The biggest factor shaping organisations? Culture and people

More global CEOs are placing talent management and organisational culture at the forefront of their business strategy, with the latter playing a key role in boosting financial performance and enhancing employee retention.

According to a survey of 500 CEOs as part of Heidrick & Struggles’ Aligning Culture with The Bottom Line: Putting People First research, the number of CEOs who perceived culture as a pivotal driver of financial performance has tripled compared to two years ago. Three out of five respondents also saw the importance and necessity to connect culture directly with strategy to see a substantial financial return. From the three APAC markets surveyed, it showed that the number of CEOs actively working on culture was more than the global average of 83%, with 92% of Australian and 86% of Hong Kong and Singaporean CEOs responding positively.

Australian CEOs also display a higher tendency than their counterparts in other regions to utilise culture to enhance diversity, inclusivity, and inclusion (DE&I), employee engagement and fostering innovation, resulting in the highest improvement in DE&I performance (88%) amongst all markets surveyed.  Hong Kong and Singapore saw their DE&I performance improving by 71%, and placed more importance in increasing employee engagement, and innovation.

READ MORE: How one mid-sized company merged two different people cultures

With growing evidence that organisational culture can help boost overall performance, CEOs need to lead their organisations to continuously influence and develop culture. Tonny Loh, Partner and Heidrick Consulting Lead at Heidrick & Struggles Singapore, said, “It is clear that culture has a positive influence on business and talent management strategies, employee retention, and financial performance. All thriving cultures begin at the top with purposeful leadership, as the model of the leader affects the entire organisation.”