How to grow from a startup to a flourishing company culture?

Culture cannot be designated to one employee

By Anand Rajendran, CEO and Co-Founder of  Dectar

Anand Rajendran

An entrepreneur is a relentless pursuer of hope, positivity and drive. It is his or her energy that drives and compels everyone around to strive for even greater success. If you think, you believe and are determined to do something; your actions automatically work towards achieving it. It is your behaviour, passion, working pattern and ability to handle crisis that gets passed down the line to your team and becomes the company culture.

As the company grows, keeping an eye on its culture is the job of every leader in the organization and eventually every person in the organization. Culture is not something that can be designated to one person. Ideally, the CEO spearheads culture and the leaders are zealots of the company culture, values and vision. It is important to frame the values and encourage them throughout the organization while being conscious of the areas where the values are working well and where they need impetus.

Your company culture can transform your growth. It is because of the culture, that world over the biggest global companies have successfully retained the best of talents. Whether you are an early stage startup or an established business, your culture will always be your most valuable asset.

Often we fail to understand why others seem to get the best talent while we spend our life interviewing the wrong candidates, hiring the wrong people, or losing our best people. The answer is in our company culture. In an increasingly competitive digital economy your culture is the ‘oxygen of growth.’ Just ask the next millennial you decide to hire what they value most about your company. If they say it's your culture then you've cracked the code.

What is Company Culture?

Culture is about the way you do things, the way you say things, the way you treat somebody. It is the values and ethics you preach and practise, your incentive plan. It’s the way you reward and recognise people. It is the entire system of things that make up your business as a whole.

Sometimes, culture happens organically, by accident. In other occasions it is deliberate and well thought-out. It’s best you don’t over-plan or force a culture to happen. Let it evolve naturally based on all the things that you are deeply passionate about. By all means use proven frameworks, models and blueprints to guide you. Culture is the chief creator of perceptions, and the key enabler that drives team harmony and business performance.

Here are some steps to create a thriving culture for your startup:

Purpose and Passion need to be the primary focus

Making purpose pivotal to all business strategies and tactics helps in a great way. It is important to indentify your business's purpose, promote and share it. Next motivate your team towards achieving it.

Choose the right team 

Having the right people, driving the right culture is the most important part of a business venture. It becomes very important to understand the team members because they are integral to growth and are constantly contributing to your growth.

Try to collaborate

Do not impose yourself on others. Monocracy leads to a forced culture which is not sustainable. Startups are full of multi-taskers hence tend have a lot of chaos. You need to find a method in the madness and eventually create a pattern and a system in order to build a great business.

Promote both-way communication

Employees are your assets. An important area one should be well aware of while running a business venture is people management. Understanding your employees helps you predict their aspirations and expectations which keeps you prepared with the relevant strategies and schemes. Your team should also be aware of your expectations from them. Be transparent with your co-workers. A healthy and productive culture is not about one-way communication happening top-down but also at parallel and bottom levels. Promote an open communication culture for better understanding and greater output.

Implement proper support

Going from complete chaos to organised chaos requires the right systems to be implemented. These systems need to be brought in gradually and slowly instead of being forced. The correct support needs to be provided to have these systems implemented.

What small steps do you take every day to save costs of your business? Do share your views.