Right Corporate Culture: What Is Required to Create It

Do You Have the Right Corporate Culture?
The contrasting stories of Netflix’s meteoric rise and Volkswagen’s high-profile missteps have made one thing clear: corporate culture is not just a “soft” issue — it drives real business outcomes. Corporate culture assessment research shows that cultivating a high performance culture accounts for 40% of the performance gap between top- and bottom-performing companies. Among executives at the World’s Most Admired Companies, nearly two-thirds report that 30% or more of their organization’s market value stems from culture, and one-third attribute 50% or more of their market value to it. Culture is a strategic asset that can make or break your business.

Corporate Culture Defined
Corporate culture is the set of behaviors, values, and unwritten rules that shape how work actually gets done within an organization. It’s what people see, experience, and emulate every day — beyond formal policies or mission statements. Culture is one of the three critical pillars of organizational success. When a company aligns its culture with both its talent and its strategic objectives, it positions itself to operate at peak performance and sustain long-term success.

Organizational Alignment Research
Our organizational alignment research shows that the alignment of the right corporate culture and talent with strategy helps companies:

• grow revenue 58% faster
• be 72% more profitable
• increasing employee engagement 18-to-1
• better lead teams 8.71-to-1
• satisfy customers 3.2-to-1

Seven Questions to Test If You Have the Right Corporate Culture
There’s no single right corporate culture for every organization. However, a simple and effective way to gauge whether your culture supports both your people and your business strategy is to ask yourself seven key questions. These questions reveal whether your corporate culture is aligned, resilient, and positioned to drive high performance.

1. How clearly understood and consistently demonstrated are your company’s vision, corporate mission, and corporate values among employees?
2. How committed are your employees to realizing these guiding principles?
3. How engaged are employees in the daily work that drives the business forward?
4. How clear and consistent are the key business practices and behaviors that define success in your organization?
5. Is the way work gets done fully aligned with your strategic priorities?
6. Does your talent management strategy support and reinforce your business strategy?
7. How agile and adaptable is your organization in responding to change?

5 Ways High-Performing Companies Build the Right Corporate Culture
Based on global organizational culture assessments, our high-performing clients have consistently demonstrated strategies that strengthen corporate culture — making it the right fit for both their people and their business objectives. These five approaches not only align culture with strategy but also drive measurable improvements in overall business performance:

1. Actively Involve Employees in Business Planning and Direction Setting
   The more employees are engaged in shaping the company’s direction and participating in decisions that affect their work, the stronger their commitment to the organization’s future. When employees feel a genuine sense of ownership, they are more engaged in daily tasks and motivated to contribute beyond basic expectations. Empowered employees are not only more productive—they are more likely to stay and help drive long-term success.

   You’re moving in the right direction when employees clearly understand the company’s strategic plans, believe in its future success, and see how their individual roles directly contribute to achieving that success.

2. Align The Way Works Gets Done with The Culture You Want to Create
   Culture isn’t just communicated — it’s operationalized. Leaders reinforce the desired culture not only through words and behaviors but by embedding it into the very way the organization functions.

   A culture comes to life when hiring practices, organizational structures, promotions, processes, communications, systems, training, meetings, and performance management are intentionally aligned toward the same outcomes. Every element of how work gets done should reflect and reinforce the culture you want to create.

   Ask yourself: Are your current business practices fully aligned to support the culture your strategy demands?

3. Consistently and Visibly Invest in People
   By assessing current talent and anticipating future needs, high-performing companies guide employees in creating individualized development plans and provide customized learning opportunities that align both personal career growth and organizational objectives.

   Investing in employee capabilities not only helps retain top talent but also delivers a competitive advantage and reinforces the organization’s commitment to continuous learning and development. You’ll know you’re on the right track when employees feel well-trained for their current roles, are cross-trained to contribute in other areas, and consistently have opportunities to acquire new skills that drive team and organizational success.

4. Build Strong and High Performing Teams
   High-performing companies recognize that strong teams are the backbone of organizational success. They ensure managers understand and practice what it takes to foster collaboration, respect, and accountability among team members. Managers are trained to coach effectively, build team charters, reinforce desired behaviors, and hold individuals accountable.

   In essence, managers become the catalysts for elevating performance across the organization. You’ll know you’re on the right track when team members consistently go the extra mile, goals and accountabilities are clear, individual strengths are leveraged, and everyone is committed to delivering top-quality results.

   Ask yourself: Are your teams truly set up for success?

5. Consistently Recognize Employee Contributions and Hold People Accountable
   Effective leaders understand that top performers deserve a disproportionate share of recognition and rewards, while under-performers must improve quickly — or exit. Reward and recognition systems should be directly tied to fair, transparent, and measurable success metrics.

   When psychological team safety is balanced with a strong culture of accountability, explicitly valuing employee contributions motivates people to stay and excel, while clear consequences for substandard performance drive improvement and discourage complacency.

   You’ll know you’re on the right path when employees feel the organization invests in their success, leaders consistently value people as the most important resource, and the workplace is widely seen as a great place to contribute and grow.

   Ask yourself: Are your incentives and consequences fully aligned with the behaviors and outcomes you want to see?

The Bottom Line
Be intentional in shaping a corporate culture that fits your organization’s unique context and aligns seamlessly with both your talent and business strategies. When done thoughtfully, the impact extends far beyond the present — driving sustained engagement, performance, and long-term business success.

To learn more about how to create the right corporate culture, download The 3 Must-Have Levels of a High Performance Culture to Align Your People to Your Business