OP58 Preserving your company culture
OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT
PRESERVING YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
By Gary Epstein • November/December 2017 • Issue 58
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How does one keep that small business culture alive when a business is growing and more and more people are being added to the mix?
There are many challenges that businesses face when scaling, but one that seems to come up time and time again is culture. What cannot be disputed is that an exceptional company culture means success for one’s business, and success means growth. Staying true to its culture is a challenge that every company will have to tackle at some point or another.
Generally, maintaining a cool company culture in a small business is relatively easy. The team is small, people are interviewed and hired on the basis that they buy into the business, its culture and ideas and so the status quo stays the same. As the business grows, new hires bring increasingly new skills into the business and suddenly maintaining the company’s cultural dynamic starts to become a challenge.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that company culture is not important to the success of your business — it is, and hugely so. Culture is often what attracts the best staff, what pushes the drive to succeed and ultimately what makes one company survive and succeed when others don’t. A growing company will experience several different kinds of change, but a change in company culture could well signal the demise of a business.
THREATS TO COMPANY CULTURE IN A GROWING CONCERN
1. Larger workforce:
As your company grows, chances are that you will need to hire more employees, and more employees mean more managers. Take care to employ managers who will respect and help to preserve your company culture.
2. Better workforce:
Let’s face it, some areas of your workforce may need improving. As your company grows and new hires raise the bar, you may find yourself parting ways with old employees who fall short of the new standard. Take care to hang onto employees who buy into your company culture and let go of the ones who don’t.
3. Multiple offices:
A growing company can, and often does, mean either a move to bigger premises or establishing multiple locations. In either event it is important to have a discussion around company culture as this could mean the difference between your company culture remaining intact or morphing into something other.
Whatever changes your culture needs, one thing seems to remain constant across all growing companies — implementing organisational change starts and ends with your company’s leadership. When leaders of a business are clear on what makes their culture work, it will be a lot easier to keep it alive as the business grows.
TIPS ON PRESERVING CULTURE IN A GROWING BUSINESS
- Hire for culture: Ensure new hires fit into the new, growing dynamic of your company and its workplaces.
- Commit to out-of-office events: Whether it’s a company sports team or Friday afternoon drinks, out-of-office events is an opportunity for employees, both old and new, to get to know one another personally. This will help keep the levels of engagement and satisfaction high.
- Update your tech: If, for you, a growing company means multiple office locations, make sure you have the tech to keep communications flowing freely and maintain that happy, open culture.
- Think like a small business — no matter how big your company is: Managing change in a growing business can be quite difficult. The easiest way to preserve your culture in such an environment is to keep thinking like a small business; keep on communicating with your employees and managers, be aware of their likes and dislikes, and keep the lines of communication open.
Change is inevitable and a great company culture is going to mean that change and growth will happen. Be aware of it, strive to keep it and your ongoing success will be ensured.