Companies that align culture and strategy report over 100% higher revenue growth. (Heidrick & Struggles, 2021)

Let culture drive results

Culture is no longer a side topic.

It is where trust, performance, and transformation meet.

Our Culture Change Pioneers (CCP) program 2026 is now open for enrollment.

Free 30-minute conversation: Get to know us & explore your fit.

The costs of overlooking culture

Transformation fails quietly when culture is an afterthought.

Today, many of these situations arise as leaders align people around outcomes created by an evolving, unpredictable interdependence of people and AI.

Have you ever led a major change? ... a reorganization, a merger, the rollout of a matrix structure or a digitalization program only to realize too late that culture was treated as an afterthought?

The social dimension of change is never optional. When culture is ignored, even the smartest strategies stall. Trust erodes. Alignment breaks. Loyal people and long-term clients notice and move on.

The time to work on culture is never tomorrow. It is now. In the daily interactions that build or break trust, alignment, and resilience.

How culture impacts the bottom line

You might think culture has little impact on financial results – because it feels intangible and doesn’t show up on a balance sheet. But that’s a misconception.

Most companies measure the cultural climate through engagement scores like the eNPS. And engagement matters: in 2024, only 21% of employees worldwide were engaged – costing the global economy $438 billion (Gallup, 2025). Engagement drives productivity, retention, and customer loyalty and ultimately, the bottom line.

But culture is more than engagement.

When decisions no longer stem from human judgement alone, culture determines whether leaders create trust and orientation or confusion.

Culture shapes how people lead, collaborate, and deal with difference. It determines whether diversity becomes a liability or a competitive advantage. Inclusive, dialogic cultures unleash innovation and enable stronger, more responsive customer and employee experiences. Companies whose CEOs prioritize culture and act accordingly show more than double the financial performance (Heidrick & Struggles (2021).

This becomes even more decisive when leaders must act on information no longer generated by people alone.

Make culture measurable. Link it to results. Lead with difference.

Let’s talk about your culture goals

Is this for you?

You carry responsibility for making cultural change work in practice — not only defining it. You either sponsor a strategic initiative or are accountable for its implementation and traction across the organization.

You are ...

C-level executive or business unit leader
Head of People & Culture, Senior HR, or OD leader
Head of Communications or marketing lead
Strategic project lead
driving cultural alignment across regions or functions

Transform together

Culture change gains extra traction when sponsorship and implementation meet in one decision space. This setup creates leverage: strategic direction and operational reality are worked on simultaneously instead of sequentially.

What emerges in your organization during the program becomes part of the work inside the program — decisions, tensions, and adjustments included.

With decision-makers in the room, you work on change in near real time — instead of handing it from strategy to execution.

Strategic intent and operational reality align earlier — strengthening leadership coherence.

Talk to us about your tandem

Voices from certified CCP participants

“Participating in the Culture Change Pioneer (CCP) program was a truly enriching experience that deepened my leadership skills in cultural transformation, strategic engagement, and collaboration across complex scientific settings. The mix of practical tools, peer learning, and expert guidance from Semira and Carsten made it an outstanding opportunity. I highly recommend it to anyone committed to driving impactful, sustainable change.”

Tabea Rauscher, Creative Team Lead at European Molecular Biology Laboratory

“The training to become a Culture & Change Pioneer has been truly transformative for me. It has deepened my understanding of change processes and organizational culture, while equipping me with powerful tools to support sustainable transformation. This experience has been an invaluable investment in both my personal and professional growth!”

Andrea Lemke, Strategy Lead Cultural Journey at Lufthansa Group

How the program works

The program is organized around the participants' ongoing initiatives. Sessions work with situations participants bring from their organization rather than predefined case material, and the focus is adjusted to these organizational contexts.

Four modules

Facing new realities
0,5 days

Together we examine how geopolitical shifts and AI-driven technology reshape their organization, the role of leadership, and decision-making. This module also serves to align the program to the participants and their organizational needs.

Date: 23.09.2026

Utilizing culture paradoxes and potentials
2 days

We take a deeper look at culture as a guiding concept for change to better understand its limits and its potentials. Participants examine why culture becomes pivotal when AI enters everyday work. They identify where existing norms, incentives, and expectations support or hinder the adoption and impact of AI in their initiative, and where responsibility and authority begin to shift.

Participants clarify which interventions fit their ambition and communicate their cultural change approach with greater precision.

Date: 04.-05.11.2026

Connecting future-ready experiences
2 days

Participants examine how their initiative affects the connection between customer experience and employee experience. They analyze how workflow s, interfaces, and responsibilities need to change when outcomes are increasingly shaped under AI conditions.

Observations from partner organizations serve as reference points for their own decisions.

Date: 14.-15.01.2027

Dealing with dialogic challenges
2 days

Participants work on resistance, conflicts, and loss of orientation emerging from their initiative. They clarify how decisions remain legitimate and accountable under changing conditions, including when to act before communicating rather than raising expectations that cannot yet be met. The focus lies on maintaining trust while the organization changes.

Date: 03.-04.03.2027

Beyond the modules

Continued implementation support

After the core program, you join a three-month Masterclass phase with bi-weekly online sessions. Here, you work on your own organizational culture challenge, share progress with peers, and receive targeted feedback from lead trainers and guest experts.

Transfer coaching

Personal transfer coaching helps connect the program to your context. You will have three individual sessions: one before the program begins, one after Module 4, and one at the end of the Masterclass phase. These sessions deepen your reflection and help translate insight into action.

Reflection paper

After Module 4, you will write a short reflection paper to clarify your key insights and how you aim to apply them in your organization. This written reflection forms the basis for your second coaching session and prepares you for the three-month implementation phase.

IDI assessment

Understand how you and your organization navigate cultural difference.
We use the IDI to assess (inter)cultural competence at individual and group levels.
Participants learn to apply perspective-shifting and collaboration across differences to improve employee and customer experience.

Peer group learning

This program includes access to curated content from CoachingOurselves, a peer-learning method developed by Henry Mintzberg and Phil LeNir. It features modules authored by leading thinkers like Edgar Schein, a pioneer in dialogic organizational development.

Who you will work with

The Culture Change Pioneers program takes place in Mannheim, Germany. It is designed for international leaders with a clear mandate to drive cultural change – whether at company, divisional, or business unit level. You may shape strategy at the top, lead large-scale transformation, or be entrusted with evolving culture across functions. What unites participants is the responsibility to move culture beyond values statements and make it a driver of trust, performance, and collaboration in complex, international, and culturally diverse environments.

Location

All four modules take place in Mannheim, Germany - the city of music. We offer inspiring venues that combine architectural heritage with a modern spirit of innovation. Located in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, Mannheim is easily accessible from major European cities.

Our learning spaces foster open dialogue and focused collaboration, making them ideal for transformative learning experiences.

Certificate of completion

Participants who complete the full program receive a certificate of completion recognizing their expertise in leading culture change initiatives.

Save your spot for 2026

Your program leaders

Semira Soraya-Kandan
Founder, CEO, & Senior Consultant at Soraya-Kandan, Mannheim

Semira Soraya-Kandan is a German-Iranian leadership and organization consultant. For more than 25 years, she has developed leaders, consulted organizations on dialogic leadership, virtual collaboration, cultural competency, and organizational change. She is founder & CEO of an international boutique consultancy in Mannheim. Her passion is to rethink leadership through dialogue, diversity & digital. Semira studied psychology, speech communication, philosophy, and sociology in Germany and the USA. Today, she works worldwide with many international colleagues and partnering institutions.

Carsten Härtl
Senior Consultant at Soraya-Kandan, Mannheim

Carsten Härtl has been a part of the consulting network since 2021, after having been connected with Semira Soraya-Kandan as an internal consultant through joint diversity projects and leadership development programs for a long time.

Until 2019, he worked as responsible employee in a world-renowned chemical company for many years, working with executives at all levels and human resources managers. His main areas of focus are leadership quality, diversity management, talent development, HR tools, corporate culture, and organizational development.

Additional faculty of consultants and partners

Stanley Deetz is Prof. Emer. at the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA). He consults on human interaction, innovation & cultural change. He has led OD processes and trainings for international organizations, including the IAEA. He serves as academic advisor for the Culture Change Pioneers program.

Florian Pittion-Rossillon is an innovation strategy consultant and AI trainer for business. He supports professionals in developing an AI-ready mindset to enhance performance and collaboration. He contributed to the launch of Amazon.fr, worked on digital transformation for B2C brands, advised a venture capital fund, and teaches innovation with a practical, results-driven approach.

Syamant Sandhir is the Managing Director of Futurescape (India). His work focuses on people-centric and connected experiences. He is currently focused on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and open source, decentralised open innovation, India stack for solutions, and commerce and enterprise platforms.

Martina Müller-Krüger is a Consultant and coach in organizational culture change processes, with focus on Chinese subsidiaries of European and American companies and international leadership.

Phil LeNir is President of CoachingOurselves (Montréal, Canada) which he co-founded with Henry Mintzberg. He designs peer group coaching programs to help organizations develop their leaders.

We reserve the right to assign alternative experts. Additional guests will be invited to join the modules and fireside evenings.

Ready to lead the culture shift?

Culture change does not begin with blueprints.

It begins with people – leaders who are ready to face complexity, build trust, and align experience across their organization.

If you are one of them, let us talk.

Explore your fit

About us

We offer innovative international organizational consulting & leadership development.

Our expertise focuses on dialogic leadership, leveraging diversity, and collaboration in a digital and AI-enabled work environment.

We help leaders to make work meaningful.

Contact

T+49 621 122 31 90

contact@soraya-kandan.com

Soraya-Kandan academy & digital learning solutions

Coaching office & meeting rooms

G 6, 11

68159 Mannheim | Germany

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Let culture ​drive results