Appearances means nothing
"You can tell by the weddin' where the marriage is headin’."
Most people spend more time working on the wedding (perks), than the actual marriage (culture).
More energy is put into the look of the environment vs. what actually happens in the environment. This sets most culture's up for failure. Overcompensating for the lack of cultural foundation will eventually kill whatever good that has tried to manifest in your culture.
Ping-pong tables don’t mean jack if you treat your people like crap.
No one wants to talk about it
How’s your marriage? It’s good.
How’s your culture? It’s good.
Yea, okay.
The matters of a culture (or marriage) can be complex but the solution can be as simple as talking about it. It doesn’t make a difference if you think you have a good culture or a bad one - they all need continuous work. Adding another set of wise eyes or ears can make all difference when it comes to a strong culture.
Most don’t want to admit they are struggling in a specific area of their culture until it’s too late.
Very similar to marriage the later things aren't addressed the more costly they become.
It takes a lot of work
Before you hire your A-Team, discover what you need to work on to get your culture off to a good start. Putting in the culture work is highly instrumental in hiring, building a great product or service, and becoming profitable.
Your culture will take care of your people, and your people will help the growth of your business.
It is that simple.
The end game
Think Happily Ever After to Once Upon A Time.
Most people want to be married forever. To get to forever, there are things that they must to do make that happen. Having a vision of what forever looks like is always helpful when creating the steps to get there.
Working your culture backward is a great way to achieve the results that you want. If you have an idea or a vision for your culture, start laying the foundation for it now. Put in the time you need to make it happen and if it gets off track, go back to your “happily ever after” and see what needs to be adjusted.
"Most startups want an "organic" culture, but don't realize that the people are the "organic" ingredient."
A strong culture holds the key to leadership, growth, amazing people, healthy environment, profitability, and more. So I encourage you to create with integrity, talk about it, put in the hard work, and know your end game.
Charisse Fontes is the founder of Culture Circle and an Executive + People Ops Advisor to founders and leadership teams.
more about Culture Circle →first published on linkedin, jan 2017_
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