Too important for HR – YOU need to set and drive your company culture. The ‘why’.

This is one of the foundations you must invest in if you want to grow your small business fast, and with as little growing pains as possible.

It sounds woolly, and being a High D, I initially rejected it (there are tasks to be done people, so why aren’t you doing them!?)

But the empirical evidence is in. I’ve seen it add tremendous value in my companies, and there are plenty of studies and books that espouse the value of a genuine great company culture.

It does depend on your timing. If you’re about a short-term return – build and sell as quickly as possible – skip this post. It’s not for you.

However, if you are serious about building medium-to-long term value and get your business to a point where it can run itself without you, keep reading.

As mentioned in the previous post on the hardest thing in small business, people is where the value is at. You, as the small business owner and leader need to answer the ‘why’ question, and set the culture. Small businesses don’t generally have a Human Resources (HR) department or person, you’re it. As the leader in your business you own the culture.

Why do you turn up with passion each day, and expect that of your team? Here is a great TED video on the ‘why’:

Once you know your ‘why’, you need to communicate this to your team through the culture you set.

One big part of that is setting your vision statement, mission statement and core values. These clearly and easily spell out to your team what you know and feel about your business. If you don’t pass this onto everyone else, you are missing a trick.