The step-by-step guide to scaling your culture

Everything you need to know about growing your business without losing what makes it great.

When you’re a business deep in growth mode, it’s easy to focus on the obvious things. Approval for extra headcount, bringing in new clients and implementing robust systems to make things run more efficiently. But there is one thing that can often fall to the wayside; your culture.

For growing teams, it’s important to be aware that culture doesn’t scale on its own. In fact, growth unchecked has the potential to put your culture in a vulnerable position. If you’re not careful, the very thing that made your workplace great in the first place and made your people excited about showing up each day, can slowly start to fade away. 

Thankfully, with the right strategies, you can grow your business and protect your culture at the same time. Here’s your step-by-step guide to doing exactly that.

Step 1: Get crystal clear on the core values of your business

Scaling your culture starts with knowing what you actually stand for. What is it you’re working towards, what are the traits that you want your people to embody every day and what are your core principles? 

Think of them as the ideals that shape your company’s identity. They have the power to influence decision-making, attract and retain talent, and motivate your team. Your core values should guide every decision, from your recruitment process to how your team communicates and leads with one another.

If you’re not sure where to start, start workshopping your values with your team. Be sure to ask them questions like: 

• What behaviours do we celebrate? 
• What won’t we tolerate? 
• What makes us proud to work here?

Another way to get started is to conduct a survey and ask your team what shared values they think best represent your company. Using their feedback, choose three to five values to help guide and motivate both you and your employees. 

Once you’ve selected your new company values, be sure to add a sentence or two underneath each explaining what it means to your company and team.

If you’re reading this and thinking about the values on your website, but your team actually can’t recall them, it might be the right time to reflect and refresh!If you’re looking to get crystal clear on your values, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide that walks you through everything you need to create a set of unique values. Download our ultimate guide on creating workplace values here.

Step 2: Turn company values into everyday habits with recognition

Now you’ve got your workplace values, it’s time to put them into action. 

Values only matter if they show up in reality. If they’re just words in an onboarding slide deck, they won’t do much for your culture.

The key is turning your company values into a visible, tangible part of how your business operates. Think of it as a core part of your DNA and how your business operates every single day. An important part of this is ensuring both your leaders and the wider team embrace this initiative. 

One of the simplest and most effective ways to embed your values into daily life is through employee recognition. When leaders and team members are encouraged to call out the behaviours that align with your values, those values stop being words on a wall and start becoming part of how your team shows up every day. 

Employment Hero’s Recognition tool is built to do just that. Employees can send shoutouts tied directly to a company value. This could be when someone delivered an amazing customer experience or went above and beyond for a teammate. The best part? You can add a monetary reward, like 100 Hero Points (which can be used in our Benefits store) to make the moment extra meaningful.

Step 3: Build a future-proof culture that grows with you

For most, company culture is built informally when teams are small. But as you grow, you need to be intentional with protecting it. Otherwise, you risk becoming inconsistent or even unrecognisable in who you are, what you stand for and the shared purpose you have. 

This is where the concept of building a scalable culture comes in. You need to be aware and intentional about preserving the heart and soul of your culture, while creating systems and encouraging behaviours that are flexible enough to grow with you.

To do this, consider documenting your team rituals, leadership behaviours, communication norms, common challenges you face and decision-making styles. Then ask, how do we replicate or evolve these as we scale? Use creativity to strike a balance that feels natural, while staying true to your company vision and desired business outcomes. 

Go beyond surface-level

It’s important not to get caught up on the details that aren’t the core of your culture. Sure, the ping-pong table and Friday drinks are a great perk, but focus on how people behave at work when no one’s watching. Your culture should be based on what your team believes, what they value, and what they do day in and day out.

Make some small changes that help strengthen culture 

You don’t need to launch a whole new program to reinforce your culture. Start small with a few of these few quick-win ideas.

Kick off team stand-ups with sharing a “values-in-action” story

Each week, ask one team member to share a quick story of how someone lived a company value last week. You could also dedicate 10-minutes in your all hands meetings to encourage people to share great stories.

Include your company values in every job ad

Be sure to add a sentence (and even an example) about what each value looks like in action. For inspiration on how to do this, take a look at our guide on how to write winning job ads.

Add one values-based question to your interview template

An example of this could be, “Can you share a time you had to make a difficult decision that aligned with your personal values?”.

Set up a channel in your company communication tool for peer recognition

Create a template and make it easy for employees to tag a teammate, the value they embodied, and why it mattered.  

Start a “values debrief” in team retrospective meetings 

Make sure you encourage people to share and ask questions like, which of our values did we live well during this project? Which did we miss? Keep it light but consistent.

Looking for more inspiration? Download our Leader’s Guide to Company Culture. 

Step 4: Tie your workplace culture to business performance

In a period of growth, your culture can either scale with intention or unravel quietly in the background. This is your opportunity to lean into it and use it as a lever for long term success.

Well before any culture cracks start to appear, start linking the DNA of your workplace directly to how your business performs with your values. When your company values are well-defined and embraced daily, they shape faster decision-making, stronger teamwork, and better collaboration, all of which contribute to moving the needle on reaching your goals. 

Here’s a few tips tips to get this right:

Track recognition tied to values 

We touched on this a little earlier, but it can be essential to building a scalable culture. Use tools (like our Recognition feature) to see which values are lived most often and where there might be gaps.

Measure employee engagement and retention and make an action plan from the results

Run quarterly surveys and track how aligned your workforce feels to your values. Watch how this impacts turnover and productivity (Employment Hero’s Custom Surveys tool can help with this). 

Lay the foundation for a culture you can grow into 

Creating a world-class culture can be one of your biggest competitive advantages, but only if you protect it. 

As an employer, it’s your job to lead by example, revisit your core values regularly, and make sure your company culture evolves as your business grows.

Our Employment Operating System empowers growing businesses to scale by bringing together HR, payroll, recruitment, performance and employee engagement tools. As your workforce grows, our employment solution helps you embed company values, automate manual processes, and support a strong, scalable culture. Whether you’re hiring your fifth employee or your 50th, we’ve got all the tools to make sure your people systems grow with you. Keen to learn more as your employee count grows? Get in touch with one of our business specialists today.