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Board culture
Why shaping a positive and effective company culture should be a priority for every organisation's board
GOVERNANCE
Matthew McClelland
Associate Consultant, Campbell Tickell
Matthew McClelland
Associate Consultant, Campbell Tickell
Issue 79 | September 2025
Organisational culture is the everyday reality of how people behave, make decisions and relate to one another. It shapes the way work gets done, how problems are solved and people’s experience of the organisation, whether they’re frontline colleagues, leaders, or clients.
Culture is defined by shared assumptions, habits and behaviours. Some of it is clearly documented – policies, systems, processes. But much of it is informal. The tone of meetings, what people feel safe to say and what’s rewarded or ignored.
If culture can feel intangible, there’s no doubt it has tangible effects. It influences strategy delivery, how people collaborate, how change is handled and whether or not values are lived. The best-laid plans can falter or fail if the culture doesn’t support them.
Board culture shapes organisational culture
The culture of the board itself is critical. Governance codes commonly recognise this. For example, the UK Corporate Governance Code, the Charity Governance Code, the Higher Education Code of Governance, and the National Housing Federation (NHF) Code of Governance all stress that boards should not only oversee culture but actively shape and model it.
The board sets expectations for leadership, accountability and the tone of relationships across the organisation. The board’s ability to support, challenge, listen and learn creates a climate that influences everyone else. They set the tone not by what is said but by how they act.
“The boardroom is where culture is formed or fractured. It needs to be treated as seriously as strategy and risk: it is the foundation of both.”
What does good culture look like?
The building blocks of good board and organisational culture are remarkably consistent across different sectors:
- integrity and transparency
- respectful relationships and psychological safety
- challenge, reflection and continuous learning
- inclusion and diversity of thought
- alignment with mission, values and purpose
The boardroom is where culture is formed or fractured. It needs to be treated as seriously as strategy and risk: it is the foundation of both.
“The boardroom is where culture is formed or fractured. It needs to be treated as seriously as strategy and risk: it is the foundation of both.”
What does good culture look like?
The building blocks of good board and organisational culture are remarkably consistent across different sectors:
- integrity and transparency
- respectful relationships and psychological safety
- challenge, reflection and continuous learning
- inclusion and diversity of thought
- alignment with mission, values and purpose
The boardroom is where culture is formed or fractured. It needs to be treated as seriously as strategy and risk: it is the foundation of both.
What should boards be doing?
1 Set the tone and model the behaviours
High-performing boards actively demonstrate the behaviours they expect across the organisation. A good starting point is to use the organisation’s values to define how the board operates, the relationship between non-executives and executives and how the board holds itself accountable.
Rigorous evaluation of board effectiveness and individual board member appraisals should expressly consider culture and behaviours, and should provide opportunities for executives, colleagues and stakeholders to give their perspectives.
Are we modelling the culture we want others to follow?
2 Treat culture as a governance priority and a strategic enabler
High-performing boards have regular, purposeful discussions about culture. Defining the organisational culture that’s required to deliver the strategy is the starting point.
Regular, open discussions are critical to understanding whether culture is aligned to strategy, where it supports or hinders performance, and what behaviours are emerging across the organisation.
Is culture a standing item in our strategy, risk, and assurance conversations?
3 Seek insight and assurance, not just data
High-performing boards use a range of different types of evidence to get under the surface of organisational culture. Metrics like employee turnover and engagement survey outcomes are important indicators of organisational culture.
Other sources, like employee voice, board walkabouts and behavioural observations, are important for triangulation and to test alignment between values and lived experience.
Are we engaging enough with the organisation to understand culture beyond the performance dashboard?
4 Be curious about how others experience the board
High-performing boards use external assurance to assess how people experience board culture. It can be hard for boards to gauge the kind of environment they have created.
Board members can be surprised to find that colleagues experience the culture quite differently from what is intended, or that different cultures exist in different parts of the governance structure. Independent assurance provides a mechanism for individuals to provide free and frank views, which means the Board can have confidence that it is getting a fair and rounded picture of what the culture is really like.
Do we really know how people experience us or have we got too rosy a picture?
1 Set the tone and model the behaviour
High-performing boards actively demonstrate the behaviours they expect across the organisation. A good starting point is to use the organisation’s values to define how the board operates, the relationship between non-executives and executives and how the board holds itself accountable.
Rigorous evaluation of board effectiveness and individual board member appraisals should expressly consider culture and behaviours, and should provide opportunities for executives, colleagues and stakeholders to give their perspectives.
Are we modelling the culture we want others to follow?
2 Treat culture as a governance priority and a strategic enabler
High-performing boards have regular, purposeful discussions about culture. Defining the organisational culture that’s required to deliver the strategy is the starting point.
Regular, open discussions are critical to understanding whether culture is aligned to strategy, where it supports or hinders performance, and what behaviours are emerging across the organisation.
Is culture a standing item in our strategy, risk, and assurance conversations?
3 Seek insight and assurance, not just data
High-performing boards use a range of different types of evidence to get under the surface of organisational culture. Metrics like employee turnover and engagement survey outcomes are important indicators of organisational culture.
Other sources, like employee voice, board walkabouts and behavioural observations, are important for triangulation and to test alignment between values and lived experience.
Are we engaging enough with the organisation to understand culture beyond the performance dashboard?
4 Be curious about how others experience the board
High-performing boards use external assurance to assess how people experience board culture. It can be hard for boards to gauge the kind of environment they have created.
Board members can be surprised to find that colleagues experience the culture quite differently from what is intended, or that different cultures exist in different parts of the governance structure. Independent assurance provides a mechanism for individuals to provide free and frank views, which means the Board can have confidence that it is getting a fair and rounded picture of what the culture is really like.
Do we really know how people experience us or have we got too rosy a picture?
Campbell Tickell’s multi-disciplinary team of experts supports boards to govern culture with confidence. We offer a range of tailored services, including board effectiveness reviews, board member appraisals, facilitated board discussions about culture and behaviours, and culture diagnostics.
