It starts from the top

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: As a business leader, how do you "get the organisation's culture right" - and ensure the values preached are practised on the ground?

Alain Esseiva CEO Alpadis Group

When you are advising wealthy private clients on how to spend and invest their wealth, or guiding entrepreneurs and businesses on their Asian expansion, trust becomes a major factor.

Legal contracts and terms and conditions can only go so far; ultimately we do business based on mutual trust and belief that the other party will live up to their side of the bargain and vice-versa. If one of the parties does not feel that the other can live up to this standard then things fall apart very quickly.

Trust is developed in many ways - through professionalism, integrity and sincerity, among others - and as usual, this stems from the top. A leader who is consistent in his/her values and inculcates this in the rest of the team will see these same values reflected in customer service. Giving employees the freedom to make decisions, even decisions that are not in the company's short-term interest, is important and leaders need to avoid micro-managing.

Max Loh EY Asean and Singapore Managing Partner Ernst & Young LLP

The question that leaders must honestly ask is: Is your organisation's purpose and values lectured or lived? When there is a disconnect between what is said and done, the trust of stakeholders including employees is eroded.

Closing the gap starts with authentic leadership that effectively communicates to employees the link between an organisation's purpose and commercial activities.

When employees embrace the reason why their organisation exists and how their roles contribute to that, they are motivated to do the right things - and do things right. Empowering employees to take action without fear or favour when values are undermined in everyday behaviours, including that of management, and rewarding their contributions by aligning purpose and performance metrics, are key to building the desired organisational culture.

Jayajyoti Sengupta Head of Asia-Pacific and Japan Cognizant

The customer is our true north. This strong customer-centricity is informed by the timeless values of integrity and transparency, and manifest in our resourcefulness and desire to win. We continually ask ourselves if what we are doing is in the best interests of our customers, and challenge ourselves to go beyond set boundaries in doing what is right for them.

We have empowered employees to act and innovate like entrepreneurs with a customer focus, tied the company's performance to our passion for customer delight, and codified ethics into our processes. This has enabled us to create a unique organisational culture and make sure that every employee is always aligned with our guiding values.

Victor Mills Chief Executive Singapore International Chamber of Commerce

Every company's culture is set and sustained by the example of its leaders and what they say and what they do. Everyone else will take their cue from what their leaders do and don't do.

The resulting culture will either be positive or negative. Achieving and sustaining a positive workplace culture is an imperative for every business because it makes commercial sense. A positive workplace culture in which customers and staff are respected makes a business attractive to engage with, work for and buy from.

It drives retention of customers and staff, facilitates innovation, encourages growth and achieves commercial sustainability.

Yeoh Oon Jin Executive Chairman PwC Singapore

Trust is really at the heart of PwC as our Purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. Furthermore, one of our five core values is to Act with Integrity. We recognise that embedding this into our culture involves the right tone at the top, clear and consistent communication as well as everyone's buy-in to practise it daily.

As a firm, we have placed great emphasis on educating our people on how to identify potential ethical issues and empowering them to speak up for what they believe is right. We have avenues for anonymous whistleblowing and have also equipped our leaders at all levels to help their team make the right ethical decisions. Most importantly, our firm stands in support of those who make the right ethical choice, even when it is difficult or challenging.

Tony Lombardo Chief Executive Officer, Asia Lendlease

To build a strong culture, it is important to ensure that the organisation's purpose is well understood by its people. It's imperative for the leadership to set the tone from the top and lead with their actions. This will lend authenticity to the purpose and only then will it truly connect with people. For example, at Lendlease, we have a strong safety culture and everyone knows it is non-negotiable. This helps us to get all on board and empowers the team to speak up when something is not done in a safe way.

John Bittleston Founder and Chair Terrific Mentors International Pte Ltd

Good cultures result from rewarding employees not just when they achieve their KPIs, but based on how they achieve their KPIs. A good culture is one where trust is a primary objective because no system is perfect, no audit comprehensive.

In poor cultures, the undesirables get away with murder because they deliver their KPIs. Undesirables are those who behave badly towards their colleagues, stakeholders and the public generally. It is easier to reward results regardless of how they are achieved, than to reward good behaviour. At the heart of a good culture is a CEO who cares, not in a soft way but as a strong leader who is himself well behaved. S/he is the model for the culture.

Ong Pang Thye Managing Partner KPMG

Getting the simple things right is important if values are to be experienced every day and made a part of our DNA. For example, something like being on time for meetings is basic; it shows respect for others.

So is staying off mobile devices during meetings - another example of how we distil values into practical, actionable items which don't even require extra effort. Articulating consistent behaviours for everyone to practise every day is the KPMG way of living our values. KPMG partners have chosen to lead the way as we believe setting the right tone at the top will have a positive trickle-down effect. Self-awareness and knowing the impact we have on others is crucial, so we encourage all manner of feedback, formal and informal. Coaching is provided where needed.

Ambica Saxena Head YSC Singapore

An organisation's culture depends on three things.

The first is business leaders' behaviour as role models, which is dependent on their brand, identity, and their personal values, and which play out in the smallest of their actions.

The second is the narratives that are embraced, as well as the behaviours that are encouraged, as these form a big cornerstone of the culture.

The last but not the least are the symbols that prescribe organisational culture. These includes detail like whether the office employs an open layout, or how washrooms are delineated. These say a lot about an organisation's inherent culture.

It is the leader's responsibility to understand this interplay between their behaviour, those being embraced, and the symbols that propagate what an organisation stands for.

Stephen McNulty President, Asia Pacific and Japan Micro Focus

A strong, unified culture starts from within, especially in today's dynamic environments of mergers and acquisitions. Leaders must walk the talk and showcase the values that employees live and breathe, be it through teamwork or a customer-first attitude. As a business leader, I believe that ensuring these values are brought to life through collaboration and feedback sharing among the employees will only reinforce the trust, empathy and transparency on the organisational level. Championing these values will further guarantee the success of the business and instil customer trust.

Sumir Bhatia President, Asia Pacific Lenovo Data Centre Group

Customer-centricity is an integral component of our culture at Lenovo Data Centre Group, but ''culture'' cannot just be a word - it has to be something an organisation lives and breathes.

The truth is building culture is one of the most important yet toughest things to achieve as a business. It needs to start from senior leadership, cascading down to line managers and ultimately, every employee. After all, true cultural change is accelerated when we can win over hearts and minds.

Hands-on involvement is vital and our leaders meet regularly with employees to gather real inputs. We also strongly believe in identifying influencers within the organisation who will champion the cause and encourage open communication - sharing differences in thoughts, and asking hard questions - to promote innovation and ensure the best results are achieved.

Jayaprakash Jagateesan Chief Executive Officer RHT Holdings Pte Ltd

Building on the idea that you can't spell ''right'' without RHT, we embarked on a branding exercise that extends to cultivating a culture of doing things right. From major business decisions to our internal communications, I make it a point to reinforce the importance of doing things for the right reasons and encourage others to do so too.

Hiring the right talent is also critical to ensure the personal culture of new colleagues fit our organisation well.

We're also exploring innovative ways to establish a values-based culture.

The ethBe (be ethical) app developed by RHT People enables multimedia micro-learning and ethics-driven social-learning through an AI-supported virtual repository of user-generated knowledge capital to cultivate a cohesive culture and community.

Dileep Nair Independent Director Thakral Corporation Limited

It does not take rocket science to know what values are needed to have a strong organisational culture. Old-fashioned virtues such as being honest, frugal and prepared, are perennial and applicable even today. The nub, however, is moving from defining the culture to instilling it throughout the organisation, in particular, promoting the values of honesty and integrity. ''Integrity breeds integrity'' and so has to start with the tone at the top. Board members should not be recruited just on affluence and influence but also on their wisdom and integrity. Top management must develop and display personal integrity to inspire integrity in others.

Likewise, middle managers have to turn principles into policies and practices for everyday behaviour. All staff must be educated about what's at risk if work is not done in an ethical and accountable manner. Instilling the right culture is not a once-off exercise. There will always be naysayers and the need to fight ''values fatigue''. But if we pursue it intelligently and with sincerity, the organisation is more than likely to thrive and succeed.

Eric Hoh President, Asia Pacific FireEye

In my line of work, all too often we first meet a new client on the worst day of their career. They have just been informed of a cybersecurity breach that puts their business at risk. They feel overwhelmed. In crises like these, we must have a strong foundation of values. We are mission-oriented. Our mission rests at the core of our culture: We protect our customers with technology and expertise learned on the front lines of cyberattacks. Protecting these organisations is what we do. And these values transcend functions and geographies.

Paul Endacott Regional MD, Asia Ambition

Business leaders set the stage for how culture is formed and spread throughout an organisation. You have to be clear on what you want the company culture to be and then hire the right people who share similar values and who are aligned with this. As a leader you need to then be conscious about the words and actions you use when interacting with your team.

Open up channels for employees to provide feedback and get them involved in shaping the culture. Be transparent and consistent in your communications so that people are kept informed and to build trust. Recognise individuals who exemplify the desired values so that these behaviours are replicated and culture can take root. There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to culture, so create one that resonates with your people and that will help drive the business to perform.

Craig Nielsen Vice-President, Asia-Pacific McAfee

Empowered teams which have confidence and a strong sense of purpose are the teams we always love working in. At McAfee, our mission to protect the digital information of our families, communities, and nations is one we're very proud of, and means a lot to us personally.

Organisations with great cultures always have close alignment between their company values are and how they operate. They have low tolerance for behaviour that contradicts their values and take great care to hire for culture fit.

It's important that we connect culture and values in how we show up every day. Talking about values is important, but living them is even more so. I often hear colleagues in meetings bringing up a particular value to support their argument as we discuss options.

Drucker was right when he said, ''culture eats strategy for breakfast''.

Mario Singh CEO Fullerton Markets

As a professional in the financial industry, I was a little dismayed to see that financial services was the least trusted industry in the Edelman Trust Barometer. This shows that much work still remains for the financial services industry to regain lost trust and build back its credibility.

Culture is certainly something every business leader needs to look at seriously. In fact, culture was a key reason why Amazon bought Zappos for close to a billion dollars 10 years ago in 2009. In Fullerton Markets, we define a winning culture as a combination of company values and personal behaviour. Our values are Passion, Excellence, Commitment and Sustainability, while everyone's personal behaviour is expected to reflect Speed and Service while discharging our roles and responsibilities.

To ensure that we reinforce corporate culture, the company has regular online webinars with the entire global staff called the Fullerton Townhall. Additionally, outstanding staff who reflect and champion our winning culture are recognised with awards and incentives to acknowledge them and inspire the rest of the company.

Emma Thompson Managing Partner Spurwing Communications

Culture is the backbone of an organisation and we firmly believe that it can help businesses survive and thrive.

Listening to employees is the first step towards getting it right. Organisational values cannot be developed by leadership in isolation - culture is, by definition, a shared set of beliefs and behaviours.

When advising business leaders, we recommend exercises to gather feedback and understand employee's motivations, and we strongly endorse leaders to be seen and heard living their organisation's values.

Once a culture is defined it must ripple into every business process and ritual, from recruiting new hires to sharing stories of the values in action. Communicators are therefore fundamental; but leaders, line managers, HR directors and every employee need to be aware of the role they play in the journey.

James Brasher Managing Partner RICE

A company's culture lives and breathes. It's shaped by many things, and the values and behaviour of senior people within an organisation have a big impact on what the culture is like. Getting it right means that the organisation's values need to be clearly defined, communicated and brought to life in the everyday operations of the business. This can be easier said than done at times, with commercial pressures often influencing decisions and behaviour. But leaders need to accept that having values and enforcing them can sometimes negatively impact the bottom line, and that's not a bad thing.

Culture has been the foundation of our growth over the years, and hiring people that align with our values has been key to this.

Tripti Lochan co-CEO VMLY&R Asia

We know that ''people make culture'' and not the other way around. As a business leader with entrepreneurial roots, this principle is dear to my heart. Get the right people and share your organisational values and vision with them and culture will manifest itself. At VMLY&R, we harness creativity, technology and culture to create connected consumer experiences. This manifests in our use of technology to connect people across 14 offices. No matter which VMLY&R you are in, you feel part of the larger family with the same energy and culture. If, on the other hand, you try to make culture a process that people follow, it's bound to fail and will only manifest as ''posters on the walls''.

Sebastian Mueller Chief Operating Officer MING Labs

Culture first and foremost emanates from the leaders of the organisation. The values preached are too often lip service. A leader's actions need to match their words. Leading is always by example.

Culture cannot be engineered or made. It is only a reflection. It reflects the values of the people and their cohesion. Culture is emergent, it cannot be forced.

Getting the culture right requires soul searching. Understanding who we are as an organisation and who we want to be. Understanding why the people are there and what keeps them around. And manifesting that with actions and rituals, for the culture to change.

Lionel Lim VP and MD, APAC and Japan Pivotal

Getting an organisation's culture right is a continuous work in progress as our workforce becomes increasingly diversified. Due to the direct impact culture has on performance, organisations must be aware of employee sentiments and be prepared to constantly make adjustments to ensure the right culture is in place. It has been well established that employees are happier, more productive and less likely to leave when part of an organisation with a strong culture.

At the same time, creating a good culture is an organisation-wide effort. Business leaders must lead by example in order to inspire employees to believe and commit to the organisation's culture.

Jane Prior Partner Rapzo Capital

The greatest mistake is underestimating the actions and structure that must be put in place in order to shape and form a corporate culture - it does not ''just happen''. The role of leadership is to identify which core attributes are desirable and then to articulate and validate those in a way that all members of the organisation can understand and appreciate. The supporting policies and codes of conduct can then be aligned to this ''true north'' providing a compass against which everyone can measure their own behaviour and that of others.

In this way, everyone knows not only what is the ''right'' thing in the culture, but can quickly identify what is not acceptable.

Core values that have resonated within my own organisations are courage, integrity, generosity and empathy, which are the cornerstones of the culture we want to build where people collaborate through generous sharing of knowledge and have the courage to ask for help or step forward and take the lead in a difficult situation. Empathy is perhaps the only one that develops through experience and notably it often takes courage to empathise with another person's point of view which is particularly important as companies today grapple with issues of diversity and inclusion. To keep these uppermost in everyone's mind, it is simple to use these terms to identify positive behaviours and seek input across all levels of any organisation.

leLainya Koutereba Managing Director Otis Southeast Asia & Singapore

Influencing the company's culture begins at the top - invest time to align with your leadership team and co-create what your company stands for with them. This way, they will be able to translate what these values mean in practice, allowing individual employees to internalise these values and reflect on how they can be applied to their daily routines. I believe it is important to encourage employees to ask questions, raise concerns and share ideas. As leaders, we must work on building trust and empathy, collaborating with one another and empowering our employees to make decisions so that together, we succeed.

Eddie Ang General Manager Lenovo Singapore

For me, getting the organisation's culture right goes beyond implementing policies in the workplace. It's about embracing a mindset of constant learning and engagement, both by the employer and employee. This involves a collaborative effort to regularly gather feedback from employees on the ground, as well as acknowledge and address any challenges that surface.

At Lenovo, our focus has evolved to building a collaborative, innovative and customer-first culture, and this is done by enabling access to training programmes and empowering our employees with innovative tools to share and address feedback. I also find it equally important that we have in place KPIs that are mapped to the culture we want to build, and proactively incentivise employees who effectively uphold these values.

Bijoy Mohan CEO LIXIL Asia Pacific

In our organisation where we have a diverse range of brands with their respective heritage, we promote three behaviours which define the civilisation that we have opted to be a part of - Work with Respect; Do the Right Thing; Experiment and Learn. We are constantly nurturing examples of these behaviours, and ensuring that these examples are made visible to all levels of employees.

As a leader, it is imperative to be seen to not only embody these behaviours, but also visibly make decisions from time to time that prioritise the behaviours over immediate business priorities. Leading by example and by doing is the approach we take at LIXIL.

David MH Tan Managing Director of Singapore Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Having the right culture can mean the difference between a good company and a great company. That is why HPE's culture is one the top three business priorities of our global CEO, Antonio Neri. At HPE, how we do things is as important as what we do, because we pride ourselves on winning the right way. We actively foster an open-door culture that encourages continuous feedback and honest communication right up the chain. In addition to having a leadership team that is strongly committed to ethical decision-making and leading by example, the HPE Standards of Business Conduct clearly guides employees on the way we do business.

Through fostering a working environment that operates with respect and integrity, we build a relationship with all employees based on trust and mutual understanding of HPE's guiding principles. Beyond placing our trust in our people, we also empower them to do the right thing, and our customers, in turn, can benefit from high-quality products and solutions that they know were produced responsibly and ethically.

John Chen VP, Global Forwarding, Asia CH Robinson

An organisation's culture is formed by people, not by policy. Organisations must put people at the heart of their business and take a 360-degree approach to learn and receive feedback from every level of the business. At CH Robinson we take everyone's opinion into consideration and realise that how we treat our employees defines our company's internal and external identity.

Our people, passionate about building customer trust and understanding of business needs, are the basic tenets of our organisational culture. Over time, the right culture, coupled with our customer relationships, are central to building business outcomes. It's also important to have cultural advocates on the ground and across different levels in the organisation to implement values in real time and in different situations.

The most important takeaway is to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Organisation leaders set the scene for the rest of the company and should lead by example.

Angela Campbell-Noë Senior Partner Tulchan Communications

It's no secret that a positive culture impacts an entire business, so it's critical to get it right. At Tulchan Communications, our values - expert, loyal, challenging and entrepreneurial - underpin everything we do. They are embedded as a guide to influence our behaviour and the way that we work with our clients.

We are committed to developing different skill sets in people from varying backgrounds because our experience shows that diversity and inclusion drive a supportive culture and the integrity of client advice that we are known for. We also want to empower our talented colleagues with opportunities to learn and grow so we develop an environment where work is more than just work.

Lucien Mounier Head of Asia Pacific Beazley

Our global network places us in key business hubs like US, London and Asia - all of which uphold the same values of professionalism, integrity, effectiveness and dynamism. Bearing in mind that culture should not be developed with a one-size-fits-all approach, especially across geographies, as Beazley's Head of Asia, I believe that leading by example and defining and putting these values into context are powerful enablers to shaping the right organisational culture. Only then will our values resonate with the team and create an environment that allows us to cut through the complexity of risk and insurance and deliver exceptional results for our clients backed by progressive thinking.

Wesley De Souza VP of Operations EVOLVE Mixed Martial Arts

An organisation's culture is based on the values that you as a leader adopt for the company. I personally feel that values such as integrity, excellence, teamwork, loyalty, continuous self-improvement, and happiness should be the fundamental building blocks of every organisation's culture. The tough part is in ensuring these values are practised throughout the company.

This is why it is so important for business leaders to walk the talk. We need to live up to what we say. Do what you mean and mean what you say. If the people on top live by and exhibit what they preach, eventually the organisation will follow suit.

Kelvin Lim Chief Executive Officer HL Assurance

There is only one way and it has to be led by the organisation's leadership team. Besides company values, we need to always put ourselves in the shoes of the customers for us to bring the right values and experience. This can be from multiple perspectives including product development, customer service, operations, claims and underwriting. Knowing exactly what help a customer requires and what financial protection a customer wants is important. Putting ourselves deep into their position will allow us to match our values to their financial needs. If there is a match, there will then be a formula to practise our values on the ground. This is the culture within our organisation and this is how we differentiate ourselves and reach out to bring value to our customers.

Suganthi Shivkumar Managing Director, ASEAN Qlik

Changing culture and habits is never easy. Simply put, the role of a leader is to facilitate the journey that is owned and designed by the individuals - the journey remains theirs; and the leader facilitates without getting in the way.

As a leader, you can facilitate the organisation's culture and get it right by coaching your team. This includes constantly questioning, motivating and seeking your team's inputs for ideas and overcoming challenges as opposed to always giving directional instructions.

This ensures the team is constantly sharpening their skills as to whether what they are doing is right for their customers, the business as well as fellow team members. This is how the culture to do the right thing gets ingrained into the team.

Ng Aik-Phong Managing Director Fave Singapore

I believe what's important is a culture that enables the company to thrive and succeed given its competitive environment, current stage of growth and needs of its employees. There would be specific core values and guiding principles that are evergreen and foundational, and certain ones that should be evolutionary.

I think sometimes companies can become fixated to their culture and fail to keep them relevant. Yes, even culture needs to be reviewed and disrupted if necessary! At Fave, we keep our culture relevant and up-to-date by getting consistent feedback from our employees, introducing new guiding principles once a while, and retiring older ones that didn't quite serve us well.

George Lee VP, Asia Pacific & Japan RSA

In the age of digital transformation, organisations are struggling to manage the magnitude and complexity of today's digital risks. In fact, the very digital initiatives they are pursuing to fuel growth and innovation expose them to new risks, which in turn puts their customers' interests in peril.

To establish a trusting relationship with customers, organisations must first build a culture of trust within by having a digital foundation that applies a unified approach to managing digital risk that hinges on integrated visibility, automated insights, and coordinated actions across business functions in order to avoid ''blind spots'' and instill responsibilities in all.

It is only when a secure digital foundation is put in place, can employees have peace of mind in pursuing new opportunities, be empowered to act in their customers' best interests, and reinstate trust.

Grace Ho Area VP, ASEAN and Chief of Staff, APAC Commvault

At Commvault, it starts with our People Promise - ''Freedom to make an impact, together'' - which serves as our commitment to our employees about who we are as a place to work, and as a culture. Our company values convey the foundation of our distinctive culture and is the north star that guides how we get the job done, as individuals and as a team.

As a business leader, I share joint ownership and responsibility with all employees for nurturing, igniting and evolving values in our everyday business.

By practising the 3Rs - reinforce values, role-model these values and recognise when these values are exemplified by the team - we create a culture that encourages ''team heroics'' as we drive strong teamwork, anchored on our People Promise and Values, to drive clear business outcomes. Ultimately, it is when everyone consistently live our values, that collective success follows naturally.

Jimmy Yam VP of Sales, East Asia Eaton

As a leading power management company, we don't just have an opportunity, but a responsibility to tackle some of the world's most pressing power and energy challenges. Central to this unique purpose is getting culture ''right'', and developing an engaged, inclusive, diverse and ethical workforce.

Our approach includes putting robust listening and governance frameworks in place to ensure that all employees have their voices heard, and support underrepresented groups such as women in engineering.

This combination of inclusion, engagement and environmental stewardship, not only helps teams meet our own internal environmental impact goals, but also results in innovative solutions that improve the quality of life of the communities our partners and clients operate in.

Darryl McKinnon VP and MD, APJ Puppet

Creating a culture that empowers and enables employees to be innovative is imperative for companies to succeed in this increasingly competitive landscape. There is no one size fits all - as leaders, you have to be able to make the deliberate choices that dictates and moulds your company's culture code. Leaders need to be able to create an environment that employees can truly thrive in.

At Puppet, our philosophy is to provide our employees with a safe and trusted environment where they can flourish, along with empowering and providing them with educational resources, to grow not only within our company but beyond it too. We believe that culture does not just happen; leaders will have to be thoughtful and purposeful as they define culture together with their employees and ensure its implementation throughout the globe.

Chia Ngiang Hong President Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS)

An organisation's culture has a significant impact on its long-term sustainability and affects the corporate governance, image/reputation as well as the performance and well-being of employees.

With rapid developments in technology, organisations are increasingly facing business disruptions. Many companies are reinventing their business models as they combine digital transformation with the promotion of a culture of good conduct and ethical values.

The key is to consciously and proactively influence behaviour and mindsets by embracing and promoting a healthy culture that balances the needs and interests among the various stakeholders and ensuring that all employees embody the organisation's core values of trust and integrity. Senior management must always lead by examples.

An effective organisation's culture takes both a top-down and bottom-up approach with top management adopting an open-minded readiness to adopt, adapt and change where necessary.

Shahid Nizami Managing Director, Asia Pacific HubSpot

Documenting your culture is crucial in ensuring it becomes central to your organisation's operating system, and that your values are practised by every employee. At HubSpot, we have a Culture Code and a Customer Code. These set the tone for what people can expect from us - that we'll do the right thing by our customers, even when it's hard.

Once you've established your culture, it's easier to attract employees that resonate with your values. For example, our Culture Code is a common catalyst for candidates to apply for roles at HubSpot. When employees genuinely care about your mission, values, and customers, that's going to drive business success.

Sudhir Agarwal CEO Everise

In today's experience economy, treating employees just like your valued customers can be very beneficial. Business success begins with the employee experience. The most important thing a leader can do to drive culture within a company is to communicate your values constantly and celebrate employees who embody them.

Leveraging technology can also make the communication process seamless and ensure your messages are communicated clearly and made easily accessible to your employees. Providing a two-way channel of communication enables employees to provide feedback and allows top management to work towards effective solutions.

Ronnie Tan President FranklinCovey Singapore & Greater China

Great cultures don't just happen. They are a deliberate creation. We've identified four key ingredients to create a great culture:

Sheena Chin Country Director VERITAS Storage Singapore

The actions we take as leaders would have a huge impact in shaping the organisation culture. For me, I believe in leading by example - to build trust and respect - to promote the corporate values on the ground. For instance, innovating to win is one of the core values of Veritas. To promote innovation, I recognise the need to go beyond paying lip service and engage my team in discussions to cultivate a fail-safe and open mindset. Creating value for customers is another key organisational value for us. Together with my team, I spend time with customers in the field to improve their user experience and better understand their business needs. The leaders should always take the first step in promoting the desired corporate values for the rest to emulate.

Lars Voedisch Managing Director PRecious Communications

Culture is a shared responsibility. Owned by the people, an organisation's culture should be an expression of how people collaborate, to drive an open, supportive and productive work environment. At PRecious Communications, opinions matter as they form the basis of becoming trusted consultants. How we treat our employees is how we treat our customers. We understand the importance of mutual respect, acceptance and of working towards a shared common purpose. Empowered employees have an increased sense of ownership and responsibility. A positive, empowering experience is the new expectation between an employer and employee. These experiences build trust and motivate them to right-skill themselves to add greater value.

Andrew Tan Managing Director JOS Singapore

A cultural shift doesn't happen overnight. It requires the effort of the entire organisation.

At JOS, we believe in digitally transforming and equipping our employees with tools and skills that are needed to build a workplace which can thrive in the future economy. This involves cultivating an internal culture that is open to change and technological disruption through constant communication.

We encourage our employees to get involved in the co-creation process when it comes to seeking feedback and making improvements, as we firmly believe that it's this inclusivity that lays the foundation for a culture shift.

Sayan Gulino Chief Executive Officer Waterbom Bali

Eco-tourism, sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint has always been the core of Waterbom Bali. We have consciously developed the waterpark to complement the natural environment, introducing business practices that reduce waste while protecting Bali's natural resources. As a business leader it is important to be passionate and believe in these values which will create a ripple effect amongst employees, inspiring and encouraging them to act the same and be mindful about the environment. Constant communication with employees is also key, as it acts as a form of assessment to realign the company's values, while empowering to show that they can make a difference to environment.

Masaya Nakamura Deputy Chairman & Chief Growth Officer Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific

We are a people-based business. This means we create an organisational culture in which people - ourselves, our colleagues, clients, partners, as well as the wider community - and their needs are our first priority. Whilst a top-down approach of our leaders' role in driving culture is important, positive impact is also created through bottom-up initiatives. This ensures an inclusive approach to building and strengthening our culture. Leaders should embrace this people-first outlook, treating employees and society as they would treat clients and partners. At Dentsu Aegis Network, we ensure that this approach takes root through one-to-one conversations with employees and hackathons with a diverse group of our people to understand their needs and values so as to create a trustful and respectful shared culture for all.

Emre Olcer President, SEA Mondelez

We at Mondelez International believe that ''Purpose'' defines the culture of an organisation. Leaders' role modelling of the company values and commitments is the prerequisite of the organisation embracing the culture. For example ''we make people development a priority'' is a key component of our culture. And I make sure the metrics we have defined for people development are regularly reviewed by our leadership team and the same is cascaded by our leaders in their respective markets across South East Asia.

Sandie Overtveld VP APAC Zendesk

For many companies, building culture is an inside-out strategy with rules and processes that risk it feeling fake or forced. However, at Zendesk we take an outside-in approach.

As a customer experience company, we put the customer at the centre of everything we do. It is really that simple. By keeping the customer - whether they are internal or external - the focus of what we do and why we do it, our culture becomes authentic and something that our people take ownership of and pride in.

Also critical in getting our culture right is making sure our people know they are valued. From providing welcoming and collaborative office spaces, to ensuring pay equality, all the things we do to help foster a great culture is about building a place where everyone - regardless of culture, gender, sexuality, or age - belongs.

Michael Correa General Manager, Asia Pacific Westpac Banking Corporation

At Westpac, we recognise that building a strong service culture is at the heart of rebuilding trust in banking - a culture where everyone feels safe to speak up, knows what is expected of them, and is supported to make the right decisions for our customers and the community. As part of our company rhythm, our leaders make it a point to get together with our people each quarter through a dedicated forum, to recommit to our purpose, values, service standards, code of conduct, and our expectations around ethical behaviour and treatment of our customers. Our people have found these sessions incredibly valuable in bringing our values to life, in a fast-changing world.

Dolly Goh CEO Singapore National Co-operative Federation (SNCF)

For employees to imbibe the right values, leaders must live out values in what they do and how they approach and conduct their businesses. It is about building trust through actions over the years. Take for example the relationship between co-operatives and their members, which thrives on trust that the co-operative exists for the common good of their members. This trust factor has withstood the test of time. In turn, during times of crisis, members did not break bond with their co-operatives. When an organisation has its values on the nose, they are internalised as a way of life among all stakeholders. This has kept the co-operative movement going and growing.

Jagdish Mahapatra Managing Director, Asia CrowdStrike

Culture matters, but you need to get it right. Culture defines how an organisation and its leaders can transform the broader industry and the community at large. CrowdStrike's culture is built on three core values - people, innovation and customers. Trust, respect, transparency and engagement shape how our leaders engage the business and interact with stakeholders. Our leaders promote a workplace that encourages having fun; we strive to collaborate, learn, and seek new growth opportunities. They have helped drive relentless curiosity that underpins our desire to constantly innovate and drive transformative outcomes for our people and customers.

Sarah Walton HR Director Asia-Pacific Diageo

At Diageo our purpose is to ''Celebrate Life Every Day, Everywhere''. By definition that collective purpose is inclusive of everyone, regardless of who they are and where they come from. So that's really our starting point.

Connecting our people to that purpose is central to shaping our culture and ensuring everyone has the freedom to succeed. It also supports the delivery of great performance as the business is dependent on having different backgrounds, skills and capabilities in our teams to ensure the best outcomes - which is important for us as we aim to meet the needs of our extremely diverse consumer base. It doesn't just happen overnight though.

We've worked hard over time to develop a flatter and more agile organisation where a removal of layers has meant everyone is that bit closer to decision making. The structure gives everyone a chance to be involved in setting strategy and telling our story, as well as more exposure to senior leadership and greater career development opportunities. Even our office space and working environment is set up in such a way to ensure seamless connectivity and allow maximum flexibility for our people, regardless of whether they are working mums and dads or need to spend more time at home with family. We don't have all of the answers all of the time, but we feel we've really started to create the right culture and conditions that will enable work to work for everyone.

Alex Khan Managing Director, APAC Smaato

Smaato's culture is based on three core values: people, commitment, and leadership. The challenge is maintaining these values when a company scales in size. Our APAC team grew significantly this past year, so keeping these core values strong has been a key priority.

To achieve that, we emphasise a culture of openness at all levels. This includes an open floor plan in our office, as well as open, two-way communication between managers and their team members. We conduct bi-monthly office surveys to get anonymous, candid feedback from the team. We also host a bi-monthly Q&A to go through the survey results and encourage employees to ask me and my management team questions directly. And, of course, having fun is important! So we host quarterly team events and a monthly Friday drinks gathering to enable better communication and better relationships throughout the office.

Ana Dhoraisingam CEO, Singapore PineBridge Investments

At PineBridge Investments, our mission statement is ''to exceed our clients' expectations on every level, every day''. Translating mission statements into corporate DNA requires winning the hearts and minds of the very core of any corporate - its people. Financial services institutions are required by almost every regulator to have robust risk, regulatory and compliance frameworks in place. However that alone does not automatically translate itself into its people having the right ethical values and best practices. At our firm, our people know that doing the right thing for our clients is pivotal to our overall success. We pride ourselves on our collaborative culture, where our employees are empowered and accountable for doing the right thing. More importantly, all levels of management practise what they preach and lead by example.

Anneliese Schulz Regional President Software AG

Fostering an innovation culture within organisations entails removing the fear of failure, promoting proactive contribution within teams, and embracing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Experimentation is something I encourage among teams: As a business leader, I support building a workplace that thrives on openness and collaboration, and one that views failure as a means for eventual success. Having an open dialogue between leaders and employees is key to creating a stronger sense of community and trust within the organisation. Through breaking workplace silos and encouraging openness, we are able to better leverage each other's expertise and nurture a culture that spurs creativity and innovation.

Helen Ng Chief Executive Officer Lock+Store

Practising what we preach is easier for small and medium-size enterprises than large organisations. Our senior management is in day-to-day contact with frontline and operational staff to ensure they receive immediate feedback on ground issues and are able to provide effective advice that aligns with our organisational values. All organisations should create effective feedback loops that capture customer feedback accurately and evaluate them at the most senior level. There should be checks in place to ensure negative feedback is not filtered out before the consolidated customer satisfaction data are presented.

Foo Mao Gen Head of Southeast Asia Qualtrics

Being transparent and engaging in two-way communications with employees to understand what's important to them are crucial to cultivating productive and positive cultures. To do this, businesses need to invest in dynamic platforms enabling them to regularly capture insights into the employee experience across the entire lifecycle - such as through pulse surveys and onboarding interviews. These insights must be delivered to managers to act on in real time to drive meaningful change. It sounds obvious, but businesses must also be seen to be driving change and achieving results. This strengthens the relationship between employee and employer to further support the culture.

Richard Low CEO Cargill Tropical Palm

The right culture is one that aligns to the organisation's purpose and stirs the aspirations of employees. It motivates and facilitates actions and mindsets needed for a company to fulfil its commitment to its stakeholders. Employee wellbeing is of paramount importance to Cargill, and our safety-first culture has helped our oil palm plantations become one of the safest in the industry.

Lee Fook Chiew Chief Executive Officer Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants

Ethics and integrity are the cornerstone of the accountancy profession. The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Code of Ethics establishes the five fundamental principles of professional ethics for professional accountants: integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. At ISCA, we ensure that ethics education remains a fundamental part of our members' continuing professional education. Our members are provided with reference materials such as the ISCA Ethics Case Files, a compendium of scenarios involving ethical dilemmas faced by accountants and adapted from real-life cases. As members of the national accountancy body, all ISCA members must abide by the ISCA Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics and meet the requisite number of training hours in ethics education every year, and will be sanctioned for ethical violations.

Marita Abraham CMO Zilingo

There's definitely no magic potion to creating the right culture. As leaders, we take time to introspect and identify the values and purpose that drives us as a business. These values aren't just nice buzzwords, but the ones that drive our decisions and determine how we hire, fire and promote within the organisation. If we live our values, the team around us will imbibe them and it becomes easier to build a team that embodies the culture of the company. At Zilingo, we believe that a diverse, multicultural team of professionals who share the same ambition is a competitive advantage. Our teams are our brand ambassadors, and our values of diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace is exemplified by the team and lived by them every day. Our culture is also about moving with speed and intention - we call this velocity. So we have regular town halls to keep everyone up to date on what is happening in the business and this helps to ensure teams are working on the problems that are making making a real impact. If we can empower our teams to understand why they are doing what they are doing and operate with transparency, we'll see our teams really push the envelope and take ownership towards our common purpose.

Tan Boon Yen President The Institute of Internal Auditors Singapore

Culture is a unique component of every organisation's personality. It manifests itself from how an organisation adopts and articulates the key values which contribute to the successful achievement of organisational goals to how top management creates the environment and tone for its employees to translate these values into every day actions.

Organisation culture and tone at the top can make or break an organisation and we have seen many of the major corporate failures that are due to ethical and conduct issues as well as misplaced corporate values. As the ''eyes and ears'' and the trusted advisor of the Board of Directors, internal audit plays a critical role in providing an independent and objective assessment of corporate culture. Corporate culture is always on the radar of internal audit when it conducts audits throughout the organisation.

Imad Abou Haidar Managing Director Finastra APAC

At Finastra we recognise the individuality of each of us and believe it is important to create a culture where uniqueness is supported, celebrated and nurtured. It comes down to cultivating environments where employees can bring their 'whole-self' to work and feel safe to openly interact with colleagues, customers and partners to create success, collaborate and contribute. Leaders set the example from the top down. They have to be actively interested in understanding what is important to the people on the ground and care deeply about what needs to be done to help unlock the potential of the people.

Peta Latimer CEO Mercer Singapore

An organisation's culture is recognised as a critical element for success and differentiation and it can be the rocket fuel for delivering value to stakeholders. However, the stakes of getting it wrong are high and poor conduct and culture is one of the biggest material risks that organisations face. In a Mercer study, the research revealed that 43 percent of M&A transactions worldwide were delayed, terminated, or negatively impacted because of culture-related issues and 30 percent of deals fail to achieve financial targets due to culture-related matters.

Based on extensive work with clients, we have identified a number of key factors to deliver success on the ground: 1) Dialogue to create ownership. Business teams need to be involved in the conversations about the change and how best to make it work in their specific business environment from the very start, so that it becomes anchored and is sustained in their working practices. It is also important to obtain visible buy-in from senior stakeholders and support functions - HR, Risk, Compliance, etc; 2) Rapid cycles of ''test, learn and do''. Within each 90-day cycle there are short pilots of changes that generate feedback, produce results rapidly, and ensure that the full rollout has a much improved rate of success; 3) Independence and creation of a safe space through psychological safety; 4) Focus on the environment rather than the individual. It is critical that the work is not perceived as a witch hunt to identify individuals with poor behaviour; and 5) Amplify the good and highlight examples of desired behaviour to encourage good conduct.

Amy Hoe Group Chief Technology & Operations Officer FWD Group

Our core values have been co-designed by business heads and employees to ensure we have shared values, joint ownership, and accountability.

We embed our values in every employee touchpoint, from recruitment and onboarding to our competency and performance management processes. From their very first day with us, our employees learn about our FWD values, in which trust is a key theme. Our 'Open' value highlights the importance of always 'doing the right thing' and promotes the building of trust with colleagues and customers alike.

To bring our FWD core values to life, managers have a 'check-in' with their employees to discuss performance and implementation of our values. We also reward and recognise employees who demonstrate our values through special awards.

Alfred Lee Managing Director Refinitiv Asia Pacific

As the saying goes, trust is the most powerful currency in business, and that is especially true in the financial industry. Amid increased scrutiny of the sector, business leaders play a central role in driving positive values and ethical practices across the organisation. These efforts can be achieved by putting technologies in place to enhance transparency, compliance and ethical training for employees, as well as appropriate code of ethics and professional conduct. As one of the world's largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, we strive to leverage technology and insights to empower employees and organisations to make critical decisions for their businesses, and also to drive positive change and progress for the entire financial community.

Violet Lim CEO & Co-Founder Lunch Actually Group

Our four core values are very real in our organisation and are often quoted or used as hashtags in daily communication. Rather than having a top-down approach, our company values are crafted together with our team. We share our company values right from the interview process and our managers are prepped to hire for both skillset AND culture fit. At every quarterly townhall, I would talk about our values and invite associates to share how they or their associates have lived up to these values. We also promote, reward and terminate (if needed) based on our values. At our end-of-year award ceremony, we have core value awards given to the most deserving associates based on the votes given by their colleagues. These are some of the many ways that we have brought our values to life in our organisation.

Mark Billington Regional Director, Greater China and South-East Asia ICAEW

Having the right conduct, incentives and the way we evaluate and define performance are key constituents of a good organisational culture - a hot topic globally for the financial services industry and audit firms in particular. While regulation and policy changes might help facilitate cultural change, this must be driven by the organisations themselves, and across the entire industry.

In order to achieve this, businesses should encourage customer-centric thinking as a long-term strategy and everyday consideration, align their employees on a set of shared mission and values, and implement consistent incentives beyond financial targets to reward good behaviour and deter misconduct. They should also conduct regular assessments to ensure that such behavioural rules and norms are being adhered to. This must be led from the top by the board and senior executives and there is an important role for internal auditors to play, as they are well placed to evaluate an organisation's culture and propose changes where necessary.

Andy Jiang Vice President & General Manager SUSE Asia Pacific & Japan

As an open source company, SUSE's culture is founded on openness, collaboration and knowledge-sharing. These values are in our DNA, and define the way our employees interact with each other, our customers, partners and the open source community. In our organisation, every employee brings something unique to the table. By recognising these differences and fostering a culture of cross-collaboration, openness and embracing all possibilities, this enables us to be at the forefront of innovation while addressing the challenges faced by our customers in their digital transformation journey.

Jessie Xia Managing Director ThoughtWorks Southeast Asia

To build the culture they want, companies need to foster an aspirational culture and values that align with its mission and strategy. Leaders must lead by example and empower individuals to drive and contribute to the development of the environment you seek to build. Constant communication with employees is essential. At ThoughtWorks, we use continuous two-way feedback with employees to assess how our organisational culture is taking shape on the ground, and our leaders collaborate closely with our ThoughtWorkers on initiatives that will cultivate the right culture and values.

Tan Mui Huat President and CEO, Asia International SOS

In protecting our clients' global workforce from health and security threats, and saving lives, our employees are likewise exposed to the rigours of 24/7 vigilance and the risks of complex environments. The nature of our business dictates the company culture that we must embrace as part of our DNA and we do this by specifically recruiting talents who personally share the same core values of passion, expertise, respect and care. Likewise, our leaders embrace and demonstrate these values to our teams when we deliver on our commitments and that is why our clients have placed such a high level of trust in our capability to help them fulfil their duty of care responsibility, build resilience and sustainability. Our workforce of more than 11,000 employees recognise that they must live these values without any compromise, grounded in integrity and medical ethos.

Lim Soon Hock Managing Director PLAN-B ICAG Pte Ltd

The CEO must walk the talk in the practice of a company's culture. In many respects, he personifies the culture - the values that the company holds dear and how the company should interact with customers, employees, business partners and other key stakeholders.

Often the test - the moment of truth - is when it affects the business. Would the CEO and the company do what is right when in such a situation (and there are many) - for example, not to give bribes to win a business, in compliance with the company's belief in doing clean business.

As has been shown by corruption cases involving branded names in Singapore in recent years, it is tough to ensure that values preached are practised on the ground, but no matter how difficult, it must be strictly enforced at all levels for the longer term good of the company.

At the epicentre of a company's culture is honour. As it affects everything that a company does, honour is good business. In other words, everyone in the company including the board of directors and CEO, must be honourable in everything that they do.

Candice Ong Chief Commercial Officer ShopBack

An organisation's culture is intrinsically about values and how people get things done. It is manifested in different ways, such as through articulated values, rituals and norms.

We have a strong set of articulated values which forms a big basis of how we hire or recognise individuals, and forms part of performance reviews.

Reinforcing culture is an ongoing process, whereby practices such as regular 1-1s, team bonding activities and teams taking turns to be responsible for the pantry encourage a sense of radical candour, community and ownership. Townhalls where we celebrate individuals who were exemplary in our values and contributions also reinforce desired behaviours. It is crucial that leaders are able to walk the talk and systems such as employee NPS, and Q&A after townhalls enable management teams to course correct, evolve and make better business decisions on how things get done via enhanced feedback loops.

Maren Schweizer Director Schweizer World Pte Ltd

By a purpose, simplicity and a role model behaviour.

Studies have shown that when people are contributing to a higher purpose, they are likely to have a healthier outlook on life and be more resilient to stress.

The same is true in the workplace. For instance our purpose is: ''We are here for innovation. By doing so, we contribute to CO2 reduction to save our planet.''

Our purpose is not merely the result of our actions - it describes why we are pursuing our goals.

Simplicity: We have learned that focusing on a few critical behaviours that matter most will help to catalyse a purposeful evolution. By doing so, we began to adopt our behaviours, took time to recognise and reward team members for centering on those behaviours, too.

Thirdly: I believe in the importance to show your people that you're committed to evolving your organisation's culture by demonstrating the critical few behaviours yourself. Right away, do something that's visible and concrete. If it succeeds and sends a positive message, repeat it - without delay again and again. Then, encourage others to do the same.

I also suggest to connect with ''informal leaders'', people who are emotionally astute and who have an insight into what your employees care the most about.

Kunalan Chakravarthy Managing Director Priority Consultants

The leader's primary goal is to embody the spirit and principles that will drive the positive development and growth of the organisation. Empathy, courage and breadth of mind are vital in a leader who is answerable to not just shareholders and customers but to employees, to the community and the wider world.

Doing the right thing all the time may seem tedious and unnecessary but it inspires quiet confidence, increases trust and social capital in the leader, their people, and the institution.

Nilesh Mistry VP, Head of APAC World Wide Technology

At WWT, we pride ourselves on being a great place to work. This begins with having a strong set of core values which then forms the foundation of our culture. Such a culture is regularly adjusted as the workplace becomes more globalised.

With employees being our greatest asset, employees are given as much input as leaders. Such a collaborative requirement is one of the reasons why we have regular group leadership initiatives to ensure everyone is aligned and committed to create a culture that accommodates a diverse range of voices, and where employees feel motivated and are able to thrive.

David Leong Managing Director PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

Cultural alignment within an organisation is never easy when it involves value and ethics inculcation and habits forming. When the organisation is small and growing, staff's cultural alignment will be to watch and learn the business practices through their leaders. When the outfits grow bigger, alignment becomes challenging. Silos are formed between departments and values percolation to the ground becomes difficult . Ethics and values communications downwards to staffs increasingly will have friction when values messaging and signaling are not coherent and consistent.

Cultural alignment, in short, needs comprehensive narratives on values that are consistent and coherent and must be seen to be practised by the leadership team. The narratives must be kept simple.

Vikas Nahata Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Validus Capital

At Validus, we are Singapore's #1 SME financing platform that brings lenders together with SMEs that need growth financing. Our premise of driving financial inclusion for SMEs in Singapore is founded upon the need to build credibility and transparency. These form the cornerstones of our culture that trickle down to our modus operandi and our team members - to stay true to our inherent belief in providing convenient and unambiguous growth financing to SMEs without hidden charges and ''fine print''.

Hari V Krishnan CEO PropertyGuru Group

From a startup to becoming a high-growth technology company today, the biggest driver of PropertyGuru's success has been its cultural transformation. Getting it right takes many key components: being purpose-driven and defining the core of the company's 'Vision to Values'; hiring the right (and diverse) talent and then investing in them. I'm personally not a fan of having company values up on the wall and we operationalise our 'Vision to Values' by making it all measurable and connected to the company and each employee's success. Having the right culture is the only way to grow, sustain large businesses and more importantly remain relevant and competitive in this constant disrupting world.

Leonard Cheong Managing Director AdNovum Singapore Pte Ltd.

The AdNovum work environment is shaped by our solution-oriented engineering culture with 70% of the workforce being engineers - including our CEO and other top management positions. Our company culture is characterised by the commitment of the employees to deliver quality solutions in time and to the full satisfaction of our customers.

The cornerstones of our culture are openness, learning, direct feedback, and a pragmatic attitude. This organisational culture has been sustained with hiring people with a similar mindset. Aside from having the appropriate skillsets, recruitment of people with the same values is positively correlated with workplace success.

Cindy Leong Founder Relationship Studio

A lot is about congruence in the communication top-down. Many leaders are too busy with working on the business and neglect communicating of values.

When we agree collectively that "these five values" are the values of the company, what does it really mean when it comes to behaviour and attitude of employees at every level? How is it measureable? Is there any feedback channel in place?

In our work with clients, we realise that getting everyone on the same page is only effective when the expectated behaviors and attitudes are reiterated over and over again across all modes of internal and external communication.

Hope Liu CEO & Founder Eximchain

Blockchain is all about transparency and trust. These mottos also echo within the Eximchain culture. The technology industry is moving faster than ever before and our team is "distributed" across the world. Hence it is vital for team members to share their ideas and feedback. Culture is not just about nationalities, but a social belief that builds the core of the organisation. With trust and openness for discussion, team members from different backgrounds will be able to grow and gain the necessary skills to become better. The result of the synergy is the ability to create organisational success by providing a technology that meets the needs of the clients.

Henry Tan Group CEO Nexia TS

Culture needs to be observed. Whether we like it or not, the group CEO plays a key role in this. If we do not exhibit the culture and values in our own behaviour and focus, this cannot be cascaded to the board, the senior management and finally the staff. I am not saying purge all suggestions to drum in culture and values; that would not work. What I am driving at is that it is by ''being'' that is key!