Can your company culture pass the “sniff test”?

Can your company culture pass the “sniff test”?

At yesterday’s Australian Institute of Company Director’s Essential Update in Melbourne – the theme of corporate or company culture was first on the agenda.

It’s clear that the world at large sees Directors – of all company sizes – being responsible for setting and overseeing the cultural tone in the organisation.

Look at VW’s diesel engine software challenges for instance.

According to the presenter Graham Bradley, VW’s Board knew about those concerns many months before they became public knowledge.

But they failed to act.

It appears that a good number of that Board have now fallen on their swords.

Nearer to home, what can the Australian Company Director do?

Well, the world is looking at us too.

We are advised to define and establish metrics to measure what is happening around the organisation, to make detailed enquiries of our own and to not rely solely on what the management/ executive team tell us.

If we find, or sniff, something that we don’t like?

Then this is a call for action to investigate and improve the situation.

The lesson from the VW case is that to DO nothing is not actually an option.