Building a Business Culture You’re Proud Of

One of our longtime Ensemble members recently moved out of her office. Normally, I hate to see a member leave, but this was exactly the kind of goodbye I love.

Her business had grown, and she was moving into a much larger office with another Ensemble member she met here. Two smart women who might never have known each other are now collaborating and growing their businesses together.

Before she left, she told us she would probably come back to pick up her mail far more often than necessary, just so she could visit everyone.

She is also mentoring another Ensemble member who is entering a new phase of her business and working toward her CPA license to pursue forensic accounting.

These are the stories that bring joy to my heart.

This is what Ensemble has always been about: bringing people together who otherwise may never have met and creating the conditions for relationships to grow. Sometimes those relationships become friendships. Sometimes they lead to referrals, collaborations, mentorship, or simply sharing knowledge that helps someone avoid a mistake you learned the hard way.

Those things don't happen because we have a nice coworking space. They happen because of culture.

Every Business Has a Culture

Every business has a culture, whether you intentionally create one or not. Without guidance and intention, culture will create itself. The question is: What kind of culture do you want your business to have?

When I opened Ensemble Coworking in Fort Worth more than ten years ago, culture was baked in from the beginning. I had started and led networking groups and organizations before Ensemble, so I already understood the role culture plays in building community and creating meaningful connections among people.

There was never any question that Ensemble would be led with an open heart and open arms. I wanted people to feel welcome whether they were becoming a member, visiting for a meeting, or simply spending a day coworking with us.

But deciding what you want your culture to be is only the beginning. You have to live it.

Culture Is Built in the Everyday Experience

Culture isn't what you write on your website or put in an employee handbook. It is what people actually experience.

At Ensemble, intentionality is one of the most important parts of maintaining our culture. My team is expected to know our members. We make introductions. We ask questions. We listen. We look for opportunities to connect people who might benefit from knowing each other.

And it happens one conversation at a time.

We also create opportunities for people to gather. Monthly Merriment gives us a chance to celebrate birthdays and membership anniversaries. Our monthly potluck breakfast brings people around a table because I've found food has a wonderful way of breaking down barriers. Sometimes we'll find a wacky holiday simply because it gives us another excuse to recognize or appreciate our members.

The event itself isn't the culture. The relationships those moments help create are.

Leaders Have to Protect the Culture They Create

I've also learned that creating a strong business culture means being willing to protect it.

We have been incredibly fortunate that the overwhelming majority of people who come through Ensemble's doors understand what we are about. In many ways, people self-select. They tour the space, attend an event, or spend a free coworking day with us and experience the community for themselves.

We aren't for everyone, and that's okay.

Where I have had to learn harder lessons is with my own team. I've made hiring mistakes. There have been times when I didn't recognize quickly enough that someone's way of interacting with our members wasn't reinforcing the culture I had worked so hard to build.

That taught me something important about leadership: we cannot say something matters and then repeatedly tolerate behavior that says it doesn't.

If connection matters, we have to connect. If kindness matters, people need to experience kindness. If people matter, they need to feel that in the way we lead, hire, communicate, and make decisions.

Culture requires consistency between what we say we value and what people actually experience.

Culture Matters Even When You Work Alone

You don't need twenty employees to build business culture.

Solopreneurs create culture too. Your culture shows up in how you communicate with clients, how you handle problems, which partners you choose, and how people feel after doing business with you.

Remote workers are part of a culture even when their coworkers aren't sitting beside them. In fact, when people aren't sharing a physical workplace every day, connection often requires even greater intentionality.

That is one reason coworking can be so valuable for remote workers and solopreneurs. A strong coworking community provides something a home office cannot always provide: opportunities for everyday human connection, conversation, collaboration, and belonging.

At Ensemble Coworking in Fort Worth, we've spent more than a decade deliberately creating those opportunities.

What Do You Want People to Feel?

When someone walks out of Ensemble, I want them to be excited to return.

I want them to tell someone how well our team treated them. I want them to remember that someone knew their name, introduced them to a few people, or made them feel comfortable enough to settle in and stay awhile.

I want them to remember that Ensemble felt warm and welcoming. That, to me, is culture.

Whether you lead a small team, run a business by yourself, or work remotely, you are creating an experience for the people around you.

So perhaps the question isn't whether your business has a culture. It already does.

The question is whether you're building one you're proud of.