March 2017

94 APAC / March 2017 , 1701AP22 Finger on the Pulse Stephen Becsi OAM, CEO of Pulse, tells us more about culture cultivation and what the future holds for the firm. Pulse Australasia/ UK is the first organisation globally to develop and implement a CULTURETECH© platform. This CULTURETECH© Platform has been designed to intentionally design, change, measure and monitor an organisation’s cultural state through the development of a systems engineered psychological approach. Implementation of this CULTURETECH© Platform will enable organisations of all sizes to quantifiably understand the current state of their culture through the provision of Net Culture Scores, enabling boards and executives to effectively govern and monitor company culture. The methodology is designed to include every individual in the organisation on the basis that all staff work collectively together to achieve shared and common organisational goals. Currently Pulse has already ‘Pulsed’ over 50,000 people and captured 1.2 billion data points, across Australasia and the UK. This CULTURETECH© Platform model is infinitely scalable and can be simultaneously implemented across multiple geographies through to small team based organisations. Pulse works with boards, CEO’s and senior management teams in tier 1 companies, public and private, government and not- for-profit organisations across Australasia and the UK. The Pulse Methodology creates the link between the strategic direction of a company, the behaviour and personal accountability of every employee to focus on collective achievement which measurably increases business performance. The Pulse strategy is underpinned by its vision to become: “The global leader in culture transformation by linking individual accountability to organisational performance.” Stephen Becsi OAM, CEO of Pulse, tells us more about this strategy for success. “Our strategy is to develop a fully automated CULTURETECH© Platform which will hold a full range of unique pulse programs aimed at addressing company culture and leadership which will successfully deliver wide- scale, low-cost solutions to SME’s, large private, public and NFP organisations. In addition, global benchmarking of cultures measured through Net Culture Scores (NCS) and Leadership performance measured through Net Leadership Scores (NLS) will enable boards and executives to effectively govern and monitor culture and leadership performance on an ongoing basis. “Currently Pulse has successfully implemented the Pulse Program to clients in Australasia and the UK. It is expected that with the launch of the fully automated CULTURETECH© Platform in the first half of 2017, that growth will increase by over 300% due to the scalable automated nature of the Platform effectively being able to reach all corners of the globe providing culture and leadership solutions to all size and industry type organisations. “It is anticipated that the US will also become a significant market for Pulse Global in 2018.” Recently, Stephen was awarded the Order of Australia for services to Aged Care, the prestigious accolade of “most influential Leader in Aged Care” and a finalist for CEO of the Year – Australasia, but he explains that being a successful CEO isn’t always as easy as he makes it appear, especially in the APAC region. “The greatest challenge I think has been to bring a new product to market when human beings are inclined to want to keep with what they have always done even though it has not and is not working for them. The challenge has been to deliver to market a new product that has very little risk attached for potential customers to trial when you are a start-up that does not have significant Global Brand. If the product is marketed and can be proven to have incredible ROI attached, it will not be believed. If the price point comes in too high, the risk to trial is elevated. The challenge is to bring to market a solution that addresses a common pain point for business in a way that makes it easy for potential customers to trial. “Secondly it is understanding the Asia-Pacific region and the incredible culture diversifications and the way business operates across all of the Asia Pacific regions. I would not recommend a one approach fits all but rather look to work with partners that understand the diversification of the Asia-Pacific region.” Stephen possesses certain key attributes that help make him an award-winning CEO, such as knowing that success is very much a team effort and remaining focussed on the end goal. He embellishes on what keeps him motivated. “At Pulse we work collectively together and focus on achieving shared and common goals. It is much easier to stay focussed and motivated when you are a member of a team who are all working together to achieve the same collective goals. It provides a sense of shared belongingness for us all. This approach is similar to when I was a naval officer, it is all about team, all of us being accountable and responsible, all playing our part. Not one of us wants to let the team down and instead we all remain focussed and motivated together. We are all excited by the opportunities that are opening up for Pulse and each and every one of us have played an integral part (like a jigsaw puzzle) that has enabled us to achieve what we have to date.” It seems that the sky is the limit for Stephen and the team at Pulse, and he foresees the CULTURETECH© Platform becoming a huge success. “It is important because we need to highlight personal accountability and responsibility in the workplace to intentionally develop healthy tangible productive workplace cultures. Pulse through the CULTURETECH© Platform can do this and I am highly motivated to see this Platform become a global success.