the big c word — culture.
Reflecting back on my 6 year long stint at Zomato, I know how important company culture is. Deepinder once said — “Very few organisations build an individual’s character and resilience the way we do — maybe it’s a good thing that we are a hard place to work at”. Fast forward to 2021 — he was right.
I’m working on building leap.club, a community-led professional network for women with a simple mission — more women in leadership positions. And while community is the new cool, building a team that ‘gets it’, hustles all day and stays self motivated in a remote setting is not easy (read: blood, sweat, tears).
My co-founder and I try to imbibe all the great things we learnt from our time at Zomato . We still make mistakes, and learn from them everyday. If you think culture can make or break a start up, keep reading as I share my (visibly loud) opinions on culture in no particular order.
We believe that culture is the DNA of your organization. And DNA is important. It dictates everything about where we come from, how we act in good/tough times and who we are as people. My views on culture are personal, so feel free to take them with a pinch of salt 🧂
1.Tough love is effective for achieving great work and great relationships
In the last (almost) decade of working (!!) I’ve come across 2 leadership styles — team ‘tough love’ and team ‘I protect my babies no matter what’. Today, I’m personally a staunch believer of the former. To give you an idea of what I mean by tough love — love your players, push them hard everyday, don’t compromise on the uncompromisable. But it also means having their back during tough times, applauding their successes during the good and being comfortable enough to share brutal feedback in the AM and get beer together in the PM.
2. Think of your teams the way sports managers do
‘Like in professional sports, teams should operate in a way where different skills are required to play different positions. Excellence is mandatory, the success/ goal of the mission isn’t compromisable and members that don’t measure may need to be cut at some point’. In the past, there were instances where it was tough for me to let go of certain team members who weren’t moving the team forward but were great ‘culture fits’ for the company. Don’t fall into this trap. Culture may save you during bad times, but doesn’t take you forward necessarily.
3. People come for the company, stay for the people
Zomato is my easiest (on top of my head) example. The sales team did the SAME job day in and day out but we loved coming to work ’cause the people around made it fun/ easy to. The mid work lunches, all nighters for a project, daily huddles and learning from just listening to what’s happening around you matters. No matter how big a fan of remote work you are, if you haven’t lived this, you are missing out. And if you have the luxury to do something about this, do it.
4. The bigger you get, the harder it is to maintain
As a founder you’ll be expected to get it right all 365 days a year. Truth is, you won’t. No matter how noble your intentions may be, any attempt to dictate culture from the top down is bound to fail in the long term. Find and build a team that gets that and sails the ship even on days you’re too tired to pick yourself up. Those days will come — pick your culture captains!
5. Decision makers >> everyone else
We always say ‘I’ll figure it out’ people are the best kinda of people to hire. Quick executors come a close second. Build and develop these people. If you don’t know who your A1 players are, try the keeper test - “If one of the members of the team was thinking of leaving for another firm, would you try hard to keep them from leaving?”
Naval once said ‘If you can’t see yourself working with someone for life, don’t work with them for a day.’ This is the gospel truth — sunk cost fallacy is the worst when it comes to people.
Lastly, hiring is hard. So is retention and maintaining a solid culture. You will not get it right 10/10 times. So don’t be too hard on yourself. The ones who are meant to make it to the finish line will make it anyway 🏃♀️
At leap.club we have folks from all walks of life — start up enthusiasts, ex-founders, an ex-restauranteur, a recruiter who is now leading the sales leaderboard, a 21 year old who changed my stand on working closely with freshers, and a South African whose discipline and timelines give me a real run for my money. A little bit more about us here.
PS. We are always hiring for people, not positions. Send that cold email to jobs@leap.club.
