Scaling Culture
I was fortunate to lead in a company lauded for its outstanding culture and high caliber talent. We had a very high employee NPS, the Glassdoor ratings and reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and employee engagement was rich. During candidate interviews, onboarding sessions, and exit interviews alike, I was frequently asked how the company managed to scale its culture across time and time zones (we had teams in the USA, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, and India). First, I thanked the Founders for caring deeply about the team they built and making my job so enjoyable. Second, I boiled the keys to scaling culture down to 3 ideas:
Start early
Integrate authentically
Spend money on it
Start early
I was one of the first hires at Branch International; but even before the company had raised money or hired me, the Founders had created a set of company values (you can see the values on their Careers page — and they’re hiring!). They thought about basic frameworks for recruitment, compensation, and org structure. By creating a set of values early on, it made it easy to incorporate them as we grew. We didn’t have to backtrack or disrupt the company by creating values and trying to train a hundred-something person workforce on them.
Integrate authentically
I would say “talk about culture and your values everywhere and all the time”, but you need to get work done. And you need your culture to do some of the work for you. You don’t want to force it, else employees won’t buy into it.
What does integrating culture authentically mean? It means finding the pre-existing, natural processes and systems in the company and utilizing them to amplify your culture. For example, you may have a performance management philosophy. Is it in sync with your values? You may have a set of structured interviews for candidates. Is there one for culture? You may have a robust employee engagement program for a remote or hybrid work force. Does it include rewards, competitions, fireside chats, or other content related to your culture?
Hint: If the answer is yes to those questions, you’re well on your way.
Spend money on it
How you spend money on it will depend on your company’s line of business and what makes your company a special place to work. And there are options for small and large budgets. Some examples are:
$$$ Travel for in-person events (retreats, onboarding a new hire or team, launching a new product / region, annual planning, etc.)
$$ Swag
$ Competitions and prizes
You can maintain a strong culture even as you grow to hundreds or thousands of employees. It takes being thoughtful and intentional as leadership. If you invest a little bit of time and a little bit of money, scalable culture will pay you back handsomely.
Want help reviewing or creating your company values? Want to discuss your company culture and/or people strategy? Click below to set up a chat.
