Covid-19 Nuked Your Culture. Now What? - Full Video
Here is a recap of the Paparelli Zoom Chat for Entrepreneurs #10
Special thanks to Rob Forman, co-founder, President, and Chief Strategy Officer of SalesLoft, and to Chris Carneal, founder and CEO of Boosterthon.
Rob stepped away from his vacation to contribute to this call. Chris joined on a moment’s notice. My experience is both Rob and Chris always stand ready to serve our community. They are the entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. Their love for others is the secret ingredient of their success.
Quote of the call: “Remote is not new.”
Another quote that captures the call. “I’ve never been told I am over-communicating.”
Here are my takeaways on preserving your culture going forward.
Culture is the feeling of the environment when our values are consistently applied. Culture is all about values.
Authentic values are the key. Otherwise we practice hypocrisy.
I remember the emptiness in organizations where culture was absent.
Culture is the alignment in who we are with how we work.
Culture is how everyone acts when the leaders are not around.
The culture did not accelerate our growth. Finding a fast-growth market accelerated our growth. Culture helped keep the wheels on while we grew. It also made it more fun and kept the retention high.
Hold a weekly one-on-one call among all the employees in the company. You get paired with someone in the company randomly so you get to know each other during these times of isolation. Culture is not an office.
Culture is like herd immunity. If someone is out of alignment, it will work itself out (i.e. the person not in alignment will be worked out of the herd).
"If you love SalesLoft, you will invest in and contribute to the culture."
We, as founders, lead the culture.
Communicate more often. Have a weekly "all hands" call.
How do you bump into people you would normally not bump into? This is the challenge in this season of isolation. Idea: Weekly happy hour. No agenda. Just catch up by hanging out. Always be open with personal and professional highlights. It reminds us we are human and we are all going through the same thing. It works!
You don't build culture. You hire it.
Demanding that people come to the office will cause problems in this season of Covid-19. Children to care for, fear of illness, etc.
Our people realized that their commute hours are now being invested in family and health.
We want our values to be meaningful and descriptive so they are practiced. As we grew, the understanding of our values started to lose power. We moved from values to virtues. It worked. Virtues are more aspirational and actionable than values.
Our virtues have never been more important than they are in this season of struggle.
We want team members to have a growth mindset and a desire to be a better person.
I never heard an employee say, "You are over-communicating." As a leader, you must stand, be seen, be heard, and listen.
I will be calling each of my 1,000 employees. I am using this season to make our organization more personal and better connected.
Allow your employees to bring their whole personhood to work. In the office or remote does not matter. Remote is not new.
Practical ideas to build, practice, and reinforce your culture.
Every Paparelli Zoom Chat for Entrepreneurs will help you be a better entrepreneur. That’s the goal.
I look forward to seeing you next Wednesday, June 10, at 9 am.
Come a little early and catch up with friends and make some new friends. I'll be on at 8:45. And we always end the call right at 9:45 am.
You can find resources suggested by your fellow entrepreneurs on the resources page.