By Josh Levine
The third post in a series exploring the why, when, and how of managing company culture in a growth organization by Josh Levine.
How To Keep Culture From Going Awry
In my first post I discussed my research into why culture tends to unravel as companies grow, and in post two I dug into when it starts happening. Here I begin to explore how to deal with this critical challenge.
PIZZA AND PING PONG, PLEASE
For a while I’ve attempted to fight the misconception that culture is simply pizza and ping pong. While ancillary benefits like these are not the whole picture, it turns out they do play a role. In a framework I co-authored outlining the components of company culture I found where perks become useful, and it’s exactly how companies can overcome relationship decay.
There are many types of rituals: The only requirement is that they provide an opportunity to create or strengthen relationships.
THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUALS
In my second post I wrote about how relationships begin to weaken somewhere between 50 and 150 people. So, how should leaders of growth organizations keep colleagues more tightly connected through bouts of early growth? Rituals. A ritual is a recurring group activity designed to strengthen relationships. People organize them among friends (poker night) and family (thanksgiving dinner) because it gives us an opportunity to connect and share. And it feels good. The result of these get-togethers is a stronger bond, and companies have an opportunity to foster purposeful connections through rituals to counteract the relationship challenges of rapid growth.
Leadership can experience relationship decay as well. It isn’t as obvious because they are surrounded by a purposefully small group of executives and possibly lead a small team. All the same they lose touch with the who’s and the what’s of their organization. A popular example of trying to solve for this is when management consultants organize a day for the CEO to spend time in the field with customers. Just as peers need to stay connected to each other, so do leaders.
THE FOUR TYPES OF RITUALS
There are many types of rituals. Some led from the top, some employee driven. They can be company-wide, or a get together for two. The only requirement is that they provide an opportunity to create or strengthen relationships. Each has its strengths and challenges.
Josh Levine is an educator, designer, and author, but above all, he is on a mission to help organizations design a culture advantage.