Latest news with #organizationalCulture
Times
05-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Why CEOs are seeking ‘reverse mentoring' from their juniors
A s chief executive of one of the world's largest airlines, Sean Doyle at British Airways can turn to his 34,000 staff for advice, or bring in an outside expert with deep knowledge of even the most niche issues. But there's one problem: 'As CEO, everybody will laugh at your jokes.' He wanted a new way to find the 'very uncomfortable insight into the issues you need to fix in your organisation — and the broader issues that are blocking people from being their best'. So Doyle, who first joined BA as a financial analyst in 1998, launched a reverse mentorship scheme at the airline in 2023. This fast-growing workplace trend involves a senior leader being mentored by someone several rungs further down the corporate ladder. They might be younger, or of a different gender or ethnicity, or have a disability. BA initially paired 11 top executives with junior staff. The scheme has since expanded to 80 senior leaders. Doyle was mentored by two cabin crew members.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group Recognize ScienceSoft as a 2025 Midsize Workplace Leader
MCKINNEY, Texas, July 02, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ScienceSoft is honored to be recognized as one of America's Greatest Midsize Workplaces 2025 by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group. This distinction places us among the nation's top employers known for exceptional employee experience and organizational culture. To assemble this year's list, Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group analyzed more than 3.5 million employee reviews, evaluated publicly available data about over 9,000 US companies, and conducted an extensive survey exploring what matters most in the workplace today. The evaluation combined a nationwide employee survey with deep data insights from Aniline, a workplace analytics firm. Over 120 performance indicators were reviewed, covering leadership, integrity, compensation, career development, culture and belonging, and work-life balance. At ScienceSoft, we believe outstanding IT services start with empowered, inspired, and happy people. We build a workplace where growth, purpose, and fairness are foundational, and every team member has the tools and encouragement to succeed. Our 750+ professionals — from software and QA engineers to business analysts and support specialists — thrive in a culture rooted in trust, continuous learning, and strong collaboration. We invest in mentorship, personalized growth plans, workplace flexibility, employee well-being, and cross-functional teamwork to ensure every team member feels supported and valued. ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company, established in 1989. Headquartered in McKinney, TX, with development centers in the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council, we completed over 4,000 IT projects across industries — from healthcare and BFSI to retail and manufacturing. Earlier in 2025, ScienceSoft was also named one of the 100 Best Places to Work in Atlanta and Dallas by Built In. Let's Talk Work Culture and Innovation We're always eager to share insights into how ScienceSoft builds high-performing, resilient, and innovative development teams while supporting employee well-being. For interviews or opinion pieces, please follow the link. View source version on Contacts Media contact: Alexa Tsviatkova, Media and Analyst Relations Specialistadtsviatkova@ press@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
28-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Your Work Culture Deserves Tender Loving Care
. Pixabay Culture, it's been said, is how employees' hearts and stomachs feel about Monday morning on Sunday night. If you're a leader in your workplace, organizational culture is arguably the only sustainable competitive advantage that's completely within your control. Is that a big deal? As Peter Drucker famously said, 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast.' Organizational psychologist Laura Hamill has invested her career in studying culture. She was director of People Research at Microsoft and co-founded Limeade, an employee experience software company. Dr. Hamill brings both scientific rigor and practical insight to the topic of culture. Her book is The Power of Culture: Bringing Values to Life at Work . Hamill talks about what she calls the concept of cultural betrayal. 'When a company's aspirational culture differs significantly from the reality that people experience, leaders and organizations quickly lose credibility,' she says. 'People are acutely aware when leaders aren't walking the talk, and a sense of cultural betrayal can take root. Employees understandably feel resentful when what they were 'sold' about an organization is not what they receive—and this can have a significant impact on employees, especially in mission-driven companies.' Hamill says the impact of perceived cultural betrayal can run deep, generating negative feelings about the company, withdrawal behaviors (such as not participating in company meetings and events), and increased employee attrition. 'By contrast,' she says, 'when the aspirational culture is clearly articulated and consistent with what employees experience, intentional culture is alive and well. Unfortunately, many organizations tend to stop their culture work after they have posted their values on their website, not realizing that they are only at the beginning of the journey.' Laura Hamill . She also talks about power and culture. 'The value placed on power within an organization influences the extent to which power shapes its culture,' she says. 'Shared power and its distribution among leaders, managers, and employees also play a significant role in reinforcing specific aspects of culture.' Hamill says leaders are crucial in shaping organizational culture, serving as role models and culture architects. 'They must be aware of their power and intentional about their actions and communications,' she says. 'However, leaders often lack awareness of their power and how their actions, even small ones, can be misinterpreted as cues about what's valued in the organization. As 'culture megaphones,' leaders' explicit and implicit messages significantly impact the organization's values and priorities. So, to understand culture, you must also understand power.' Hamill uses the term 'intentional culture' to emphasize the importance of deliberate focus on the mindsets and behaviors that produce desired outcomes. 'Most organizations are not intentional about their culture and don't work to have an explicit connection between what they are trying to achieve and the culture they have,' she says. 'If you aren't intentional about your culture, it's unlikely that it's working to your advantage.' 'Toxic culture' seems to be a popular term these days. Is that just a new term for an old problem, or are there actually more cultures that are problematic? 'I think toxic cultures have always been around, but maybe we have more awareness about them and—thank goodness—less tolerance for them now,' Hamill says. 'Also, I think now we are articulating and sharing the impact toxic culture is having on people and organizations.' What are the tell-tale signs that an organization's culture has become toxic? There are several key indicators to watch for, Hamill says. 'One of the most obvious signs is a high turnover rate, particularly among those who have the ability to find employment elsewhere. They are often the first to leave, seeking better opportunities and a more positive work environment. However, even before employees make the decision to depart, there are early warning signs that can signal a toxic culture. You may notice withdrawal behaviors, such as a decline in participation and engagement. Employees may start to skip company meetings or events, finding reasons to avoid participating. When they do attend, they may be hesitant to speak up, ask questions, or contribute to discussions. This silence can be a red flag, suggesting that employees feel uncomfortable or unheard.' . . Hamill says another concerning indicator is a growing sense of apathy among the workforce. 'When employees lose enthusiasm for their work and seem to be merely going through the motions, it can be a sign that they have become disengaged and disconnected from the company,' she says. 'This apathy can be contagious, spreading throughout the organization and eroding morale. I look for signs in the language like using 'they' instead of 'we' when talking about the company and saying things like 'That's beyond my pay grade' or 'Not on my job description.' While these signs can be disheartening to witness, recognizing them early is crucial for addressing the underlying issues and taking steps to improve the workplace culture.' For maximum positive impact, how should an organization's culture be aligned with its operational strategy? 'Explicitly,' Hamill says. 'Effective leaders recognize the critical link between culture and business strategy. They understand that a strong, positive culture can be a powerful driver of organizational success, while a dysfunctional culture can hinder progress and performance. By aligning cultural work with the overall business strategy, leaders can ensure that the changes they implement support the company's mission, values, and goals.' Hamill says this strategic alignment helps create a culture that not only engages and empowers employees but also contributes to the organization's competitive advantage and long-term success.
Fast Company
14-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How smart leaders balance urgency with curiosity
Modern business operates under a dangerous paradox. The same forces that make curiosity essential—rapid change, complexity, and uncertainty—are the ones that systematically suppress it. While organizations desperately need the innovation and adaptability that comes from asking better questions, the relentless pressure for speed creates an environment where curiosity dies. Pressure Points This isn't theoretical. The consequences play out in boardrooms and headlines daily. Three pressure points consistently strangle organizational curiosity: Always-On Urgency transforms work into endless reaction cycles. Volkswagen's emissions scandal emerged when employees, under pressure to quickly meet environmental regulations, defaulted to shortcuts rather than pausing to ask whether their approach was ethical or sustainable. The constant demand for immediate responses eliminates space for the fundamental question: 'Is this the right approach?' Pressure to React Immediately equates speed with competence while framing thoughtful questioning as hesitation. During the Deepwater Horizon crisis, BP executives rushed to provide public reassurances rather than taking time to fully assess the damage. This premature response not only eroded public trust but led to operational missteps that worsened the disaster. When leaders feel compelled to have answers immediately, they abandon the inquiry that leads to better solutions. Speed-Obsessed Work Culture makes 'move fast and break things' the dominant operating principle. Theranos epitomized this danger—under immense pressure to deliver revolutionary blood-testing technology, leadership ignored scientific red flags and silenced employees who questioned feasibility. The rush to market created a fraudulent enterprise that collapsed under scrutiny. It's the combination of these pressures that puts organizations at risk. Diane Hamilton, author of Curiosity Unleashed and creator of the Curiosity Code Index, researched what inhibits curiosity in the workplace to help leaders break out of stagnant patterns. According to her findings, when environments squeeze out curiosity, 'People start holding back ideas, skipping conversations, and sticking to what feels safe. That's when curiosity shuts down and organizations cling to past ways of doing things that no longer work.' Speed Bumps The solution isn't choosing between speed and curiosity—it's installing 'strategic speed bumps' which create just enough pause for better questions to emerge. Leaders need speed bumps at three levels: interpersonal, team, and organizational. Interpersonal. Curiosity often gets squelched in one-on-one dialogues, but the most powerful speed bump is deceptively simple: pause during heated discussions to state what you heard and ask if you understood correctly. Instead of rapid-fire debate, try: 'I'm gathering that you're worried about this direction because it might alienate our longest-standing clients. Is that an accurate understanding of your concern?' This technique significantly increases accurate listening while slowing potentially tense exchanges. It creates room for questions and deepens relationships by signaling that you value others' perspectives enough to ensure you've heard them correctly. When leaders model this behavior, it spreads throughout the organization. Team-Level. Teams need built-in moments that interrupt the execution mindset. The most effective approach involves structured quiet time before critical discussions or decisions. Allocate a few minutes for everyone to write down thoughts, questions, or concerns before opening discussion. Use question-oriented brainstorming techniques with creative constraints, such as: 'Generate five 'what if' questions about our marketing strategy in the next two minutes.' This approach maximizes diverse perspectives while ensuring introverts have processing time and extroverts can refine initial thoughts. These pauses aren't about halting team progress—they're about widening the lens to identify hidden opportunities and blind spots. Organizational. The highest-leverage organizational speed bump involves reframing acute problems as opportunities for systemic improvement rather than issues requiring quick fixes. When urgent issues arise, resist the default response of immediate patches. Instead, pause to examine underlying causes and explore broader solutions. Great Ormond Street Hospital demonstrates this approach brilliantly. Facing critical errors during patient transfers between operating rooms and intensive care, hospital leaders could have simply demanded faster, better execution of existing procedures. Instead, they paused to seek inspiration elsewhere. After observing Formula One pit crews, they invited Ferrari's team to analyze their patient handover process. The racing experts identified fundamental structural problems: unclear roles, overlapping conversations, and unpredictable leadership transitions. By applying pit crew principles—defined roles, synchronized actions, and systematic error tracking—the hospital reduced technical errors by nearly half while improving information transfer. The breakthrough came not from moving faster, but from pausing to intentionally redesign the system. The Roadmap Start immediately with these three steps: This week: Implement 'paraphrase and check' in your next three important conversations. Notice how it changes the dynamic and information quality. This month: Introduce two-minute question-oriented brainstorming sessions before your team's most critical decisions. Track whether this generates insights you would have missed. This quarter: Identify your organization's next acute problem as an opportunity for strategic learning rather than quick fixes. Ask what other industries or approaches might offer unexpected solutions. Organizations don't need to choose between speed and learning—they need both. Strategic speed bumps maintain momentum while ensuring critical thinking and innovation never get sacrificed. The most successful organizations don't just move fast—they move wisely.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
GOCP Expands Coaching Services to the US Market
05/27/2025, County Sligo, Ireland // PRODIGY: Feature Story // Gerald O'Connor, founder of the executive coaching firm GOCP, has announced the expansion of his bespoke leadership services into the United States market. This expansion signifies his commitment to bringing his methods centered on transforming organizational culture through meeting effectiveness through a broader international client base. With a growing demand for leadership interventions that address cultural and communication challenges, O'Connor is seeking senior leadership teams ready to reimagine how they decide, collaborate, and lead. 'I've spent years observing how subtle power dynamics and poor meeting structures hold organizations back. It's not just in performance but also in morale, innovation, and retention. The US is full of forward-thinking leaders who know something needs to change but aren't always sure where to start. That's where I come in,' says O'Connor. O'Connor's philosophy revolves around the belief that meetings are diagnostic tools and levers for cultural transformation. His unique coaching model begins with an in-depth meeting analysis, which he utilizes to discover patterns in behavior, communication gaps, and decision-making inefficiencies that reflect the broader organizational culture. By improving the design and function of meetings, O'Connor helps leaders initiate cultural shifts that can lead to lower staff turnover, improved efficiency, and more accountable decision-making processes. Catering to the C-suite and senior leadership teams, O'Connor's coaching is highly personalized and usually includes structured one-on-one sessions between the CEO and each board member. This approach is essential to draw out underrepresented voices and nurture more inclusive, balanced decision-making. He helps executive teams understand the informal power structures and communication habits that shape their culture and guides them in using meeting practices as vehicles to influence change from within. O'Connor has witnessed firsthand that many meetings are bloated, underprepared, or poorly constructed. They result in lost opportunities and disengaged participants. 'What we need is fewer but more purposeful meetings, where the right people are at the table, and where everyone feels safe enough to speak up,' O'Connor states. He has seen too many cases where the best ideas were left unspoken because the cultural conditions don't allow for open contributions. Hence, O'Connor helps flatten hierarchical structures to empower teams, promote safer communication, and build a foundation of trust and accountability. The coach believes that meetings are a microcosm of the organization itself. When they're dysfunctional (i.e., dominated by a few voices, under-attended by the right people, or misused as performance rituals rather than decision-making forums), they're symptomatic of deeper cultural flaws. Inspired by a retired US Navy captain, O'Connor promotes decentralized leadership models where authority is distributed and initiative is encouraged. 'Authority should be bottom up rather than top down,' explains O'Connor. Over a decade in executive roles within one of Ireland's most respected sporting organizations informs O'Connor's approach. As a former County Board Secretary, he led initiatives in governance, strategic planning, and cultural transformation. These experiences became the basis for his book, The County Board Chair: The Unofficial Guide. It's widely respected for its candid insights into the realities of leadership in volunteer-driven organizations and its practical guidance for turning complex dynamics into shared purpose. Meanwhile, his work in the voluntary sector was where O'Connor realized the destructive impact of unaddressed power imbalances and workplace bullying. He now integrates this awareness into his coaching, helping leaders recognize the subtle behaviors that can poison team culture, such as information hoarding or strategic ostracization. His experience being undermined by such dynamics only motivated him further to teach others how to build systems of support, transparency, and mutual respect. As he sets his sights on US organizations, O'Connor is eager to connect with mission-driven leaders ready to turn their meeting rooms into engines of innovation. He believes his approach has universal relevance, whether working with startups, scaling firms, or legacy institutions looking to modernize their culture. 'I'm not just trying to fix how people meet,' O'Connor says. 'My goal is to create organizations where everyone can contribute without fear and where decisions are made with clarity, courage, and collective insight.' Media Contact Name: Gerald O'Connor Email: [email protected] Source published by Submit Press Release >> GOCP Expands Coaching Services to the US Market
