Involve your team in building the Org Culture

Most founders think it is solely on them (or even worse, the HR) to come up with some magic solution to build the best org culture for their company and that the team is simply a passive recipient. Similar to how many startups "build in public" / "build with the customer", we think the right way to look at the dynamics in this case is: the Org Culture is the product, you are it's PM, your team is the user.

As a founder, you for sure are responsible for building the org culture, but from our experience of working with multiple startups, you must creatively and optimally involve your users (your team) in the process for:

• Building / brainstorming together:

  • Regardless of the role and function, each and every one in the team is responsible for and cares about the kind of workplace they come to every day

  • You should be upfront and admit that you don't have a ready answer but that you are committed to figuring it out together. This becomes an invitation for others to participate in crafting the best-suited culture for the organisation. Obviously, not all will take part - but even if you are able to excite a few, you are in a better position to succeed

  • Encourage people to share their thoughts - publicly or personally with you. Bring this topic up at times during All Hands. Celebrate examples where team members take initiative

• Gathering feedback actively:

  • Similar to how a PM tries to quickly collect feedback post launching any feature, try to do the same after launching a new feature in your Org

  • You may conduct NPS surveys, ask for suggestions (maybe anonymous), or try to decipher from casual conversations

The biggest benefit of doing this is that instead of just complaining, the team feels encouraged to take action. Then, even in the absence of the founder, the team knows how to act.

One super-effective tool is to have "Culture Champions" within your company.

• Culture Champions are team members who can be sort of the custodians of the culture - drive culture initiatives and raise their voice when they see something wrong

• These are usually self-driven people who are not doing it for any incentive as such. They are highly empathetic, have high standards, have strong opinions about things and don't fear voicing them

• As a founder, you should empower them and give enough autonomy to take initiatives and drive change within the company

---

Involving your team on the Culture-building journey can have an outsized impact on the outcome. There is obviously a right balance to it. We will be happy to help you figure out how you can include your team and build a desired Culture at your startup. Feel free to reach out to us or check out the services we offer.