Background
UKTV, initially a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media (who later sold to Scripps Networks Interactive), faced a cultural and commercial crisis in 2010. The lure of the rapidly growing digital sector meant the business wasn’t keeping or attracting talent, and a Best Companies’ survey revealed a disengaged and frustrated workforce.
A partnership with The Culture Builders, instigated by the new CEO, marked the start of a complete cultural transformation, beginning with a comprehensive culture audit in 2011. The imperative to create a high-performance culture which nurtured creativity was clear; and the organisation’s ambition and actions were defined and brought to life, with shared ownership, passion and belief at their core.
"A high-performance culture which nurtures creativity"
Approach
A series of executive leadership sessions, including the innovative Bank of Me programme explored the link between company and individual purpose, self-awareness, building trust and working as a team for high performance. This programme has since been rolled out organisation-wide. Manager engagement has included 360° feedback, personality-type profiling, and a transition from annual appraisals to six-weekly catchups.
An Innovation Pot was launched to support creativity by enabling anyone in the company to put an idea forward to be considered for financial backing. Over £1m worth of investment has been made in such projects to date with the next evolution of the initiative, The Innovation Fund, launched in 2017.
Outcome
UKTV has seen record operating profits and EBITDA growth of 11.3% for 2016; an increase of over a third in the past three years. From a disappointing initial result, UKTV quickly became the only broadcaster to achieve Best Company status and a Top 100 position. The Culture Builders has helped UKTV to develop an organisational culture that creates conditions from which success has clearly and measurably emerged.