People Partnerships

The good, the bad, the ugly, the exceptional – it’s all a representation of the leader.

A company’s culture isn’t a set of words or phrases on a wall. The culture is how people actually show up and behave while at work – and that ultimately stems from the leader.

Values & Culture

If you don’t already them them, I suggest starting with a set of clear values. To take this a step further by thinking about how these values show up through behaviours.

For example, if one of your values is “we take accountability,” the corresponding behaviours might include:

• Acknowledging and addressing mistakes.
• Following through on commitments and proactively updating stakeholders.
• Being honest about your workload and ability to meet deadlines.
• Offering solutions when faced with a setback.
• Reflecting on what went wrong and how to improve next time.

However, even well-intentioned values can show up as less desirable behaviours, depending on the culture. For instance, the same value might show up as:

• Overcommitting and taking on more than can be managed.
• Being overly critical and internalizing blame.
• Micromanaging and punishing others for mistakes.
• Hoarding tasks and projects instead of developing others.

This gap between what a value says and how it’s lived? That’s your culture.

At it’s simplest, culture is the culmination of:

• Who you hire
• Who you promote, recognize, and reward
• Who you manage and exit from the business

Intentional Culture

You will, or already have, a culture, the question is whether it’s intentional or not – either way, it does exist.

If you’re in the building phase, this is the ideal time to shape the culture you want to create.

Ask yourself:

• What are the values and associated behaviours you will display (even if you’re a team of one right now)?
• How will you show up, and what example does that set?
• What expectations do you have for your team? Are they realistic and clearly communicated, or are they based on unspoken assumptions?
  • For example, as a founder or owner, you may work long hours and carry a deep sense of ownership. That’s expected, but have you unintentionally created pressure for your team to match your intensity?

Culture Audit

If you already have a team, it may be time run a quick culture audit – is your culture what you intended it to be?

Start by reviewing your stated values – are they truly reflected in the day-to-day behaviours of your team?

To make this easier, I suggest feeding your values into your favourite AI tool and ask it to outline both the positive and negative behaviours that might align with each value. Then, ask yourself:

• Which behaviours are being displayed by you and your team.
• Who are you hiring, promoting, and rewarding – are their behaviours reflective of the way you want your values to be lived?
• Who are you coaching, managing, or letting go – are their behaviours in conflict with the behaviours you want to encourage?
• If there’s misalignment, you may need to realign which behaviours are being encouraged and discouraged.

This framework will give you a clearer picture of your lived culture, not just the one you’ve written down.

Here is an example using ChatGPT for the value “we take accountability”:

Growth & Culture

As your business grows, your culture will evolve, whether you want it to or not.

Early on, you are highly visible and, typically, interacting with everyone frequently; however, as you scale, you will need to step back and allow your leadership team to carry the culture forward. It is critical that these leaders model, reinforce, and hold others accountable to the desired behaviours of each value. And that, you as the ultimate leader of the business, model, reinforce, and hold your leaders accountable as well.

You will still need to stay alert to small shifts in behaviour. Even subtle changes, left unchecked, can compound and lead your culture in a direction you never intended, and don’t want.

For example, a new leader wants to promote someone for strong sales performance. On the surface, this seems like a positive, but it turns out this employee is hoarding leads and undermining collaboration.

Depending on your culture, this could be cause for reward or management:

• If you’re fostering a “sink or swim” culture – this may align with your expectations.
• Conversely, if you’re looking to emphasize “team-driven results”, this is likely a red flag that needs to be addressed.

It starts, and Ends, with the Leader

Whether intentional or not, your values and behaviours will shape your company’s culture. The decisions you make, especially around who you hire; especially to leadership; who you reward, recognize, and promote; and who you performance manage and fire will define your culture far more than any words on a wall.

Be intentional early and review often. Revisit your values and culture regularly. Catch and correct misalignments early. And, above all, ensure you’re rewarding the behaviours that reflect the culture you want to build – including in yourself.

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