In a world where workplace culture typically lives on posters and slideshows, how do you ensure it’s felt and lived every day? Joining us to explore this vital question is Frank Kellenberg, VP Global Head of Culture & Inclusion at Sandoz. With a career spanning leadership roles at Ingram Micro, Adidas, and Novartis, Frank is a culture champion and inclusion advocate with an inspiring mission: to bring humanity back to the workplace! In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, Frank shares the story of Sandoz’s cultural transformation following its spinoff from Novartis, including how the organization defined its own identity, shaped its unique values, and cultivated psychological safety to empower employees to speak up. From using employee feedback as a foundation to building a culture that drives both belonging and performance, Frank unpacks what it takes to ensure that company values aren’t just words but a way of working. 

 

Key Points From This Episode:

 

• Transitioning from Novartis to Sandoz: a strategic cultural shift to forge a unique identity.

• Three questions that shaped Sandoz’s cultural evolution: what to discard, keep, and introduce.

• What it looks like to ensure that company values are more than just a poster on the wall.

• How Frank defines company culture using a three-layered housing metaphor.

• Why openness and transparency play an important role in Sandoz’s interview process.

• Difficulty attracting and retaining talent and other risks of neglecting workplace culture.

• Insight into the significance of employee feedback (including former employees).

• Psychological safety as a red flag signal for cultural issues in an organization.

• Measuring cultural success through surveys, unscripted employee feedback, and more.

• Going beyond curated narratives to uncover the true state of organizational culture.

• How leadership engagement and informal conversations foster cultural alignment.

• Frank's predictions about the growing importance of workplace culture.

 

Quotes:

 

“We integrated [Sandoz’s values and reflected them] in processes, tools, and performance management – so that, at the end, people could not just read it on a poster on the wall, ‘Here are our four values,’ but really experience it.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:08:32]

 

“You can have a great facade. You can have great architecture or a great house with great furniture. But if the people are not representing it, not living it, [or don’t] like to live in the house, then you have a problem. – This is how I would describe company culture.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:12:06]

 

“We came from a culture in which people had the feeling they [couldn’t] speak up. That was a signal for us that there was no psychological safety in the organization that people feel safe to speak up, to ask questions, to challenge the status quo.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:21:50]

 

“If an organization doesn’t care about [workplace culture], they will struggle.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:32:22]

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

 

Frank Kellenberg

Frank Kellenberg on LinkedIn

Sandoz

Sandoz People & Culture

LHH Recruitment Solutions