I've always believed (and witnessed) that a company's culture mirrors the character of the founders. If you want to shape your company culture, you yourself must change to reflect it.
Never thought of it in terms of "personal growth" so far, so this was an interesting take
I think it's obvious that a startup's culture is heavily influenced by its founders, I think the more subtle point is that a culture is more affected by the things they do than the things they say, though if they say one thing and do another that clash can sadly cause huge amounts of damage. Being coherent, cohesive and clear are absolutely key to not messing people about at the early stages I think.
At the company I am presently working at, we have recognized that good culture is paramount to accomplishing great things. It makes everyone work on the same wavelength and leads to constructive collaboration, as opposed to politiking and defensive behavior. It is working really well for us.
Culture is not about hiring similar people. We have a fairly even breakdown of men and women and have people from various backgrounds and in different stages of their life. Yet all people mirror and identify with our core values. I want to share them with you because I, like the rest of our team, are really proud of them:
The last, and probably most important thing, is that none of this does not make sense until you know why you are doing what you are doing. We call this our WHY. It took time to define it, and we continue to refine it. It is our central tenet which keeps us aligned and motivated, and everything else in one way or another stems from it.
We, as a company, have no fucking core values.
At the beginning there were a few smart ass, business savy dudes with an idea they thought interesting to make.
So they started our company. They needed some additional forces to achieve their goal so we hired you !
Now, we have a mutual need for stability : we want to keep your talent inside, and you most probably want stability for your job (since you're just a non-entrepreneur guy)
To satisfy that need, the company looks closely at how to make you happy. So the company creates a few illusions :
- illusions of scarcity of money (we could pay you more but well, your market value blablabla)
- illusions of culture (whao, we work together 'cos we thing alike ! except well, no, we look for maximizing profit, you look at saving your salary)
- illusions of evolution (you will grow with us, except that well, all the benefits will be for the top mangement :-), unless you becom one of the founder, which implies taking a huge financial risk (rememeber ? you're an employee, so you won't make enough money to join the company's capital :-))
However, given the fact that things have worked this way for centuries, we both acknowledge the situation and think both of us will find a pocket of happiness in it.
So let met tell you once more : We, as a company, have f*cking values, pal, that's just an illusion we create because without that you'd thing that we're just a normal company (and our little ego doesn't want that :))
I agree that very often, the situation is as you have described, frownie. I have had my share of jobs and some were better and some worse. However, here at 15Five, and at one other job, I honestly felt like the company truly cared for its employees.
Of course the company must make money, and of course it must hire people and pay them a salary in order to get that done. You would have to be disillusioned to think that just because a company has values and a culture it will ignore all else. But there can be more than than that to it, and in this case, there is. Taking good care of employees and treating them right while providing a comfortable environment DOES pay dividends to the company. I cannot imagine a better win-win.
Many people are probably disillusioned because they have been burned in the past. They no longer believe in values, culture, and WHY. I cannot blame them. Fool me once, they say, right? However, I want to throw this out there and say that there are still places where employees are treated like people, like the work they do, are satisfied and fairly rewarded. Calling that an illusion is not fair just because you have not had a chance to experience that.
I think that always happens - it seems impossible to write down the things you actually value as a company without getting "buzzwordy" as you say. I would note that once you see past the buzzwords there's quite a bit of uniqueness there.
Not to be a jerk, but as far as I can tell you have 6 people who work for your company. I don't really think 6 people counts as a culture because you haven't really started to solve the coordination problems that define cultural issues when you are that small. You don't have any layer of management. Let us know how things are going for you when you 10x or 100x that team.
A very fair observation. The team is larger now, but it is still not at 10x. A layer of management is now in place in certain teams. This is one of the things we are aware of and are putting a foundation in place. We are aware that it will be a challenge to maintain it.
We recognize the fact that a good culture does not just happen. It must be fostered and guided. It must be reinforced with actions which may not look like they have an immediate positive impact on the company. However, employees are the only thing a company has in the end. A happy and motivated employee is many times more valuable to a company than a miserable unmotivated one, and the investment is worth it. We hope to keep this up as we grow.
Great post & it's totally true that company culture mirrors that of founders. I think this works through 3 mechanisms:
(1) Employees tend to ape founders, so whatever founders care about & value (in their actions) tends to filter down.
(2) Getting aspects of culture to stick (e.g. transparency) is hard, and requires real commitment from founders. So whatever sticks will tend to be whatever founders care enough to really push through.
(3) Founders tend to hire people who are 'like them', so a critical mass of employees end up being very similar to the founders.
It makes sense that a company's culture would be greatly influenced by the founders - the ones who shape said company. I've always believed this to be a one-way thing however: company culture will reflect the personalities of its founders, and that's it. Seeking to change yourself in order to build a better culture by proxy is certainly an idea with merit.
Never thought of it in terms of "personal growth" so far, so this was an interesting take