The document discusses creating a high performance culture through lessons learned from Sasol's journey. It emphasizes that culture is reflected in everyday behaviors and actions. A high performance culture facilitates superior performance given an organization's unique circumstances. Building such a culture involves three steps: 1) Imagining or visioning the desired culture and values, 2) Mobilizing to communicate and embed the new culture through tools, interventions and habits, and 3) Measuring culture through indexes to track impact and illustrate value added. Key enablers include leadership alignment and involvement of employees, while obstacles can be lack of clarity or selectivity and not partnering with employees. Leaders must play a role in dreaming the vision and removing fear from the change process.

1. Creating a High Performance Culture
Lessons from Sasol’s Journey
ASTD Mar 2015

2. Maintaining momentum 2

3. Maintaining momentum 3
How is culture
reflected in what
just happened?

4. Maintaining momentum 4
The importance of corporate culture
Strategy for breakfast
Collaboration for lunch
Execution for dinner
“Culture eats strategy for
breakfast.”
- Peter Drucker

5. Maintaining momentum 5
Culture, climate, employer brand, HPC
Culture
Shared values,
assumptions and beliefs
that drive employee
behaviour
Climate
Shared perceptions and
feelings employees have
about the fundamental and
motivational aspects of the
organisation
Employer Brand
The reputation the
organisation wishes to
maintain with current and
prospective employees
High Performance Culture
The cultural characteristics required by the organisation to facilitates superior
performance given its unique set of circumstances and challenges.

6. Maintaining momentum 6
Who of you have
formal culture
programmes?
• Values programmes?
• Employee engagement
programmes?
• D&I programmes?
• Leadership development?
It’s all culture!
So how do we put handles to this?

7. Maintaining momentum 7
Fitness and culture-fit
Internal
Strategy
Core
compe-
tence
TechnologyHistory
Employee
demos
External
Political
Social
Economical
Social
Legal
Environment
Current Desired
Reinforce & sustain Nurture & growEliminate
Q

8. Maintaining momentum 8
The three “Ms” that comprise the magic of
building a High Performance Culture
Description Some examples
This is a process of visioning.
Collectively define and articulate a
culture “destination” with clear
definitions of where we want to go and
how we’ll know that we got there. A
solid iMagine process also goes a long
way in clarifying what is required at
“mobilise” and “measure”.
• Visioning
• Leadership alignment
• Values
Communicate, enable and embed the
required mindsets, behaviours,
processes and practises across the
organisation. Focus on building new
ways of talking and doing, i.e. new
organisational habits.
• Toolkits
• Interventions
• Integrate into current processes
and initiatives
• Campaigns
• Language markers
• Organisational habits
Track, measure and illustrate how
culture adds value. Measurement helps
build organisational confidence,
leadership buy-in and also facilitates
focus and allows meaningful course
correction. If done properly,
measurement involves employees
across the organisation in contributing
towards this.
• Track actions & measure
impact
• High Performance Culture
Indexes (turnover, absenteeism,
productivity, wellness statistics,
ethics violations, safety, EE)
• Element of “voice”
iMagine
Mobilise
Measure

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Group discussions
Questions and instructions
What are key enablers to
building a high performance
culture?
What are some of the
obstacles companies face
when adopting a high
performance culture?
What do you see as the role
leaders need to play in this?
What impact do can
employees have on an
organisation’s culture?
Contribution they can make?
3 4
1 2
Select a
timekeeper, scribe
and
spokesperson.
Have the
conversation
around the
assigned
question.
Capture as
you go.
Select the 3 most
pertinent points.
You have minutes!

10. Maintaining momentum 10
Lessons learnt from Sasol
Be clear, decisive and selective! There’s a trap in think culture is
infinitely malleable. It’s also easy to get lost in the notion that culture
is everything.
Partner! Culture is something you do with, not to employees. The
contributions of leaders at all levels as well employees are vital.
Dream together. Visioning and alignment on the culture vision is the
foundation. It requires a strong leading coalition and ideally involves
organisational members.
Bring freshness. Find creative and systemic ways to mobilise,
enable and embed.
Link to business results. Ensure that it links to the company
strategy and delivers results. Leverage business processes as key
vehicles. Find ways to measure!
Remove fear. Culture change requires a process of learning. In all
humans, fear and learning does not go well together.

11. Maintaining momentum 11
Closing reflections
If you do not develop your
corporate culture, it will develop
itself. Corporate culture doesn't
happen by accident--and if it
does, it’s probably not what you
want.

12. Maintaining momentum 12better together ... we deliver 12
Q&A