A Shared Platform to Clarify and Activate Organizational Culture
Following the pandemic, a leading Nordic hospitality company experienced a cultural gap driven by high employee turnover. There was a clear need to re-establish a shared culture and reinforce the core values across the organization.
Ahead of a broader cultural initiative, the organization required a common framework to consolidate, clarify, and visualize its culture—both as strategic direction and as practical guidance in everyday work. The objective was to develop a Culture Playbook to serve as the foundation for activating and embedding culture throughout the company.
What we did
The challenge was to translate values and cultural principles into something concrete and relevant for different target groups—from hotel operations to support functions, and from frontline employees to leaders.
The framework needed to be unified, yet practical and inspiring enough to be applied in daily work and integrated into existing processes. The ambition was not to redefine the culture, but to strengthen what already existed and sharpen focus on selected values to meet future demands.
We developed a Culture Playbook as a shared cultural platform, bringing together purpose, values, and expected behaviors.
To ensure authenticity and relevance, we:
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Conducted interviews with key stakeholders across functions and levels
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Distributed employee surveys to selected units in each country to capture frontline perspectives
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Integrated qualitative and quantitative insights directly into the content
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Refined and anchored the framework together with the executive steering group
Results
The result is a finalized Culture Playbook serving as a practical guide for the entire organization.
The Playbook brings the company’s core values to life through:
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Concrete behavioral examples
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Common missteps linked to each value
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Reflection questions to stimulate dialogue
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Leadership guidance on how to model and reinforce the values in daily practice
The Playbook now forms the foundation for broader culture activation across leadership development, team development, and employee engagement initiatives, and supports the large-scale roll-out planned during 2025.
Outcome
The organization now has a shared cultural reference point—clear enough to guide behavior and flexible enough to support different parts of the business.
The Culture Playbook strengthens alignment, reinforces desired behaviors, and provides a scalable platform for long-term cultural development.
