When I speak to Chief People Officers about the aspirations for their next role, the answers can often be quite broad – open to sector, happy with different ownership structures, indifferent on size. But one thing they will always have high on their wish list is the importance of the company’s culture. When pushed further in terms of what good culture means to them, it is often difficult to articulate but generally there are common themes around transparency, autonomy, performance and trust. It is also striking the number of stories I hear about being promised a positive culture, and external perception alluding to a positive culture, but once through the door a different story awaits.

Investing in culture remains key to organisational success

It is therefore imperative that businesses focus sharply on building and maintaining a strong, positive and unique culture. The good news is that studies have consistently shown that positive culture will positively impact the bottom line. Research from ‘Great Place to Work’, highlighted those businesses with a high-trust culture, where employees feel valued and engaged, experience higher productivity levels. In 2023, it was shown that companies making the ‘Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For’ list, outperformed the market by 3.33%, so showcasing the economic advantage of investing in culture during both growth periods and tougher markets.

Cultivating psychological safety to drive innovation and business performance

If you look at every strand that feeds into culture, each one will contribute in its own way to business performance. I was recently talking to a Chief People Officer working in the leisure sector about how they had evolved the culture where they worked, from one of blame, to one creating psychological safety. This ‘safety’ breeds space for trial and error and ultimately space for innovation and as recent research highlights, companies with a strong culture of innovation are 2.5 times more likely to be top financial performers in their industries. Such cultures encourage employees to experiment and bring new ideas to the table without fear of failure.

Embracing a dynamic culture for talent attraction and retention

Culture is inextricably linked to talent attraction and retention. It will come as no surprise that in almost every recent CPO conversation I have had, there will be a discussion over work/life balance and flexible working practices. I have heard a number of times individuals say they have no issue with being in the office four or five days a week, but if that is the stipulation from the CEO, they question whether that is really the type of culture they want to be a part of. What that is showing, is a lack of flexibility and an inability to keep up with the changing working landscape. And peoples’ choices around whether to join, or stay, at a company will very much be impacted by such inflexibility.

It is clear the importance of culture is growing and companies who foster positive, inclusive cultures will be much better positioned to succeed in an increasingly complex and dynamic business environment. Specifically, it is the power of culture to bind an organisation to one singular purpose, or leader even, that subsequently pushes performance to new heights. We especially see this with our Private Equity clients where the relentless pursuit of high performance and rapid growth is commonplace. So, in speaking to CPOs across a range of industries this last quarter, what shines most brightly is an awareness that culture is always shifting.

Culture never stands still

CPOs are clear that having an aligned set of employee behaviours behind a common goal, can tangibly build towards a competitive advantage. In speaking to a current CPO of a household name retailer, they were clear that having a consistently positive customer experience on the shop floor, does not happen by chance. It is generated through an absolute myriad of different factors, however not least, it is a commitment to purpose, and a belief in the leadership team, which can shift motivation into the discretionary effort zone.  Conversely, if there is a lack of trust in leadership or lack of understanding of an organisation’s “north-star”, the culture will shift in a less positive direction. It might not be noticeable immediately, but a shift is both inevitable and unstoppable. Many of the CPOs talked passionately about the need for collective executive accountability, culture is not simply under the stewardship of the people team.

Finally, I would add that a high quality, robust and thorough executive recruitment process that truly deep dives into a cultural assessment is essential. The assessment should seek to align the candidate’s core values with those of the company. This will maximise the probability of bringing in people whose beliefs and attitudes drive the right behaviours and enable your culture as a whole, to be even more successful.

Alice Walden-Jones, Associate Partner within the Executive Search, Human Resources Practice specialises in helping businesses attract top HR talent. If you’d like to discuss this further, please reach out to Alice at to start the conversation.