Company culture is more than just a foosball table

The meteoric rise of tech start-ups has allowed the world a glimpse into a new idea of company culture. CEOs sported grey hoodies and jeans when they gave speeches. Employees had beer on tap and nerf guns in their drawers. Teams seemed to look more like a band of friends than a ragtag bunch of colleagues.

If you punch the word ‘startup team’ into Google Images, you’d get similar pictures for every result. A band of smiling men and women. They’re all dressed in smart casual. They’re either looking at their laptops or they’re putting their hands together like the Power Rangers before they fight.

With company culture valued more than a higher salary, according to a Glassdoor study, many organisations are frantically playing catch-up.

However, they are playing it wrong.

Many organisations look on at companies like Blackstone, Google, Facebook and Slack for ways to improve their culture. Blackstone has beer on tap. Google and Facebook have free food. Slack has game nights and Thursday Socials.

While they are great things to have, they are not definitive of a company’s culture. Perks are perks: they are external and form an image of the company. They do not guarantee the manifestation of engaged, happy, effective and bonded employees.

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With all the perks in the world, companies can still crumble. Take the case of Zenefits, a San Fransisco-based payroll and insurance software provider. The office partied after every big contract. Huge commissions were paid. Within two years, the startup saw 1,600 employees across multiple offices in the States.

For many in the startup world, they are the leading exemplar of ‘hyper-growth’, a term used to describe companies who expand at breakneck speeds beyond expectations.

Yet, hyper-growth was what slashed its valuation in half. Employees smoked, drank, ate and had sex in the stairwells. Employees didn’t return customer emails. Client insurance contracts were left un-renewed.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. In 2017, Zenefits made history by being the first startup to get fined by the SEC — unlicensed brokers sold 83 per cent of their insurance policies.

Zenefits is a cautionary tale of company culture gone wrong. With all the perks and benefits, the startup saw their valuation and reputation plummet. Though they may still be a unicorn today, the heyday of the startup has long past. With an uncontrolled, unfettered growth, many lament that only a strong, sturdy culture could have kept the company in check.

If perks don’t work, what can organisations do then?

It’s more than just a foosball table

Many leaders can tell you that creating a great company culture is insanely difficult but that is because many do not understand what culture entails. When people think of company culture, they automatically

relate it to perks, corporate values and even the senior leaders themselves—most notably, the CEO.

Culture is internal: it is within the office and the people working it. It encompasses their actions and words, as well as the rationale behind them.

Suppose Harrison founded a startup. He toiled and expanded the team and five years later, the startup had ballooned into a 500-man company. With such a large employee base, he thinks that it is imperative that the company has a great culture that permeates through every level. To ensure that there is some form of consistent culture, he decides to observe his management.

To his dismay, he found that one of his managers, Kerry, had a habit of shutting his employees down. At meetings, Kerry was like an autocrat; there were no debates with him and everything he said was left undenied. A few months later, Kerry left the company and Harrison thought that with the autocrat out of the way, the team will finally regain psychological safety.

The shock came when Harrison realised the problem was much deeper: it had become culturally okay to not refute any claims made by the manager. Even with a new manager, the employees acted the same. No challenges. No discussion. It was simply accepted, work on it and if it fails, who cares?

Though it may seem like the employees believe that the new manager operated like Kerry, the problem lies in the culture.

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The aftermath of Kerry’s management left behind a long-lasting impression. These employees now believe that in this company, people do not question their superiors.

In that same vein, how can a foosball table make the suppressed employees feel psychologically safer?

Unfortunately, it does not.

Culture is like integrity

Culture defines what someone will do in the company when no one is looking. If there’s consistent company culture, any employee will answer similar to one another to questions like “should I punch out early” and “do I fix things myself”.

While human decisions can be guided by values and morals, culture is more than just values displayed on a website.

Suppose Harrison founded an e-commerce company. At the company, his main priorities were to serve his customers as much as he can. Inspired by Jeff Bezos’s principles, Harrison wanted to be obsessed with his customers. As the company expanded, Harrison made it a point to remind his employees about it. He believed that they will uphold the values in their work.

To his horror, he found that it had the opposite effect. Employees were slow, lazy and tardy. Turnover for work was usually delayed. Deadlines were often pushed back. Customers were often left waiting a day more for their orders.

Though Harrison may have repeatedly said “obsess over your customers” to his employees, words are not enough.

Culture helps define a set of assumptions that employees use to solve problems. In Harrison’s case, his employees did not display the values he talked about—they simply didn’t see why it mattered. Since they were okay with laziness, customer orders were left unfulfilled. Overall productivity dropped, and the company’s financials took a hit.

Culture is extremely important in defining what employees will do when the CEO isn’t there to make a decision. For instance, a client wants to get a discount. Saying either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is dependent not just on the employee, but also on the entire company. If a company typically favours the client and would give a reasonable discount, then the employees understand that they must go beyond to serve their customer.

Here’s the next problem: how does anyone start designing these invisible behaviours?

Culture is difficult by design

Company culture can become a buzzword at times but when executed correctly, it can be the main driver in a company’s revenue. However, understand what kind of culture works is important before actually implementing reforms and sweeping changes:

1. Culture does not stay static. It changes with time, business conditions, economic conditions and the geographical location. Culture is more than just a mission statement.

2. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, despite company cultures often sharing the same corporate values. For instance, Amazon culture may not work well in Apple.

3. Always call out things that are not conforming to the culture you’re setting. When you do not point them out, they linger and have the potential to do more culturally-damaging acts.

4. Culture is based on intrinsic motivators. It deals with how people are treated and valued. For instance, a company decides to appreciate their employees by having a private conference, with the CEO giving a speech and thanking each employee personally.

Evidently, culture is more than just perks and benefits. It is also more than just words on a piece of paper. A truly great company is one where employees can feel psychologically safe, respected, appreciated and taken good care of.

In essence, culture is more than a belief system.

It is what we do, and what we do makes up who we are.

When a company does a certain action consistently, that makes up how they are.

Just like integrity, what will an employee do, when faced in a situation, without any leader’s input?

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Image Credit: Stefan Steinbauer