This week I want to talk about a podcast from techlead journal (link at the end), in which they interview the author of the book Wrong fit, right fit. In the podcast, the author (André Martin) talks about company culture as a determining factor for the performance and happiness of an employee. Quote a Gallup report that says $8.8 trillion is lost due to employees’ lack of engagement with their companies. André will equate working in a company with which you don’t have a cultural fit to writing with your left hand (or right if you are left-handed). You can do it, and you will produce…but the quality will be much worse and you will feel unfulfilled.
It has happened to me, I have worked in a company where I didn’t fit in with the culture, and I always felt unproductive and uncomfortable. Then I worked in companies where I fit in well, and the feelings were completely different, I felt much more productive and I felt that I was growing every day. I was the same, but the environment made me feel mediocre and unproductive.
I remember an anecdote, 20 years ago when I was in La Rochelle, France, on holiday. There we met a player of the Argentinean rugby team, and he told us that when he came to Europe he first played for a team in England. He said he did not integrate well with his peers, they had different codes and values, and he did not feel comfortable. His performance was mediocre and he played very little. Years later he was signed by a French team, and from the beginning he had a different feeling, he integrated very well and his performance was very good, to the point of playing in the 5 Nations. He was the same, however in the culture of a club his performance was mediocre, while in another club his performance was top.
According to André, culture is the aggregation of people’s collective behaviour, it is not something abstract that is on the walls of the office or on the company’s intranet. Therefore, in order to change culture, the first thing to do is to change how we behave every day (as employees, as a team, as managers and directors). This is why every company has its culture, regardless of its size and whether they have invested in it or not. When a group of people come together with a common project, some behaviours are established, a way of doing things, which is perpetuated over time and make up the culture.
One of the things I have learned is that the culture of a company is very difficult to change. I remember coming to work at a startup that was coming from a very difficult time and the culture had been touched. One of my responsibilities was to change this situation, which was not an easy task. On the one hand I encountered resistance from the team, who did not find it easy to wipe the slate clean, because of all they had been through. Yet they themselves realised that it was time to look elsewhere for a fresh start and make way for new people. However, as this transition was done gradually, the people who left often coincided with the new arrivals, which meant that they learned part of the old culture. But I also realised how culture was not only transmitted through the people, but that the legacy code also transmitted certain ways of working from the old culture…
From all this I draw two conclusions: on an individual level it is interesting to ask ourselves how our current company culture affects our engagement, performance and happiness. Is it empowering or detracting? Looking at past experiences and comparing is often a good reference, and in the case of not having good experiences, talking to colleagues in our network who are happy with their jobs can be a good thermometer. On the other hand, at company level, I think it is important to be aware of the current culture and its impact. Early stage startups are already unknowingly laying the seeds of what will become their culture, so it is important not to underestimate the impact of early stage behaviours. I personally believe that culture is going to play an even more fundamental role in technology companies. On the one hand, competition for talent is fierce and this talent is increasingly demanding and looking for projects that align with their values. And on the other hand, if automation advances as it seems thanks to AI, people will only be able to compete if we give our best and for that we first have to be in an environment that makes us feel comfortable and involved.
I am currently working to help companies and technology teams make better use of their potential. I help them to be aware of where their inefficiencies lie and how they can work on concrete actions to improve within their context, and do so on an ongoing basis. If you feel that you have room for improvement in your company, but the day-to-day is eating you up, we can talk to explore solutions together. Book a call here.