Culture is a Business Priority
Culture must be leader-led and leader-lived. Culture is not the responsibility of HR or People & Culture (despite the name). While everyone contributes to the culture in what behaviour is acted or accepted, the founder’s role is to make the ultimate decisions about culture.
Company culture sets expectations for your business. Without a defined culture as an anchor, there is nothing to use as a reference for behaviour and supporting attraction, engagement and retention strategies.
In an HBR article, Organisational Psychologist, Dr. Rebecca Newton wrote that (culture) ‘shapes the way people make decisions, get their work done, what they prioritize, and how they interact with colleagues, clients, and customers. It is really only successful and powerful when business leaders see it as their responsibility and see HR as a resource for helping them achieve it.’
People must align with your company’s culture and the standard of acceptable behaviours that you set.
Culture is Not a Policy
In their book, Rework (a must-read for any legendary leader), Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, founders of Basecamp, reason that we don’t create culture, it develops over time. ‘Culture is the by-product of behaviour. If you encourage people to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust, then trust will be built in.’
I had a client who wanted help establishing a culture framework for her startup. We came up with some early concepts, and she said, ‘Let’s make that protocol. I need to develop a policy for that.’
If you have a policy for your culture, you will have a policy culture. Just no!
If you’re ready to build a culture that will help your business to scale successfully, I’d love to chat and see how I can help.
[i] Newton Ph.D., Rebecca. 2016, November 2. HR Can’t Change Company Culture by Itself. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/11/hr-cant-change-company-culture-by-itself
[ii] Fried, Jason and Heinemeier Hansson, David. 2010. Rework. New York: Penguin Random House LLC.
