Defining a Vibrant Tech Culture

Culture is important, but hard and requires commitment to your teams

Culture should always share the center stage in any company but all too often it is overlooked. In today’s highly competitive market, especially with technology professionals, it can be a defining consideration when it comes to accepting a new position, or leaving an old one. Often culture is the single greatest benefit that you can offer when it comes to attracting, and retaining, top talent.

It is not always easy trying to define what culture means to you and your business. There is no playbook and you can’t just copy another company’s ideas from the last blog that you read. It requires investment and intentional actions from all leaders in the company, not just a select few.

I have had my share of companies that had great approaches and just as many that were horrible at it. Many companies will tout how amazing their tech culture is, and unfortunately, more often than not it falls short of the hype. Don’t just advertise your culture, embrace it, live it and grow with it.

Over the last 20 years of my career, I have learned that culture is central to growth and it is directly related to performance, more than anything else I can offer to my team. Yes, this includes money and bonuses. If most of your team members do not come to work excited, happy and eager to bring new ideas to the business, your culture is failing. It is really that easy to gauge the health of your team.

Tech culture is hard, I will give you that. I was lucky enough to join a great company recently that already had an amazing culture in place, which made it that much easier to extend it to the technology group. It is not an exact copy of the rest of the company, but it provided a great foundation to build upon.

I will go over a few things that you should consider when it comes to defining a culture that promotes identity, relationships and personal/professional growth. Some of these are not directly related to a technology or engineering, while many are.

Work/Life Balance

We have all heard this used before, but what does it mean exactly? It seems to mean something different wherever you go. This one really is simple thought: respect your employee’s time. That is it. Remember that they want their evenings and weekends to spend however they choose, just like you do. Sure, sometimes issues come up (especially in the tech field) that require us to put in that extra time and go that extra mile, but this should not be the norm. Work with your team to define realistic timelines and delivery dates, which is often the culprit when it comes to violating this golden rule.

Everyone has a voice

This is another important one that often gets neglected. Everyone that is on your team was hired because of something they brought to the table. Remember that. Their thoughts and opinions matter, and they deserve to be heard out regardless of their seniority within the group.

Some of the best ideas I have heard have come from those with the least amount of real work experience. When it comes to technology, those that are relatively new to their career are often the ones that are reading the most blogs and tend to soak up new ideas and approaches. Listen to, and value, all of your team members.

Promote creative problem solving (think outside of the box)

All too often when we are given a problem to solve we look at our current tech stack. This is generally the default way we approach problems, or at least that is how we did it in the past. The tech community is booming, there is no longer only a handful of ways to solve any of your problems. Encourage your team to research new approaches and allow them to take a more technology agnostic approach. These projects can often pay out big.

Don’t define their toolbox

This is one we are all familiar with as well, and it is more often something that is applicable to a software engineer or developer in more ways than you can imagine. When you hire a carpenter you hire them for their skills. You should approach that same mentality with your technology staff. You would not hire that carpenter and make him leave his tools in his truck and force him to use your old tools in your shed, would you? Offer that same respect to your tech team.

If they work better on a MacBook Pro then make sure they have one. If they use a certain IDE or plugin that deviates from your current offering make sure they get those tools they are most familiar and comfortable with. Don’t change their environment or their toolset. Obviously this needs to be within reason, my boss still will not be convinced I do my best work in a Tesla.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

This one covers a lot, but I can sum it up in one sentence: we are all adults and we do not need a babysitter. Yep, that is it. That is not our job. Our job is to guide the team, align our tech strategy with the business and offer professional growth to our team members. Is it really necessary to track each hour your employee is not onsite and at their computer? Does it matter that they want to dress more comfortably? Who cares if they leave a little early or take a little bit longer for lunch? We are not babysitters.

Pay attention to the things that matter. Are they performing well? Do they interact with the team and are being active at solving the businesses problems? At the end of the day it is about performance, ownership and the value they bring to the group and the business. Does it really matter that they were wearing flip flops when they released that last change to the business in record time?

Invest in growth

Growth does not come cheap, usually. Sure, there are some great MeetUps out there that can help your team grow, and you should encourage them to go to them, or even speak at them. Let them leave early to attend Meetups if needed. This not only helps their skillset it also promotes your brand to the already talkative tech community.

If you can afford it, allow them to attend a conference once or twice a year, these are invaluable when it comes to keeping up with the times. Other things that you can do are offer to pay for classes or certifications as well as give them access to online learning tools, such as Treehouse and Pluralsight.

Get to know your team

And the last tip I would like to leave you with is this: get to know your team. They are all individuals with different needs, boundaries and aspirations. Learn their strengths and weaknesses and tailor your interactions based on these. Take the time to understand their career goals and help them work towards them.