“There is no time nor bandwidth for culture (dismissive tone) when you are trying to raise money. The only culture we had was DYFJ.”
This comment was from an entrepreneur friend of mine, who took his company to a successful exit, as we were exchanging about my job. I wanted his insight for a start-up I am currently mentoring.
The pressure on start-up CEOs is tremendous, and their bandwidth is indeed challenged everyday. Yet, here’s why I believe company culture is a foundational priority.
Culture is an intention, not a by-product.
If it isn’t taken care of, culture will take care of itself: go rogue at best, toxic at worst. Culture starts organically: it is this unique work environment that founding teams experience, when they reinvent the world, sitting around the dining room table. And culture grows organically too, with new employees and leaders, potentially remote. That critical point, when the feeling of connection and symbiose of the round table starts to wear off, is when Culture must become an intention.
It is never too early to start thinking about culture.
It is easier to take care of it from the start than course-correct down the line. Culture can start small, with simple building blocks that scale as the company grows. It starts with defining values, aligned with the vision and mission of the company, that reflect your commitments to your stakeholders: investors, partners, and clients, as well as employees and candidates. Then it’s about ensuring values are brought to life through behavioral norms, leadership practices, HR policies, and organizational processes. And the cement of it all: leaders holding themselves, each other, and the organization accountable for modeling the values and embracing this cultural ecosystem.
If you are noticing the following signs:
- The work doesn’t get done, deadlines are missed, the quality of work deteriorates.
- There is a decline in participation during virtual meetings, with employees turning off their cameras more often, contributing less to discussions, or missing meetings without valid reasons.
- People show increasingly negative behaviors, such as blaming, gossiping, or getting into office politics.
- Attitudes such as cynicism, pessimism, or skepticism about leadership and strategy become predominant.
- Employees are working long hours, including evenings and weekends, and morale is low.
It may be time to prioritize (re)inventing the company’s culture.
