Everyone tells you that building a culture is of paramount importance. Surveys, research, successful CEOs and management thinkers alike can’t stop talking about the endless benefits of healthy company culture and the importance of architecting one.
They are wrong.
You already have a culture
If you have a company, culture is already there — you don’t need to build one. The moment an idea was born and someone decided to give it a go was also the moment your company’s DNA started forming.
Culture starts with the founders — it grows out of what they are passionate about, what they believe to be true, what they value, and the change they want to make in the world.
The founders and the first ten to fifteen employees co-create the culture in the early days and then, the new joiners contribute to evolving it. With time, culture gains strength and starts shaping behaviors of all the employees — old and new.
You don’t build a company culture
Culture is neither built not is it architected. Culture emerges organically. The best you can do is to nurture it and cultivate it so that it evolves in a way that supports your purpose and your vision.
Being intentional about culture will be the best investment you’ve ever made in your business. It will yield an incredible ROI because, ultimately, your culture determines what is and what isn’t possible for you and your team.
Why do you need to work on your culture NOW?
Without an intentional approach, it’s highly likely that two-thirds of your culture will be an accident, and one-third will be a mistake. A culture “by accident,” produces haphazard results at best and leads to a terrible disaster, at worst.
This is the first of the series of articles that will help you avoid the pitfalls of accidental cultures and show you how to map your cultural genome and build a solid foundation for a culture that truly and powerfully serves your purpose and enables you to bend history in the right direction.
I hope that you find them helpful!
Copyright, Aga Bajer 2020, All Rights Reserved
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