ANZ Bank cultural assessment tool

In 2016, ANZ designed a cultural assessment tool to measure four key ‘levers’ identified as affecting its organisational culture and the way its people worked:

• leadership (tone from the top)
• middle management (tone from the middle)
• risk environment
• transparency (‘speak up’ culture).

ANZ’s internal audit team uses this tool to assess culture within the business in four steps. First, it engages with ‘business leadership’ to clarify the assessment process and determine its scope. Second, it conducts an online survey of relevant employees, with a target response rate of 60%, and undertakes a statistical analysis of the data returned. Third, it conducts focus groups and individual interviews with relevant employees to clarify cultural strengths and challenges and undertakes associated root-cause analysis. Fourth, it engages with the business about the outcomes of the survey, which involves: 

• presenting an executive summary to the leadership team
• the leadership team developing an action plan to address any cultural issues identified by the analysis over a three-month period, with oversight from the internal audit team
• continuing engagement with management to discuss the effectiveness of agreed actions, with formal reassessments undertaken as needed. 

By 30 June 2018, ANZ’s internal audit team had conducted more than 30 culture assessment reviews, covering over 21,000 ANZ employees. ANZ has indicated that certain business units will be reassessed, so that it can evaluate cultural change in those units over time. Shayne Elliott, CEO of ANZ, said that this work produced ‘enormously valuable information’ and had played a part in changing ‘the culture and the conversation at the most senior level of the bank’. He said his team, the board and the Human Resources Committee all cared about, and are giving consistent consideration to, the results of the culture audits.