A longtime and very dear client of Vivo has worked with us at both his current and former companies. His former company had what I call “accidental” culture, just as Vivo did for several years. But his current company has a purposeful, directed and strong company culture – just as Vivo now has. Both his company and Vivo are the ideal. But “purposeful” takes work.
Back when Vivo was enjoying “accidental” good culture, we used to laugh that entire books, seminars and webinars were devoted to the subject of “creating a good company culture.” We were so lucky that ours happened naturally. Or so we thought. Over time, we realized that our easy culture was simply a group of cool, compatible people who happened to work together. It felt good and we didn’t know we needed to keep tabs on it. When some of the fun, easygoing, hard-working employees left, we realized that it was not culture, but the good fortune of having hired some great people, that led to our quirky-yet-fun workplace. When some of their replacements turned out to be bitter, and burnt out, we lacked the foundation to save ourselves from their toxicity.
Building a purposeful culture takes work, but it’s worth it if you put in the right kind of effort.
To get started, find your existing culture by establishing a baseline: Ask a large percentage of employees across departments and experience levels to write down what it’s like to work there. Then pay attention to their answers, keeping in mind patterns that appear. Look for themes around the company’s personality and collective attitude. Remember that company personality isn’t enough. Personalities are too static; companies have to remain open to change. Culture is more about collective mindset.
Next, focus on the “collective” part. The C-suite’s attitude only represents an elite element of an organization. Top-down culture can be alienating. Your dynamic CEO may set the tone for your company’s personality, but the whole of the company sets its attitude. Get everyone’s input on the best ways to create and foster teamwork, accountability, support or whatever other values are important to the company.
Avoid culture-busters like “forced” instead of “purposeful” culture. You can’t force culture. Fancy game rooms and massage chairs, daily free lunches or refrigerators full of protein shakes, organic teas and fresh produce are nice perks, but not the stuff of company culture. In some cases, they might even create a façade. Other culture-busters include leadership “cliques” that are impenetrable to new or younger hires.
Once you’ve got a sense of your culture, nurture it and monitor it. Go ahead and enjoy it when good culture seems natural. But keep it purposeful. Because all it takes for an accidental good culture to crumble is for one team member to leave or a Negative Nancy to come onboard.
Finally, it’s only fair I share what Vivo’s culture looks like now. Everyone here might choose different verbiage, but it’s a safe bet we would each incorporate some of the following:
Vivo is not for the thin of skin or the delicate of constitution. It’s not for dawdlers or those who want to correct everything into tidy, politically-ideal molds. But it IS for people who want to truly collaborate, to get to know people in order to meet their needs, to challenge each other and to grow. None of us is perfect here, but we genuinely like each other and our clients. We’re all different, but we’re all on the same page. Vivo is also for people who are OK being made fun of when they make mistakes (or trip on their cell phone charger and face-plant onto a donut). You see, although we avoid mistakes, we aren’t afraid of them. We like pushing the limits, showing that we’re willing to aim for the impossible. And the best part is how we work together to help each other fix sh*t. In learning, we get perfecter and perfecter.