Can you maintain your culture through growth?
I know some of you are rolling your eyes and going, oh yeah let's grow. I meant to do that. It's tough right now, but it's a great opportunity to shift our mindset back into building something we love versus protecting where we are.
And growth isn't all about the numbers or operational stresses. It's about the people. Is your culture bound to change for the worse when you start to experience the growth you’ve been fighting for? Let’s talk about it.
Embracing Growth as a Culture Strategy
There's a real belief out there that you have to choose between growing your company and preserving what makes it special. And it's understandable since we've seen a lot of companies become too focused on the numbers when they find success. But this isn't inevitable, and in fact, growth can be a way to help you strengthen your company culture. Here are some ways you might benefit from growth:
Elevating Morale: Success begets success, as they say. When you see your company expanding, your people should view that as validation of their hard work. It means that what you are doing is effective, giving you the confidence to forge onward. Be sure to heap praise on those that are building what you're selling.
Cultivating Leadership: As the company grows, you’ll need to fill leadership positions, which is important to keep teams manageable. Chances are you have some especially talented individuals who have stepped up to make your growth happen. Tap these budding managers for your leadership team and watch them continue to progress.
Development Opportunities: Growth isn't just about revenue and head count. When things are expanding employees will have the chance to develop new skills that will help them progress in their career as they help you with your clients. As you get more work coming in, new tasks will stretch their abilities and unlock new interests that give them job satisfaction.
Strengthening Teamwork: The best way to bring a team together is to experience success, especially when it includes overcoming challenges together. When you see an increase in hiring and revenue, that should help the team feel that growth is a good thing for themselves and the company culture.
Still a little nervous about expanding? Well, there are a few things you can do to make sure you can preserve the unique culture you’ve built:
Call It Out: If you haven’t done it already, you need to identify and record your core values in writing (preferably as a team). Make sure you talk about those values frequently, and keep the messaging consistent for stability. And not just putting posters on walls, but when you talk about decisions the company is making, reference the core values as instrumental in guiding them.
Foster Employee Ownership: Company policies and strategy are very much top-down ideas, but culture flows up. Employees need to feel empowered to impact the company's culture, and they will know immediately when something starts to feel off. Listen to suggestions but more importantly see what's already happening. You can't really create a culture, but you can nurture it and give it room to grow.
Grow a Diverse Team: Since culture is people-driven, look for the right people. As you grow and others inevitably start to make hiring decisions, develop and implement guidelines on hiring people who not only are complimentary to the current culture but are able to help evolve it to something even more special.
Be Inclusive: With hybrid meetings and remote workers as the new norm, take careful notice of people who aren’t participating and reach out to them to get their thoughts. A healthy culture requires a sense of belonging for everyone.
Don’t be afraid of losing something because you have an opportunity to get bigger. Like any other aspect of your business, if you pay careful attention to culture you can make sure your shop is a great place to be however large you grow.