We believe that our culture is what separates us from other health tech or social intelligence companies.

What is Culture?

Culture starts with what people do and how they do it. In any industry, what people do may not differ dramatically, but high-performing organisations distinguish themselves in how they do it. This cumulative effect of what is done and how it is done ultimately determines an organisations performance.Culture also encompasses why people do what they do. As the Titanic’s captain grasped a little too late on that fateful night in 1912, 90 percent of an iceberg’s mass lies beneath the surface. Culture is similar as it includes observable behaviours (the what and how above the surface) as well as everything underneath – the shared mindsets and beliefs that influence how people in an organisation behave. Just like a captain navigating frigid waters, anyone trying to understand an organisations culture must recognise that most of what matters cannot be readily seen. – McKinsey & Company.

Thus, culture is the common set of behaviours and underlying mindsets and beliefs that shape how people work and interact day to day.

Why Culture Matters

1. Culture correlates with performance. Based on our research of over 1,000 organisations that encompass more than three million individuals, those with top quartile cultures (as measured by McKinsey & Company’s Organisational Health Index) post a return to shareholders 60 percent higher than median companies and 200 percent higher than those in the bottom quartile.
2. Culture is inherently difficult to copy. The quickening pace of innovation means that products and business models face the constant threat of being replicated. In this environment, the ultimate competitive advantage is a healthy culture that adapts automatically to changing conditions to find new ways to succeed.
3. Healthy cultures enable organisations to adapt. In a world where the one constant is change, culture becomes even more important because organisations with high-performing cultures thrive on change. The converse also holds true: Unhealthy cultures do not respond well to change.  Research shows that 70 percent of transformations fail, and 70 percent of those failures are due to culture-related issues.
4. Unhealthy cultures lead to underperformance…or worse. Over time, not only do unhealthy cultures foster lackluster performance, but they can be your undoing. Daily headlines attest, culture can bring corporate giants to their knees.

References:

McKinsey & Company, (2018) ‘Culture: 4 keys to why it matters’ Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/culture-4-keys-to-why-it-matters [Accessed 29 September 2021].