A recent CFA Institute article reports findings of a new culture survey conducted by Full Circle Group (FCG) showing  that 97% of investment professionals believe culture provides a competitive advantage.

“Why then,” the article notes, “have so few investment firms—only 10% by our estimates—succeeded in creating one?”

According to the article, the high failure rate has to do with a lack of consistency—citing the analogy of a New Year’s resolution to get fit, only to be back to one’s old habits by February.

The article outlines analysis conducted by the CFA Institute of successful investment firms, which found the following factors to be essential:

• Commitment from the Senior Team
• Proper diagnosis of the existing and preferred culture, resulting in a plan.
• Buy-in from employees plus a critical mass of “True Believers”
• Execution of the plan/change management skills
• Ongoing measurement of progress

The article offers detailed discussion of each factor as well as implementation strategies, concluding, “Culture change is possible. Many attempts fail. But our formula is straightforward and within any firm’s reach if the commitment is sincere. In every case we know of where culture change failed, the decisive factor was lack of commitment.”