5 Culture Hacks: How we're building a world-class culture at Connectd

It’s now become cliché but it’s true that “beanbags and pool tables don’t make good culture”.?

Cool offices,? 4 day working weeks, they don’t mean your staff feel seen, heard and respected.?

In fact, too much of a focus on delivering these things likely means the exact opposite– that the focus isn’t on employee wellbeing, but chucking money at a problem.?

Really, building culture shouldn’t be expensive at all.??

Culture is never 100% perfect, and I’m definitely not an expert, but these are a few things we do at Connectd to solidify our culture, that cost very little, and our 95% retention rate testifies for.?

1) We are very careful with hiring

While it’s all well and good to hire someone who gets shit done and is effective in their role, if we feel like they will treat their team poorly, it’s an absolute no-go for us.?

Bullish people are good in certain industries and roles, but we don’t accept our leaders being bullish to their team.?

Instead, we want leaders who we know will push their team to reach the next level, but in a supportive way, not in one that tries to squeeze every ounce of life out of someone.?

And it’s true that one bad can spoil the rest. There is nothing worse for culture than having a toxic team member.?

2) We celebrate successes and check in with each other daily

This is a big one for us. Whether it be a promotion, a sale, a deal, a review, whatever it is, we're very very good at celebrating each other's successes.?

We do this both with:?

1. The Matter app: a Slack integration which gives the team 50 coins to donate each week to other team members and give them a shoutout on the group channel each Friday.
2. Staff shoutouts: our team can vote anonymously to shoutout their team. It gives the team a great opportunity to publicly celebrate each other.

On top of this we like to do a daily standup where each team member says what they did the day before, what they're doing that day, one of their challenges, and something they're grateful for.?

This is great to get the team acknowledging their successes and struggles which can be overlooked in a fast-paced environment. One of the huge benefits we’ve seen too is that people often jump on each other's challenges to help them out and offer them advice– this is especially important when remote working and across teams that don’t typically interact.?

3) We are really clear on expectations

Even though we are all friendly within Connectd, we are still incredibly clear on the level of execution and effort required for each role. We make sure everyone knows that they’re working hard for each other as a team, and working hard to be at their expected level within the company. Transparency around expectation is a really important part of culture.?

4) We keep the team and stakeholders updated?

Good culture is formed when every team member knows about the current performance of the company, the goals, the vision and purpose.?

We do this within Connectd with monthly updates powered by data via the Connectd platform. This is sent to investors and every team member so they know where the businesses is at, with full transparency.

We understand how hard it is to work for a company when you have no idea how the company is performing or aren’t given any vision for the future– we want to make sure every team member is gifted full transparency, because they deserve it.?

5) We don’t say “we’re like a family”

Yes we are friends and it’s great when the team hangs out outside of work, but we’re not a family.?

We’re more like a football team instead. Once we’re on the pitch, we’re all working towards a singular goal.

Everyone wears the same kit, we go through tough times and we go through great times. But ultimately, everyone has one another’s backs.

We’re all committed to the same purpose, treat one another with respect and work hard for the good of the team.

Calling your company a family blurs lines between personal and professional, creates a severe expectation of loyalty and creates an odd power balance.?

Being a sports team works towards a certain goal.?

From onboarding to a new employees very first day, the team can see our culture and values straight away.?

You can see that everyone, no matter who they are in the business, is helping each other out, bringing positive energy, being open and honest with each other and showing each other upmost respect.?

We are really proud of the team we have around us and the culture we have formed.?

Plus, nearly everything I’ve listed above isn’t down to money. That’s not because we don’t want to spend money on our staff, but I firmly believe that culture isn’t build by money. It’s built by support, respect and everyone understanding the vision and purpose behind the business.?

Culture isn’t easy and it takes some time to work out, but it is one of (if not the most) important part of the business.