During periods of growth in your organisation, maintaining your corporate culture and values can be one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, obstacles you could hurdle.

Watching a business take off in front you can be an awe-inspiring. As companies grow, lots of things start happening. If you’re building or reinforcing a water-tight corporate culture, it can be hard to know where you should be focusing your energy and time.

If you can do the following three things you’ll be setting yourself up for the next level.

UNDERSTAND YOU’RE IN IT FOR THE LONG-HAUL

This first rule is quite simple: acknowledge this is a long-term play. During times of growth it may be difficult to scale your investment into corporate culture. The ultimate corporate financial performance that comes from company values and culture done right can be a tempting revenue stream to dip into and misallocate elsewhere.

You have to stay disciplined (especially in the early days) and understand that your foundational culture and values are what got you to where you are. With the right scaling of investment with growth, it’s what will continue to take you to the next level.

GRIT THROUGH GROWING PAINS

The second rule of maintaining company culture during periods of growth is being at peace with the unavoidable changes that take place. If you’re anything like me, and you’re proud of your company culture, you’ll be trying your damned hardest to maintain it.

You’ll want to preserve those same values and feelings that came with being smaller. Your natural instinct will for sure be to impart your passion for the culture into every employee on the books.

However, if you can’t accept that not everyone is going to love it as much as you do, day in and day out, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle. Work with, not against, the idea that your employees will never love it as much as you do. Take your satisfaction from those who love it 80% or 60% or even just a fraction as much as you do and you’ll be winning.

DON’T GO AT IT ALONE

If you’re at the helm, don’t try to maintain your corporate culture by yourself. There will be times when it’s better to let your team to step up. Identify a small number of influential leaders who are most aligned and invested in the cultural vision.

By allowing these ambassadors to build the culture and also engage with their peers autonomously, changing faces aren’t left behind and instead become catalysts for positive evolution.

There’s so many different routes your organisation can take, but if you work with these three golden rules you can make great things happen.

Josh Milton-Edwards is a fledgling HR professional mad about all things culture, engagement and wellbeing. I work for an award winning best-practice culture department based in the UK. Soaking up every last bit of the experience before completing my HRM degree in 2019/20. Aiming high and can’t wait to see what more opportunities arise for the taking!