{"id":43699,"date":"2023-10-20T15:30:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/stopping-corporate-culture-from-strangling-your-start-up-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:30:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:30:30","slug":"stopping-corporate-culture-from-strangling-your-start-up-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/stopping-corporate-culture-from-strangling-your-start-up-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Stopping corporate culture from strangling your start-up – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"feature-start-up-culture-thumb\"<\/div>\n

\"feature-start-up-culture-thumb\"A lot of entrepreneurs come from a corporate background, which often stands them in good stead when they launch their start-up.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But if all you know are big business practices, how do you stop them from slipping into your new venture? And why is this so important?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to Google, maintaining a \u201cstart-up philosophy\u201d<\/a> is at the forefront of the company\u2019s vision, even though it employs more than 28,000 people throughout the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One way Google has sought to achieve this is via its Google Labs initiative. The company also has a policy whereby employees are encouraged to devote 20% of their work time to \u201cprojections of their own invention\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the average start-up doesn\u2019t have the scope to introduce these sorts of initiatives. However, there are other ways you can avoid corporate culture, experts say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But first, it\u2019s necessary to understand why it should be avoided in the first place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How corporate culture can hurt your start-up<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cExamples of corporate culture that I think could hurt a start-up are creating a work culture that is hierarchical in nature,\u201d says Cas McCullough, founder of Mumatopia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s no glass ceiling to be broken through, there cannot be a boys\u2019 club mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another potential problem that arises in corporate culture is the micromanagement of employees, McCullough says, as this can stop people from learning how to think for themselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI lose patience when I come across people who are just \u2018doing what they\u2019re told\u2019 and not using any initiative to solve customer problems,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI think this kind of thinking is bred in schools. I call it \u2018yellow pencil\u2019 disease. School is great at preparing people for the corporate workplace because school teaches kids to comply.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cEntrepreneurs need to move away from that kind of thinking or they\u2019ll sink.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Escaping corporate culture<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience, it was the desire to experience something different from the corporate culture that drove my decision to leave it,\u201d says Martin Nally, founder of hranywhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cStarting my own business was a way of achieving that aim.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Right from the start, Nally says he built his business based on its ethics, ethos and positive approach, and promptly communicated those values to his staff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI repeated and educated each and every new team member to understand what they meant,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe adopted our own terms and a common language that become our currency, and a way of refreshing and reinforcing our non-corporate culture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe then sought and attracted people who were themselves seeking this culture. Trust is a big part of it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maintaining a start-up mindset<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep honest by regularly communicating the importance of not being seen to be a corporate-based culture,\u201d Nally says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also ban certain phrases such as the word \u2018consultant\u2019. We replace it with practitioners as we actually do<\/i> the work, not advise what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to McCullough, the key is to communicate well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI make a point of keeping clients well informed, particularly if a project is stalled for a reason outside of my immediate control,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAs I work with businesses all over the world, it can be difficult to get things done within a short time frame (because support services may be asleep in New York or the UK while I\u2019m working).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe other key thing is to network\u2026 Relationship-building is fast becoming the<\/i> way to reach potential clients.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to develop relationships, you have to be real, innovative and willing to go the extra mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brad Krauskopf, co-founder and chief executive of start-up co-working space Hub Melbourne, says start-ups work to different deadlines, so this also needs to be taken into account.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got into a great rhythm here. Every 100 days, we set up a new theme. We see in the start-up land it\u2019s impossible to plan for anything longer,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI see many of our members employ those kinds of techniques. The compression of the planning [cycles] is a tactic that is seen quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Story continues on page 2. Please click below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of entrepreneurs come from a corporate background, which often stands them in good stead when they launch their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,3,4,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}