Corporate culture and its recognition as an important factor in the success of an organisation have come a long way in recent years.

More and more companies are paying attention to their culture, trying to improve it and make it understood by their employees and all stakeholders. Nevertheless, the concept still remains a mystery to most business leaders.

The larger the company, the more difficult it is to have the culture recognised and shared within the entire organisation. Before attempting to initiate a change process in your company, it is necessary to understand that a healthy culture is based on the virtuous combination of the values and vision of those who lead it and the personality of all the resources that make up the organisation.

Let us begin by taking a look at the role of leaders.

The executive team defines most of the strategic decisions and directions to be taken very often neglecting the culture.

A laissez-faire approach and the lack of a culture-focused strategic plan bury the possibility of creating a common cultural identity. Similarly, an organisation that believes it has multiple cultural identities is, in reality, not identifiable with any of them.

In fact, in companies without an ad hoc strategic plan, each department develops attitudes and practices according to its own standards and whims, creating sub-cultures and thus giving rise to a coexistence of different realities that leads to an abyss.

So, culture cannot and must not be left to chance but needs a plan.

And what role do the other resources play?

Having analysed the role of the executive team, let us focus on the importance of other resources and their role.

When the culture is governed by a small group of people tends to be inauthentic: instead of being a true reflection of the vast majority of the corporate population, it is reduced to being a mirror of a few individuals who are often far removed from the day-to-day business of the company.

In order for cultural change to work, it is necessary for the whole team to believe in the culture, in the path it shows. The higher the level of involvement of leaders, the higher the rate of acceptance of change by the rest of the resources.

A rigid culture dictated by a select few does not allow for innovation at all levels and deprives employees of the creative and contributory space that makes them feel like important pawns in the organisation. It is therefore important to ask them for feedback so that participate in the construction of the new direction and are therefore more likely to accept it.

Just like a business in general, culture corresponds to a balance between art and scienceThe magic formula ultimately lies in the balance between the involvement of all employees and the philosophical beliefs of the leaders.