Building a Culture That Lasts Beyond the Founder

(Why values and culture must outlive the entrepreneur.)

I recently heard a culture consultant ask the question: how do high school sports programs create legacies when they turn over their roster every year and don’t recruit? There are many reasons for this, of course, but one major factor is a winning culture.

Many small businesses thrive in the shadow of their founder’s personality. That works—until it doesn’t. What happens when the founder isn’t in the room? Or when growth outpaces the leader’s ability to directly manage everything?

The answer: culture.

What Is Culture?

Culture is the invisible operating system of your business. It’s how decisions get made and things get done when you’re not around.

Why Culture Fails in Small Business

• Core values are unstated or not enough. Some organizations do not have Core Values that frame their business. Some organizations have aspirational or “pay to play” Core Values that were clumsily thrown together and hung on a wall never to be mentioned again. But even a good, authentic, unique, and relevant list of Core Values only goes so far. Core Values can be interpreted different ways by different people in different areas of the organization.

• Hiring is based on “gut feel” instead of alignment. Some organizations may have competent hiring managers or owners who did most or all of the hiring. But that is difficult to scale. Even so, if a hiring manager is trusting their gut, then there is no way to consistently evaluate candidates based on the behaviors that are require as a part of a culture. Similarly, onboarding and training might also be done based on a competent employee, manager, or owner showing the new employee how to do something. This is training to a skill or set of knowledge. But this is not onboarding for culture: teaching, explaining, and showing a set of behaviors that is required to be on the team.

• The founder assumes culture will “just happen” or is “just happening”. Often times a founder or owner is in business because of a skill they possess, not necessarily for their leadership skills or ability to scale through the building of a team. A common example is a master plumber who gets so much work that they hire additional plumbers to meet the demand. Eventually they need to hire an office manager, then an estimator, then an accountant. Pretty soon there are almost as many people in the office as in the field. The owner can’t be everywhere. So even though people act in alignment with the owner’s unwritten “company rules” when the owner is around, it is uncommon that everyone does so in all situations when the owner is not.

• Some founders just don’t think “culture” is a real thing. Culture is an abstract concept that is hard to define, observe, and measure, so therefore it must not be worth investing in. But culture is like gravity; whether someone believes in it or not, it exists and will impose its will on people regardless. As Peter Drucker famously averred, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” When culture is not understood or leveraged, that is a great opportunity to find someone who can help.

How to Build a Durable Culture

1. Clarify Your Core Values and Cultural Behaviors
   Don’t pick aspirational fluff—identify the values you actually hire and fire by.

   Take each of your core values and describe each of them with 4 to 6 examples of behaviors that demonstrate the value. (Ex: Core Value: Honesty. Behaviors: Contribute in team meetings; provide constructive feedback with kindness; always tell someone when they have food in their teeth)

   Now there are behaviors that exemplify the type of culture you want to have in your organization and they are clear at an observational level.

2. Embed Culture into Hiring and Onboarding
   Interview and Onboard for values and behaviors, not just skills.

   Make it clear through the interview process that culture fit is important. Ask open ended questions that provide candidates the opportunity to share what is important to them and how they behave in various situations. During the onboarding process, make it clear what specific behaviors are expected. Share stories of your values in action with new hires.

3. Reinforce Through Rituals
   Weekly check-ins, recognition moments, even how you start meetings.

   “Ritualize” culture through highlighting an expected behavior at each weekly meeting; provide awards or recognition of employees exhibiting desired behaviors at quarterly company meetings; and include feedback during annual review processes.

A Founder’s Legacy

Patrick Lencioni reminds us: the ultimate competitive advantage is organizational health. And culture is the foundation of health.

👉 Small business takeaway: Your business will never outgrow the strength of its culture. Build one that can outlast you.