9 Class Hours
Instructor: Drew Wilkens
A strong organizational culture is the foundation for achieving strategic goals, sustaining performance, and navigating change in today’s banking environment. Culture shapes how decisions are made, how employees engage with their work, and how effectively leaders execute strategy. As competition for talent intensifies and expectations from customers, regulators, and communities evolve, bank leaders must intentionally align culture with strategy to drive long-term success.
This course equips leaders and managers with both practical tools and foundational management and leadership theory to better understand, diagnose, and shape organizational culture. Drawing on established leadership frameworks—such as transformational leadership, ethical and inclusive leadership, systems thinking, and change leadership—students will explore how leadership behaviors, management practices, and organizational systems reinforce (or undermine) cultural outcomes.
In this five-day course, students will progress from foundational concepts of organizational culture to more complex drivers of cultural change and alignment. The course blends management theory, leadership theory, applied assessment tools and peer discussion, allowing participants to connect theory directly to real-world banking challenges.
Key takeaways of this course:
- How leadership behaviors and management systems influence culture
- The role of values, norms, and assumptions in shaping performance
- The relationship between culture, strategy, and talent outcomes
- How leaders create urgency, readiness, and momentum for change
The course intentionally builds on first-year content—including DISC results and leadership self-awareness—to help students understand how individual leadership styles contribute to broader cultural patterns. Open discussion and group work encourage participants to share experiences, challenge assumptions, and learn from peers across institutions.
Annual School Session
Second Year Core Course
Competency: Leadership & Culture