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The Hard Return of Soft Skills

How to Measure & Improve Culture for Performance and Impact

Ran on 12th February and repeated 18th June due to demand.

About

For years, culture and soft skills sat in the “important but intangible” category. Leaders knew they mattered, but struggled to quantify them or prove the link to performance.

In this webinar, Derek and Ed showed how that’s changing. They explained why the hard part isn’t culture itself but being clear about which behaviours drive which results, and how a culture dashboard helps make that link visible, measurable and useful.

What was covered

Where the term came from, and why linking behaviours to results is the real challenge

Generic questions, unclear behaviours and insight that never turns into decisions

From values and behaviours, through leading and lagging indicators, to leaders willing to change course

Why behaviours often don’t shift because the system makes it hard, not because people don’t care

Why they’re a leadership tool, not just an HR one, and how to work backwards from the outcomes you need

Key takeaways

Culture isn't soft. The hard part is saying 'if we behave like this, we expect those results'
Make it specific to you. Generic behaviours give you a generic dashboard that can't link culture to performance
Use results to test your assumptions. One organisation saw its safety behaviours improving, but accidents weren't falling. The policies meant to keep people safe had become too complex to follow
Look at the system, not just people. A zoo trained its staff to put visitors first, but they still needed sign-off from two levels up to offer a goodwill gesture. Once the process changed, visitor ratings improved
Leaders need to be willing to change course. In both sessions, attendees said this was the weakest part of the loop

Want to build a culture dashboard that drives results?

Get in touch to talk about where you are and where to start.

M&A integration

Leadership alignment

AI adoption

Conduct & risk mitigation

Flexible advisory support

Team productivity

Talent retention

Sustainable growth

Organisational culture change

Driving innovation

Inclusion & social value

Insights

Research & guides

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