Keeping the culture you had

Culture is not values on a wall. It is what gets rewarded, tolerated and promoted — and it changes fastest exactly when you are too busy to notice.

What is it?

Culture is the set of behaviours a company actually rewards and tolerates.

At ten people it is transmitted by proximity — everyone sees how the founders behave. Past about thirty, most people never work directly with a founder, and culture has to be transmitted by something other than being in the room.

Why does a founder care?

Because it degrades silently. Nobody announces that standards slipped; it happens through a series of individually reasonable decisions, usually made under time pressure.

The strongest signal is not what you say. It is who gets promoted and what you tolerate from someone who delivers results.

Example

A company says it values careful, honest work. Its highest-performing salesperson repeatedly over-promises on the roadmap to close deals, and support absorbs the fallout.

Nothing is said, because the numbers are good. Within two quarters two other reps have started doing the same. The stated value was never the culture; what was tolerated was.

The common mistake

Writing values that no decision would ever contradict. "Integrity" and "excellence" cost nothing. A real value is one you can point to a decision where it cost you money.

How it works

Step 1: Name behaviours, not adjectives

"We write things down before we discuss them" is testable. "Excellence" is not.

Step 2: Check who you promote

Promotions are the loudest cultural statement a company makes. Everyone reads them correctly.

Step 3: Deal with the high performer who breaks it

This is the whole test. Tolerating it once tells everyone the value is optional.

Step 4: Put it in hiring and onboarding

Culture transmitted only by proximity stops transmitting the moment new people stop sitting near you.

Step 5: Say the hard things in writing

As the company grows, what you write is what scales. What you say in a room reaches the room.

When to use this

From the first hire, and with real deliberateness past about twenty people, when most new joiners no longer work directly with a founder.

When not to use it

Never — but avoid the formal exercise of writing values while you are still two people. At that size the culture is simply how the two of you behave.

Do this now

• Rewrite one value as an observable behaviour
• Look at your last three promotions and ask what they signalled
• Name the behaviour you are tolerating because the numbers are good

Apply this to your own startup in My Full Journey (free account).