A recent Harvard Business Review article stated, “Great performance can never come without great people and culture, and the opposite is also true – great people and culture are usually linked to high-performing organisations.”

 

Over recent years the financial services industry, an industry which I work with very closely has seen the devastating effect that the wrong culture can cause, both in terms of performance and reputation.

 

It’s true that a number of financial institutions are now beginning the journey to building corporate cultures to put people’s needs at the heart of decision-making They recognise that in doing this they send a clear message to stakeholders (investors, employees, regulators).

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The FCA are looking carefully at culture in financial services. Right now that looks carefully at governance and risk taking but will increasingly see it look at organisation design, diversity, communication, training, leadership and values as measures of creating a WELLBUSINESS™.

 

I truly believe that reform of the financial industry will not be complete until this issue of values, trust and ethics is addressed.  This requires “getting the culture right”. By culture, I mean the shared values, attitudes and norms that guide the actions and behaviours of those working within the organisation.

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The journey will be a long one but I believe with utter conviction, that performant financial services companies will need to be a WELLBUSINESS™