18 Culture principles and strategies I’ve seen work over and over again.

18 Culture principles and strategies I’ve seen work over and over again.

1. Culture is the gap between what you say is important and what you show is important

2. Stress lives where freedom has been restricted

3. Create clear job descriptions. Hard to get fulfilment is you aren’t clear on what you’re trying to fulfil.

4. Ask them to criticise the job and culture and work out improvements.

5. Reward those who do what you say is valuable and show the company you did that.

6. Define and agree the problem first. Then it becomes what’s best rather than who is.

7. The most senior person in the room is the extractor not the instructor.

8. Keep trying to find a system that allows people to do deep work interrupted. Never give up until it’s a part of the culture.

9. Create systems for everything important. If there is no system it’s not important.

10. Clear operating principles. Share them, discuss them, negotiate them, test them, develop them.

11. Extract company values and build the whole business around them. They should appear in your code, your contracts, your meetings like DNA 🧬

12. Conflict delayed is conflict multiplied.

13. Does everyone know the mission?

14. Does everyone know their role and see how it contributes to the mission?

15. Does everyone feel like they are able to do their work?

16. Does everyone feel like they are mastering something valuable?

17. Sunlight, water, air, space, food all make up a big part of energy small changes can make a big impact here.

18. Don’t give approval of work, teach how to appraise own work.