Experts advocate for strong organisational culture in driving corporate performance

Experts have expressed the importance of strong corporate governance practices in building organisational culture amongst issuers.

In making this expression, Bola Adeeko, head of shared services division at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) joined others like Dave Eaton, globally recognised culture transformation expert, and Ajibola Ponnle, Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions.

They expressed the importance of strong corporate governance practices at the recently held culture training organised by SmithsWorks Limited. The event held at the Stock Exchange House, Lagos was tagged, “A Live Session with David Eaton”.

Delivering his remarks at the training, Adeeko said, “In today’s accelerating world of work, organisational culture has been identified as critical to the success of an organisation. This is as a result of the need to adapt to evolving external forces, achieve internal integration and deliver on an organisation’s strategic objectives. In our experience, maintaining this intricate balance between internal and external forces in any organization can only be achieved through strong corporate governance practices. The NSE in its role as regulator and thought leader, therefore, provides various directives and initiatives that help drive the adoption of these practices among issuers.”

One of such initiatives is the NSE’s partnership with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) to launch Nigeria’s foremost framework for ranking companies on issues related to corporate governance, the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS), in 2014. This rating system was designed to rate companies listed on the NSE based on their corporate governance and anti-corruption posture, thereby improving the overall level of confidence and trust in Nigeria’s capital markets and business practices.

Defined as a set of basic values, perceptions, wants and behaviours learnt by a group of people within an ecosystem, organisational culture is of utmost importance in enhancing performance, promoting teamwork and achieving the organisation’s strategic aspirations. With benefits ranging from greater share-price increases, lower employee turnover, more employment applications, less absenteeism, greater employee productivity and greater customer satisfaction levels, it has been proven that culture can improve and sustain corporate performance.

Highlighting the critical role of inclusion and strong corporate governance in framing, cascading and aligning the corporate culture with the business objectives of an organisation, Dave Eaton engaged participants through a series of case studies and practical exercises. Participants were asked to identify the position and aspirations of their organisations across these 7 dimensions: power, perspective, creativity, time, independence, communications and inclusion. Mr. Eaton went on to highlight the importance of the exercise saying, “The Lucky 7 Culture Survey is expected to amplify the collective voice of those within the organisation in the journey to achieving higher operational excellence.”

Ponnle, the Special Guest of Honour at the event highlighted the importance of positive corporate culture saying, “Among the many factors that affect an organisation’s ability to innovate, compete and engage employees and customers is corporate culture. Organisations should, therefore, focus on the unification of values, vision, mission, and the day-to-day aspects of communication, interaction, and operational goals that create the atmosphere that affects the way people work.”

The training – which was co-sponsored by NSE, Axa Insurance, Seevest and Bovas – had in attendance senior Human Resources Managers, Talent Management Practitioners, Corporate Culture Shapers and Business Leaders across industries.