Cultural Transformation Journey of a Large Aviation Organization

Client Background
The organization is a large government entity operating in the aviation sector, employing thousands of staff. It is undergoing a major privatization and transformation phase to become a publicly owned company that operates fully under a commercial, profit-driven model, in line with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. One of the organization’s most significant challenges was shifting its work culture from a traditional government mindset to a high-performance, competitive culture focused on regional market share growth.

Key Challenges at Project Inception

• High levels of employee frustration and uncertainty about the future.
• A traditional work culture characterized by low flexibility and limited engagement.
• Lack of clarity around the desired culture required to support the transformation journey.

Our Approach
Basqeat designed a comprehensive plan to support the organization’s transition toward a high-performance culture through the following key steps:

• Understanding the current state: Conducting individual and group interviews with the executive leadership team to identify current challenges, future objectives, and the target organizational culture, in addition to launching a quantitative survey to assess the existing culture using the Denison Model.
• Presenting quantitative and qualitative findings: Sharing results with senior leadership for initial discussion and alignment on next steps.
• Focus groups: Engaging employees across different levels to identify the root causes behind the findings.
• Action planning: Developing a cultural transformation roadmap, including corrective initiatives, in close collaboration with leadership to bridge identified cultural gaps.

Implementation
Basqeat provided end-to-end support, not only in designing the cultural transformation plan but also in implementing selected components based on the client’s needs, including:

• A practical plan to embed organizational values into daily practices.
• Leadership development programs focused on turning leaders into role models and champions of cultural change.
• Designing programs to enhance communication and engagement mechanisms, reducing employee frustration.
• Building awareness initiatives that promote a performance-driven culture and improve the overall employee experience.

Results
Through sustained effort and strong leadership commitment, the organization achieved measurable cultural progress, including:

• A clearly defined cultural direction aligned with the company’s new corporate strategy.
• A significant reduction in employee frustration and a stronger sense of belonging.
• Leadership demonstrating higher levels of engagement and accountability.
• Recognition as one of the best places to work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within its sector.

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