In the first of seven episodes on Culture and Performance, Jan Thornbury and Moray McLaren discuss how culture is the foundation that underpins how organisations actually work and perform.
Using Edgar Schein’s well-known model, culture is explained as a system with three connected layers:
Beliefs and assumptions at the core – what the firm really believes is the “right” way to do things (often described as values).
Behaviours and norms – the everyday actions that those beliefs produce.
Artefacts – the visible structures that reinforce behaviour: processes, reward systems, client feedback, office design, language and symbols.
Strong or positive cultures are consistent across all three layers. Weak cultures are exposed when firms say one thing but behave differently – for example, claiming to be client-centric without robust client feedback processes or consistent behaviours to support it.
The conversation also explores why professional services firms typically focus on culture at key moments:
Rapid growth, international expansion or bolt-on acquisitions.
Preparing for a merger, where cultural misalignment is a major risk.
Post-merger integration, where culture often determines success or failure.
Brand work, recognising that brand is simply the outward expression of internal culture.
Situations where culture is actively holding performance back.
The central message is clear: culture does not happen by accident as firms scale. It needs to be understood, articulated and aligned deliberately – otherwise it becomes diluted, inconsistent, or a barrier to growth.
