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Corporate culture has been one of the most discussed business topics of the past 12 months.

Inside organisations, business leaders are increasingly considering culture as an essential driver of organisational health and performance. On the outside, stakeholders now expect companies to 'live their values', both through words and actions – and any discrepancy between the two can lead to an immediate loss of stakeholder trust.

What happens when things go wrong

Recent corporate scandals where culture was identified as a key factor of misconduct have clearly evidenced that, when companies don’t remain true to their values, significant value destruction can happen – in the form of fines, stricter regulations, or consumer switching their brand loyalty to name only a few.

Closing the gap

All would agree that it is good to have a robust culture, yet, not many could currently claim they manage it proactively and systematically. A reason for this paradox may be that, despite a clear understanding of the benefits of a positive culture, many of us see it as an elusive challenge, hard to understand and act upon.

To close this gap, ACCA has partnered with Black Sun to identify some guiding principles to help business leaders and managers take the right steps towards building a positive culture in their organisation.