Company Culture Starts at Day Zero
COMPANY CULTURE STARTS AT DAY 0
I’ve been giving some thought to company culture and a recent discovery made me connect some observations I’ve been having separately for years. I live in San Francisco in the Mission District neighborhood close to Calle 24 (24th Street). Over the years I’ve noted several city layout oddities in my neighborhood. As a neighborhood built on a grid layout, I’m always curious about seemingly inefficient uses of space that appear well-established. Here are some examples which I see frequently.
- A strangely narrow industrial storage building only ~6′ deep on one end
- A children’s park in the shape of a triangle (Parque Niños Unidos)
- An apartment building built diagonally through a residential block
- A triangular car park built directly on the high street of the neighborhood
- And many more
These all left me with a lingering curiosity over the years since it struck me that you could do more with these spaces. One day recently, I used Google Maps to scan the neighborhood from above. My discovery was that all these diagonals and triangles all line up perfectly from overhead. With a little more investigation, I found that 74 years ago, a line of the now defunct San Francisco-San Jose railroad curved off of Harrison Street at 22nd Street towards Mission Street and 24th Street. In fact, you can actually trace the architectural artifacts of this line all the way to Dolores Street quite easily from above. The buildings and houses that existed at the time are still shaped as though they’re built up against a railroad track. The empty remaining spaces were filled in with parks, houses, and parking lots.
Image comparison, 74 years apart. At left is a period map of Southern Pacific Railroad showing in bold maroon the path of two major railway lines in the SOMA, Mission, and Potrero neighborhoods in San Francisco. At right is a modern Google Maps aerial view of the section highlighted in the bright red outline. If you zoom in and keep dragging the map southwesterly you can easily see additional architectural reminders of the former railway.
EMPLOYEE 0
This struck me as an apt metaphor for company culture. I.e. The marks and patterns created early never really go away, you can only try to fill them in or make them look better. I’ve worked at many companies big and small in my career and each of them had their own culture. I recently started a new role. However, while interviewing up to this new role across many companies, I had the opportunity to speak to dozens of internal and external recruiters, head hunters, and talent scouts. I found that this initial touch point as a candidate leaves the initial footprint of that company’s culture.
‘Customer 0’ is a term sometimes used to describe the experience your first user at a company has with your product. In the best case, customer 0 loves your product and informs many others inside that company about it, virally encouraging a network effect to broaden your user base. This can increase the stickiness and success of your product with that customer company.
I’d like to coin a new term, “Employee 0’. The people in your team who talk to your candidates are your Employee 0. They set the first cultural cornerstone for every new employee. How they communicate during sourcing and recruiting, how they treat you, if they close the loop whether they do or don’t hire, etc. all form the initial impression of the company to the candidate.
If your recruiter Employee 0 is external to your company, e.g. a contract recruiter or retained search company, it’s even more important to ensure they fit your intended cultural values. Do they represent your company the way you want? Are they respectful with your time and investment? Are they helpful? Are they dismissive? Your candidate will notice. This extends to your interview team. While it’s critical for candidates to do their homework, be professional and prepared, I found it amazing how many recruiters and interviewers arrived quite unprepared. Worse were those who didn’t even want to be there.
BEFORE SAYING YES
A job search can be a challenging activity for candidates and recruiters alike. As you spend time interviewing and evaluating, you may feel urgency to say yes when presented with an offer. Before doing so, it’s critical to take stock of your experience up to this point. I have many times seen actions that speak volumes towards company or team culture that surface before getting a job offer. In my opinion, company culture does not take long to surface. What’s good for you may be different than what’s good for someone else, but prior to saying yes, reflect upon your interactions. Joining a company with a poor culture fit will dramatically affect your job satisfaction and performance. It’s also highly likely that you’ll leave within a year. As you evaluate, I recommend the following:
- Check your gut. Does it feel right? Outside of basic fit, i.e. you have the skills and experience for the role? Will you be intellectually challenged to remain interested and healthy? Is it a good fit for your career goals? Most importantly, do you find yourself rationalizing why you should say yes? If so, double-click and ask yourself why.
- Is the company enthusiastic to hire you? This isn’t about wild adulation or receiving exclusive facetime with famous venture capitalist board members. Do they want you in particular or do they need a body? Listen for tone.
- Was their process respectful? By this I don’t mean, was it fast and easy? Here are some examples of what this can look like. Did they let you know where you stood during the process? Were the interviews structured with outcomes per question? Did they respond thoughtfully to your questions? Did they bring you in for a defined role? Did they ask for your questions and respond with clarity?
Things that may feel annoying, but aren’t necessarily culture red flags.
- Response delays. E.g. You’ve had great phone calls or interviews that generated company interest, but you’re not hearing back on next steps as quickly as you wish and you’re anxious. Working people are busy and recruiters and managers are very busy too. When a manager has an open req, it’s highly likely that they are doing their day job, handling the needs of the open role, and also trying to work a funnel of new candidates. A week can pass by like a day. Follow-up after a week, or if a timeframe they set has passed. And be patient.
- Numerous interviews. Meeting several people shows ongoing interest provided they are getting new information to determine you’re the guy or girl for them. Are you meeting more direct team members? Engineers you’ll work directly with? The management team? Hang tight and be the awesome person you are.
- Rescheduling. Breathe deeply and roll with it with a smile on your face. I have personally rescheduled normal work meetings several times over to manage time zones, holidays, escalations, and unexpected emergencies. It happens. Show that you’re a professional by having a great attitude. It’s not personal. If you think that it is, that’s a red flag and maybe you have your answer.
THE FLIP SIDE
Culture is a deep topic, but in this case I’m focused on the pre-employment phase and signalling that your interactions with Employee 0 reveal. Out of scope, but worth recognizing as well, is that while you are meeting companies, they are meeting and learning about you too. You reveal who you are in your words, actions, and facial expressions. How you present yourself to recruiters tells companies who you are from moment 0 too.
Company culture continues after hire too of course. It can head in many directions. This is a guide to consider what you see before saying yes. Pay attention to the signals, marks in the road, and patterns early. Like tracks long removed, the impression they leave may be the ones you live with for years post-hire.
Initially posted at http://lukecongdon.com/2018/01/31/company-culture-starts-at-day-zero/
