This is part 1 of our series of frequent cultural patterns. We start with the idea of ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ.

Companies that see themselves as a family want to foster connection and harmony. The message they want to send to employees: โ€œYou are one of us. We care about you.โ€

 

Here is why this can be problematic

1)ย ๐€ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ: No matter your actions, you will always stay part of your family. This is certainly not the case in a company.

2)ย ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ: A family culture implies job security, which is seldom realistic in our dynamic times.

3)ย ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ก: In some cultures, employees address team leads as โ€œMotherโ€ or โ€œFatherโ€ out of respect. While well-intentioned, this hinders individuals to take over full responsibility and outgrowing current rules.

4)ย ๐ˆ๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐š ๐œ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ๐กรฉ: We already have a family. We do not need an additional one in every community we are joining, whether this is our job, our church, our gym.

 

How better to signal to employees that you care about them

Create an environment that is based on ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ and characterized through ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐š๐Ÿ๐ž๐ญ๐ฒ. This requires strong leadership that embodies your company values and a culture that actively promotes them.

Netflix famously operates under the principle โ€œ๐–๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐š ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ฆ, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ.โ€ They view the company as a high-performing sports team, that has to adapt their squad regularly to stay at the top. While this doesnโ€™t sound warm and fuzzy, itโ€™s honest and attracts ambitious people who thrive in a competitive environment.

So the question is: What image and culture aligns best with your companyโ€™s goals? Which employees do you want to attract?