What is the single most important factor that drives a company's growth, momentum, and innovation? According to Dave Shah, the Co-founder and CEO of Wve Labs, it is the company's culture. He firmly believes that the organizational culture of a company can influence its performance, morale, and productivity. It is the magnet that attracts, motivates, and retains talented employees who are essential for your company's growth.
In simple terms, your company's tradition helps to develop a strong team, empowers the employees to apply their passions and follow the company's vision, and encourages transparency in their work-life. It is this culture that inspires employees to work harder and increase productivity every day.
Maintaining the culture of your company is one thing, but you should focus on keeping it healthy as your business grows. It is often susceptible to various weaknesses in an organization, such as scarcity of resources, negligence in scaling operations, and changes in management. The bottom line is: you shouldn't neglect your culture in the pursuit of helping your business grow. Both should grow simultaneously instead of taking one another's place. He points out two ways in which you can keep your company's culture healthy.
1. Establish a people-centric culture
When you base your company's culture on a specific people-focused tradition, it becomes easier for you to scale it. A scalable culture helps you understand whether your employees are following it or not.
While talking about his company, Dave said that the culture of Wve Labs centers around storytelling. When he had started the company with a very small team, he incorporated storytelling into the core of the company's culture to improve human connection, closeness, and collaboration. Dave believes that sharing stories empower people to be themselves.
Each week, the teams in his offices meet to share stories about exceptional experiences, personal learning, and client interactions. In the end, everyone votes for their favorite story. That story is then shared with other teams.
You don't necessarily have to replicate Wve Labs' culture in your organization. Instead, you can try other approaches, such as celebrating achievements by ringing a bell, starting a company holiday, or providing peer-based awards. Always think of coming up with an idea that centers around employees so that they would want to be a part of that tradition.
2. Appoint culture guardians
Every company has a few employees who are more dedicated than others. You can designate these employees to become your company's culture guardians. Dave is confident that this trick will help in gauging the culture's growth. The guardians may come up with ideas on how to improve workplace culture or increase happiness within the company.
You should encourage these culture guardians to educate, demonstrate, and communicate the company's traditions to the rest of your workforce. These employees embody what your company stands for. They spread community-based, feel-good vibes to others that come to them naturally. This will ensure that no matter how big your company gets, its culture will remain intact.
If you feel that your company's culture is at risk due to its rapid growth, try to implement a tradition that you can scale easily. Dave advises entrepreneurs to consider a holistic approach while establishing a company culture. This will enable employees to follow that custom and keep it at heart throughout their stay in your company.
