The Table Group : creating cultural competitive advantages
Rick Van Arnam , Principle Consultant at The Table Group , describes how he has helped Quontic Bank to unify its culture and focus its corporate vision
“ People today want to make a difference . They want to know that the company they ’ re working for has a unique purpose to which they can contribute ,” states Rick Van Arnam , Principle Consultant with The Table Group . In 1997 , this is exactly what the company set out to do : help executives and teams cohere , define their corporate vision , establish a unified identity , and encourage innovation through outstanding culture . With a diverse set of skills under his belt , Van Arnam found that The Table Group presented him with an interesting new challenge : “ In addition to the consulting arm , the company is actually more of an idea factory around all things related to organisational health . It ’ s improving the world of work .”
Helping leaders across several industries , The Table Group ’ s consultants engage with them to master four core disciplines : build a cohesive leadership team , create organisational clarity , over-communicate that clarity and reinforce clarity through simpler and less bureaucratic systems and processes . Markedly a culture-focused approach instead of technological , Van Arnam says that there is a good reason for this : “ During the 2008 recession , we discovered that companies were investing a lot of time and effort in the ‘ smart side ’ of the business . However , everybody actually has access to a lot of the same technology . Therefore , if you ’ re going to win , you ’ re going to have to do more ; you need to transform the organisation itself and operate differently .”
One company which has truly taken this advice to heart is Quontic Bank . Having known Patrick Sells , CIO , for a decade , Van Arnam states that the company is uniquely positioned as an organisation attempting a method of operating which breaks away from industry preconceptions . “ We helped Quontic Bank answer six simple but critically important questions : ‘ Why do we exist ?’ ‘ How are we going to behave ?’ ‘ What do we do ?’ ‘ How are we going to succeed ?’ ‘ What ’ s most important right now ?’ and finally ‘ What are our roles and responsibilities ?’”
Van Arnam believes that Quontic Bank ’ s wholehearted receptiveness to The Table Group ’ s ideas has distinguished it as one of its closest collaborations . “ Quontic ’ s emphasis on culture is going to be really important ,” he concludes . “ I think it ’ s going to help them attract talent on the heels of what has been a war on talent . Continually revisiting the six critical questions , maintaining core values and onboarding people the correct way will help position it to meet the upcoming challenges .”
Rick . vanarnam @ tablegroupconsulting . com