Rick Goodman — March 5, 2019 — March 5, 2019
Even if you’ve never taken the time to articulate your company culture, you probably have some feeling of what it is. When you go to work each day, you have some general sense of what the team values, what it takes seriously, what it pursues—and what it doesn’t.
There can be comfort in those patterns, which makes changes to your company culture unsettling. Yet as the team itself changes, or as leaders come and go, culture can change all around you.
The question is, what do you do to weather those changes? In this post, I’ll give you the game plan—three basic tips for handling changes to your company culture.
How to Handle Changes to Company Culture
- Hold on to key values.
While some ebb and flow in your company culture is normal, you want to make sure you hold on to your core values—clinging to the things that make your company unique. I’d recommend drilling those values into new hires; make it a key part of the team-building process. I’d also recommend having regular meetings where you review those values and ask honest questions about how they’ve shaped recent business activities.
- Don’t assume that all change is bad.
Often, company culture changes because diverse viewpoints are brought in. Again, it’s one thing to hold on to core values, but more peripheral changes can be part of your company’s natural growth and development. Don’t be afraid of these changes, and don’t allow yourself to be skeptical of the new team members. Once more, embracing diversity is key to the team building process.
- Find substitutes to the practices you’ve lost.
Here’s what I mean: Maybe you have a culture where the CEO spends personal time with each employee, every single week. As the company grows, that kind of personal attention is no longer possible—but maybe you can substitute open office hours, more regular check-ins with middle managers, etc.
The point is that any company culture is bound to change; it’s natural and it’s normal. As you consider your company’s evolution, use these tips to stay aligned with your core values.
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