While I definitely agree that people are your most important asset, I’ve noticed that most content doesn’t talk as much about the systems. While early employees are of course a driving factor for the company culture, they’re only half the equation. The other half is the foundational systems. The comparison I like to draw is the nature versus nurture debate. Both your genes and your memes are highly influential on your outcomes. Likewise, both your people and your systems are highly influential on your company’s outcomes — but the system side doesn’t get as much attention as it should. While early employees help set implicit norms, building systems early in a company’s lifecycle sets explicit norms. How do decisions get made? How are meetings structured? How are goals set? These systems are much easier to build when the company is small, and very challenging to put into place as the company grows.
Author: Kevin Fishner
Source: First Round Review
Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior
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