{"id":210783,"date":"2021-03-25T19:08:02","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/company-culture-is-built-on-actions-not-declarations\/"},"modified":"2021-03-25T19:08:02","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:08:02","slug":"company-culture-is-built-on-actions-not-declarations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/company-culture-is-built-on-actions-not-declarations\/","title":{"rendered":"#Company culture is built on actions \u2014 not declarations"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Company culture is built on actions \u2014 not declarations<\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

\n Boris is the wise ol\u2019 CEO of TNW who writes a weekly column on everything about being an entrepreneur in tech \u2014 from managing stress to embracing awkwardness. You can get his musings straight to your inbox by signing up for his newsletter!<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A few days ago, I was doing a woodworking project which involved two wooden planks, just over 10 meters in length (impressive, I know).<\/p>\n

I had to attach them firmly at one end, then I roughly aligned them so they would be parallel to each other. My attitude towards woodworking could be summed up as \u201cwe\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get to it.\u201d So as usual, I wasn\u2019t stressing the details too much in the beginning.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019d firmly secured the first 3 meters in place, after a considerable amount of elbow grease, I noticed something. The few millimeters of margin I\u2019d noticed in the beginning were now a few centimeters<\/em> of margin. And surely enough, further along the planks those centimeters turned into decimeters.<\/p>\n

Still, no big deal, right? Well, unfortunately this woodworking project was literally<\/em> building a bridge I would have to cross soon.<\/p>\n

[Read: Why you can\u2019t base business decisions on numbers alone]<\/em><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t quite relish dying prematurely in a freak bridge accident of my own making, so I was left with no choice but to scrap everything and start over completely. But this time I\u2019d pay extra attention to those millimeters that seemed so trivial in the beginning.<\/p>\n

Another thing that might seem like mere millimeters at the beginning of a project for most people \u2014 but can end up causing a kilometer-wide gap \u2014 is company culture.<\/p>\n

Values, manners, and methods are implicit, and when you\u2019re struggling to get your idea off the ground or just trying to simply survive, there\u2019s not a lot of time for long brainstorm sessions about What It All Means.<\/em><\/p>\n

But even if you never sit down to come up with your meaning<\/em> or values<\/em>, I\u2019ve learned that all the little things you do in the beginning will end up defining what you\u2019ll eventually recognize as your company culture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mistake thinking you can create \u2018company culture\u2019 by putting a ping pong table in the basement or force everyone to think of yourselves as \u201cone big family.\u201d Company culture is a lot more subtle than that, and it\u2019s created by all the tiny actions that have happ<\/a>ened, rather than sweeping declarations.<\/p>\n

I declared I was building a bridge \u2014 but the amalgamation of all my actions showed I was constructing weird stilts for two planks, veering off into different directions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why simple things like how founders treat each other in meetings are the building blocks of company culture. Those millimeters of small mistakes you skipped over so easily in the beginning can turn chasms you can never cross if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n

But even if you manage to inspire a thriving culture with mutual respect and the ability to grow, are you done? No, never. Company culture, and the values it comes with, is a living and breathing thing, and like the tide, it ebbs and flows with the people that live it.<\/p>\n

So make sure all your actions contribute to the company culture you strive to build.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t get enough of Boris? Check out his older stories here, and sign up for his news<\/a>letter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Published March 25, 2021 \u2014 16:08 UTC\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n