Culture by Design: Building a Winning Team from the Start

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“If you build it, they will come.”

This line is from one of my favorite movies, “Field of Dreams.” It’s a fictional story about a character named Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, who mysteriously receives instruction to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. The result of his dedication and follow-through is a visit from timeless baseball legends, an experience that garners attention far and wide as people travel from across the country to watch them play.  

One of the many reasons that I enjoy the movie is its underlying message about following your dreams and pursuing something great, even when the task seems daunting. This is how it can feel building a successful business: daunting. But the challenge can be rewarding, and the results can be incredible. Part of that building process involves making sure that you have the right people on your team. 

If you want to attract top talent and achieve great results, your organizational culture is key. It’s hands-down one of the most important elements in your business and it’s quite possibly one of the best predictors of your long-term success. Studies have long shown the tie between strong cultures and higher productivity and revenue. So, it needs to be created and nurtured carefully. Your hiring practices need to support it.

Culture refers to the collective values, beliefs, norms, assumptions, behaviors, and practices that shape the environment within the organization—as Seth Godin defines it, “people like us that do things like this.” It’s the underlying current of how the work gets done and it can be a competitive differentiator. Build a great performance culture and you create a powerful movement of people who are engaged and motivated to achieve. Allow a toxic workplace culture and you are in for trouble.

Your hiring practices are a critical part of the culture building process. A candidate’s culture “fit” should be a key consideration in any job interview. There are two reasons. First, a single employee can have a major impact on the chemistry and dynamics of the team. A strong match can add to the energy, capability, and focus of the team and they will often act as brand advocates. Second, their personal longevity and effectiveness in the job will be influenced. When people perceive that they belong (indicative of a good match), they tend to feel a stronger sense of purpose, show greater loyalty, and perform at a higher level.

To read the rest of this article, which appeared in the September 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.