Wake up founders, culture comes from the top! PS that means you...

Organizational theory while not new, is one of the more esoteric areas of expertise not often contemplated, let alone understood by today’s founders. In fact, one might argue, startups strengths - youth and technical expertise - most often act as barriers to creating functional organizations. It might even be said that these actively encourage many of the bad habits that contribute to a poor work/company culture. So what can we do about it?

Wake up!

You are leaders now, which means like it or not, people are looking to you to set the tone and direction of your company. Everything you do or say matters.

Once you’ve hired your first non-founding employee, you’ve joined the ranks of leadership and that means you’re now under a microscope. Whether you’re technical or not, people aren’t just looking for strategic and tactical directions, they’re looking for leadership. That means two things are going to happen. First, you are going to provide them with clear explicit examples of what you expect from them. Second, your actions will offer implicit expectations of what is normal. Both of these things will be taken into account as your company models their behavior patterns and culture.

Explicit Leadership

Everyone is going to have a different leadership style, which has both negative and positive aspects. Fundamentally, explicit leadership is what you tell people you want and expect of them. While it may seem like a straight forward thing, “I want X, get it to me by Y”, it’s not always that clear. Different personalities require different methods to extract the best results from them, and often leaders are not willing to “bend” to someone else’s needs. We can however try and be clear with our expectations and keep communications channels open so that those working for us can ask without fear, when things aren’t clear. Whether it’s setting expectations for work quality, or simply what time to be in and out of the office, clarity is key. I can’t get in to any real depth beyond that without turning this into a 90 page thesis so let’s leave it there.

Implicit Leadership

This is the area that tends to get us into the biggest trouble. As leaders, we can sometimes act like the bad stereotype of a parent.

Do what I say, not what I do.

Once you decide to be a founder, or are in a leadership role, everything you say and do is looked at and analyzed, ad nauseam. It may seem difficult or trying, but it’s incredibly important to realize just how much what you do is seen by, and affects your company. I have many stories from the field where I found myself wondering why I’d reacted to an employee in such a way that was contrary to who I am. Well, like a virus, leadership styles affect everyone around them.

Whether it’s the CEO who is constantly “busy”, but has little to nothing to show for it, or the “yeller” who is constantly berating or yelling at people in meetings, or the leader who tell people it’s “ok” to fake a product demo while suggesting it’s real. These actions show people what is expected of them. Whether it’s being submissive to superiors (and subsequently yelling at underlings), or that what you do doesn’t really matter as long as you’re busy, or lying about yoru products abilities. Your actions create an implicit understanding of what is acceptable, and is reflected in your company values.

Culture comes from the top.

To net out all of this conversation in a short easy blog post, culture comes from the top. If you are a founder or a leader, what you do and say and how you do or say it matter, a lot. People not only pay attention to the literal meaning of your words. they look at what you do and extract implicit meaning. All of this forms the foundation of what will become your company culture. If you don’t believe it, just think about your own family. How has what your mother/father said/didn’t say did/not did changed you? The family is the first organization that you belonged to, and its leaders have affected you in profound ways that sometimes you can’t even fathom. Now that’s an extreme example for sure, but the reality is that we spend more time at work than we do with our friends, kids, lovers or spouses. Let that sink in for a bit, then think about how you felt when you had your first amazing boss, or your first crappy one.

What you do and say affects others, especially when they are dependent on you to make a living. That means they might do or say things they wouldn’t normally just to conform, to please, to perform, to play the expected part and you have set the rules. Words and actions matter, and as a leader and founder, you set the tone. Whether you like it or not doesn’t matter, either way, you have to accept it. Only once you have, can you begin the process of making a company a success and also a great place to work.