How to protect your company culture when you are growing faster

Initially, we were the only: Law School’s two graduates turned to serial businessmen, who is a team of husband and wife working on our second big project. Our vision, to create a business entity and a rehabilitation company that consists of a culture of accountability and integrity without compromise. In addition, we wanted our company to enjoy working, where staff members were celebrated, their ideas and creativity were encouraged, the kind of company that parents would like to work for their children. This culture would be unique, bold, fearless of the decision, where occasionally “strange” and incompetence was not resisted but it was not accepted.

It was easy to maintain such a particular culture when it was only the first period of my husband, myself and our newcomers. As a team of fifteen individuals, our culture operates according to the intention. Work was fun. Our culture also forced us to stand in the market and the client’s loyalty.

Then, the growth. In a few years, we literally went to 100+ employees from the literal “mother and pop” operation. Scaling comes with new ideas and new opportunities. The teamwork is powerful, which is more than the amount of its parts. It was an interesting time. However, such a dynamic growth invites a cultural risk. We soon found out that, when left without scrutiny, cultural risk becomes cultural loss: the spread of attitudes, principles and business practices that go against the company’s foundations. We do not want to lose or compromise the vision we have for our business, Phil and I vowed that we will never give up on promoting our original culture and basic values.

Related: Most traders wrongly approach the culture. That is what they are missing.

How to think about the culture of your business: a simple principle

Today, I use a simple thumb principle that helps in the cultural rule of our development. I call it one rule, because it’s a dynamic dynamic husband and I shared in the early days of this business project. One -to -one principle is about the balance of “width” and “depth”. Easy to understand. Whenever your business grows, more personnel, more service offer, more places, new vertical and so on, it is also necessary Darker, This is a deep, first and most important thing to include both the culture of the workplace and the customer, to include the identification of both the brand.

In the context of dynamic growth, all old training should be considered again and it should be updated. Exactly new training is mandatory online, emphasizing the firm’s latest offer of cultural identity. Has your firm just made a dozen new fare? Great Congratulations The time has come to set up some new programs to create a team on piety, events and workshops that will increase the cultural IQ of new and experienced employees alike.

And please, when you welcome your new addition, do not help and keep the situation behind. Parties and other ice -breaking events are essential. Try strange things. Seriously even if they do not go to the plan (and they may be bad). Learn a lesson, move on. Try to do something else. Never lose your will to be weird and never lose the view of the one -to -one principle, make sure the depth of your business is in harmony with its breadth. It is a version of great culture and sustainable growth.

What to do is not

You may find that the cultural identity of your business cannot be strengthened. It has been so dial, so attractive, so intuitive that it is physically obliged to spread itself to layers of layers and expansion. If you think that the culture and values ​​of your business are undivided, I would recommend you to carefully consider the issue of starbucks. That’s right, a siren sugar saving China once struggled to present a united brand identity. As CEO Howard Schulz describes in his book Forward: Starbucks fought for his life without losing his lifeThere was a time when the spread of the retail stores of the star box was so intense that it compromised with the customer’s ability to provide equal experience.

As a result, the brand’s reputation decreased, and the lower line of coffee was negatively affected. Schulettz proud of these dramatic measures to restore the cultural and brand identity of the business, including temporary closures for a few hours in more than 7,000 stores in 2008 to re -train Barisa on how to pull the perfect espresso shot.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that just like a star box, the business of enterprise classes are subject to a cultural threat. Without actions, small businesses can also lose the clue of their culture and basic values, even slowly or at any time of growth. This is the reason why with additional enthusiasm during the dynamic expansion stages, it is important to expand, celebrate, celebrate, and expand their culture on a regular basis.

Related: 5 ways CEOs can evaluate and reset their company culture

What to do

The first order of your business, if you haven’t already done so, is to determine what you want in the culture of your business. For example, in our firm, my husband and my husband knew from the very beginning that we want to create a sense of family centrality in our business and protect them, where when talking about children’s activities and other family responsibilities, our team members will be given flexibility and understanding. We also wanted a culture that was out of the rating, instead prefer a radical “open door” approach that encouraged direct and secure communication between and between every level of administration.

Once you appreciate the basic cultural principles for your firm, the time has come for you to buy strictly with your staff. They need to study in your cultural ways, why, and how to study. Workshops, forums and training should allow your employees to “return”, cooperating with your ideas and ideas on how the cultural identity of the business can be better, better and better. For example, a member of the staff can ask how the family center of our business can feel about the family members without staff members as if they were less flexible than their fellow workers. Even they can suggest reasons through which such contradictions can be resolved.

The last piece of my advice is three times: Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. If you have done your job properly, you may have created an environment that your employees want to settle, in which they will help in developing and protecting, in which they will feel safe, seeing and valuable. This is one of the reasons worth celebrating, and you just need to find an excuse to do so. Events can come in several forms. At our shop, we are big on birthday, work anniversary and other milestones, whatever we can do to collect and baskets in warmth and Kamardi, which we all have helped to create.