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What Makes a Good Culture

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At a recent job interview I was asked a question that I’d never been asked before so I had to take a moment to collect my thoughts before answering and in the moment I didn’t address it as completely as I would have liked.

“You’ve said that company culture is important to you, what are the 3-4 most important things that create a good culture?”

I’ve been blessed through the years at having good teams of people to work with and specifically while at Millennial Media, two diverse teams that were both stellar and some of my fondest working experiences.

The best barometer for a good company culture is a good vibe. Your home has a certain vibe. Could be

At a recent job interview I was asked a question that I’d never been asked before so I had to take a moment to collect my thoughts before answering and in the moment I didn’t address it as completely as I would have liked.

“You’ve said that company culture is important to you, what are the 3-4 most important things that create a good culture?”

I’ve been blessed through the years at having good teams of people to work with and specifically while at Millennial Media, two diverse teams that were both stellar and some of my fondest working experiences.

The best barometer for a good company culture is a good vibe. Your home has a certain vibe. It could be warm and inviting. It could be sad and cold. Starbucks has a vibe…and not all of them have the same vibe as hard as they try. And your workplace definitely has a vibe.

Some companies just have good energy without even trying.  The team gels, there’s a varied set of personalities and you’re moving together towards something great. This energy creates your company’s vibe.

The cornerstone of this vibe is the leadership team. What they exude trickles down and infects the rest of the company. I don’t mean those pep rally meetings that happen every month or two to get everyone pumped up. Done right those can be very energizing and motivating, but I mean on a day to day basis, how does leadership work, what do they exude as they move through the office, how solid is their swagger. It all starts here.

Passion adds a layer of depth to this and a clear vision adds another giving employees a true north to follow. The feeling of “we’re all going to win together.”

Beyond the vibe, what makes a good culture?

I like to think that this article, about Google studying what makes “the perfect team” holds some of the keys to that and it’s just a portion from the book Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg. A major factor in the success of teams is the idea of psychological safety.

There’s something powerful about the feeling of safety in being able to express ideas and opinions without judgement or ridicule. I believe that the teams that I worked in had this and I believe that’s why we excelled and were successful. The article also mentioned that team members spoke a similar number of words per meeting and this was something we accomplished by taking turns around the room, though not formally.

This relates to the overall culture, because beyond energy, what makes a place great to work is the ability to be open, share ideas, and feel like you’re having an impact. Having a company wide understanding of what you’re going after it and knowing that the piece of the puzzle that you’re responsible for is being put into place is extremely gratifying.

Another thing that can directly contribute to a culture is what I call a shining light. Someone who takes up the mantle and whom other people gravitate towards. If you have someone like this in your company, cherish them and support them and watch the effect. A buddy of mine is running a team and every few months plans an offsite outing or an after work event, and takes his personal time to do things outside of work with those that would like to. It’s no surprise to me that his team is one of the highest performing teams in the organization.

Finally, culture is something you have to nurture and as your company grows culture is going to shift and change. A few of the companies I’ve been involved with have fought against this instead of leaning into it and trying to understand what the shift was about. The last key is communication. Talk to your people and see what’s going on and get a temperature.  Adjust as needed.