The culture that got you here won't get you there

Most growing companies revisit their strategy every year. New goals. New markets. New products.

Their values rarely get the same attention. Often, they're still the words written years ago for a smaller, younger version of the business.

When the strategy moves and the culture doesn't, the two start pulling in different directions. Your team keeps doing what made you successful yesterday, while the business asks them for something new.

Evolve it, don't replace it

This isn't about throwing out your culture. The values that brought you this far mean something to the people who live them every day.

The work is to grow them: keep the heart, sharpen the words, and add what your next stage will ask of your team.

Grow your culture the same way you grow your strategy: on purpose.

What it looks like in real life

A custom packaging company serving specialty coffee roasters was setting out on a new growth path: going all in on coffee, the industry where it got its start, and focusing on the small roasters where it made the greatest impact. Culture mattered deeply to the CEO and was part of the strategic plan every year. But the company's purpose, vision, mission and values were written for an earlier version of the business.

We started by listening. I interviewed leaders and employees to learn what was working, what needed to change, and what the company would need to become to succeed.

The original values were short and memorable: pioneer it, make it easy, make it meaningful. But they mostly described what the company delivered, like low minimums, fast turnaround and easy online ordering. They didn't say how people should work together, and none came with behaviors.

We didn't start over. The company already described its team as hardworking people with humble roots and a big dream, and each new value grew from what was already there:

• Be pioneering. "Pioneer it" became a way of working: stay curious, solve problems and challenge the status quo.
• Be a dreamer. The big dream became action: take initiative, stay resilient and find a way to make things happen.
• Be a typical Midwesterner. The humble roots became how people treat each other: be humble, supportive, company-minded and trustworthy.

For the first time, the values described how people work, not just what the company sells.

Connect your culture to your customer

The company's new focus made this even more important. Its core customers were coffee roasters running their own businesses, doing nearly everything themselves, from sourcing beans to marketing to packaging.

They didn't just need a supplier. They needed a partner who understood the hustle and made their days a little easier. The company understood that hustle firsthand. It was a growing small business, too.

That's exactly what the new values asked of the team: be supportive, be resourceful and find a way. The culture inside and the experience outside pointed in the same direction.

When your values describe the team your customers need, culture stops being an HR initiative. It becomes part of how you win.

How to grow your culture for your next stage

• Start with where you're going. Look at your strategy first. What will new customers, markets or ways of working ask of your people?
• Listen to your team. Talk with leaders and employees. Ask what makes the company great today, and what's getting in the way.
• Keep the heart. Name what's true about you and should never be lost.
• Add the stretch. Name what your next stage will ask of your people.
• Give every value behaviors. A value without behaviors leaves everyone guessing.
• Check it against your customer. Do your values describe the team your best customers need?

A quick test

Put your strategic plan next to your values. Do your values describe the team that can deliver that plan?

The takeaway

Your strategy tells you where you're going. Your culture decides whether you'll get there.

Grow them together.