Sony Music's HR SVP on leading company culture

While employees’ beliefs and values can have a direct impact on a company’s culture, an organisation’s leaders can be the driving force behind this, as they have the power to lead by example and map out the direction of the business.

For example, a previous Forbes article shared that leadership can help to lay the foundation of culture to empower employees to achieve a company’s goal. And it seems executives are aware of this, as previous research by Deloitte discovered that 94% of executives believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success. The same study revealed that employees (88%) also believe that a strong company purpose is vital for a business to be successful.

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This is a notion that Ben Farmer, SVP for International HR at Sony Music, also concurred with as he vehemently told HR Grapevine: “Effective leadership on culture initiatives is absolutely crucial.” While he pointed out that there are a number of situations where leadership is necessary, in particular regards HR leadership, Farmer pointed out that this is key when organisation’s think about building company culture.

Research by Deloitte stated that to get this right 76% of staff members believe that a well-defined strategy is the key to crafting a positive work culture, a similar method Sony Music also used to define its own. This included “establishing a strong wellbeing culture from the top early on” which in turn “helped the UK company prepare for the challenges now experienced during lockdown”.