How Scalable is Your Company Culture?
Rick Goodman — April 18, 2019 — April 18, 2019
Every entrepreneur wants to see their business grow—but in some ways, that growth can be a two-edged sword. For instance, you may feel like your unique company cultureis a key component of your success—and a primary factor in your growth. But when you achieve that growth, you may find that your culture is difficult to hold onto.
This is by no means an uncommon realization. Simply put, the values you cherish as a 10-person team become more difficult to uphold when there are 25 or 50 or 200 of you.
The good news is that there are some steps you can take to develop a culture that will grow with you—in short, a culture that scales.
Let me offer some solutions.
How to Scale Your Company Culture
1. Define what your ideal culture would be.
It’s always best to define success, setting a clear goal for what your company values should be. This isn’t about logistic or ephemeral things, like snacks in the break room or where you have the company holiday party. It’s more a matter of defining those intangible things that you’d like your company to be defined by—like collaboration, or relationship, or improving the lives of customers, or whatever else. These intangible things can easily be adapted as your business evolves.
2. Put together a culture team.
This is something more companies should do. Assemble a group of employees—ideally from different levels within the corporate hierarchy—and let them get together once a month or so to initiate cultural initiatives. Task them with creating and refining a statement of culture, and of reviewing the company’s activities to ensure ongoing cultural alignment.
3. Make culture a part of the onboarding process.
One final suggestion: If you want new employees to fit into the culture, and to contribute to it in a meaningful way, make sure you talk about culture early in the hiring process. And, ask for their take—solicit their thoughts on what kind of culture they’d like to see.
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