It was mid-2020, right after the pandemic lockdown, when we saw a huge surge in demand for our services at division5.

At that time, we were a team of about 15 people, and to meet the growing demand, we needed to hire quickly.

Up until then, we didn’t have a formal set of values. Culture wasn’t something we had intentionally built—it was just something we lived.

When you’re fewer than 10 people, you can influence culture directly through your actions and behavior. But as you grow, it becomes harder to maintain that influence, so I realized we needed to define a set of values that would guide us as we scaled.

But I made a mistake.

I focused too much on the social aspect of culture and lost sight of the business side.

Build culture with business in mind

If you think about it, it makes sense. An organization’s culture should not only make people feel good about their work but also drive results. In fact, good results help people feel good about their work—they’re interconnected.

So, after a couple of years heading in the wrong direction, I went back to the drawing board. I simplified our culture down to its essentials, based on what our customers valued and what made them come back to us repeatedly. It made sense for our culture to be built on three core principles:

• Trust
• Responsibility
• Accountability
  

These aren’t unique to division5. They’re fundamentals that can apply to almost any service-based business.

Trust

Trust has always been central to our culture, both in the initial approach and the refined one. It’s essential in every professional relationship. If I don’t trust you to do a good job, how can we work together? And it goes both ways—if you don’t trust me as a leader to make the best decisions, how can you follow me?

By trust, I don’t mean blind faith without oversight. But to do their best work, people need to feel trusted that they will deliver.

Responsibility

I hate telling people what to do—and I hate even more telling them how to do it. As an employee, I would dread working in an environment that didn’t allow me to own my work.

At division5, we expect people to take full ownership of their roles. This leads to more fulfilling careers for individuals and better results for the business. So, we hire people who don’t shy away from responsibility.

Accountability

Accountability is essential for a strong culture. This was one of my biggest mistakes when I first tried to implement culture—I focused too much on trust and collaboration, and not enough on accountability. While trust and caring are vital, without accountability, there’s little motivation to avoid bad behavior.

Over the years, I’ve learned that you get what you tolerate. If you tolerate slacking, poor results, or low commitment, that’s what you’ll get. Accountability means rewarding good behavior just as much as addressing poor performance. Culture starts at the top, if you don’t proactively work to build the culture you want, that will not be the culture you will have.

Culture starts at the top

One lesson I’ve certainly learned is that culture starts at the top. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to shape and steer the culture in the right direction. The best way to do this is by leading through example, hiring the right people, and not tolerating behaviors that go against the culture you want to build.