By Cori Maedel

Companies grow, cultures change and sometimes we become so entangled in day-to-day complexity that we lose clarity with what we’re trying to achieve. We put HR systems and processes in place that are selected based on best practice rather than best fit and, before we know it, our CEO is asking, “what happened?”

Most companies that have HR systems in place do not have HR systems that are aligned to the company’s cultural norms and values. Let’s take two examples:

Company A
“Company A” had 20 employees, 19 of whom were from Burma and one from Vietnam. English was their second language and during business hours, even with clients present, the staff spoke Burmese. The company had a newly created handbook which was 75 pages in 10pt font. Although beautifully written, it was more in line with a very structured, formal environment rather than a small company of employees all of whom were new to Canada. As a result, the handbook sat on the shelf and was never used. Handbooks—when not aligned with the cultural norms and values of a company—often become little more than paper weights and are rarely, if ever, used. Or, they are used on occasion when it fits the company, which renders the practices questionable at best.

Company B
“Company B” had over 300 employees and had been in business for over 20 years. Over a three-year period, they had employed two different full-time HR professionals in senior roles, both from large companies steeped in formality and structure.

This little company of 300+ employees was far from structured and formal—they were built on family values. To echo this, most employees in senior roles had been promoted from within the company over a long period of time.

These well-intentioned HR professionals put unsuitable policing practices in place that were intended to whip this “broken” (as assessed by the HR person) company into tip-top shape. But the truth was that these types of practices would have been better suited to a large, formal and structured company rather than this family-based one. Rather than receiving supportive tools to enrich the lives of employees and drive productivity, the company instead went without suitable HR support of any kind.

As HR professionals, we have to ensure that we are creating something that is truly aligned with the company’s cultural norms and values or we will do more harm than good.

When the CEO asks, “what happened?” it is often because the wrong HR practices were put in place. The best HR is that which works and supports the company and employees in moving forward together.

I am often asked what best practices a company should be following and my answer is always the same: the best practices that support the company and its workforce.

What is culture? Here are three examples to get you started:

Family Culture
Usually at the beginning of a business, employees are wearing many different hats and are working in more than just their area of expertise. They feel part of the bigger picture and are asked to utilize all their skills.

Employees are also often part of the overall decision-making and everyone is in the know. They believe in and want to support the growth of this small family-like business and overall their values align with that of the company.

Structure is limited and many internal practices are just developing (depending heavily on which skills the owner brings to the team). Company values become apparent but aren’t often discussed and alignment with these values is somewhat seamless given that everyone is involved in everything.

Physical space is often limited and in some cases people are even sharing desks, however communication is relatively easy because the group is small.

The ideal of this can be preserved if a certain level of structure is put into place.

Community Culture
This stage of company culture happens during growth.

Businesses often have to find larger space because business is coming in at a solid rate and growth is inevitable. Everyone doing everything no longer works and specialists are needed. Many on the team still fit but often some do not, and difficult but necessary personnel changes may be needed.

People are busier at all levels and unless you have someone focusing on who the company is, new hires at this stage often aren’t recruited based on their knowledge of the company’s culture and values, or with a clear understanding of where the company is going. People are often hired quickly because everyone is busy (but also because this is not how things have been done in the past) with little time focused on the internal systems. Every new employee brings their own way of thinking and doing, therefore if solid recruiting systems are not in place it becomes more about filling the role rather than finding the right person. If new hires aren’t aligned with company culture the culture will fragment.

Internal structures are often still limited but the cracks are starting to show and the challenge is that if you do not have a clear idea of your culture and hard to preserve it, it will start to take on a life of its own.

To embrace this culture, more structure is required to preserve the values and norms of the company, and to ensure a sustainable productivity rating.

Organizational Culture
The culture at this stage is generally fairly set and will be difficult to change without much upheaval. I was recently at a conference where the CEO of a company said that one day, while they were growing their company, he and his partner realized they hated coming to work every day because they had not focused on the culture they wanted to create. To get things back on track they replaced everyone who was not aligned with their culture (which turned out to be 50 per cent of their workforce).

Internal structures become concrete and fully functioning only when focused on and, unless focused on from the beginning (at the Family Stage, or at the very least the Community Stage), a company’s challenges will grow as they do and they could end up becoming a large dysfunctional family rather than a solid organizational structure rooted in aligned values and norms.

Cultural norms and values usually originate with the entrepreneur who conceived the idea and built the business. Aligning the executive team’s values and beliefs with those of the entrepreneur and the company is critically important when growing a business because if they are not aligned the culture will fragment. Depending on the executive in charge, different areas of the company could develop different cultures, creating conflict and misunderstanding when inter-departmental cooperation is required.

“Company A” cited above was pre-family. They had not yet even reached the family level at the time the HR handbook and practices were being created.

“Company B” needed to move from a family to more of a community culture. To do so they needed more structure and systems.

Family, community and organizational cultures each require different types of HR practices, but in both Companies A and B the HR systems put in place were more in line with an organizational culture with a very formal structure.

These three cultures in no way highlight all the different types of cultures that can exist, but do provide an idea of what the differences can be and how critically important it is that HR practices are aligned to the company’s culture, and not to some “ideal” HR system.

Cori Maedel is the Chief Executive Officer of The Jouta Performance Group Inc. Liked what you read? Questions and comments are welcome on the HR blog at www.jouta.com.