Case Studies

Creating a Healthy Organization through Cultural Interventions

Presenting Problem

Sustained organizational health is among the most powerful assets an organization can build. The research is clear, healthy companies generate total returns to shareholders three times greater than those of unhealthy companies. Managing performance and health is key in shifting the organizations culture. Performance is about delivering business results in the here and now. Health is about the ability to do it year in, year out. The two are not the same. Some companies have neither, others have just one. The ultimate competitive advantage lies in having and sustaining both, performance and health.

I was asked to work with a large multibillion O&G organization that was delivering on 23% of its performance targets, operating far below industry standards. The workforce was 4500 employees plus 2000 contractors who were frustrated and lacked motivation to change, nor did they see their performance as a problem. Attrition rates were high, far higher than their competitors. It was a challenging financial situation with declining shareholder support, ultimately, they were at risk of selling the business. The organization was lacking vision, motivation and any sort of corporate identity or sense of purpose. With plenty of persistence, leaders spending time on shared behaviours and getting everyone to work together was the secret to building a culture that became the organizations competitive advantage in the industry.

The Approach

  • Conduct comprehensive organization health capability diagnostic- uncover root causes focusing on corporate culture, leadership, processes, org structure, strategy & business context

  • Understand the health across the organization and different demographic groups

  • Align on the emerging themes and health priorities with top team

  • Generate the case for change and organizational strategy/purpose

  • Conduct top team alignment sessions

  • Design company wide health initiatives, interventions and underpinning creditable change plans

  • Embed performance & health priorities into business practices. Strengthen organizational health capabilities

  • Create a movement, build compelling cascaded change communications

  • Engage and leverage change agents within the organization

  • Share learnings and celebrate successes

  • Embed health practices deep into the organization & progress tracking

  • Deep mindset and behavioural interventions to create ownership at all levels in organization

  • Create nudges and habits that sustain the change

Creating a Healthy Organization through Cultural Interventions photo

The Impact

  • Improved business performance targets from 23% to 78% in a 15-month period- a real change in organizational performance and health

  • The company drove big improvements with greater performance transparency, accountability & purpose

  • Fully engaged workforce- employee engagement rates raised by 20%

  • Substantial positive shift in mindsets & behaviours. Actively engaged culture rather than a passively engaged culture

  • Built a sense of commitment, belief & credibility with internal & external stakeholders

  • Top teams, middle managers and front-line employees were empowered to make a difference

  • Enhanced focus on outcomes rather than process

  • Work is done differently, and sustainable practices implemented

  • Attrition rates went from 18% to 9% in 15 months