINITION &
STRATEGY
Different organisational cultures enable different performance outcomes. We help you to develop a competitive advantage by defining the culture that aligns with your strategy.
Our evidence based approach makes a clear link between the strategic goals of your organisation, and the specific culture drivers that will get you there.
CULTURE CHANGE
We specialise in supporting organisations to deliberately develop their culture to enable performance.
Our methodology, tools and change solutions are grounded in behavioural science and are entirely focussed on helping organisations achieve sustainable and whole of organisation changes in a digital age.
OUR CULTURE CHANGE SOLUTIONS
Common solutions we regularly deliver to our client network are mapped to our PerformX Framework. These enable clients to tailor and deploy world class solutions at speed.
ORGANISATION CULTURE DIAGNOSTICS & ASSESSMENT
Culture diagnostics, assessment and insights reporting; for the whole organisation, or specific teams and functions.
→ Evidence based assessment
→ Automated reporting
→ Behaviour and work practice focussed
→ Actionable insights
→ Customisable
ASPIRATIONAL CULTURE DEFINITION
Culture Blueprint development with an Executive team and Board to define the culture needed to deliver on business strategy.
→ Current state culture assessment
→ Strategy and performance mapping with Executive / Board
→ Executive alignment workshop
VALUES RESET PROGRAM
A values reset program to identify, define practically and embed values across all levels of the organisation.
→ Data informed and strategy connected
→ Immersive ‘values discovery’ workshop
→ ‘Vales In Action Playbook’ development
→ Leader led values program
→ Values embedding action plan
LEADING PEOPLE, TEAMS, & CHANGE PROGRAM
A leadership development program focussed on building skills to support new ways of working.
→ Blended learning program
→ Skills and mindsets based
→ Pre and post assessment to support accountability
→ Designed to integrate with real work
→ Adjusted for frontline, mid level and executive teams
→ Expert facilitation
Latest culture white paper
THE CULTURE IMPERATIVE
Why a future-fit culture is no longer optional.
SCALED CULTURE CHANGE METHODOLOGY™️
Our culture change methodology reflects and integrates both behavioural and system change theories. Key aspects include:
- Systemic baseline.
The culture is measured and described behaviourally
- Strategic relevance. Leaders and teams begin to think about and then define the culture needed
- Socialisation and Ideation. People and teams prepare for change through real dialogue that explores ideas to close gaps
- Design and Implement. Ideas are prioritised based on impact, and turned into action plans
- Monitor progress. Frequent and transparent measurement facilitates accountability
- Reflect, iterate and sustain. Core organisational learning practices build an environment that can adopt change
Our approach aligns evidence based and engaging methods, tools and activities to each of these stages. When this sequence of steps are executed organisations are able to create scaled culture change that aligns with strategy.
WHAT DRIVES SUCCESSFUL CULTURE CHANGE?
CULTURE READING
Explore some of our culture change articles and recent culture work case studies.
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about organisational culture, performance and culture change.
How does organisational culture affect business performance?
Organisational culture influences how decisions are made, how people collaborate, how quickly change occurs and how consistently strategy is executed. Strong organisational cultures help improve productivity, innovation, customer experience, employee retention and business performance, while misaligned cultures can create friction, slow decision-making and reduce organisational effectiveness.
What is the difference between organisational culture and employee engagement?
Employee engagement measures how people feel about their work, workplace and leadership. Organisational culture focuses on the behaviours, assumptions and systems that shape how work gets done. Engagement is often an outcome of culture, while culture is the underlying environment that influences engagement.
How do you know if organisational culture is holding performance back?
Common indicators include poor collaboration, inconsistent leadership behaviours, low accountability, change resistance, high employee turnover, decision-making bottlenecks, declining customer experience and difficulty executing strategic priorities. These symptoms often signal deeper cultural issues that require attention.
How can culture support strategy execution?
Culture provides the behavioural environment that enables strategy to succeed. When culture is aligned to strategic objectives, employees are more likely to make decisions, collaborate and prioritise work in ways that support organisational goals. Strategy defines where an organisation is going; culture influences whether it gets there.
What role do leaders play in shaping organisational culture?
Leaders have the greatest influence on culture because they shape expectations through their decisions, behaviours and priorities. Employees often model what leaders consistently demonstrate, reward and tolerate, making leadership behaviour a critical factor in culture development and transformation.
Why do culture change programs fail?
Many culture initiatives fail because they focus on values statements, communications campaigns or one-off workshops without addressing leadership behaviours, organisational systems and accountability mechanisms. Sustainable culture change requires consistent reinforcement through policies, processes, leadership actions and measurement.
How do you measure organisational culture?
Organisational culture can be assessed through culture diagnostics (such as the PerformX diagnostic), behavioural assessments, employee feedback, leadership interviews, focus groups and business performance indicators. The most effective culture assessments measure the behaviours and work practices that influence organisational outcomes rather than relying solely on engagement scores.
- Paradigm lost: Reinvigorating the study of organizational culture. | Reserach in Organisational Behaviour Vol. 36 | 2016
- Aligning culture with the bottom line. | Heidrick & Struggles | 2023
