💪 Culture champions

How can we help new hires embrace the culture we have developed when they come into the company? A new management hire started off on the wrong foot when he came into the company by challenging the current culture and forcing his methods of operating the business. He’s built his own small team of people who do not get along with the rest of the organization.

Context: We are an independent insurance agency with 35 employees and rapidly growing. We have a big focus on maintaining the culture we have developed in which our team members are our number one priority. Bringing in new talent is important at the pace we are growing but it is vital to our executive team to not water down the culture and keep our focus on our values and priorities as a company. We promote from within whenever we are able to, but we have had to recently bring in outside talent to fill upper-level management positions. It has been difficult getting these individuals to embrace the culture. Instead, they want to make operational changes that conflict with the culture and values which has led to them being ostracized by the rest of the team.

Lia Seth, Director of People Operations at Cylinder:

This is tricky to answer because it’s impossible to tell who is in the “right” here – maybe this new manager is coming in bold and brash and upsetting a good thing in the process, but it’s also possible that your organization has been stuck in a rut and could benefit from a fresh perspective and a light shake-up! So many people seek out “culture fits” when hiring, but sometimes what you really need is a “culture add.”

For where you are right now, sit down with the new hire for a candid conversation. Share what you see as the positives of your current culture, and why you’ve made decisions the way you have up until this point. Try to keep things factual, rather than emotional. Then, ask for their honest perspective on what they’re hoping to change or improve. Is their decision-making just based around what has worked for them at past employers, or are they seeing something specific in your organization that could be improved?

Either way, the fact that they’re being ostracized by other employees isn’t good for culture. Once you settle on a plan to move forward, meet with the team to talk about what changes you’ll be implementing (or not!) Clear, direct, and transparent communication will stop the backchannel conversations from taking over, and help you keep a positive culture.

Lisa Van Lenner, VP, Operations, People & Culture at Mythical:

Build a Culture Deck! We have a 20-page slideshow doc that explains our values as a company, our history, philanthropic efforts and some of the norms we abide by here – all illustrated with photos of our staff. If you have a strong company culture, this might be easy to put together, and if you don’t, it will create the opportunity to think about it and put pen to paper.

We send out the Culture Deck to all new hires and refer to it during their onboarding, (ex. “like it says in our Culture Deck, we always assume positive intent and approach conversations with curiosity”, “as we mention in our Culture Deck, execs clear 2 hours each day for deep work time,” etc.). It helps them understand the importance of the document and to refer to it.

We revise it once a year and get input from various employees to ensure it’s still capturing our essence.

I don’t think the deck itself would preempt an issue with a brash new manager who comes in guns a-blazin’, but having something to point back to and refer to does help in explaining why veteran employees might bristle against something that goes against what’s captured in the deck.

If we want to invest in culture improvement, what kinds of things do you recommend we allocate money towards in our budget?

Context: I have been blessed with a boss who has given me a ~$10k allocation in our budget for next year to go towards improving culture. We are a nonprofit working in the food insecurity industry with 68 employees.

Bridget Martin, Head of People at Smart Streets VR:

The people you work with and your enjoyment of spending the majority of your week with them is the make or break (IMO) in job satisfaction – the people you work with impact your own experience of company culture. Bonding activities help build stronger relationships. When employees know each other better and have positive interactions, it enhances trust and collaboration. Strong relationships among team members contribute to a supportive and inclusive company culture. Social activities together outside of work is always a nice way to show appreciation and support your team engaging with each other and having fun.

If you have a remote or distributed team, I recommend an Airbnb experience. My team did a Zoom pasta making class with a chef in Italy over Christmas and people are still talking about how fun it was and how glad they were that we set it up for them. I also highly encourage any events for team building to take place DURING the workday.

Kristen Francisco, People and Purpose Consultant:

How wonderful to have a boss who is committed to improving the culture. If you haven’t already, it would be helpful to do a culture assessment – where are your gaps/opportunities for improvement? Do you feel like the current values (internal and external) are being lived each day? What are the goals your CEO has for the culture? Do you have recent employee survey data with relevant input from employees about the current culture and what they’d like to see in terms of change?

If not, I’d start with:

• Surveys and Feedback: Conduct employee opinion surveys or pulse surveys.
• Interview and Focus Groups: Hold focus group discussions or one-on-one interviews with employees at all levels. Ask open-ended questions about what’s working well and what needs improvement.

Once you have the data you need, then build in the programs you feel will align with the goals and move the needle in the cultural direction you are aiming for.