Companies that align culture and strategy report over 100% higher revenue growth. (Heidrick & Struggles, 2021)

Let culture drive results

Culture is no longer a side topic.

It is where trust, performance, and transformation meet.

We show you how to align organizational culture with strategy and make it a lever for results, even under pressure.

Our Culture Change Pioneers (CCP) program 2025-2026 is now open for enrollment.

Let’s talk about your culture

Free 30-minute conversation: Get to know us & explore your fit.

The costs of overlooking culture

Transformation fails quietly when culture is an afterthought.

Have you ever led a major change? ... a reorganization, a merger, the rollout of a matrix structure or a digitalization program only to realize too late that culture was treated as an afterthought?

The social dimension of change is never optional. When culture is ignored, even the smartest strategies stall. Trust erodes. Alignment breaks. Loyal people and long-term clients notice and move on.

The time to work on culture is never tomorrow. It is now. In the daily interactions that build or break trust, alignment, and resilience.

How culture impacts the bottom line

You might think culture has little impact on financial results – because it feels intangible and doesn’t show up on a balance sheet. But that’s a misconception.

Most companies measure the cultural climate through engagement scores like the eNPS. And engagement matters: in 2024, only 21% of employees worldwide were engaged – costing the global economy $438 billion (Gallup, 2025). Engagement drives productivity, retention, and customer loyalty and ultimately, the bottom line.

But culture is more than engagement.

Culture shapes how people lead, collaborate, and deal with difference. It determines whether diversity becomes a liability or a competitive advantage. Inclusive, dialogic cultures unleash innovation and enable stronger, more responsive customer and employee experiences. Companies whose CEOs prioritize culture and act accordingly show more than double the financial performance (Heidrick & Struggles (2021).

Make culture measurable. Link it to results. Lead with difference.

Let’s talk about your culture goals

Is this for you?

The Culture Change Pioneers program takes place in Mannheim, Germany. It is designed for international leaders with a clear mandate to drive cultural change – whether at company, divisional, or business unit level. You may shape strategy at the top, lead large-scale transformation, or be entrusted with evolving culture across functions. What unites participants is the responsibility to move culture beyond values statements and make it a driver of trust, performance, and collaboration in complex, international, and culturally diverse environments.

You are ...

C-level executive or business unit leader
Head of People & Culture, Senior HR, or OD leader
Head of Communications or marketing lead
Strategic project lead
driving cultural alignment across regions or functions

Transform together

Culture change needs champions and implementers. We encourage you to attend as a transformation tandem: one strategic or C-level leader together with their implementation partner.

This setup creates unique leverage – where strategic clarity meets execution power. You align faster, gain broader traction, and deliver results that last.

One vision, two levers: Strengthen leadership coherence and execution
Shared learning: Build joint insight and internal momentum
Amplified impact: Accelerate transformation through shared ownership

Talk to us about your tandem

Voices from certified CCP participants

“Participating in the Culture Change Pioneer (CCP) program was a truly enriching experience that deepened my leadership skills in cultural transformation, strategic engagement, and collaboration across complex scientific settings. The mix of practical tools, peer learning, and expert guidance from Semira and Carsten made it an outstanding opportunity. I highly recommend it to anyone committed to driving impactful, sustainable change.”

Tabea Rauscher, Creative Team Lead at European Molecular Biology Laboratory

“The training to become a Culture & Change Pioneer has been truly transformative for me. It has deepened my understanding of change processes and organizational culture, while equipping me with powerful tools to support sustainable transformation. This experience has been an invaluable investment in both my personal and professional growth!”

Andrea Lemke, Strategy Lead Cultural Journey at Lufthansa Group

Your learning experience

Culture Change Pioneers enables you to drive transformation in complex, dynamic environments. You will strengthen your capabilities, grow through peer exchange, and shape your organization’s culture by using the power of dialogue and diversity to fuel future-ready employee and customer experience in AI-enabled work environments.

Four modules

Facing new realities
0,5 days

We frame culture change in the tradition of Dialogic Organization Development, focusing on selected future trends and their impact on organizations and cultural requirements. This module also serves to align the program to the participants and their organizational needs.

Date: 16.12.2025

Utilizing culture paradoxes and potentials
2 days

We take a deeper look at culture as a guiding concept for change to better understand its limits and its potentials. Lessons from safety culture and case studies help the participants to reflect priorities in steering their own culture projects. You will be more confident to decide which culture change initiatives suit your ambition and needs. You will have more clarity and a better standing to communicate and implement cultural change.

Date: 22.–23.01.2026

Connecting future-ready experiences
2 days

We explore how culture change contributes to connected customer and employee experiences that are future-ready and sustainable together with guest experts from partner companies. We also reflect the impact of AI-enabled work environments on your organizational culture. You will uncover the hidden power of connecting experiences and experts in your own organization and have a clearer idea of how culture is your lever in this.

Date: 12.–13.03.2026

Dealing with dialogic challenges
2 days

Navigating communication during change entails heightened conflicts. You will learn about different dialogue and conflict models to embrace conflicts as a source for progress. You will be more competent in leading through difficult moments and moving forward instead of avoiding conflicts. You gain practical methods to unblock stalled processes and build trust during high uncertainty and tension.

Date: 07.–08.05.2026

Beyond the modules

Continued implementation support

After the core program, you join a three-month Masterclass phase with bi-weekly online sessions. Here, you work on your own organizational culture challenge, share progress with peers, and receive targeted feedback from lead trainers and guest experts.

Transfer coaching

Personal transfer coaching helps connect the program to your context. You will have three individual sessions: one before the program begins, one after Module 4, and one at the end of the Masterclass phase. These sessions deepen your reflection and help translate insight into action.

Reflection paper

After Module 4, you will write a short reflection paper to clarify your key insights and how you aim to apply them in your organization. This written reflection forms the basis for your second coaching session and prepares you for the three-month implementation phase.

IDI assessment

Understand how you and your organization navigate cultural difference.
We use the IDI to assess (inter)cultural competence at individual and group levels.
Participants learn to apply perspective-shifting and collaboration across differences to improve employee and customer experience.

Peer group learning

This program includes access to curated content from CoachingOurselves, a peer-learning method developed by Henry Mintzberg and Phil LeNir. It features modules authored by leading thinkers like Edgar Schein, a pioneer in dialogic organizational development.

Location

All four modules take place in Mannheim, Germany - the city of music. We offer inspiring venues that combine architectural heritage with a modern spirit of innovation. Located in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, Mannheim is easily accessible from major European cities.

Our learning spaces foster open dialogue and focused collaboration, making them ideal for transformative learning experiences.

Certificate of completion

Participants who complete the full program receive a certificate of completion recognizing their expertise in leading culture change initiatives.

Save your spot for 2025-2026

Your program leaders

Semira Soraya-Kandan
Founder, CEO, & Senior Consultant at Soraya-Kandan, Mannheim

Semira Soraya-Kandan is a German-Iranian leadership and organization consultant. For more than 25 years, she has developed leaders, consulted organizations on dialogic leadership, virtual collaboration, cultural competency, and organizational change. She is founder & CEO of an international boutique consultancy in Mannheim. Her passion is to rethink leadership through dialogue, diversity & digital. Semira studied psychology, speech communication, philosophy, and sociology in Germany and the USA. Today, she works worldwide with many international colleagues and partnering institutions.

Carsten Härtl
Senior Consultant at Soraya-Kandan, Mannheim

Carsten Härtl has been a part of the consulting network since 2021, after having been connected with Semira Soraya-Kandan as an internal consultant through joint diversity projects and leadership development programs for a long time.

Until 2019, he worked as responsible employee in a world-renowned chemical company for many years, working with executives at all levels and human resources managers. His main areas of focus are leadership quality, diversity management, talent development, HR tools, corporate culture, and organizational development.

Additional faculty of consultants and partners

Stanley Deetz is Prof. Emer. at the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA). He consults on human interaction, innovation & cultural change. He has led OD processes and trainings for international organizations, including the IAEA. He serves as academic advisor for the Culture Change Pioneers program.

Syamant Sandhir is the Managing Director of Futurescape (India). His work focuses on people-centric and connected experiences. He is currently focused on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and open source, decentralised open innovation, India stack for solutions, and commerce and enterprise platforms.

Martina Müller-Krüger is a Consultant and coach in organizational culture change processes, with focus on Chinese subsidiaries of European and American companies and international leadership.

Phil LeNir is President of CoachingOurselves (Montréal, Canada) which he co-founded with Henry Mintzberg. He designs peer group coaching programs to help organizations develop their leaders.

We reserve the right to assign alternative experts. Additional guests will be invited to join the modules and fireside evenings.

Ready to lead the culture shift?

Culture change does not begin with blueprints.

It begins with people – leaders who are ready to face complexity, build trust, and align experience across their organization.

If you are one of them, let us talk.

Explore your fit

About us

We offer innovative international organizational consulting & leadership development.

Our expertise focuses on dialogic leadership, leveraging diversity, and collaboration in a digital and AI-enabled work environment.

We help leaders to make work meaningful.

Contact

T+49 621 122 31 90

contact@soraya-kandan.com

Soraya-Kandan academy & digital learning solutions

Coaching office & meeting rooms

G 6, 11

68159 Mannheim | Germany

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Let culture ​drive results