Effectively navigating a cultural transformation

P&N Group, represented by PN Bank in Western Australia, was awarded the Gerard Daniels Human Resource Management Excellence Award at the 2023 AIM WA Pinnacle Awards – an accolade achieved as a result of the organisation’s collaborative cultural renovation within its workforce.

As part of its five-year strategy, P&N Group’s initiative aimed to preserve its core values, capitalise on strengths and create a plan to achieve its cultural renovation.

Additionally, the simultaneously introduced Employer Value Proposition (EVP) solidified its aspiration to be an employer of choice.

By involving all tiers of its organisation with purpose-driven initiatives and resources, P&N Group successfully fuelled its ambitious goal to showcase how an organisation and its individuals can effectively navigate and shape cultural evolution. 

The inspiration behind the renovation

P&N Group Chief People Officer Christine MacKenzie said the group’s focus on culture underpinned its high employee engagement, its employer of choice aspirations and the optimal delivery of its five-year strategic plan.  

“We believe the best workplace cultures are those shaped by, and with, their people, which is why we prioritised cultivating an engaged and fit-for-purpose culture as one of the four key enablers of our five-year strategic plan,” she said. 

“With an existing strong culture to build on, we co-created a cultural renovation with our people to maintain our values, leverage our strengths and set a clear path of cultural evolution to support our strategic plan throughout its duration.”

What did the initiative outline and include? 

Bolstered by the belief that good culture translates to a great customer experience, Ms MacKenzie said P&N Group ensured that each of its people had a role to play in the program’s success.

“Our people were proud of our past, excited for our future and highly engaged, which favoured a cultural renovation, as opposed to a cultural revolution,” she said.

“While some organisations may choose to select pre-existing cultural values, we knew we needed to go the extra mile for our people and create our own. 

“We sought feedback from a third of our employees on the cultural elements they believed should remain and those which should get a fresh coat of paint.”

Ms MacKenzie said the extensive process identified a series of nine themes, which were then categorised into the four cultural priorities that formed the basis of the cultural renovation program – Customers at our Core, Empowered to Act, Hold our People High and Brave to be Better. 

“The program focused on one priority each quarter through a national internal campaign prioritising the involvement of our people at all levels,” she said.

“We adopted a three-pronged model for each bi-monthly campaign, comprising the foundations of read, experience and participate.

“Each cultural priority campaign commenced with an article from an executive discussing their connection with the priority area.

“Subsequent articles built on this with content from a broad range of employees and senior leaders.

“We then focused on creating experiences and learning opportunities for our people to live and breathe each priority.

“Initiatives were held online, at our corporate offices and in branches, including upskilling workshops, keynotes from external speakers, and virtual Q&A sessions with senior leaders and our executive team. 

“Representing the bulk of campaigns, the final part of the delivery model created space to establish tangible links between the cultural priorities and individuals’ experiences of work.”

Involving all tiers of the organisation

By engaging every level of P&N Group with fit-for-purpose actions and resources, Ms MacKenzie said the organisation could create the momentum needed to support its visionary plans for cultural change. 

A leadership development program and board-level commitments supplemented the all-employee engagement.

P&N Group at the 2023 AIM WA Pinnacle Awards

“Targeted at senior leaders, the leadership development program introduced the cultural priority areas before they were rolled out, equipping the cohort with the tools needed to encourage and reinforce target behaviours,” Ms MacKenzie said.

“We used a simple model of ‘know the way, go the way and show the way’ to help them understand their requirements.”

Ms Mackenzie said board support was essential to ensure the cultural renovation program aligned with P&N Group’s five-year strategy. 

“We set a series of board commitments using a four-quadrant model designed by the Australian Institute of Company Directors,” she said. 

“This meant the cultural renovation was supported by a clearly defined set of actions, accountabilities, reporting lines and processes.” 

The Employer Value Proposition

Launched alongside P&N Group’s cultural renovation, its EVP focuses on six key areas of the employee experience – people feel that they belong, are invested in, cared for, recognised, aligned and part of something bigger.

The group’s employer brand tagline ‘Flourish. Together. For better’ underpinned employer brand communications and campaigns.

Ms MacKenzie said the EVP had three primary meanings, with ‘flourish’ denoting growth and wellbeing, forming part of the brand belief that humans cannot flourish alone.

‘Together’ describes trust and cooperation across employer, employees and community; the final part of the tagline speaks to continual improvement, performance and transformation both internally and within the communities the group serves.

“P&N Group is committed to being an employer of choice,” Ms MacKenzie said.

“We believe it’s important to offer our people a unique employee experience they value, and one which will continue to attract the future talent we need to deliver our five-year strategy and beyond."

“We believe our culture is a real point of difference, and our EVP tagline helps us to communicate this to our current and future employees while fitting well alongside our organisational belief, purpose, vision and values.”

Paving the way for a better community 

According to Ms MacKenzie, P&N Group’s cultural renovation has had a significant impact on both the organisation and its employees.    

“By prioritising culture, and investing time and energy, we have been able to foster a strong sense of community and collaboration, which continues to this day,” she said. 

“We have embedded the four cultural priorities of Customers at our Core, Empowered to Act, Hold our People High and Brave to be Better into our everyday operations and feel safe to hold each other to account.”

Ms MacKenzie said P&N Group actively promoted and encouraged an internal community by involving its people in cross-functional projects. 

“Initiatives such as our Environment, Social and Governance Strategy, Reconciliation Action Plan, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are some examples of the ways we work together to create meaningful change as an organisation,” she said. 

“This collaborative approach has been crucial in building a better community and culture within our organisation.”

Shaping and inspiring progress 

Ms MacKenzie said winning the Gerard Daniels Human Resource Management Excellence Award was a testament to the hard work, creativity and commitment of those involved in developing P&N Group’s cultural renovation initiative, as well as its people for living and breathing its culture and values every day.

She said the achievement had been integral in shaping and inspiring progress and initiatives since. 

“The award has motivated us to continuously invest in and maintain our culture,” Ms MacKenzie said. 

“We measure our progress every six months and report our findings to our board. 

“Additionally, we leverage data from our company-wide engagement and pulse surveys to identify key point-in-time focus areas. 

“This diligence ensures we prioritise our efforts and stay attuned to our cultural dynamics. 

“Our dedicated people and culture division actively collaborates with employees to provide the necessary support and resources, making meaningful impacts on our culture.”

Ms MacKenzie said there were several initiatives in the pipeline to keep the organisation on this positive path. 

“We are about to launch a new Learning Strategy, which emphasises the resources available to all our people and ways to make learning a priority,” she said. 

“Recognising operational demands may overshadow learning, we aim to make proactive learning our competitive advantage. 

“Additionally, we are focused on improving teamwork across the group, and will work closely with our people to ensure clarity in how we work together to foster the necessary dialogues and forums to maintain strong collaboration.”

P&N Group nominated Noongar Mia Mia – a not-for-profit First Nations-owned and operated community housing provider – to benefit from its $20,000 training prize.

To learn more about the Pinnacle Awards, view the following related articles.