How to cultivate a great culture that grows with you

What makes a great company culture? It’s a question that has become even more vital post-pandemic.?

Culture has always played a significant role in the long-term success of every company I’ve been at – for better or for worse – since it’s a massive driver of job satisfaction. In fact, according to one pre-pandemic study by Glassdoor , culture is the number one most important predictor of employee satisfaction, ahead of quality leadership and career opportunities.

Covid redefined worker expectations, triggering the much-talked-about ‘Great Resignation’ that has seen an employee exodus from jobs that don’t align with their values. Compounded by rising inflation and geopolitical instability, retaining existing staff and attracting new talent is more challenging than ever.

If they didn’t already, organisations everywhere are being forced to recognise culture as a business-critical dependency – and asset – in a landscape that’s only getting more disruptive.?

So how can businesses cultivate great culture amidst ongoing internal and external upheavals?

Why growth is not an excuse for bad culture?

In my mind, workplace culture can be broadly categorised into two main buckets.

1. Fear-based
2. Inspiration-based?

I’ve worked for both and in both cases, companies can be successful in driving revenue growth, but only the latter can bring out the full talents of their employees. Inspiration-led cultures allow the science of selling to blend with the art and creativity of every unique individual. Talented, creative people quit companies that choose number one as their approach. Often it’s not a case of fear being baked into the culture, rather it’s a symptom of rapid growth.?

As more and more people are brought in to meet resource demand, they are given a mission to get things done as fast as possible. Politics come into play, negativity disseminates faster and wider, and a toxic culture begins to brew.

It’s easy to cite failing culture as a natural consequence of growth and scale. It doesn’t have to be. Organisations must understand that culture requires maintenance and upkeep beyond the early days – and especially during hyper-growth stages.

Key to this is standing up to toxic behaviour. For my part, I don’t have a tolerance of negativity for negativity’s sake. Blame is never helpful. It’s about focusing on the opportunity in front of you, together.?

To nurture great culture, make customers your purpose

One of the reasons I joined Confluent was that it sits firmly in the number two camp of inspiration-based culture.?

It’s immediately obvious how passionate Larry Shurtz and Erica Ruliffson Schultz are about our customers and the product. But what hooked me was that, when you look at the Confluent company values , they are all about aligning company vision to our customers’ purpose.??

The first pillar, ‘Earn our customers’ love’, struck me as an expression of partnership and collaboration. The company lives and breathes data in motion and this gets customers equally as excited about it and what it can do for their business.?

Data in motion is crucial to meeting the business paradigm we are now in. The volume of data is exploding exponentially around us, leaving organisations across all industries overwhelmed. Real-time data streaming empowers customers to thrive in this new normal.?

My team is held accountable for the results that matter to the company, but most importantly to focus on uncovering the value our platform delivers to initiatives that matter to our customers. It should not be about fear of recrimination from leadership or colleagues. The motivation for work comes from a deep level of empathy for the customer’s needs and helping to quantify the business outcomes that in turn drive urgency in the mind of the customer. We know how urgent what we are doing is for them – and that’s what gets us out of bed in the morning.?

Encourage empathy from above, below and within?

Fast-growing companies will hire employees to meet resource demand, not culture demand. Hardly any consideration is given to whether a candidate will enhance a culture.

Another Confluent value is, ‘[be] smart, humble and empathetic’; an undertaking to hire people who care deeply about others and interact with empathy toward our customers, partners, and employees.

This includes leaders. In my first few months at Confluent, my approach has been first and foremost to listen. I want to hear what my team thinks are opportunities. What they think is important. As a big believer in servant leadership, I see myself as an extension of my team. I lead from the front but we work on solutions together and learn from each other daily.?

When hiring, I always look for high IQ, high EQ and tenacity. Diversity and inclusivity are also paramount. Teams that properly reflect the community around us are far better placed to offer creativity and insight that is at the same time grounded in a realistic perspective.

Then once you’ve got the right people on board, you’ve got to acknowledge their achievements because when employees succeed, Confluent as a whole succeeds. There are lots of different ways to do this, it’s about understanding what motivates individuals and teams. How can you do this? It’s that magic word again: empathy.

Don’t let growth hold your culture back?

Great culture exists when it is embodied by people at every level. The work to sustain this never stops. Confluent is growing incredibly fast and it will be important for us to be continually mindful of our values as we bring new people on board.

What’s exciting is that new people offer new perspectives, set new benchmarks for what “great” looks like, and constantly challenge each other to lift our personal performance. Hyper growth can strengthen workplace culture if it is tended to in the right way. And with a strong culture and an ability to adapt rapidly, your business will be able to battle the inevitable challenges that lie ahead.