Lessons on the importance of company culture and clear values:
Lesson 1: Hierarchy and respect are not mutually exclusive
You have to make sure you never confuse the hierarchy that
you need for managing complexity with the respect that people deserve. Because
that’s where a lot of organisations go off track, confusing respect and
hierarchy, and thinking that low on hierarchy means low respect; high on the
hierarchy means high respect. So hierarchy is a necessary evil of managing
complexity, but it in no way has anything to do with respect that is owed an
individual.
Lesson 2: Culture is how a company gets things done
For example, most companies in software get things done through people.
So their machinery is people, and to put it in technology terms, people are the
hardware and values are the operating system. So the culture starts with
people with a common operating system around values and then, once you have
that, you can build processes around how you actually get things done on top of
that. But clarity around the hardware and the operating system is first
and foremost, so it’s about people and values.
Lesson 3: A values-driven culture can be a powerful
motivator
People generally want to belong to something of
greater purpose that’s larger than they are. They’re just waiting for it to
come along. And a culture around values is part of that. People say, ‘I
want to be on that team, that club, because they believe in something and I
actually believe in that, so I want to belong to that.’
Lesson 4: Values can (and must) provide a balance
Think about your values in pairs, and there is a tension
or a balance between them. For example; listening and leadership;
accountability and generosity; humility and audacity. You’ve got to have the
humility to see the world as it is but have the audacity to know why you are
trying to make it be different, to imagine the way it could be.
Lesson 5: Balanced values can give clarity to out-sized goals
This goes back to audacity and humility. You’ve got to be
audacious enough to set goals that make you stretch and give you clarity of
vision and purpose. But you have to have the humility to know that this work is
hard, and that you might not get there. If you start off talking about all the
reasons that you’re not going to get there, you’re not going to get there. And
so it’s holding that balance of not being reckless, but also having a huge
element of fearlessness.
What are important lessons you’ve learned about company
culture and values?
