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Russell Reynolds Associates Acquires Cultural Analytics Business From Workplace Analytics
Russell Reynolds Associates announced that it has acquired the Cultural Analytics business of Workplace Analytics, LLC, the academic-led provider of data-driven insights and analysis about corporate culture. By acquiring this capability, Russell Reynolds Associates expands its culture assessment portfolio to assist CEOs, boards of directors and Chief Human Resources Officers in more accurately identifying deep-rooted issues within a company's culture and creating cultures that drive performance, spur innovation and foster collaboration – on a global scale.
Most organizations recognize the importance of culture but struggle to understand the true contours of their cultures. As a result, they face uphill battles in shaping agile, inclusive cultures that propel growth. And, they are too often taken by surprise by toxic micro-cultures that tolerate or promote misbehavior.
The Cultural Analytics methodology developed by Workplace Analytics brings new rigor to areas of business operations that have long been considered largely immune to accurate measurement. By utilizing proprietary analytic methods drawn from behavioral economics, social psychology and advanced survey research, this approach pinpoints where leadership and board action on culture is most needed.
The platform was developed by several of the United States' top academic researchers in the fields of behavioral economics and political science, including Daniel Diermeier, the current Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, Randy Stevenson of Rice University and Lynn Vavreck of UCLA. The members of the Workplace Analytics team will also join Russell Reynolds Associates as consultants, where they will continue to help develop and customize the platform, as well as serving as advisors on the firm's newly-established Leadership Analytics Advisory Board.
"Most culture surveys lie to you – providing either murky or misleading pictures of the true risks embedded in organizational culture, and that matters," said Clarke Murphy, CEO of Russell Reynolds Associates. "Without an accurate measure of current culture, leadership teams and boards will struggle to build the agile, inclusive cultures required to drive growth in a fast-changing world – and they will be caught off guard by behavioral and cultural risk that typical culture surveys fail to measure."
"The Cultural Analytics business is a perfect fit for Russell Reynolds Associates, as its platform offers an MRI-like scan into embedded cultural issues that can elude even the most engaged CEOs and board members. This acquisition immediately enhances our ability to advise clients on how to find and mitigate these unseen risks."
"Few would argue the importance of corporate culture in driving organizational success, but the techniques most businesses employ to change their cultures typically fail to uncover the hard truths that can help deliver that success," said Daniel Diermeier. "Our analytical approach creates the conditions for candor, uncovering how a culture really works and revealing what leaders need to hear rather than what they want to hear. In concert with Russell Reynolds Associates, we offer an approach that brings together the best of both the art and the science of leadership and management."
Anthony Abbatiello, who leads Russell Reynolds Associates' global Leadership and Succession business, added, "Time and again we see that an effective approach to resolving culture issues requires changes from both corporate leadership as well as bottom-up behavioral shifts. But this can't be achieved unless we can pinpoint the issues that pose the greatest dangers to the culture. Given this challenge, the Cultural Analytics methodology seamlessly complements our executive-level counsel. It's a tremendous evolution in our ability to identify practices that negatively impact our clients' performance and to deliver resolution strategies."
