When you started your company, it was likely just you, to begin with. Adding a partner and a few employees along the way, you managed to develop a strong company culture that is really working for you. Your team is happy, productive, and this resonates right back to the bottom line.
But what happens when scale rears its monstrous head? Do you have to give up your small biz family identity and everything that it’s come to stand for? we say no way – with some caveats. If success is its own reward, you should be able to take some of the comfortable bits along for the ride. It may take some effort, but if you value your company culture the way it is, you’ll want to preserve it at all costs.
Here are a few tips to help you keep your company culture alive through your transition:
1. Encourage inclusion
When you started out, you were probably able to get to know each other very well. You might have even all worked in the same room, looking over desks at each other all day. You have lunch together, and you know what each other is doing when it’s time to go home. Once your company starts to grow, you might lose this closeness if you don’t make an effort to maintain it. Company lunches, field trips, and team-building activities outside of work encourage personal connection, and that’s how culture will be maintained. Just because you’re busier than ever doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make time for that to happen. After all, your culture is the heartbeat of your business and its health is what’s going to keep the blood pumping.
2. Accessible leadership
One of the ways that many companies start to lose connection with their workforce is when the leadership separates itself from the rest of the workforce. An accessible leader motivates productivity, reinforces the mission and vision, and puts a face to the tasks at hand. Knowing that the company executives know not only their employees’ names and what they are responsible for is a good start. Making time for one-on-one meetings between leadership and others helps people to feel like their contribution is important and that they are not just another face in the crowd.
3. Continue to draw wisdom from each other
It’s easy to eschew the daily or weekly get-togethers when the workforce becomes more complex, but striving to maintain the same methods that brought you to where you now are will stand you in good stead. Identify those rituals that made your culture unique and made it work and carry them forward into the new dynasty. The up-and-comers will have a thing or two they can learn from how you interact with each other and you will benefit from the wisdom of the new blood coming in. Invigorate each other, stimulate conversation, motivate and encourage dialogue in a group setting. This will give your people the opportunity to connect with purpose and to find their own place in the culture you have already established.
Green Hills Office Suites in Nashville: building culture through excellence
If you are a startup, small business or entrepreneur in the Nashville area, you know how important it is to have the right office space for your business. Green Hills Office Suites provides flexible office space, coworking space, and on-demand meeting rooms to suit your budget and your needs.
