Culture Measurement & Change

Human performance is often the largest lever for operational improvement in today’s complex world. We can help you measure and improve yours.

High-performing organizations are deliberate about culture

Most leaders know how critical a healthy organizational culture is to the success of their business, yet many view it as something beyond their influence. But leaders of HROs see it differently. High-Reliability Organizations (HROs) approach culture as a deliberate design choice and they share a remarkably similar set of cultural attributes. They are able to consistently and reliably operate in demanding environments while outperforming their competitors.

We help companies measure and understand their culture in relation to HROs, align it to their vision and strategy, and drive positive change to make culture a sustainable source of competitive advantage.

Understanding and measuring your culture

The first step to transforming an organization’s culture is to truly understand the culture as it is today and develop a clear picture of the desired target culture. Unfortunately, most 'culture work' is devoid of metrics, data, and actionable insights. Without a baseline, it is impossible to understand the issues and how to measure progress. In response, WP&C developed yardstyck®, a tool for measuring organizational culture, identifying barriers to Execution Excellence, and comparing company culture to HROs.

Understanding and measuring your culture

Yardstyck® answers key questions like:

  • Do all employees experience the organizational culture in the same way?
  • How do beliefs differ by level, location, and workgroup, etc.?
  • Do all employees understand our target culture?
  • How does our culture compare with world-class organizations?
  • Where should leadership focus its efforts to truly change the culture?
  • How are we progressing towards our goals?
Yardstyck Current State Survey

How yardstyck® works:

  1. Baseline the current culture: Employees respond to a yardstyck® survey in which they rank 40 cultural indicators, providing a baseline to measure future progress at improving the culture.
  2. Define the target culture: Next, employees use yardstyck® to describe the target organizational culture which helps leaders understand employee-desired culture, alignment with leaders’ view of the desired culture, and the gap between current and target cultures.
  3. Benchmark against the culture of HROs: WP&C uses yardstyck® to measure the culture of High-Reliability Organizations like the US Navy Nuclear Submarine Force, providing clients with world-class benchmark comparisons.

    Visit the yardstyck® page to learn how WP&C provides unique actionable insights.
yardstyck graph

Unparalleled experience and insight

Our team brings deep operations and strategic leadership experience that enables us to expertly understand people, strategy, and the challenges of day-to-day execution. We deploy proven methods and techniques for managing change, getting team buy-in, and delivering sustainable performance gains in months, not years.

Unparalleled experience and insight

WP&C: Experts at transforming large company cultures

Measuring your culture is only the beginning. Now comes the hard (but vital) part, transforming it! Wilson Perumal & Company has worked with large global organizations to transform their culture and operational results by leveraging experience, expertise, and methodology to drive material change in how companies function. Our results include:

  • A 24-month effort working with the US Army Joint Munitions Command to transform their culture, design and implement an Integrated Management System, and redesign the operating model for their headquarters that reduced annual operating costs by $30 million and recaptured $52 million in overtime expenditures
  • A cultural transformation and safety improvement effort for a $20 billion North American refinery operator that resulted in a $200 million EBIT improvement
  • An operations improvement program for a global energy company that resulted in a 75% reduction in spill-related incidents in only nine months
WP&C: Experts at transforming large company cultures
CASE STUDY

Refinery improves safety by 70% 

A large mid-continent refinery recognized the need to focus more consistently on safety across all of their U.S. refineries. WP&C helped the company:

  • Implement a new culture built on Operational Discipline
  • Improve culture to reduce incidents by +70%
  • A nearly 5% improvement year-over-year in refinery utilization
  • 50% reduction from the previous year in lost opportunity, worth approximately $200 million in EBITDA

Read the Case Study

refinery culture graphic

Manufacturing Leaders: Four essential steps to transform your culture

A strong, healthy culture is a powerful multiplier for leadership—but most leaders struggle to define what the right culture for them really is, and even fewer know how to achieve it. A one-size-fits-all approach to change will not work. To create the right transformation approach, you must first understand why your current culture is the way it is. Learn the four essential steps to change your culture—and make it stick!

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE

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Learn how we helped a US military organization reduce operating costs by over $85M

“WP&C is helping us transform our business. Their insights are phenomenal!”
Dave Hoogmoed
Dave Hoogmoed, President Land O’Lakes Purina Feed
“Wilson Perumal & Company's approach treats complexity as the enemy. Declaring war is the most direct route to an efficient, profitable enterprise. We declared war on the complexity in our portfolio, resulting in streamlined customer offerings and a more nimble business.”
Ed Lonergan
Ed Lonergan, President and CEO Diversey, Inc.
“This was a quick and painless way to understand our true product profitability, and it challenges how we think about our business. I am extremely pleased with the results.”
Fernando Palacios
Fernando Palacios, EVP and Chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer MillerCoors LLC
“WP&C’s insights into our portfolio, cost structure and growth drivers have changed the way we think about our business. The brand management playbooks they developed for the business will be critical to how we make decisions going forward.”
Hilliard Lombard
Hilliard Lombard, Managing Director Valeo Foods Group Ltd.
“I have been more than pleased with what you have been able to accomplish in this time. Beyond my expectations...Spectacular!”
Peter Benton
Peter Benton, COO Worldwide Clinical Trials, Inc.
“Fantastic piece of work! You’ve really shed a lot of light on our business. Inmarsat will benefit enormously from your contribution and we will be using your structured thinking to guide us through the decision-making to come.”
Rupert Pearce
Rupert Pearce, CEO Inmarsat plc
“If you take all six times [past projects] where we looked at this, over the past ten years, and rolled them all up together, and multiplied by ten, it would still not be as good as this work.”
Bill McNabb
Bill McNabb, CEO Vanguard Group, Inc
“Army personnel credit the collaboration between Joint Munitions Command, CAAA's higher headquarters, and consulting firm Wilson Perumal & Company for identifying areas to improve the munitions distribution process.”
U.S. Army News
U.S. Army News

Is your company ready for transformation?