While I agree with the observations, I think this is not a good definition of company culture.
A company culture is the set of prevailing ethics within an organization which determines things like work ethic; attitudes towards change; levels of internal cooperation vs internal competition; treatment of customers, competitors, and suppliers; valuation of individuals' attributes; etc.
Company culture can be perceived by outsiders, but it doesn't rely on what others say or whether you are doing Good or not. It exists even in the absence of those things.
I've always believed company culture comes down to 1 thing: peoples' belief about how awesome their life is going to be next month... In other words, optimism and stuff to look forward to. Whether that's fabulous wealth, fun social time with coworkers, etc-- you have to have faith that things will be awesome in the future or you start looking.
Doesn't matter how many scavenger hunts or catered lunches you have.
Of course, you can get "awesome inflation". Day 1 at Google, maybe you're blown away by the catered lunches and at-desk free pedicures. A year later, maybe not.
"Of course, you can get 'awesome inflation'. Day 1 at Google, maybe you're blown away by the catered lunches and at-desk free pedicures. A year later, maybe not."
I don't think it's that binary. There are definitely times where I've been on teams where I knew things were looking grim, but where I felt a bond with my everyone, and it was a fellowship that made us dig in to give our best effort. That can be very sustaining (moreso if you feel good about your future team-finding skills, I suppose).
I think it's a mistake to be focusing on the 1 month time frame. You dug in because you valued the people you were working with, and thought that digging and giving your best effort were likely to be enough to pull you through. I've been on teams like that with (10%) pay cuts and was happy I was there. Things did improve.
However, I was there 2 years later and it was happening again. None of the core issues had been addressed or were open to being addressed, and I was happy to be laid off. The majority of the other employees left within the following year.
Good people, interesting technology, but the corporate culture was dying. The company still exists, and the continued emphasis on good customer service and niche market keeps them running (from what I've heard from current employees). I'd be surprised if the software technology has improved in the past 5 years, but it still does what it has to do.
That's a good point-- the horizon that people care about probably widely varies... But people want to climb mountains. If you can say with a straight face, "I really don't think it's going to get better than this," I don't think you can last long!
Your example isn't grim. There's a grim facet, but there's a huge social bond that is emotionally rewarding you. If work sucks but you LOVE your co-workers and can't imagine life without them, you can be optimistic about next month: "Work might still suck, but my peeps are my life and my joy!".
If (for the stuff you care about) there is clearly greener grass on the other side, I think you're on borrowed time.
Yeah, but you are not looking at the entire situation: you digged in _because_ you valued your coworkers and you grew or had a good emotional bond with them.
A company's culture matters quite a bit. Where the author makes a giant mistake, however, is in assuming that a company's culture is what it says it is.
I've worked at several organizations, and I can tell you that they definitely do have different cultures and sometimes that culture is a big contributor to success.
On a smaller scale, it's similar to the way a startup takes on the personality of its founder/s.
I didn't see that as the author's mistake, but rather as the point of the article, that a company's culture isn't what they say it is, but what they do differently.
When Google was really young, and wasn't sure how to make money, it was hiring. What Google found was that engineers didn't care if Google was going to win or fail, they cared about culture. And Google had it in spades.
Engineers were leaving well paid safe jobs to work in Googles culture, often taking pay cuts.
Made me think how important culture really is for the very best people.
Great article Dan. Culture is such an intangible unquantifiable thing that many people overlook. While I do agree on the 4 points you mentioned I believe that alot of company culture bleeds out of the personality of the CEO. They usually set the precedent and tone especially in a small startup.
More than anything, I think that its the word "culture" that makes this all screwed up. If you have a good "culture" (in the article's sense), people will want to work there, which is a good thing. If you dont, you will have talent troubles. Therefore, culture is important.
However, culture may be the wrong term, and I am always weary about a company that trumpets their culture.
At the end of the day, I want to work someplace awesome. Call it culture or attitude, it matters.
Very, very good article. Another thing that bugs me about corp-talk is the phrases you always find on job adverts. Apparently every successful job candidate in Britain over the last two decades has had 'excellent interpersonal and communication skills.'
Great post! This part is golden: "When the company picks up your nighttime MBA, that’s a great benefit – but when Teachstreet (a company that helps people find local and online classes) gets its employees together to learn how to build kites, now that’s a quirk. It’s not to say that corporate mandates can’t make great quirks, although the best ones often arise spontaneously from the teams themselves"
I'm looking forward to more on what in a culture can be assigned and determined proactively versus what should be left emergent...after all, the culture is a reflection of what you want to be and what you already are, right?
I think company culture is what you make of it, especially in a startup. You have the ability to help shape the workplace you're in and if you don't contribute, don't complain.
For me, I want to enjoy coming to work because of two reasons: (1) Building a product that connects with me and solves a real problem (2) I enjoy working with the people I'm with. It's the sense of camaraderie you build. All that other stuff contributes to that.
You really find out what the culture is, when times are tough. When the freebies disappear, there's no chance of a raise this year, and deadlines loom - what happens? Probably too late to find out your "culture" was hedonism etc. as everyone flies out the door, resume in hand.
This thread can't be any more appropriate to my current situation at work.
We are defining our culture but not all of the employees are on the same page.
We're still trying to figure out the best way to do it. I actually do not want to try too hard to convince people to accept a particular type of culture. It's either you like it or you don't.
A company should only keep those people that fits its culture.
>A company should only keep those people that fits its culture.
This is where I get nervous when people start talking about "company culture". It will inevitably lead to this. Whatever happened to hiring people that can do the job, hopefully well? If the job requires that they have an "outgoing personality", like some sort of salesmen, then the requirement that they can do the job will be all you need.
When you start weeding people out based on your completely arbitrary idea of what the company "culture" should be, I think that becomes a problem. This is only one step above race and sex based discrimination. Personality based discrimination should not be allowed (with the obvious caveat that you should be allowed to fire people with toxic personalities).
In my work experience I've noticed a positive correlation between employers that told me what their company culture was (especially via folders of documents, and wall signs) and employers that had an unpleasant, stiff, and hypocritical company culture.
The employers that didn't have an HR department, and/or didn't tell me what their culture was beforehand tended to end up having nicer cultures. Go figure.
You don't declare your own reputation.
You don't define your own company culture.
All of these things are object code, "compiled" by others based upon your behavior, which is the source.
What you do screams louder that what you say. Do good and you won't have to worry about what others say. That is "company culture".