Company culture is the pixie dust of entrepreneurship. A strong, cohesive culture that everyone wants to belong to is almost unbeatable. And most start-ups have the real thing, even without realising it. Everyone is excited, fired up by the vision, loving being a part of the journey. Founders know every team member well and take a genuine interest in that person, their hopes, fears, families. The word that comes up the most is “fun”.
Things change as companies grow, even at the stage of having just six to twelve people. It is no longer possible or practical for everyone to know all the details of every job and every customer. Projects and workload have to get a little more broken up. Meanwhile, the founders are becoming overloaded elsewhere, from hiring to strategy to fund-raising, and the key components of culture can get lost. Sadly, stories of poor culture are all too familiar, but this one has to be one of the worst.
Ever taken a gun to work?
One contact of mine worked for a company with a brilliant CEO, a clever man, a great guy to have a pint with but ‘way out there’. On my contact’s very first day, this man smashed a Macbook and threw it at the head of one of his employees.
It was usual to hear him shouting from down in the street. He fired his whole marketing department for poor performance, then complained that no one was doing any marketing and hired them again, only to repeat the same firing and re-hiring process a few months later.
A CEO’s style sets the style of the whole culture. Because this particular leader was aggressive, so were all the senior management. Many of the senior team were taking anti-depressants. It became so bad that someone there brought a gun to the office to shoot their manager. It was a horrendously toxic company with one of the highest attrition rates my contact had ever seen. Extreme culture nearly always filters down from the top.
Leadership
HR and Health and Safety companies’ briefs are to minimise litigation and take over some of the duties of the overworked founder. Too often, this translates into minutely detailed, crystal-clear job descriptions, and rules and regulations that are all highly detrimental to culture. What it delivers is accountability and control with a large tablespoon of micromanaging and fear for good measure. The team then becomes distant from customer needs and resentful of both founder and company, and in turn, the founder becomes distant from the group. Everyone loses.
Culture comes from the top and it is your vision and commitment to your team and their shared values that will make them happy. That mission can never get lost. Connection is crucial. Your job as a leader is to communicate that vision regularly, be continually honest with your team, and ensure they see and receive the benefits of what they do along the way.
Vision, values, and people who fit
Zappos is a company that comes up when people talk about successful cultures. The word fun is often used. Their ethos is simple; that culture is the secret of both a great brand and superb customer service.
One of the ways they achieve their culture is by being incredibly careful about who they bring on board. Cultural fit is the first thing they look for when recruiting, but they also have an in-depth on-boarding process that concentrates on embedding their values. At the end of the first week of training, each new hire is offered a lump sum to quit if they don’t feel they are a good fit. Zappos are not alone in believing it is cheaper to do this than keep someone who’s a bad fit. It also reduces the fear factor of being sacked and gives more incentive to do well to those that do fit.
Culture plays a massive role in why people stay in their jobs, and achieving good retention. The more definitive the culture, the clearer the fit. Sometimes the definition may be one that divides people, but that is exactly why it works – for example, Hootsuite’s motto is “Blow Shit Up,” even found on their social media with the acronym #BSU.
Retention starts before each new person joins you. They should already have been emailed the mission and values, along with a personal welcome letter from the founder. The more welcome you make them feel, the more they will be sure that they belong. Their on-boarding week should be joyous and let them know that they belong.
Extreme rotten-apple hires often sneak in when you are panic-hiring during growth, desperate for the skill set, and end up succumbing to someone who appears to say and do all the right things. A rotten apple is someone who may well be good at the job, and popular with the team but who subtly undermines the culture at every opportunity. Someone working against you on the inside can turn your culture from good to poisonously toxic and, in extreme cases, wreck a business or a reputation. Never panic hire! And if you sense the culture changing, take action – fast. Trust your gut.
- This is an excerpt from Jan Cavelle’s book ‘Start for Success’, which is available here.