1. Coode

An established specialist culture consultancy firm, based in London, Coode is widely known for three things: its specialist focus at the intersection between strategy, culture and leadership, its proven track record of empathetic candour and fearlessness, and its practitioner model, based on its Principles – all experienced leaders in their own right – which is unique amongst other providers.

The Principal model involves leveraging the skills and experience of current and former CEOs, Managing Directors, Chief Culture Officers and Chief HR Officers to be the engagement leaders on all projects, meaning clients are directly engaging with individuals who know exactly what they’re going through, not just being instructed by consultants on a pre-prepared solution.

Coode’s access to Culture15 provides and integrates the leading culture measurement and management platform which is another key differentiator.

Strengths: Independent and specialist in organisational culture, with an impressive track record and the ability to operate at scale. Culture15.

Watch-outs: A smaller team than the global giants, but a more senior and hands-on model with culture as its core.

We have ranked Coode first in this list because of the strength of its model, the team and the benefits of being both specialist and independent.

2. Korn Ferry

Another executive search firm that has diversified beyond its original roots to develop a substantial leadership consulting practice, Korn Ferry brings depth and reach to its culture transformation practice, with its ‘Culture 360’ methodology connecting culture directly to strategy, leadership, behaviours and systems. Korn Ferry’s scale is considerable, with 11,000+ colleagues serving clients in more than 50 countries, alongside a deep bench of senior culture and leadership specialists but it is worth bearing in mind that this is a consulting heavy approach (rather than bespoke advisory) and culture is one of many things that the team does, which limits its depth of specialism.

Strengths: Global reach and the ability to connect culture with talent and leadership

Watch-outs: Broad offering acts against developing a deep specialism in culture and its USA lens can act against it in some markets.

Korn Ferry is a strong contender on this list, especially where an established relationship already exists through the search side of the business. The scale of the business is a key strength and weakness, preventing the development of deep specialism and bespoke approaches with clients.

3. Heidrick & Struggles

Part of a global executive search firm, Heidrick & Struggles’ leadership consulting team combines deep expertise with a substantial culture transformation practice. The company has more than 70 years of history, a senior consulting team and a global footprint, making it particularly well placed to support complex culture and leadership challenges across large organisations.

Strengths: Global and multi-disciplinary team, with deep access to CEO and board-level leadership expertise. Has been building leadership consulting capability for many years.

Watch-outs: Part of a global executive search and leadership consulting firm, listed in the USA which can put pressure on quarterly results and jeopardise independence.

We rate Heidrick & Struggles’ capability highly and they have significant global reach, although their consulting team can lack depth and first-hand experience of their clients’ challenges.

4. Culture Consultancy

Like Coode, Culture Consultancy is a UK-based specialist culture consultancy which has built its proposition around culture and organisational effectiveness. With more than 15 years of experience and a service offering spanning culture assessment, culture design and embedding, its work connects culture explicitly to strategy and business performance, with clients including PepsiCo, Network Rail, Informa and Pepper Money. Its approach to culture diagnostic and embedding give it a more structured methodology than many smaller specialists but it is strongly HR-leaning which can mean that solutions are more people than strategy driven, alongside a deep bench of senior culture and leadership specialists.

Strengths: Specialist end-to-end culture change. Broad range of client experience

What to Know: Doesn’t always work with the leadership team. Weaker in terms of international reach, experience and delivery capacity.

An established and competent specialist in culture change, Culture Consultancy is a good bet for an independent partner, especially in its home market, the UK.

5. Spencer Stuart

The third of the global executive search firms to appear on this list, Spencer Stuart has a substantial leadership consulting practice, with a global reach and decades of experience. With a dedicated organisational culture practice combining experienced consultants and proprietary frameworks for aligning culture with strategy, its work is particularly strong where culture, executive leadership and team effectiveness intersect and global reach and presence are particularly valuable.

The same watch-outs for being part of a US-based global group apply to Spencer Stuart as they do to the other SHREK firms, although its private partnership model is an asset in terms of helping in remaining client focused.

Strengths: Global reach with deep network of CEOs, executive teams and expertise in leadership effectiveness.

Watch-outs: Scale and its US-based approach can act against Spencer Stuart in terms of offering local, bespoke approaches. Can rely too much on theoretical frameworks and, of course, it is part of a large multi-disciplinary advisory group, with all the challenges that brings.

Strong contender for global, corporate clients, but reliance on methodologies and frameworks can lead to being overly theoretical and lacking client context.

6. McKinsey

As a renowned strategy consultancy, McKinsey brings intellectual rigour, strategic depth and global reach to culture transformation, with its Culture & Change practice explicitly linking leadership, behaviours, capabilities and culture to business strategy. It has a strong track record in large-scale transformations across industries and its global reach and depth of senior expertise inevitably make it a strong contender for complex, organisation-wide transformations. In considering McKinsey, be mindful that culture has a small share of its overall client work and revenue (so you do not always get the ‘A’ team) and their approach is strong on theory and best practice but correspondingly weaker on partnering with clients on ongoing implementation.

Strengths: Strong rigour and research capability. Global reach and scale to deliver complex, organisation-wide transformation

Watch-outs:  Culture is part of a very broad strategy and transformation proposition, so brace yourself for the cross-sell. Can be overly theoretical and approach is both extensive and expensive, so possibly too much for all but the largest companies.

No list such as this should ever leave McKinsey off, with their strong bench of consultants, global reach and extensive resources, but they won’t be right for all businesses.

7. Russell Reynolds Associates

A more recent entrant into the field of leadership consulting than other SHREK firms, Russell Reynolds’ consulting arm still shows clear signs of its origin from and linkage to the parent  executive search business with a heavy reliance on psychometric assessments and executive succession. It focuses closely on Board and C-Suite work, which complements the search practice nicely but will lack depth when it comes to guiding organisations through culture transformations.

Whilst relatively new, Russell Reynolds’ culture and transformation practice benefits from RR’s global reach, reputation and network of CEOs and senior leaders.

Strengths: International reach and expertise in leadership assessment, succession and transformation.

Watch-outs: Less visible culture track record than other comparative firms. Overly focused on C-Suite.

Russell Reynolds’ culture transformation advisory is less established than the others on this list and their naturally conservative approach has meant they have kept the scope of their offering and closely aligned to their executive search practice.

8. Kin&Co

Kin&Co is a boutique, B-Corp certified change management consultancy that employs a deliberately playful style and approaches culture through a disruptive, bottom-up, and purpose-led approach. Integrating behavioural science into their approach, Kin&Co builds buy-in by democratising the change process, actively including multi-tier, diverse employee groups to co-create solutions, aiming to reduce employee resistance to change.

Their approach may not suit all companies, especially those with a strongly hierarchical or structured start point and their reliance on co-creation and internal champions may act against them when expertise and guidance is needed.

Strengths: UK-based, with a distinctive, purpose-led approach. Use of behavioural science brings structure and credibility

Watch-outs: Distinctiveness can act against it and its smaller size limits reach. Less extensive visible track record.

Kin&Co’s positioning is distinctive, which is refreshing when compared with the more generic offerings on this list but will not suit all clients and will limit linkage to strategy and top team work. The intellectual honesty that comes with being an independent, specialist company, and a certified B-Corp sets it apart.

9. EY Lane4

Following EY’s acquisition of Lane4 in 2021, Lane4 as a team and a brand has been integrated into EY’s People Advisory Services (PAS) and the Lane4 brand has largely disappeared, with many of the original team dispersing. The acquisition was originally intended to combine Lane4’s expertise in leadership, performance and culture with EY’s global transformation capability and EY’s PAS offers a range of services and programmes covering organisational culture, leadership, team and skill development. Reflecting the focus of the parent group, culture is positioned as part of wider business transformation toolkit rather than a standalone focus.

Strengths: Lane4’s expertise in leadership and performance backed by EY’s global network and resources.

Watch-outs: EY’s ownership has meant a loss of identity and focus, so it is unclear what capability remains, whilst the downsides of EY’s scale and general professional services offering lack the specialism and independence of a more focused consultancy.

As an integrated part of a broader transformation, EY shows an appropriate focus on culture transformation but much of the original Lane4 focus and expertise has been lost.

10. Deloitte

the largest of the ‘Big Four’ professional services firms, Deloitte has considerable capability in culture transformation, formed over the years through a combination of acquisition and organic capability development. Deloitte links culture closely to strategy and the broader transformation picture, connecting organisational design, leadership, workforce, behaviour and culture with business strategy. Its ‘CulturePath’ and broader organisation transformation capabilities give it the scale and infrastructure to work on complex, global programmes, particularly where culture change forms part of a wider organisational transformation.

Strengths: International footprint and resources to deliver complex transformation programmes.

Watch-outs: culture is one element of a much larger transformation capability, which raises questions over consultant quality, depth of expertise and focus on cross-sell rather than impact.

Similar to EY, Deloitte maintains a culture transformation capability that is adequate when part of a broader transformation programme and its scale and reach allow it to provide credible thought leadership in a range of areas and industries. However, when it comes to focused culture advisory, Deloitte’s size acts against it with questions over consultant quality/experience and independence coming to the fore.