Engaged people central to cultural change: van der Merwe

" [Culture, talent and engagement] are actually going to be critical to the success of transformation."
Kathryn van der Merwe, ANZ Group Executive, Talent & Culture

Speaking to BlueNotes on video, Kathryn van der Merwe said business should recognise these attributes, far from “soft”, underlie sustainable businesses.

van der Merwe, who takes up the executive role at ANZ in May, said evolving attitudes to the workforce was an important part of the changes businesses need to make to become more agile while responding to the digital revolution.

She said culture, talent, skills and capabilities needed to be the central focus of a high performance organisation.

“Those things are going to be critical to the success of (our) transformation,” van der Merwe said.

“Organisations that transform successfully have clarity and alignment on why we need to change and where we're heading..... and, very importantly.... invest in bringing the people onboard”.

van der Merwe also touched on the importance of an engaged workforce, the nuances of culture in banking and measures of success in transformation.

Watch the videos above to find out more.

Andrew Cornell is managing editor at BlueNotes