Culture All-Stars

Identify employees that represent the future values of your company

In the early days of an organization's life, when headcount is low, it's the founders who dictate the culture. But as businesses grow, the culture begins to evolve on its own. Some leaders find this loss of control disconcerting. Transitions are often the most difficult moments. But growth offers an underappreciated opportunity: the ability to see what works at scale. It's time to find your Culture All-Stars. 

In companies with fewer than 50 workers, proximity to executives supports the spread of culture. The founders are the models; the more time an employee spends with them, the more the leader's behaviors are emulated. Small business? It's a good bet that every person has some direct contact with his or her company's leaders. Whether staff meetings, video calls, or running into a founder in the hallway, odds are good that personal interaction happens.

The frequency of executive interaction drops quickly as organizations scale. Because of this, the company's culture begins to evolve independently of the founders—it is managers and peers who now have a more significant influence on how people choose to act. If not managed for, culture can move in an unsavory direction. But when thoughtfully curated, it can become a powerful tool for helping employees make ever-better business decisions. 

When does this change occur? There isn't a single moment to point to, but when our clients reach between 50 and 150 employees, we tell them it's time to codify their culture. Put down on paper and pixel what you want your culture to become. The question they ask in return is often, "What do I want?" Enter: Culture All-Stars.

Culture All-Stars are employees that, if replicated, would create the ideal future organization. They are implicit leaders— those whom colleagues tend to follow, not because of their title or role, but because of who they are. Ask yourself, who embodies the best version of the company? The person or two that come to mind are likely Culture All-Stars; they are shining examples of your values brought to life. What's more, they are living the culture in new and different ways, and that's great.

The ideal Culture All-Stars are not just rich in skill. They display the behaviors that will spur the kind of culture that leaders want as the company grows. Finding employees who represent the future of the company is precisely the challenge we put to our client PagerDuty when kicking off their values refresh exercise. 

Each person on the leadership team got to nominate two to three Culture All-Stars. These would be the employees involved in the day-to-day development of the project, and in a way, they would be those leaders' representatives. 

We assembled the names and vetted the list for a diversity of tenure, department, and skill. In the end, we asked fifteen to twenty employees if they would be willing to participate in the project. For four months, we worked with those who agreed to take part. In the end, our All-Stars defined, produced, and presented five new values that were unanimously endorsed by the leadership team, and universally adopted by the organization.

The speed at which the change coursed through this global organization was nothing short of astounding. We could never have achieved this result on our own, or even if we had worked directly with leaders. The Culture All-Stars were the secret ingredient in creating this change. Here are the three reasons why: 

A company's culture should not emerge fully formed from the head of a founder or even a consultant. And they don't have to. The behaviors and values already exist. Look around: ideal choices are all around. With a company full of employees, look for the ones you admire. If you find yourself thinking, "if only I could get everyone to act just a little more like her," you've struck culture gold. Find your Culture All-Stars, and you have found what your company truly values.