Making the ROI of Culture Visible

Feb 11, 2025

The iceberg model, introduced by Edgar Schein in the 1980s, has fundamentally shaped how leaders understand organizational culture (Schein, 1985). However, it remains a conceptual framework, providing little practical guidance for measuring or acting on one’s culture. While the model helps illustrate that culture consists of both visible and hidden elements, it does not indicate whether those invisible elements are driving an organization’s success or stagnation.

Innerlogic moves beyond the theory of the iceberg metaphor by providing a tangible framework that quantifies culture factors—the deeper and complex invisible attitudes and behaviours—and connects them to meaningful outcomes—the concrete and state-based visible results—differentiating your organization’s unique culture, and in turn, driving ROI.

Why Organizational Culture is Critical for ROI

Schein’s model presents culture in three layers—often visualized as an iceberg or pyramid. At the surface are artifacts (e.g., policies, branding), shaped by espoused values (e.g., mission, goals), which, in turn, stem from deep-seated underlying assumptions (e.g., beliefs, norms). The conceptualization is that true culture lies at the foundational level, where the invisible forces driving behavior reside (Psych Safety, 2023). However, due to its high-level abstraction, the model stops short of specifying which underlying assumptions or behaviors actually drive culture change in organizations, leaving leaders without clear guidance on what to prioritize.

Moreover, while artifacts may be observable or tangible, they offer little insight into how your culture is actually thriving—this is why outcomes are critical in determining which cultural factors truly drive your business. Consider these findings:

Companies with strong cultures have seen a 4x increase in revenue growth. Furthermore, companies that have appeared on Fortune’s annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list see higher average annual returns, with cumulative returns as high as 495% (Laker, 2021). Clearly, when organizations align their culture with employee expectations and deliver on them, tangible financial success follows.

Similarly, Gallup research shows that only 2 in 10 employees feel connected to their company’s culture, highlighting the disconnect between what companies claim their culture to be and how employees actually experience it. This disconnect isn’t just a cultural issue—it’s a business risk, leading to lower engagement, higher turnover, and reduced performance when employees feel disconnected from what behaviors are truly valued within the organization (Gallup, 2024).

These examples make one thing clear: observable outcomes are powerful indicators of the strength of your culture and its impact on growth. Innerlogic translates culture insights into business results by pinpointing the drivers that matter most to your people.

Culture Factors vs. Business Outcomes

Theoretically, company culture is the collective set of values, behaviors, beliefs, and practices that define an organization. It shapes how people consciously and unconsciously interact, the work environment, and shared attitudes—put simply, culture is what makes people click and connect.

Outcomes, in contrast, are the measurable business results that stem from organizational culture factors. Unlike surface-level engagement metrics, outcomes reflect the tangible impact of culture on critical business areas—retention, well-being, trust, commitment, eNPS, turnover, and engagement. By analyzing and putting these outcomes at the forefront, organizations can move beyond vague culture assessments to quantifiable insights that link HR initiatives to business performance.

How Innerlogic Elevates Culture Analytics

We’ve developed a platform that integrates deep culture science with advanced AI to transform abstract cultural insights into actionable strategies. By linking invisible cultural factors to visible outcomes, we help organizations identify and invest in initiatives that deliver the highest ROI.

Model Your Culture for Strategic Growth

Quantifying Invisible Culture: Culture is complex, with different drivers influencing business success in different ways. By identifying the most relevant cultural factors and linking them to key business outcomes, organizations gain a structured yet flexible approach to strengthening their unique culture in a way that drives meaningful change.
Proactively Identifying Trends: Our AI-powered analytics uncover how cultural factors influence key business metrics. Leaders can anticipate trends—such as turnover risks driven by gaps in recognition or accountability—and take targeted action before issues escalate.
Aligning Culture with ROI: Innerlogic ensures cultural insights are directly tied to performance metrics such as revenue growth, cost savings, and innovation, making culture a measurable asset integral to strategic goals.

Transforming Culture into a Strategic Asset

Schein’s iceberg model laid the groundwork for understanding culture, but it’s time to move beyond theory. Culture is not just an abstract force beneath the surface; it is a measurable driver of ROI and a strategic tool for decision-making. Innerlogic focuses on operationalizing culture by connecting invisible predictors to visible metrics, empowering leaders to prioritize the initiatives that create the greatest impact.

Understand the Cultural Forces at Play: Identify the attitudes, behaviors, and patterns that drive your organization’s success—or create barriers to it.
Pinpoint the Most Impactful Factors: Determine which cultural drivers predict critical business outcomes, enabling leaders to stay on track.
Turn Insights into Action: Transform cultural data into measurable strategies that enhance engagement, retention, and productivity.

Leveraging Culture for Business Success

HR leaders play a critical role in bridging culture and business success. Innerlogic enables HR teams to shift from abstract cultural discussions to actionable, outcome-driven strategies backed by data.

Make Data-Driven Decisions: Move beyond intuition by leveraging AI-powered insights that show how culture impacts key business outcomes.
Demonstrate Culture’s ROI: Clearly connect cultural initiatives to metrics like retention, engagement, and productivity, making a compelling case for investment in culture.
Proactively Address Challenges: Identify cultural risk factors early and implement targeted solutions before issues escalate.
Empower Leadership with Insights: Provide executives and managers with real-time data on cultural trends, allowing them to make informed, timely decisions.

Rather than treating culture as a secondary priority, HR leaders can position it as a central, measurable business driver—one that directly influences success.

Conclusion

While Schein’s culture iceberg provides a useful framework for understanding the conceptual nature of culture, it is ultimately just a starting point. The real value lies not in what remains beneath the surface but in leveraging culture and strategic outcomes to determine where deeper cultural shifts are needed.

Innerlogic’s Holistic Culture Index provides organizations with a practical, data-driven tool to reveal invisible cultural elements and, most importantly, connect them directly to visible outcomes that drive measurable success. To thrive in today’s turbulent times, organizations must prioritize the visible aspects of culture—because what can be modeled can be improved.