The culture of a company acts as an expression of its values. It determines the way employees interact, their actions towards the customer, and their attitude towards the job they are doing. It also defines clearly what the company values from an employee and therefore what it’s going to be rewarded and compensated for. For example, based on my personal values, I always tell people I work with that I am demanding. That the bar is high and I expect ownership end to end.
Culture is a word that resonates a lot in the entrepreneurship world. It's used in a lot of contexts and for a lot of things. Culture encompasses a set of values, behaviors, and beliefs that create meaning. It justifies decisions and behaviors. It is what differentiates us from most other species in the animal world and our competitors in the business world. Culture marks identity. It is used to refer to everything that seems to be beyond the control of the processes. In a startup, what is outside the processes is a lot, almost everything. That is why it becomes such an important guide to operate in every business.
The culture of a company is the most difficult thing to describe, and even more so to replicate. It is made up of the elements that in their interaction define everything successively in the organization: from language, values, behaviors, and rituals, to heroes and symbols. The guidelines of that culture are usually reflected in a document of a few pages, in the same way as the constitution of a country. In this constitution, the founders seek to guide themselves or new collaborators in the future. It is a place to go especially when making difficult decisions or generating new laws or company policies.
Some aspects that are important to design when thinking about the desired culture, which may not seem obvious at first but will become relevant as the company grows, have to do with the foundations that allow for real diversity. A culture of continuous learning, respect, and curiosity. That embraces what is different and novel and generates real interest in the unknown.
The form of communication is another key aspect of culture, one that is sometimes overlooked. Establishing clear expectations regarding this topic early on can prevent problems and conflicts later. My preferred way of communicating is honesty and with have clear expectations.
It is also of great importance to work in a unique and authentic culture, with its rituals, and ways of doing things in a particular way, which generates pride and a desire to belong. Being true to our own uniqueness is an enormous differential value. It is essential to understand that the culture of a company is unique, as are the people who comprise it. A common mistake I find in inexperienced entrepreneurs is trying to copy foreign cultures. Cultural characteristics can be useful for a given context and company, but not all cultures will work for every organization. For example, not long ago we saw companies that gave unlimited vacations as part of labor flexibility become fashionable. The results were terrible. People were afraid to take days off, the amount of burnout increased and so did the overall turnover.
In the past year, I have been also thinking a lot about consent and vulnerability, and how it relates to the new paradigm of an organization that is being created by web3 companies. It's my belief that the most important thing we can do as part of a community-driven company is to make sure most decisions are made with consent. In this case, consent means that everyone has the ability to say no. It also means that everyone has the opportunity to be heard and that we can speak the truth. This is a huge shift from how we've done business in the past. In a world where we are all connected through technology and blockchain platforms allow us all to be more transparent and honest than ever before, I believe this sort of decision-making will become ubiquitous.
I find it is extremely valuable to invest time in helping potential candidates to join the company, especially those who will occupy high-level positions, understand the company's culture. It is not enough to transmit the culture of the company but it is necessary to work together with the person in discovering how they can develop their full potential within that environment or culture. This will make or break a candidate.
A very important thing to validate during that process is also the leadership style since it is one of the most representative factors of the culture. The style of leadership and teamwork of the management will spread to the company as an example to follow—a standard for how employees should work together. If that way of working, that culture, is really aligned with your true self, then it will be much easier for you to integrate well into the team.
Finally, it's also good to remember that building a company takes a long time—years, in fact. During that time, of course, the culture evolves along with the company. These changes are often painful; they leave many people behind who no longer feel aligned with the culture of a certain moment. This replacement is healthy and necessary; it's part of any company's healthy evolution. And it doesn’t happen by itself—it's driven by each member of the team. Taking charge of the part that corresponds to you is important to build the kind of company in which you really want to work. It's also important—to prevent these changes from becoming too recurrent—to think about culture with clarity about what one aspires to be in the future (not just what it is or wants to be today).