Every workplace has, and needs, its own work culture, irrespective of the size of the company – and new startup businesses are no exception. While it’s bad enough company cultures do not develop in a day, businesses that span the globe, or even a few countries have different traditions to deal with too. Building these cultures takes long enough as it is. Having employees of different customs interact with each other can make bad matters worse – but what about fledgling new startup businesses?
“Company traditions” can acquire any meaning from company to company. Traditions of a business may affect the type of talent that’s attracted to it, the company’s clientele, the good or bad reputation the brand has built, and even the reputation of its services or products – this is all included within the meaning of ‘company culture’.
Every year hundreds of thousands of new startup businesses are established all over the globe – and right from their conception the business owners or management begin to think of ways to go global. Most of them will fade away almost as soon as they are established. Some will live to see international shores, but only a microscopic few will rid themselves of the label “new startup” and move to newer shores. The reason for this is in their DNA – the cultural work traditions that bind the employees and the company together.
The companies that dream of going global but fail, more often than not have a management that has foregone or misunderstood the need for establishing company traditions – which is a combination of ethics, customs and a way of life.
Then again, for companies that have tasted success, the team that has stuck together from the beginning of time must disperse to other countries and establish branches of the company as a new startup on each new shore. They take with them the traditions of their company and adapt them to the new work customs without compromising the core values of the company was founded on. This in itself is a challenge but very important to overcome.
While it is important for a company, including a new startup, to have a set code of traditions, ethics and a way of working, these must not be set in stone. It is equally important to have a flexible culture. This makes it easy for new members to adapt to and everyone is happy – so long as the core values of the company are not violated.