EIR

Culture Audit | Values and Behaviours Development | Organisational Engagement

As Ireland's leading telecommunications provider, eir was undergoing significant transformation to position itself for the future of technology and communications. Having set ambitious strategic goals, the Leadership Team recognised that the culture of the organisation needed to evolve to support the next phase of growth. Genesis was asked to support the team to deliver a comprehensive culture audit, values evolution and engagement programme designed to create a unified, high-performing organisation aligned to deliver exceptional results for customers, stakeholders, and for Ireland.

At its core, the focus of the work was on moving the organisation from distinct business units and cultures to a more cohesive, performance-driven organisation with shared values and behaviours. This would bring about the right cultural conditions for eir to achieve its strategic ambitions and maintain its position as a technology and communications leader.

Our starting point was to conduct an extensive culture diagnostic which included staff focus groups, executive depth interviews, and a comprehensive employee consultation run over one week with 120 staff representatives from different teams, functions, and levels across the organisation through an online community platform. This foundational consultation provided deep insight into the lived experience of eir's culture, identifying both strengths to build upon and areas requiring evolution and nurturing.

Through this initial diagnostic phase, Genesis conducted a thorough analysis of eir's ‘as-is’ cultural reality as well as the cultural requirements needed to deliver the ambitious strategy. The discovery revealed key insights into where the organisation could further unify people, technology, and service delivery.

Genesis then implemented a collaborative workshop series with senior stakeholders to evolve eir's values and behaviours. Working closely with the Leadership Team, Genesis facilitated a strategic culture direction-setting process that resulted in five evolved core values, each supported by specific, observable behaviours and clear standards for how people and teams could begin to embed them. All of this was done in the context of building the values and behaviours into performance management and accountability frameworks across the employee lifecycle.

The programme then moved to implementation through an innovative engagement model. Genesis worked with eir to bring together the top 100 leaders across the organisation in collaborative summits to discuss the new values and behaviours and develop practical approaches for implementation across the wider organisation. This "train the trainer" approach empowered leaders to become cultural champions, driving change within their own teams and divisions.

These leaders were equipped to deliver an organisation-wide engagement process, ensuring every employee had the opportunity to consider the new values, reflect on their role in building the required culture, and commit to specific actions that would bring the values to life in their daily work.

The comprehensive approach has positioned eir for its next phase of transformation, providing clear cultural direction that supports both operational excellence and strategic ambition. The programme has established a new foundation for sustained cultural change.

QUOTE

The work on shaping eir’s culture and values has been a pivotal moment in eir’s journey, creating the conditions that will enable us to deliver on our performance ambition to be the number one choice for telecommunications and technology solutions.  Genesis have been instrumental in partnering with the senior leadership team and with colleagues across the business to help us to articulate the values and behaviours that are key to our next chapter of growth.  Their skilful guidance and expertise led to the creation of a highly authentic set of values that has resonated strongly at all levels. 

Sandra Donohue, Chief People Officer, eir