Behind every startup is an idea seeking fulfillment and a roadmap demanding execution. The success of a startup depends a lot upon how conducive is the startup culture of a company. Many startup founders face a tragic end because of their inability to define their culture at workplace. The concept of startup culture has ignited a new discourse lately and newbies in business are focusing on how to define their startup culture.
Startup culture and it’s importance
Startup culture is a work-oriented environment which is characterized by creativity, open and friendly communication, productivity, cooperation and strong leadership structure. It is important because it has a great impact on the operation of a business. It helps the employees to strike a right work-life balance. It boosts their morale and gives them inner satisfaction making them more interested towards work. Naturally, the more happy and productive employees are, the more successful the startup gets. Every company needs a proper outline of the various functions it needs to perform and the distribution of work. Team work always demands an organized approach and for a budding startup, an effective workforce is of paramount importance.
A concrete plan vis-à-vis startup culture
An idea is the soul of a startup and it is the plan that sustains it over time. Just like a building cannot stand without a foundation, a startup cannot come into existence without an idea. For a startup to thrive a concrete plan is a major requisite. There are certain steps that can be undertaken to establish a successful startup culture.
1. Setting priorities:
One cannot accomplish a goal without setting one’s priorities. Setting a clear roadmap is crucial for any business. A startup founder must delve upon this question of “What purpose does his company want to serve?” and accordingly he must select his target audience and formulate various schemes. This also helps in deciding how the company can impact the society at large and what can be the future prospects of growth. Determining the priorities is the very basis of developing a startup culture and it must be decided prior to hiring any employee.
2. Determining ethos:
Startup culture, in essence is an ethical concept. Ethics and values must be incorporated in life for attaining long term goals in any field. The ethos of a company should always be consistent with it’s work culture and mission. Merely tailoring the values is not enough. They must be discussed, pondered upon and practiced by all the employees so that they are not forgotten over time. In other words, they must be re-evaluated at regular intervals. Such a set of values imposes a work-specific conduct upon the employees which compels them to meet the expectations of their job and maintain the workplace decorum.
Whether the startup is at a foundational stage or grown into a full-fledged company, nurturing the core values from time to time is very important for a healthy and positive work environment. The company can rely on the past records to identify it’s bad experiences and ponder over what essential values could have prevented such experiences and proceed with incorporating those values in order to avoid similar situations.
3. Facilitating communication:
Effective communication is always the key. It is an acknowledged fact that communication gap leads to ambiguities which is detrimental for the work environment. Employees must be in constant interaction to facilitate better sharing of information. Everyone should be on the same page if positive work results are to be achieved. Meetings and seminars pertaining to startup culture are an effective way of disseminating important information among the employees.
4. Recruiting consciously:
A team’s success relies heavily upon the team members. Every individual can either act as an asset or a liability for a company. Therefore, individuals should be recruited carefully keeping in consideration their abilities and qualifications so as to scale up the performance of the company. Hiring a diverse workforce also helps to gain a new perspective as every individual can rope in their ideas and opinions based on their experiences to propel the company’s growth. Employees excelling in their work must be recognized and rewarded from time to time in order to boost their morale.
Startup culture would continue to be an important aspect in the world of business startups. Aspiring business entrepreneurs and startup founders need not stick to and abide by the customary definitions of startup culture. They need to invent and implement their own new definition to give a new meaning to this ever-evolving concept and further, in order to ignite more creative ideas that can help small startups skyrocket their profits. It is a settled principle in business that high investment gives high returns. Therefore time, efforts, effective communication, conscious recruitment, strong ethos etc would surely lead to a progressive startup culture.
Also Read: 10 Cool Ways to Successfully Pitch your Ideas to Investors