Cultural Markers
Terms to help you define your organizational culture
Culture.
A word imbued with so much meaning and yet, for many startups, difficult to define.
In building culture, some founders focus on physical or tangible artifacts such as ping pong tables, open-concept office plans, napping pods and other stereotypical or unique features.
Essentially, they try to look or feel like a startup instead of creating their own bespoke spirit; an organizational geist, if you will.
Other founders define their culture through work rules, such as ‘Inbox Zero,’ ‘No recurring meetings,’ ‘Choose your own schedule,’ etc. Although these can be translated into values — discipline, responsiveness, independence, efficiency — they tend to only inform day-to-day behaviour and are not enough for decision-making, such as who to hire, fire and promote.
In other words, you can have someone follow all of your work rules and still not seem like a ‘culture fit.’
That’s because culture is a blend of values, artifacts, behaviours, rituals and common attributes within an ecosystem — your startup.
Today’s post is about common attributes — or cultural markers — which you can use as a binary or spectrum to help define your startup’s culture beyond physical manifestations and mandated etiquette.
Cultural Markers
There is an infinite amount of words and adjectives that could be used as cultural markers but below are the ones I’ve found most helpful.
Think of these markers in the context of countries; Mexico has a very different culture than Saudi Arabia’s. Understanding how another country does business helps you determine how to communicate, work and build relationships with them. The same is true of your organization.
Although you can see the markers as a binary (we are either this or that), I would recommend seeing each as a scale (from 1 to 10, for example) and placing your organization on this scale to also help define the nuances of your culture.
Hierarchical or Loose-Levelled
Hierarchical prefers top-down decision-making. Levels between individuals are clearly defined and known. Titles are meaningful.
Loose-levelled prefers consensus-based decision-making. Levels and titles are either unclear or unimportant.
Confrontational or Non-Confrontational
Confrontational is highly-feedback driven; differing opinions are encourages and sought out. Can lack diplomacy and tact.
Non-confrontational team members avoid feedback and conflict resolutions. Can be passive or passive-aggressive.
Data-First or Intuition-First
In data-first organizations, decisions and goals are not defined without data. Substantial resources are spent on improving data infrastructure and reporting.
In intuition-first organizations, decisions and goals are made intuitively based on perception of priorities, and data is subsequently harvested to prove or disprove.1
Collaborative or Competitive
Collaborative cultures show low territoriality. They have little interest in boundaries; they share easily. They prefer ‘tight-knit’ cultures and value loyalty.
Competitive cultures show high territoriality; they are very concerned about boundaries and ownership (who does what). They prefer loose ties and value individuality.
Organized/Pro-Systems or Creative/Systems-Averse
In organized companies, work is often defined as a set of processes and systems. Project/Product management is used to structure goals and initiatives. Work expectations and practices are clearly defined.
In creative companies, work is often centered around ideas/concepts rather than projects. “Flow” is valued over structure (e.g., meetings as brainstorming vs following a strict agenda).
Trust as Relationship-Based or Task-Based
When trust is based on relationships, personal relationships are at the core of business relationships. It’s very important that people “like each other” in order to work together.
When trust is task-based, people place their faith in those who demonstrate professional competence, regardless of whether they have a social relationship.
Vision-Driven or Values-Driven
In vision-driven cultures, there is a greater emphasis on where we’re going. Processes such as goal-setting and employee performance relate back to the vision. “The end justifies the means” thinking may be present.
In values-driven cultures, there is a greater emphasis on how we get there. Processes and decisions are based around shared values. Values are used to promote/encourage/modify/dictate desired behaviors.
Prioritizing Shareholder Value or Stakeholder Value
When organizations prioritize shareholder value, the business strategy and subsequent goals and tactics are based on gaining market cap and increasing shareholder value, (sometimes) regardless of environmental, societal, or political impact. The end goal is profit maximization.
When organizations prioritize stakeholder value, strategy and tactics are based on increasing value for those impacted by the service or product offered, such as customers, employees, suppliers and the community. The end goal is usually to balance the interests of stakeholders and optimize value for all.
Final Thoughts
Cultural markers at their extreme don’t tend to make good cultures. For example, an extremely hierarchical culture might not recognize good ideas if they come from more junior employees. An extremely loose-levelled organization might struggle with decision-making if no leaders or governance is appointed.
Also remember that there is no recipe for a high-performance culture.2 Some of the world’s most successful companies are vision-driven while others are values-driven.
Note that some individuals or teams may have slightly different markers than the rest of your organization. For example, I worked at a startup that was very Organized/Pro-Systems, but the Interior Design team was more Creative/Systems-Averse, as is standard in their industry.
In an increasingly globalized world, where mobility and remote work are the new normal, most of us are working with people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Cultural markers can help you understand why some of your team members have relationship-based trust — they can also help you explain to those same team members why you might trust differently.
Think critically about where you stand, where you want to go, and define your culture accordingly.
I see a ton of startups say they are data-driven, but consistently seek data after a decision is made. There is a difference between caring about data and using data to drive all business decisions. Early-stage companies struggle with being data-driven because they usually don’t have enough data or good data to make decisions. Most founders/leaders tend to use a mix of data and instincts.
Tesla is a hierarchical, confrontational, data-first, competitive, organized, have task-based trust, vision-driven and prioritizes stakeholder value. Patagonia is loose-levelled, non-confrontational, intuition-first, collaborative, is more creative and relationship-based, but is also vision-driven and prioritizes stakeholder value.