Key take-aways from AICD Director Download: What’s your board’s role in leading organisational culture online?

Last week I addressed members of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in a keynote entitled, ‘What’s your board’s role in leading organisational culture online?’ We discussed the challenge of leading culture, the online facets of culture in today’s world, and what this means for directors on boards. Here are some of the key points from the presentation.

The challenge of culture in today’s world

• Culture is more than a code of ethics; it’s the WHO, WHY and HOW of the organisation
• Culture is intangible BUT visible – including online!
• There are official and unofficial representations of culture found online that must be considered. ‘Official’ includes the company website and social media program; the ‘unofficial’ includes things like media mentions, customer reviews and staff members’ personal social media activity
• It’s important to have an awareness of how ‘private’ social media isn’t
• Paying attention to representations of culture online ensures you consider what is now a valid layer of culture in today’s world and can be a great tool to ‘take the pulse’ of real culture. Online representations can break down the positive or perpetuate the negative if not attended to, and therefore need to be a seriously considered part of a PR risk minimisation strategy.

Read on below for strategies and possible solutions for the board’s role in leading culture online.