There has not been a company which has had a run of worse publicity in 2024 than Boeing. Unfortunately it has been self-inflicted. I recently participated in a webinar with Sam Silverstein on what Boeing can do to try and pull itself out of the miasma it now finds itself in which has led to regulatory and criminal scrutiny, critical damage to its reputation, loss of market share, deterioration of its customer relationships, resignation of its CEO and destruction of trust within its massive workforce.
The webinar began with a dive into Boeing’s historical mergers, particularly with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, which marked a significant cultural shift within the company. Initially, Boeing was renowned for its high engineering standards, but post-merger, a more bottom-line-focused culture from McDonnell Douglas took precedence. This shift from quality to cost-efficiency laid the groundwork for the issues Boeing faces today.
This consequence of a post-merger cultural misalignments led to deep-rooted issues. For Boeing, this resulted in a culture where the drive to reduce costs and increase profitability overshadowed the foundational emphasis on engineering excellence and safety. This cultural shift manifested in various high-profile crises, such as the 737 Max incidents, which were symptomatic of broader systemic problems—problems where the cultural ethos of safety and thoroughness was compromised. Further when cultural values are misaligned with corporate actions, both employee morale and product quality suffered significantly.
The most important question for Boeing is how it begins a culture comeback. It all begins with the top leadership for they play the key role in any cultural transformation. The reason is straight forward; that true change starts at the top—leaders must embody the values they wish to see throughout the organization. This involves more than just setting policies; it requires leaders to actively promote a culture of quality, safety, and integrity.
Fortunately there is a blueprint for Boeing to begin a culture turnaround. It is the process used by compliance professionals to handle ethics and compliance risks. The process itself is simply but execution is not always easy. The process is Assessment leads to Strategy Development leads to Strategy Implementation leads to Monitoring of Strategy Implementation leads to Continuous Improvement.
With a company the size of Boeing, you need a comprehensive software tool which can assess the corporate culture in a wide variety of measures. Trust, ethics, health, safety, values, beliefs, clarity of mission, quality of decision making, the value of people, the quality of engagement, accountability, innovation and change, and leadership are but some of the areas which need to be measured in your initial assessment.
In short you need a tool designed to diagnose and understand your organization’s cultural health. This assessment is not just about identifying weaknesses but also reinforcing strengths. By systematically analyzing various cultural facets—like accountability, ethics, employee engagement, and safety—a culture assessment can offer actionable insights that guide strategic change.
By using a software tool to diagnose and understand the current state of organizational culture, you will obtain both data about the state of your culture and actionable insights which you can use to form the basis of your comeback strategy. An effective culture assessment can reveal areas of strength to build upon and weaknesses that require strategic interventions. For instance, if there is a deficiency in trust and safety in manufacturing; leadership can make it clear that safety is the No. 1 priority. Management can celebrate those who come forward with safety issues in the manufacturing process instead of marginalizing them.
Next is implementation of the strategy though training and communications throughout the company. Once again, such an approach is the well-known to the compliance community. Further it is simple but will require effort and commitment by senior management. In 2022 Boeing reported roughly 156,000 employees, representing 47 nationalities in 65 countries around the globe. Yet think of the comeback Siemens made after its 2008 bribery and corruption scandal. With a similar number of employees literally around the globe, the company’s top leadership made clear through in-person training and communications that a change was going to happen.
Not surprising, what Siemens management found was that employees were literally sick and tired of being known as the bribery and corruption company. Boeing employees are the same way. They take tremendous pride in working for their organization. They will embrace any change to get back to the company’s roots of quality and excellence.
Next is the ongoing monitoring of the implemented strategy, which forms an essential component going forward. You cannot simply implement your strategy but also monitor the results. Using software tools like the Culture Audit allows companies to continuously gauge their progress and make adjustments where necessary.
From monitoring you then move to continuous improvement. A data driven approach will allow your organization to provide additional resources, communications and training where needed. This continuous feedback loop is crucial in maintaining cultural health and aligning it with the company’s strategic objectives.
The lessons from Boeing are applicable globally across industries. Every organization aiming for long-term success needs to prioritize a culture that aligns with its values and objectives. A healthy corporate culture not only supports a positive internal environment but also enhances the company’s reputation and reliability in the eyes of its customers and stakeholders. For companies in cultural crisis, facing their cultural challenges head-on with transparent, actionable strategies offers a path to regain trust and ensure sustainable success. As corporate landscapes continue to evolve, the principles discussed will remain vital for any organization committed to meaningful, enduring change.
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