The Culture Fix® Case Study: Culture Fulfillment at Turnberry

At Turnberry, a fast-growing food ingredients company with 22 employees, company culture was evolving, but leadership wanted their team’s culture to demonstrate cohesion and alignment. Traditional performance metrics were in place, yet something was missing, such as workplace culture, staff culture, and company culture. The leadership realized that focusing on KPIs alone didn't fully represent the values they wanted to instill in their company. The solution came through The Culture Fix®'s Culture Fulfillment Program, led by Will Scott. This program transformed the company's culture, aligning values with employee behavior and performance. The result was a more engaged, motivated workforce, consistency, and business outcomes.

Before working with The Culture Fix®, Turnberry’s leadership faced challenges with maintaining a consistent company culture. Although they were achieving business growth, there was a lack of unity in the company. Leadership observed a disconnect among teams, with employees focused on individual KPIs rather than working together towards common goals. They understand the value of workplace culture.

Employees were often evaluated solely on performance metrics, which left gaps in their engagement with the company's core values. The management team, composed of the CEO, Sales Manager, Finance Manager, and HR Manager, knew they needed a new way to improve company culture—one that would prioritize values alongside performance, creating a shared sense of purpose and camaraderie.

In response, Turnberry partnered with The Culture Fix® to implement the Culture Fulfillment Program, which was designed to create a values-driven workplace culture where employees' behaviors and performance would align with the company’s core values. This program involved several key components.

Core Values

At the core of Turnberry’s identity are their values: Independent Thinking and Right Balance, striving for Achievement, Customer focus, and Malasakit. These values aren’t just words; they serve as guiding principles that shape every decision, interaction, and strategy within the organization.

Independent Thinking and Right Balance emphasize the importance of accountability and fostering innovation while ensuring a healthy equilibrium between professional and personal pursuits.

Strive for Achievement reflects their relentless pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement across all levels.

Customer-focused highlights their dedication to building lasting connections, delivering exceptional service, truly listening to their customers, and creating a unique company culture consulting. 

Malasakit, a key value rooted in their Filipino culture, stands for "compassion" and underscores the idea that when employees take care of the company, the company, in turn, takes care of them—embodying a familial sense of unity and mutual respect. 

These values provide the foundation for Turnberry’s culture and are brought to life through their practices and interactions with company culture.

Turnberry embraced the concept of their team as a “tribe,” with their CEO acting as the leader. Instead of just following orders, employees were hired based on their fit with the company’s core values, fostering a deeper connection and alignment.

Stephen Gan, Jr., President, described this shift by saying,

“The beauty of working with core values is that you hire people who align with those values, creating a cohesive tribe. It’s not just about employees following orders; it’s about building connections and making decisions more easily because everyone shares the same philosophy and beliefs. As a result, it contributes to a happy, professional, and harmonious working environment, which reinforces overall satisfaction and productivity”.

Leveraging Core Values in Tools and Processes 

The company’s recruitment process also shifted, with core values playing a central role in interviews. Candidates were asked about their alignment with these values, which helped attract individuals who were excited to join a company that prioritized organizational culture survey. These ways to improve company culture not only made recruitment easier but also ensured that new hires were a strong fit for the company’s values.

The introduction of the Core Score™ system, rooted in core values, allowed Turnberry to evaluate employees not only on traditional performance metrics but also on their alignment with core values and workplace culture survey. This system was integrated into annual performance reviews, ensuring that every employee was assessed holistically. As a result, one of their underperforming employees, whom mgmt. wanted to be booted out, the employee initiated to resign since he felt he was not living by the Company’s Core values, specifically, Striving for Achievement.

“Everyone is very cooperative because they're conscious of how their performance is measured.”

- Stephen Gan, Jr., President

Previously, Turnberry's core values were merely displayed as words on a wall. The Culture Fix® helped transform these values into a vibrant Core Chart, enhanced with engaging graphics. The mascot, which symbolized the company’s core values, played a crucial role in making workplace culture surveys and these values more relatable and memorable for employees. The CoreChart evolved into a visual representation of the company's principles. Teams were invited to create their versions of the chart, promoting creativity and a deeper connection to the values. One team’s design, which Gan praised as “perfect,” featured a chef’s hat representing Independent Thinking and Right Balance, eyeglasses for Strive for Achievement, a smiley face for Customer focus, and an ice cream cone symbolizing the Malasakit, which gives an acronym of “ISCrM” for the company’s core values.

To further reinforce their values, Turnberry created a theme song using the melody of "Just the Two of Us" but with new lyrics that reflected their core purpose, mission, and values. The theme song was played at the beginning and end of each HR activity, in the morning before company’s official time and during lunch breaks, serving as a constant reminder of the company's commitment to its culture.

They introduced the Notice and Nominate Program, enabling employees to acknowledge peers who exemplified the company’s core values. Nominations were visually displayed, with faces placed under icons representing each core value, fostering a culture of recognition and positive reinforcement. 

This approach to culture consultants encouraged employees to embody the company’s values in their daily work and contributed to resolving workplace conflicts. Stephen Gan, Jr. explained how the system functioned: “We use a nomination form where each core value has specific phrases defining it. Employees select the phrase that best describes the behavior they observed in their colleague during that period.”

Impact on Turnberry

The impact of the Culture Fulfillment Program on Turnberry was profound. The company's leadership observed several key outcomes:

Turnberry's overall performance improved significantly after implementing the program. In a presentation to EO Philippines, Turnberry shared their performance metrics, comparing their company’s growth to a family-owned business in a similar industry.

Over a two-year period, Turnberry grew by 235%, with the leadership attributing much of this growth to the cultural alignment created by the Culture Fulfillment Program.

Employees at Turnberry no longer felt like they were just working towards individual KPIs. Instead, they were united by a shared sense of purpose and aligned with the company’s core values. This shift in mindset led to greater cooperation and teamwork across all levels of the company.

By emphasizing core values in the recruitment process, Turnberry attracted candidates who were excited about the company’s culture. This made the recruitment process smoother and ensured that new hires were a strong fit for the organization. As a result, employee retention improved, as team members felt more connected to the company’s mission and values.  

Turnberry's Core Values are so inspiring that new recruits are excited to join the company, driven by their alignment with Turnberry's values, mission and the opportunity to be part of its dynamic team. The appeal of these values and the sense of belonging play a significant role in their decision to come on board.

The Notice and Nominate program fostered a culture of recognition within Turnberry. Employees felt appreciated for their contributions and were more motivated to live by the company’s core values. This increased engagement and morale across the team. 

The introduction of Turnberry’s core purpose, “We Nourish People and Uplift Lives,” gave employees a deeper sense of meaning in their work. The company set a goal to contribute to 13 Billion scrumptious servings by 2030, and they track their progress monthly. This purpose-driven approach inspired employees at all levels, as they could see the tangible impact of their work on the company’s mission.

Conclusion 

Turnberry’s journey with The Culture Fix® demonstrates the transformative power of a values-driven approach to business. By integrating core values into every aspect of operations —performance evaluations, recruitment, recognition, and daily activities—the company was able to create a more cohesive, motivated, and high-performing team.

The Culture Fulfillment Program helped Turnberry shift from a KPI-focused organization to a purpose-driven company where employees felt like part of a tribe, united by shared values and a common mission. As a result, Turnberry experienced significant growth and improved employee engagement services, setting the company up for continued success in the future. Also, see How Culture Coaching Builds Thriving Workplaces

For companies looking to foster a stronger, values-based culture, Turnberry’s success story serves as a compelling example of the benefits of the Culture Fulfillment Program offered by The Culture Fix®.

“The growth is more impactful if everyone's just going in the same direction.”

Stephen Gan, Jr. President