Building our culture from scratch

Culture goes back to why Rowan and I started our own business in the first place. After years of working in various agencies and with various clients, we’d both witnessed a whole raft of different company cultures. We’d seen what works and we’d seen what really does not work. 

When we launched Rationale, we knew establishing and growing the right culture would be crucial to our success. We wanted to build a place where we would both want to work, and we hoped this would create somewhere that intelligent, hard-working and curious people would like to work too. 

Why does culture matter? 

Building the right culture matters a great deal. Toxic company culture can undermine every aspect of your organisation - employee engagement, productivity, retention - and will eventually damage your bottom line too. 

Purpose can play a crucial role in creating a positive and inclusive culture, or in overcoming a culture that has gone sour. A recent Mckinsey study found that people who live their purpose at work are more productive than those who don’t. They are also healthier, more resilient, and more likely to stay. 

Setting the direction of travel 

Luckily for Rowan and I, we share the same values and vision for Rationale, so setting a roadmap for Rationale’s culture was fairly straightforward. 

We have the same ethos when it comes to work and life separation - or lack thereof. By this we don’t mean that there should be no balance between time spent working and time spent not working, rather that you should be able to bring your whole self to work. We want to create a true sense of inclusivity and belonging, so our employees can really be themselves at work, and more importantly, be appreciated for that. 

The importance of people 

We spend a lot of time talking about businesses and organisations as if they’re real, tangible things. But really, a business is entirely intangible - it is nothing without people. To set the direction of travel for your culture and make sure that it thrives, you have to have the best people. 

But the ‘best people’ isn’t one size fits all. It is critical that when articulating your culture you determine what dials you want to turn and work out the values you want to see reflected in your company and your team. Building a culture that sticks has to come from the whole agency, and for it to come from the whole agency it has to be founded in the people who work in that agency.

One Rationale

At Rationale, we want our culture to be one thing we all have in common. For that to happen it has to be so much more than just bean bags and ping-pong tables. We want to articulate, embed, and grow a culture that reflects what we stand for as an agency - purpose and shared values. 

This is underpinned by our principles of being open, equal, positive, curious, and being ‘one’ Rationale.  We back up our principles with actions and initiatives such as each year supporting everyone to complete something that will expand their skills, or giving everyone one paid day a year to volunteer or pursue a personal goal. Through this, we show our employees we mean what we say. 

We want to be one team where we all grow together, share success together, fail together. We want to work with people who have the enthusiasm to learn and grow, those who can respond positively and proactively to criticism, who work hard, and most importantly who cares. And I mean care in the widest sense. People who care about their work, care about its quality, and work hard to ensure it’s the best they can do, people who care about the business and about the impact of the work we do. 

For us, purpose is the articulation of this ability to care and make an impact for good. By investing in the people who reflect our values and live our culture every day, we have built an authentic and positive culture that will stick and will grow. 

Find out more about working at Rationale at https://wearerationale.com/our-team/

If it sounds like you’d fit right in, we’d love to hear from you. Send a CV to [email protected]

To learn about how we can help you build a purpose-led culture in your organisation, check out our employer brand manifesto: https://employerbrandingwithpurpose.wearerationale.com/