You're expanding your startup rapidly. How do you ensure new hires embody your culture and values?

It is fiendishly difficult to understand and unpack a person's culture during interviews as the beginning is often a impression dance, each trying to make a specific impression. In my experience over 33 years (at one stage my companies employed 1.800 people) the best advice I could give is to give people a chance to work on projects before they join your company (think freelancing, etc) so you get a real sense of who they are. If that's no possible, try and spend a large amount of time understanding the personality of the person and then create the job around that personality vs trying to make the person fit to the job. You won't believe the impact it has on your company culture and happiness

To ensure new hires embody your culture and values: 1. Clear Communication: Articulate your company’s culture and values clearly through onboarding materials, presentations, and everyday interactions. 2. Behavioral Alignment: Use behavioral interviews to assess candidates’ alignment with your culture. Look for past experiences and behaviors that reflect your values. 3. Ongoing Reinforcement: Embed culture in everyday practices, from leadership examples to regular feedback and recognition. This ensures new hires understand, adopt, and contribute to your desired workplace culture effectively.

To ensure new hires embody your culture and values as you expand your startup rapidly, begin by clearly defining and articulating your company culture and core values. Incorporate these values into your hiring process by including cultural fit assessments in interviews and evaluations. Use behavioral interview questions to gauge alignment with your values. Engage current employees in the hiring process to provide insights and reinforce cultural consistency. Provide comprehensive on-boarding programs that emphasize your culture and values, and ensure new hires understand and embrace them. Foster an environment where your values are practiced daily, and recognize and reward behaviors that align with your culture.

One of the most important characteristics of a successful startup is team cohesion. To ensure that each new hire is a good fit, the startup should prioritize grit and a willingness to work hard over technical skills—though the ability to learn and develop necessary skills remains important. To ensure a good cultural fit, the hiring process should include interviews with at least three of the founders, who are the true guardians of the culture. However, no one is completely immune to cognitive biases. Therefore, startups should require agreement among multiple founders on every new hire for a considerable period of time.

Integrate Culture and Values into the Hiring Process Behavioral Interviewing: Use behavioral interview techniques to understand how candidates have demonstrated values in their previous roles. For example, ask about situations where they had to collaborate, innovate, or show resilience. Involve Team Members: Involve current employees in the interview process. Their perspective can help gauge how well a candidate will fit into the existing team culture.

I would also add that an important aspect to gauge during interviews is to ask candidates about past experiences similar to the challenges they will face in the new role and environment. Asking about changes in general will not sufficiently pressure candidates to reveal their true colors, and it will only delay the real challenge until it's too late.

Cultural Fit Assessment: During the recruitment process, assess candidates for cultural fit as well as skills and experience. Include questions that reveal their alignment with the company’s values.

J'ai pour habitude de m'intéresser à la personne que je recrute bien au-delà de ses seules compétences techniques. Il est important pour moi de cerner ses qualités personnelles, plus importantes même que ses compétences.

a. There will be 100s of candidates who will pass your technical interviews, but the Culture fit is a tough cookie to crack. b. Behavioral interviews, Giving them assignments and understanding their approaches, observing how they respond/react to ambiguous questions/statements in the interview discussions will be helpful. c. One way I have seen we can check for culture fit is wrt Disagreement and Conflict handling across teams and hierarchy. d. Is there a failure story that they have to share and it is for you to check how realistic are they and how relatable is the learning from the failure.

The onboarding process is often a missed opportunity to thoroughly familiarize new hires with the intricacies of a new company. It should go beyond just the technical aspects and processes. New hires should learn who to approach when issues arise, and where to find help on specific topics. Moreover, providing a comprehensive overview of each area of the startup can offer everyone a true perspective. This simple action will yield benefits later on and foster holistic thinking across the team.

Culture Immersion: Design an onboarding program that immerses new hires in the company culture. This can include introductory sessions on company values, history, and mission. Mentorship Programs: Pair new hires with mentors who exemplify the startup’s values. Mentors can provide guidance and help new employees acclimate to the company culture. Interactive Onboarding: Incorporate interactive activities such as team-building exercises, cross-departmental meet-and-greets, and hands-on projects that reflect the company’s collaborative spirit.

Dès le premier jour, les nouvelles recrues participent à un programme d'onboarding structuré où elles découvrent notre histoire, notre mission et nos valeurs. Cela inclut des sessions avec différents membres de l'équipe pour comprendre comment chaque département incarne ces valeurs au quotidien.

a. Onboarding starts the moment the offer is rolled out and accepted and not on day 1. b. Engage with the new hires by having various employees (not just senior execs) offer out conversation sessions and experience sharing talks. c. Get them to visit your social platforms to see the kind of work you are doing. d. Ensure a smooth onboarding wrt logistics, welcome, first day experience (do not make it hectic). e. Talk about the learning, mentoring, coaching culture that you have. f. Do not overload them with information but have ways for them to ask questions and learn.

Regular Communication: Regularly communicate the startup’s values through newsletters, team meetings, and company-wide updates. Highlight examples of how employees are living these values. Recognition Programs: Implement recognition programs that reward employees who exemplify the startup’s values. Publicly acknowledging their contributions reinforces desired behaviors. Feedback Mechanisms: Create feedback loops where employees can provide input on how the company’s culture is being maintained and suggest improvements. This ensures that the culture evolves with the team.

Nous restons flexibles et ouverts aux ajustements. Si une nouvelle recrue éprouve des difficultés à s'aligner sur notre culture, nous offrons un soutien et des ressources supplémentaires pour l'aider à s'adapter.

Nous encourageons une culture de feedback ouvert et continu. Les nouvelles recrues sont invitées à partager leurs impressions et à proposer des idées dès le départ. Cela montre que nous valorisons leur contribution et que nous sommes ouverts à l'innovation.

a. Call them mentors, coaches or SPOCs but ensure that there is someone other than the HR working with the new hires to guide them and also listen to their feedback. b. Collect timely feedback via surveys (not the ones that take 20 mins to fill every week, but short ones). c. Understand the gaps that may be called out and acknowledge them. d. Encourage them to give feedback not just when asked but also create proactive ways to offer feedback. e. Have managers, mentors and HR do regular check-ins formally and informally.

a. New joiners will come with expectations and comparisons galore from their earlier experiences, but you have to ensure that they quickly move out of those comparisons to appreciating your onboarding process. b. One big let down in my experience is the series of "All is Great" kind of speeches that the big boys of the companies do with their fake smiles. Be genuine and original. c. Do not make the onboarding process a tedious 8 hour exercise. Get the h/w and other logistics sorted out or have it done subsequently. d. Make it collaborative and take questions in the right spirit rather than directing them to a no-face Distribution List Email ID.

To ensure new hires embody your culture and values during rapid expansion, start by clearly defining and communicating your company's culture and values in job descriptions and during the interview process. Implement a thorough onboarding program that emphasizes your mission, values, and expected behaviors. Pair new hires with mentors who exemplify the company culture. Foster an inclusive environment where feedback is encouraged and values are demonstrated by leadership. Regularly reinforce your culture through team-building activities, recognition programs, and continuous training. Ensure leadership models the culture and values consistently.

Culture is not an isolated aspect; it should be nurtured every day. Every victory should be celebrated to demonstrate what success looks like and to reinforce the sense of team unity. The same approach should apply to lessons learned. How a startup handles failures not only sets the tone for dealing with future errors but also influences risk-taking. This ongoing cultivation of culture matters not just for current employees, but also helps ensure that those who do not fit well with the team's ethos are more likely to leave. By maintaining and strengthening the culture, we safeguard its integrity and effectiveness.