Your company’s culture is and isn’t yours

When a company forms, it forms around the first few people that join. With them, a way of interacting is formed.

That way of interacting is based on their beliefs, values, and judgments on what is the way they want and should interact with one another. In some cases, many where I have been involved, these first joiners take the time to define the culture they want. Interestingly, they nearly always start by talking about the culture or things they don’t want. And it might get documented in notes or value statements.

But it gets passed on almost always by behavior. And then more people join, presuming the endeavor has had success. And then more people. They may see the values and hopefully they see behaviors in the first settlers that actually reflect those values.

Over time, the numbers grow, and in every company, the first people and even the leadership don’t entirely own defining the work culture. But you can’t give it up. The group needs to own an envisioned culture. You can nurture it as a leader, by whom you hire, and by how you handle both the mundane and exceptional.

But at its root, the people in the organization own the culture. It’s critical that you bring them together periodically, to decide how THEY want to make it their own, how THEY want to interact with one another, how THEY want to deal with the mundane and exceptional because culture will happen and if EVERYONE has hand in it; the more likely you’ll develop beliefs, values and behaviors that work not just for the company, but for your people, for your partners and customers too.