167. Company of One? Why Company Culture and Values Still Matter
Every Company Needs to Define a Culture
When we are the only person working for our brand, we can have a false sense of not having anyone to answer to, no reasoning that needs to be vetted before we make decisions.
But if we don’t create culture for ourselves, are we deprioritizing the importance of having an understanding of our company culture?
What happens when you expand beyond yourself, whether that’s working with a contractor, a service provider, or hiring employees?
Erica shares her perspective on why it’s important to establish a company culture, even when you’re a company of one.
Listen on your favorite podcast player or keep reading to learn:
How to define the scope of your team
Why your values are the foundation of your company culture
How defining your values and company culture eases decision making
How being explicit in your values positively impacts your growth
Are You Really a Company of One?
On the Pause on the Play® podcast, Erica asks you to consider whether you truly are a company of one.
“A company of one means that you have nobody that helps you. Nobody helping with show notes, no VA, nobody helping you post things in your Instagram queue,” etc.
For the business owners who truly do it all themselves, establishing a company culture is still important.
But for those who do work with contractors, service providers, or anyone else who supports your business, “this actually applies to you even more because the reality is, you’ve already started to build your team.”
She continues, “Company culture and values are not about who else exists to be a part of it. Company culture and values matter because they give you a framework and a foundation for everything that is done, regardless of how many people are a part of that process or that end result.”
Values Inform Culture
Erica defines company culture as “what it is that your brand does, what it doesn’t do and why. It is the actions that it takes, the actions that it won’t take. It is what matters, who it is in support of. It gives you the filter through which every decision that you make goes.”
Establishing your company culture means getting clear on your values.
Values are the guiding principle that support how you shape your business, how you live your life, and support your evolution and growth.
“Your values are those principles that let you know what matters to you…Company culture is…what happens because of this? What are the actions that we take?”
The Impact of Defining Your Culture
Erica says that if you wait to define your values and company culture until you need it, it’s too late.
She uses companies’ responses to the events of 2020 as an example of waiting until they felt they needed to respond to an event and reacting with urgency in the moment without considering what was in alignment with their values.
“A moment hit and they did not have company culture, they did not have clear values. And so people reacted versus being able to respond. You don’t want to wait until it’s too late. You want to know this before that big opportunity shows up.”
Establishing a company culture creates the filter that all of your actions and decisions pass through, from what’s on your social media feed to how you handle client work and what you say yes or no to.
“Having a company culture that’s based on those values is going to be able to have a filter of, this is a yes or no, and I know why.”
Putting a company culture in place also means that you can make decisions quickly and with confidence. “Knowing what your values are, how they show up in action, how it plays out in your company culture, it makes it simpler to make decisions.”
Decisions are easier to make because you know why you’re giving the answer you’re giving.
“If you know the why, then it makes it easier for you to also be able to identify [that] maybe that there’s some other areas in your business that are not in service of what you’re actually working towards right now.”
Your company culture also gives you clarity on who you serve and what your purpose is.
Defining who your ideal clients and team members are “comes from you having a secure understanding of your values and how that creates and informs your company culture.”
Company Culture Supports Your Growth
When you don’t have a defined set of values and company culture, decision making gets more difficult, Erica says.
“You don’t want to overthink. That is not what we need right now.”
Not knowing your company culture makes it more difficult to hire, whether on a temporary basis or more permanent, someone who is the right fit for your business.
“And part of that is because you don’t know where your company’s going…[If] you don’t know whether or not this person is a good fit for your values right now, you don’t know if what this person comes in with is going to be in support of where you’re going.”
Team members need to be able to grow and evolve with you and your business, but if you don’t have clear values informing that evolution, they may not grow with you, or they may even be in opposition to where you want to be.
“We don’t want to put our money in places that are not in support of our values…The sooner you know, the sooner you can do better.”
Likewise, defining your values allows you to proactively decide whether to support other people, businesses and brands based on how their values do or don’t align with yours.
“Being able to make buying decisions when you know where you want your money to go, when you are choosing to vote with your dollars from a conscious place…it simplifies that process hugely.”
She continues, “When you create a company culture that is infused with your values, you allow those values and that culture to guide the growth of your brand and its evolution from a place of being explicit versus being implicit, because you have clarity on where you’re going and why.”
Being explicit in your values shows up in the copy on your website, the images you choose, the brands you partner with, what platforms you show up on, the people you align yourself with.
“It makes a big difference in who you attract when it comes to clients. It makes a big difference in who you attract when it comes to people that you partner with or work with, and it completely shifts everything around you because now you are putting this out there out loud.”
It’s a process, but it’s one to start now, before you’re faced with a challenge you need to respond to.
She says, “It’s important to start as soon as possible and to build it, to allow it to grow and to know that as long as you are being authentic and aligned with those values that create your culture, you’ll figure it all out.”
Ready to Dive Deeper?
If you’re ready to shape your company culture for yourself and the team you’ll create, Pause on the Play, The Community is a place to explore what’s possible.
Get access to Q&A sessions, workshops, and a supportive community as you define your values.
Learn more at pauseontheplay.com/community