One of the most encouraging developments in leadership in the past decade is the ownership of culture at the very top of an organisation. The first time that I noticed this was in 2003 when I attended a women with MBAs networking event at IAG. The keynote speaker was Sam Mostyn and at the time her title was something wonderful like director of culture and reputation.
I had (and still have) only worked in the media industry where it was every man for himself on the culture front. But the implication of that leadership role captured my imagination. One of my first decisions as CEO of Private Media was to appoint a Head of People and Culture. An investment in a role like that is literally an investment in the people and the culture. Media organisations are about the people and we care deeply about ours.
Our Head of People and Culture is in the leadership team because we recognise that culture is a leadership responsibility. If the leadership team is working together to drive the business forward in a visible manner then their teams will be more likely to do so too. That’s why weeding out leaders with political agendas, push-back personalities and those adverse to change is critical.
I have always taken ‘cultural fit’ to mean hiring for the culture that you are trying to move to. You won’t get it right in every instance – and I certainly have taken two steps forward and one back on this front throughout my 20-year management career. But when it’s right you know pretty quickly. Cultural change from that point on can be speedy.
When I was searching for a COO and 2-I-C earlier in the year, Jason Kibsgaard moved to the top of the pile within the first five minutes of the interview. His impeccable skill set landed him the interview, alongside four others. On paper he was everything I was looking for. But it was the immediate cultural fit that captured me. Jason embodied everything that I hoped Private Media would become. He is open, warm and generous of spirit. He genuinely cares about people and will often contact me out of hours to check in if we have had a particularly challenging day or week.
Our strong working relationship is on show to the entire organisation, as is the way we work collaboratively with every member of the leadership team. I have noticed that in a fairly short period of time silos have broken down and there is much more cross-departmental interaction at every level of the organisation. One of my happiest moments in recent weeks was coming out of a meeting in the Melbourne boardroom and being drawn to the kitchen area by some loud laughter and chatter. Around the large communal lunch table was a team member from virtually every department in the business. They were so engrossed in each other’s company that they didn’t see me momentarily spying on them from the doorway or the broad grin on my face. It was one of my proudest moments.