THE POWER OF CULTURE.

If we chose "We are culture designers" to define who we are, it is because we are dedicated to bringing company culture to life through tailored products and services.

And guess what? Kymono’s first client is Kymono.

We led an intense reflection on what is hidden behind the term "company culture”. There are thousands of articles about the subject and a million points of view. We thought we would bring you along our own journey of defining what it means to us, starting with the fundamentals.

ROOTS.

So where does company culture come from?

We believe companies are a reflection of their founders. Right from the start, the company is shaped by the value systems, personalities, experiences and decisions - the good and the bad ;) - that led the founders to create the company.

If founders believe in meritocracy, they are more likely to create companies that run on objectives, hire people based on their previous achievements and only retain the best performers.

If founders are competitive, team buildings will most likely be games where you win a prize at the end. If they hate rap music, no one would risk blasting Travis Scott’s latest hit in the office, and so on.

Founders set the tone, intentionally or not, but they are surely expected to do so! In fact, teams will observe how leaders translate beliefs and values into behaviours and later on have their own interpretations of company culture.

BRANCHES.

The visible part of culture is exactly those behaviours: the way people express themselves, the language they use, the rituals they have and the distinctive symbols they are recognized by. It even defines daily decisions: who is fired, how success is celebrated, whether people work in open spaces or closed offices, and which other companies choose to become partners.

Culture simply underlays how companies operate. Each of these aspects has a strong impact on the business, internally and externally.

Not only a company HAS culture, it IS culture.

As the infamous Simon Sinek once said.

MAKE IT YOUR SUPERPOWER.

The recognition of such a powerful instrument must drive companies to give high importance to culture, especially that it could operate outside the written lines of strategy, systems and processes that companies typically focus on.

We believe that, in the absence of a clear message on corporate culture, businesses take a risk by letting their teams make up their own minds. This level of spontaneity has limits and could result in employees being in total disconnection with the existential pillars of the company.

It seems to us that, conversely, a company puts all odds in its favour if it advances its principles without hesitation, sets out loud and clear what it expects of each team member, and continuously strives to clarify its culture as much as possible.

A strong culture MAKES a strong business.

Luckily, there are many examples that have succeeded in proving it. Netflix has become the ultimate reference in the subject with their performance centred values. because it is brutally honest, their culture deck created in 2009 has been controversial for the past 10 years but has helped many other companies realize that a strong culture must be explicit.

A scene from the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street" (Martin Scorsese, 2013) has also become a reference in illustrating the extent to which culture can be taken. It’s the one where Leonardo DiCaprio aka Jordan Belfort stood on stage in front of a hundred employees and engaged in a ritual of motivational discourse and cult-like anthems… We won’t go that far but that scene marked us for life.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER.

Today, consciously designing your culture is no longer a choice. It has become a necessity to attract and retain talent as well as rally your teams around one purpose. 

Culture has a phenomenal power of impacting business to the point of success or failure.

So make sure that your roots are hydrated and that your branches are bearing fruit ;) 

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This series is called “Culture by Design”. It's where we share our take on company culture with a surprise at the end ... Stay tuned for the next one

LOVE, THE ROCKET TEAM.