Start Up Company Culture: How to Get Your Workforce in Sync with Your Values

Are you running a start-up? Is your company growing at this very moment? Are more and more employees getting on your payroll? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are a prime candidate for establishing a company culture for your organization.

Your company culture can have a lasting impact on how your company grows, so we suggest putting a culture strategy in place right from the get-go. You’re wondering now, “Do I really need to think about culture strategy as something to invest time and effort in?” To that query, we say this - establishing a company culture is a business decision, and should be treated as such. It needs to be deliberated upon, researched, and methodically executed. 

When your culture strategy is ultimately implemented, the next step is to ensure that your decided values are accepted and practiced by your entire workforce.

Here are some ways in which you can make sure that each and every level of your staff embodies the values and ethos on which your company culture is built - 

Keep It Simple - Adopt realistic values for your company culture which authentically align with your startup goals. If your values are simple but significant, then they can easily be adopted by each and every employee, across departments and levels within a company. Curiosity, supporting innovation, and employee-centric policies, for instance, showcase solid values which can be conveyed through customer-employee communications, supervisor-junior executive interactions, and even members of the board.

Live Your Culture - Take the time to speak to your employees about your culture strategy, and highlight to them where all your values are visible in your processes. For instance, if you have adopted the value of respect for all, then make sure that everyone in your organization is treated equally whether they are C-suite executives or interns just starting out with you. Actions speak louder than words. A cliché? Sure. But the only way to help employees internalize your company values is by showing them those values in action.

Your Hiring Process - Your hiring process should be a perfect demonstration of your company culture. Respecting the times of interviewees and maintaining regular and honest correspondence with them should happen naturally in a company where respect is a part of the culture. New employees are pools of potential, and they should feel like your company’s values resonate with their own, so they feel comfortable stepping into your organization as a full-time resource. It can also be beneficial to use your values to filter out candidates who are not fitting in with your prescribed company culture and reiterate it to candidates who you are keen to get on board. Let your company culture and values be clearly indicated while gathering new talent so that both parties are making informed decisions regarding their work within your culture framework.

Culture Diet - A diet is focused on what you are putting into your body. In the same way, the culture diet is focused on what values you are collectively feeding your budding teams. If you are enabling them through curiosity, respect, and kindness, then employees are driven by those values. Your Culture Diet should be built on your values, creating an environment where employees can partake in a healthy back and forth with all their coworkers. You can explore the culture diet a little more here.

Secret Places - In the whole list of your company processes, you will find that there are a number of places where your company culture can shine through. Right from boardroom conferences to all-hands meetings, to inter and intra-departmental communication channels, your company culture and values have a place everywhere in your organization. Enforcing your culture strategy in these places, especially when you are still in the process of fine-tuning your operations, can have a lasting impact on your workforce and ultimately your company.

Once you have adopted certain values under the purview of your company culture, it is crucial to practice that culture every step of the way and get your workforce to do the same. Remember, treating company culture as a business decision and implementing it accordingly will help you realize your collective aspirations for your startup.

Are you ready to define your company culture? Get started here.