“If I could bottle it” – Pinning down corporate culture

Starting a new job is an act of faith - for both parties.

Perhaps the risk of a new hire is less for the employer, as they are protected by probation periods and usually benefit from a thorough and competitive process as well as an insight into the realities of the role and how the candidate will fit in.

But for new employees, you rarely have an opportunity to really ‘see under the bonnet’ of the organisation you’re joining. And whilst it’s relatively simple to understand an organisation’s structure, business plan, recent track record and other ‘overt’ proof points, there is one crucial element that’s incredibly hard to gauge until you’ve taken that leap of faith and on the ‘inside’ – the corporate culture.

How many times have many of us heard, ‘We’re a fun, challenging but relaxed outfit with a work hard, play hard culture’ and found the exact opposite? I know I have!

And this leap of faith is perhaps even more extreme when you cold call a potential new client without knowing if they are even hiring, and pitch a role – which is exactly what I did to Theodore Michell at Bywater in October last year.

“Why on earth do that?!” would be a fair question! On one level the answer is obvious; I was looking for a career move, and I wanted to initiate some speculative conversations and put together a target list. But the more difficult question is why Bywater? Which brings me back to the theme of culture – from a few conversations and recommendations, snippets of coverage, the look of the projects on the website (which I’ve now realised needs an update with some really exciting work I wasn’t aware of) there seemed to be something interesting going on there, a different working culture to what I’d experienced elsewhere in my 20+ year career in real estate.

Since this post coincides with my transition from part-time Consultant to full-time Head of Marketing at Bywater, I can avoid the obvious accusations of buttering up the boss (it took them 7 months to see the light!) and confirm that my hunch from the outset was spot on. However, the aim of this isn’t to flatter Bywater; rather, it is to ask what makes a corporate culture so hard to pin down, so elusive to get right, and to identify the key ingredients that make it work so well.

The two are intrinsically linked; it’s hard to pin down and artificially create because the ‘secret recipe’ isn’t obvious, but maybe it has some key ingredients that must be evident for a culture to be successful.

People – Ultimately, it’s got to be a lot about the people. Bywater have a loosely defined (and probably best not written down!) ‘no dickheads’ policy (flattering for us team members!), which really is about a very careful curation of different characters and backgrounds, personalities and perspectives. Diversity of perspective and opinion is important, and we are a majority female team, which is not too common in real estate.

Creativity – Not only is there a creative streak that runs through the team beyond just my role as Head of Marketing, but there is also a sense that creativity is valued and respected with quality time given to explore ideas, sometimes challenging ones. This should come as no surprise about a business that took a very pioneering role in building mass timber office buildings, but it runs deep through the culture. Part of this comes from a genuine commitment to convene exceptional design teams and then support them rather than demand from them – again, not as common as you might think.

Balance – This relates to a sense of balance, maybe influenced by our BCorp status (again an early adopter). There’s a strong sense that everything matters equally, a sense of collective effort, that everyone’s role and contribution is valued to achieve the end goal.

Purpose – All of this is given an orientating ‘NorthStar’ around a magnetic sense of purpose. And not simply a purpose to make profit but to address major issues in the built environment and deliver buildings profitably but differently … and better. That galvanising sense of having a ‘mission’ as well as a job, and dare I say it but a mission that’s greater than just money, has a transformational effect on corporate culture.

But why does any of this matter and why is it worth sharing? Partly because so many other organisations struggle to get the culture right and perhaps ultimately a greater and more compassionate focus on people and an empowering purpose is fundamental to achieving great results. But also, because as a marketeer it's often assumed I’m ‘selling’ buildings, but what people are really buying into is the culture of the organisation that created that place. Without a strong and positive corporate culture, the raw ingredients for my task just aren’t there.?

So whatever Bywater have, I know if I could bottle it, I’d be sprinkling that magic across the industry like fairy dust!?

Amber Hawkes?

Head of Marketing at Bywater Properties