Case Study: Culture15 Definition and Diagnosis
The Challenge/Context
The new CEO who joined the World Gold Council in 2019 created an ambitious new vision and strategy for the organisation, and it was clear that culture would be a key determinant of successful achievement of the new vision and execution of the strategy. The CEO recognised that a culture change was needed, with a culture shaped around the vision for the future rather than reflecting the past.
Broad themes around the required cultural change included a move away from a geographically siloed organisation to a ‘one global team’ culture; and a change from a culture characterised by lack of transparency and leadership based on seniority to a culture where collaboration, transparency and responsibility are key drivers.
The Approach
In order to transform the organisation culture, there was a need to first gain a better understanding of the current WGC culture, as well what was driving it. Also, the CEO wanted to define together with his leadership team what the future culture should be in order for the WGC to be successful.
Understanding the starting point of current culture, and defining the target culture, would present the CEO and his leadership team with their ‘culture gap’ and inform them as to the right next steps to take.
Culture15 was the perfect tool to do just that. Anchored around 15 key behaviours, an organisation-wide Culture15 culture survey was carried out. The survey was supported by a qualitative analysis, in the form of focus groups and interviews.
Culture15 was also used to define the target culture. Through a short survey with the leadership team, followed by a workshop, agreement was reached on the key behaviours (target culture) required for the WGC to be successful and execute its new strategy.
The Impact
The Culture15 survey results provided a clear, non-judgmental picture of the current behaviours at play in the organisation. The associated qualitative analysis further provided a clear understanding of the factors driving these behaviours and culture. The results were a clear and actionable culture diagnostic, providing insight into the ‘what’ of the current culture as well as the ‘why’ underlying this culture.
Culture15 provided the springboard for ensuing culture work – the ‘culture gap’ resulting from the Culture15 analysis provided the leadership team with a clear, actionable culture transformation path and some clear focus areas – from alignment on strategic narrative to organisation structure.
“Culture15 provided us with a tangible articulation of our culture – it provided a powerful lens through which to study cultural dynamics within the WGC and the resulting impact of our culture on our individual, group, and organisational success. The tool enabled us, even forced us, to focus as an organisation on our shortcomings and on learned behaviours that were not conducive to the future nor the business outcomes we wanted.”
David Tait, CEO World Gold Council
