People & Leadership
Your team already has a culture. The question is whether you chose it.
Culture sounds like a large-company word, but a team of six has one too: how people greet customers, whether somebody admits a mistake, what happens when the owner is away, who gets praised. It is shaped less by statements than by what the owner does, rewards and lets slide. This session helps owners notice the culture they have, decide what they want, and build it through small repeated habits.
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Culture is the sum of what you do repeatedly and what you let pass.
Owners often try to create culture with a slogan or a team outing. The team watches something else: how the owner reacts when a mistake is reported, whether the rules apply to the owner too, who gets the good work, who is promoted and who is allowed to be rude.
That is good news for a small business, because the owner's behaviour is most of the culture, and it can change. This session turns vague ideas about culture into specific habits an owner can start in a week, and shows how to find out what the team really experiences.
What the session covers
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from noticing the current culture to keeping it healthy. 6 apply to almost any business; the rest only in a particular case.
What Culture Actually IsNot a poster. A pattern of behaviour.5
- How people treat each other when it is busy
- What happens when somebody makes a mistake
- How decisions are made and explained
- Who is listened to, and who is not
- What happens when the owner is away
Noticing the Culture You HaveAsk the people who live in it.5
- Three short, anonymous questions to the team
- Asking: what is it like to work here, in three words?
- Looking at who has left and what they said
- Watching how newcomers are welcomed
- Seeing which values the team's own behaviour actually shows
Choosing Values You Can ShowFewer, plainer and visible in behaviour.5
- Three or four values at most
- Each described as what a person does, not as an adjective
- Examples: 'we tell the customer early if something will be late'
- Checking each against how the owner behaves
- Dropping any value you are not willing to live by yourself
What You Reward, Tolerate and IgnoreThe real rules are in these three lists.5
If the business says it values honesty but quietly punishes the person who reports a problem, the team will learn the second message.
- What gets praised in front of others
- What gets promoted, paid more or given the best work
- What gets noticed but not addressed: lateness, rudeness, shortcuts
- Whether a high performer is allowed to behave in ways others are not
- Whether honesty is rewarded or punished
Everyday RitualsSmall, regular and real.5
- A short weekly meeting that ends with who does what
- A habit of saying thank you, specifically and in public
- Celebrating small finished things
- A sensible way to mark birthdays and festivals that includes everybody
- A regular moment for the team to say what is not working
Inclusion in a Small TeamA good culture should work for people who are not like the owner.5
- Respecting differences of language, religion, region, gender and background
- Making social events ones everybody can join, including those who do not drink or eat certain foods
- Checking whether jokes and nicknames exclude somebody
- Making sure women, and people who are new or quiet, are heard in meetings
- Responding promptly and fairly when somebody is made to feel unwelcome
When Culture SlipsIf it appliesWhat to do when it is not what you intended.5
- Naming the problem to the team without blaming one person
- Starting with your own part in it
- Dealing with the behaviour of a difficult team member directly
- Remembering that bullying, discrimination and harassment are not just culture issues
- Routing any complaint of sexual harassment to the Internal or Local Committee under the POSH Act
A serious complaint needs a formal process and professional advice, not a team meeting. See the session on workplace complaints and POSH basics.
Three questions to put to your team this month
- What do we do well that we should keep?
- What is one thing that makes your work harder than it needs to be?
- What is one thing I do that helps, and one that does not?
Signs the culture is not what you think it is
- People tell you what you want to hear
- Problems are found out late
- Good people leave without a clear reason
- Work slows or stops when you are away
- Newcomers keep making the same 'mistakes' nobody told them about
How the session runs
An HR practitioner or an experienced employer explains how culture forms in small teams, using made-up businesses. Participants write three values as behaviours, list what their business really rewards and tolerates, and choose one ritual to start. The session is clear throughout that a complaint of harassment or discrimination is a matter for a formal process, not a culture exercise.
What your students leave with
- A plain description of the culture the team has now, from the team's point of view
- Three or four values written as behaviours that can be seen
- A look at what the business actually rewards, tolerates and ignores
- Small rituals, such as a weekly meeting or thank-you, that suit their team
- A fair, respectful way to bring in the people who are different from the existing group
- A simple way to check, every quarter, whether it is working
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
The team learns the culture from what you do, not from what you say.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.