One of the hardest things to ‘get’ today in business is a great culture. Culture is something that can be incredibly powerful & pull a business through rough times even when good processes or even people aren’t in the right positions. When a great culture is present, we can feel it in the walls and we can smell it in the air. People stay additional hours to help on projects that they’re not tied into, they just want to help. People volunteer for projects that require sacrifice of them, instead of being asked by management to do something. And most of all, there is a momentum that cannot be described and all that anyone can do is just hang on like a roller coaster and ride the wave of positive action that is happening.
On the flip side of that coin, culture can be detrimental to the growth or even sustainability of an organization. When the culture shifts, everyone can feel it but nobody can pin point what is going on… we just know something is different. People are asked to stay long hours to do projects they aren’t interested in, lame attempts to “get things back to the way there were” are thrown out, and forced interaction makes for a lot of awkward situations around the water cooler. Leadership is what defines culture and it starts at the top.
If we, as leaders, don’t know what we want with our organizations, we can’t expect others to know either. If we don’t set forth and constantly beat that drum of OUR culture for OUR tribe (because that’s what we will grow if we’re entrepreneurs whether we like it or not) than we’re going to have a bunch of lost souls out there who are trying to find their own way. When people don’t have direction and a common goal, people become wanderers, and not all of those wanderers are passers-by. Some are leaders themselves, they just don’t have that ‘title’ yet. So when they see that there is no direction, and it’s chaos, they begin to take a machete and chop through the jungle to create culture, to create a clear path, to find direction. 
If we, as the leaders, are not prepared for that sort of initiative from someone else, we’re going to have a mutiny on our hands and it’s going to be us vs. them. Not where we want to be as a business owner who is attempting to grow a company.
Culture is about what we do as much, if not more, than what we say. We can have lofty goals, well thought out emails, and inspiring talks but at the end of the day our people are going to watch our actions while our words will go in one ear and out the other. Maya Angelou said, “… people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” The is more than applicable when it comes to culture and building our company tribe.
We need to set the pace and show the people in our organization what we expect of them. If we want a work hard, play hard environment, exemplify that. If we want a culture that rewards problem solvers and thinkers, than choose to praise them instead of the guy who sucks up to the boss. And if we want a nice, happy environment to work in than we need to show our people that we care. Give thank-you notes, tell people they’re appreciated just because, and choose to focus on the positive achievements instead of the things that people don’t get right.
