The benefits of corporate culture programs have been recognized for some time: they contribute to better corporate governance, more effective risk management, and create a better environment for compliance.

Unfortunately, however, many programs fail to deliver their expected gains, which leads some leaders to lose interest and step back, and some employees to deride them as โ€œgimmicksโ€ when they see that they are mere paper policies.

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...