In the previous articles of the Culture mini-series, we looked at how values, strategy, and structure impact an organisation’s culture. In this article, we explore how processes bring an organisation’s culture to life through actions.

Growsari, a Series C B2B marketplace for mom-and-pop (sari-sari) stores in the Philippines, diligently tracks employee development, performance, and engagement using clear metrics and KPIs. On the other hand, Runn, a Seed stage resource management SaaS platform, focuses on measuring performance through behaviours rather than KPIs. Despite having vastly different approaches, both companies boast healthy traction and employee engagement.

Their success stems from intentionally designing their People processes in full alignment with their Values, Strategy, and Structure to meet their business objectives. 

Ben Horowitz, in his book What You Do is Who You Are, extends the idea that actions speak louder than words, suggesting that actions not only reflect one’s identity but also shape it. In organisations, this means that the processes they implement play a crucial role in reflecting and shaping their identity.

An organisation’s Values, Strategy and Structure alone are inactive. Process is what brings them to life–it serves as the operating system, the frameworks, and policies and procedures of an organisation. 

There are numerous processes in an organisation that create this operating system. People processes are among the four main groups. The others are strategic execution processes, customer processes, and product processes. When these processes are designed intentionally, it provides a framework for how employees make decisions.

Growsari: personalised, KPI-driven approach

Let’s revisit Growsari. One of their core values is that #IndividualsMatter. This stemmed from the fact that many of their high-performing employees had previously worked for large corporations but chose to join Growsari for something different. Recognising this, Growsari tailors each employee’s development to their unique needs and aspirations.

This value informs their talent strategy, which focuses on retaining top talent by offering a personalised career experience instead of solely competing on salary. Structurally, this means ensuring that each employee clearly has a manager responsible for their personal growth.

Following that, the People process at Growsari involves every employee setting clear individual goals with their managers in months 1 and 7. This timeline also aligns with their business strategy of reassessing priorities every six months due to the rapid pace of the business.

Another key value at Growsari is being data-driven, particularly because they focus heavily on operations. As they meticulously tracked every piece of inventory for sari-sari store owners as part of their strategy, they soon realised the importance of applying the same rigor to tracking employee development and performance.

So, Growsari implemented a process to measure employee engagement using a score. This approach works well in a product-led organisation like Growsari, as it allows them to gamify employee engagement internally using metrics. These metrics also provide a common language between HR and Finance, helping them objectively decide which employees deserve a higher increase in their salary. After all, a company is essentially a decision-making machine, and well-defined processes help employees make sound decisions.

Runn: behaviour-focussed

Now let’s take a look at Runn. They believe in hiring the best candidate for each role, no matter where they are located. That’s why their talent strategy revolves around a remote-first (almost entirely remote-only) approach. This comes as no surprise since the company’s four founders were originally based in four different continents when they started Runn. 

They had to design processes to reinforce this talent strategy. Firstly, internal communications are primarily asynchronous to accommodate team members in different time zones, making decision-making smoother and more efficient.

More interestingly, Runn has implemented a global transparent pay practice, ensuring that employees at the same level receive the same compensation, regardless of where they work from. This approach has resulted in a remarkable 100% offer acceptance rate. By openly publishing their global pay rates, Runn eliminates the need for salary negotiations, making hiring decisions solely about finding the best person for the job. This also attracts talent who value fairness and equality among peers, rather than those who want to get ahead.

Runn also believes that passionate and engaged employees produce the best work. One of the most striking aspects of Runn’s People processes is their unique approach to team management. Despite having over 15 engineers, Runn does not have engineering managers. They trust that their engineers, driven by their passion for the company’s mission, will self-manage and perform at their best without the need for direct supervision. 

Runn conducts regular performance check-ins every eight weeks, synced with their product cycles. These check-ins focus on certain behaviour expectations rather than strict KPIs, allowing for more holistic feedback and support.

Runn’s unusual People approach is a testament to their commitment to creating a workplace where employees are empowered, engaged, and motivated to do their best work. If you’re curious, check out the full list of their employee benefits shared openly on their website.

While Values, Strategy, and Structure are relatively stagnant, Process is the action. When intentionally designed, it is the dynamic manifestation of a company’s Culture. It can and should reinforce your Values, Strategy, and Structure, and truly reflect “the way we do things around here.” It then prompts us to wonder who the people are that can thrive in this environment. We will explore this in the next topic of our Culture mini-series: People. 

Part 1 – Introduction: Key insights to building a healthy organisational culture
Part 2 – Bridging the Values gap: What we say vs what we do
Part 3 – How strategy shapes your company culture
Part 4 – Designing your organisational structure: A blueprint for strategic execution

Edited by Jum Balea
Lead image by Tim Mossholder/Unsplash