Rapid team expansion can be highly energizing, but it is also one of the riskiest phases for team culture, communication, and execution.
Bringing on a boatload of new team members can create quite a time crunch for experienced team members and stretch the organization’s ability to coordinate new colleague activity.
Because of the distractions that naturally occur, many teams experience a dip in productivity as the organization absorbs new people.
But it is the culture that is likely to take the biggest hit.
New team members are devoid of institutional knowledge, lack an appreciation for team norms, and have yet to experience the organization’s values in action.
The challenge of enculturating new team members and aligning them with the organization’s strategy is among the biggest obstacles leaders must overcome.
Until new team members understand how decisions are made, what work habits are expected, and how the values are expressed in everyday actions, they are at a disadvantage in gaining traction and contributing to the organization’s success.
Effective enculturation also helps new members feel like they belong and increases their engagement and commitment.
To accomplish this at scale, the best organizations intentionally codify their cultures. They make their values, norms, practices, and expected behavior explicit instead of implied.
By articulating and documenting the many facets of culture, especially the core principles to guide behavior, leaders make culture instantly knowable and teachable.
Organizations that focus on codifying the primary values, meeting and communication norms, critical practices, and expected behaviors will find they capture the essence of the enterprise more precisely.
Any universal expectation, whether for engagement, performance, or conduct, should be included in the document.
Netflix represents a prime example of an organization that has done a masterful job of codifying its culture. Check out their well-known Culture Memo if you haven’t viewed it already.
Not surprisingly, some of the largest, most successful, and fastest-growing companies also offer good examples, including Amazon’s Leadership Principles, Toyota with theToyota Way, Zappos with their 10 Core Values, Google with Project Aristotle, and Southwest Airlines with theirCulture Handbook.
While making the culture explicit can speed up the enculturation process for rapidly expanding teams, it also serves organizations and teams that grow more gradually.
When team members of any tenure know what is expected of them and how they are supposed to show up with colleagues, customers, and suppliers, the outcome is higher consistency and strategic alignment.
Consider codifying and crafting your own Cultural Manifesto.
Most cultures are invisible to newcomers. Good leaders bring the culture alive by making it clear and obvious in an easily consumed format.
