Company Culture: Creating Diverse Core Values

December 11, 2013 at 2:29 AM by Jordan Taylor

 

hubspots-awesome-presentation-shows-how-to-create-a-21st-century-culture HubSpot works hard at creating a flourishing company culture.

Your company is going to have a unique culture regardless of what you do—so why not take the time to cultivate it, creating something everyone can appreciate?

After perusing sources for insights into creating company culture, these companies and people stand out: Salesforce, HubSpot, Netflix, HuffPost, Richard Branson, and Todd McKinnon.

HubSpot offers an extensive view of their beliefs, check out “The HubSpot Culture Code: Creating a Company We Love.” Here’s a great quote from the pioneering inbound marketing company (and, no, it’s not related to taking naps):

Culture is to recruiting as product is to market.

Todd McKinnon, in a guest post for Forbes.com, voiced his thoughts concerning when the right time to focus on company culture is:

As you grow, it becomes harder to communicate everything, to get consensus on every decision or to create a process and procedure for everything. A strong and clear culture can give everyone the proper framework to work within.

Taking tidbits and concepts form these wide-ranging sources, I present to you a short amalgamated list of some of the most important pieces of advice you can get for creating great company culture.

VALUE AND REWARD HARD WORK

There’s actually not all that much to this, just celebrate hard work. In your weekly or monthly internal e-mails, or newsletters, highlight exceptional team and individual performances. Give people incentives like money or gifts to encourage them to work hard and take on projects across domains. Throw parties and orchestrate leisurely hangouts so the most pressing work issues can temporarily be replaced with humor and simple pleasures.

BE AN OPEN-MINDED BOSS AND BE TOLERANT OF MISTAKES

HubSpot really understands what this philosophy entails: “We’d rather be failing frequently than never trying.” Being an understanding boss also means you acknowledge that life can get in the way sometimes. Have empathy for your employee’s experiences and don’t be shy—talk to them directly about it when time permits. Richard Branson sums it up nicely: “People who work in a friendly environment that is tolerant of mistakes…arrive at the best possible solutions for serving customers.”

ASSIGN A LEADER TO SET THE TONE

Depending on the size of your company this practice might not be feasible, but if you can dedicate a specific person to be an official leader of company culture (mind you they can’t do it all by themselves), you ensure your values remain transparent and on track. Whether you have someone in charge of promoting principles or not, remember that your company culture is heavily reliant on how leaders act. If everyone sees that the leadership of your company embodies your core culture values—you’ll see genuine cultural transmission.

DON’T OVERDO IT: LET THINGS ORGANICALLY GROW

You want to start with a clear framework, but don’t be too rigid. Some of the best aspects of company culture cannot be planned. This is why a startup atmosphere is the perfect habitat for a collaborative culture to evolve. I think Steve Jobs was right when he said that tremendous teamwork at the top of the company feeds tremendous teamwork throughout the company. This level of teamwork is an invaluable cultural investment because it allows people to work on ideas and solve pressing problems. Keeping people happy, creating an atmosphere that favors social dynamics, and letting everyone play a role in the decision-making process is the best way to get results without trying to plan for unknowns.

GIVE EVERYONE A VOICE IN DECISION-MAKING

Here are Branson’s thoughts again: “If I think back to what we did right, it was in our planning process, when we made sure we were having fun working together and that everyone who had a good idea was included in our decision-making process.” The most pointed insight we can take form this is the irreducible relationship between company culture and how the customer is treated. Don’t be surprised if this open practice accidentally leads you to new avenues of expression with respect to company culture—while at the time same time fostering phenomenal customer service.

GARDENING YOUR CULTURE: COMMUNICATION AND TEAM EXERCISES

Maintaining a collective vision is only possible if you’re continuously communicating your explicit values. Talk often about principles when you can relate them to daily contexts within the office. Knowledge empowers people and allows influence to be independent of hierarchy—so stay connected with your employees so that as your company grows your cultural values remain intact. Remember also that team exercises can mean a few things: working together on community projects; sports; and playing games that emphasize teamwork.

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