Build More Than A Business, Build A Culture

In my last post I wrote about scaling out of chaos, but: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲?

I’ve faced this head-on. In the early days, culture felt effortless. You’re all at one table, every voice is heard, and decisions happen naturally. But as the team grows, you quickly realise the things that worked at the start don’t scale. That’s when I learned a vital truth: 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 - 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻..

Here are two lessons that stayed with me:

✅ 𝗖𝗼-𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

We didn’t just define values in a leadership meeting and announce them - we built them together. Every voice contributed, and that sense of ownership made the values real. 

We celebrated behaviours that brought our values to life, shouting out examples during team meetings, on Slack, and giving the team space to do the same. The most powerful moment was when the team truly owned it. Values weren’t words on a wall - they were alive in every decision, project & interaction.

That’s when I knew our culture was thriving.

✅ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁.

I once worked with a leadership team struggling to solve a persistent problem. I asked a simple question: “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘺?”

The room went silent. Then someone replied, “𝘕𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.”

But here’s the thing - I had asked the team. Their ideas were practical, thoughtful, and far ahead of where we were as leaders. It was a reminder that the people closest to the day-to-day often have the best solutions.

As leaders, our role isn’t to solve every problem. It’s to create the space for others to shine, clear blockers, and trust the team to do their jobs. When we do, we unlock their creativity and speed and give them the confidence to grow.

As Sheryl Sandberg said:

“𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.”

Building a culture isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. Co-create values, celebrate them, and trust your team to lead. That’s where magic happens.

👉 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴?

👉 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲?

I’d love to hear your experiences below.👇

#Leadership  #CultureFirst  #ScalingWithPurpose  #PeopleFirst