It’s high time someone just said it…
Growth kills culture! ☠️⚰️🪦
It’s called “Culture Erosion.”
Culture Erosion
ˈkəl-chər i-ˈrō-zhən
(noun)
The slow, quiet, and often unnoticed breakdown of the shared norms, trust, values, and connection that once defined your organization’s identity and united its people.
It happens not through a single event, but through the gradual absence of clarity, care, communication, and consistency—especially during periods of rapid growth or change.
Left unchecked, it shows up in how decisions are made, how people interact, and how disconnected daily work feels from the company’s original spirit.
Here’s how it looks
In the early days, your high-functioning team was cohesive, collaborative, efficient, and high-output because you had:
Strong, interpersonal relationships built on trust
Highly aligned values
Obvious shared group norms
Clear communication and expectations
Your team grows as a result of your success, until one day you wake up frustrated. That “fire” you once shared is gone. You’re missing deadlines, and falling short of your goals. And it feels like your employees are disengaged, checked-out, or entitled.
“What happened to the good ole days when everyone got along, worked hard, and sacrificed for the good of the team?!”
The answer is simple: You hit Dunbar's number.
Robin Dunbar—a British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist—discovered that once a group grows past 150 people (employees) the culture "erodes" in several ways:
Loss of tight-knit culture
Maintaining personal relationships across the organization becomes harder, leading to weaker social bonds and a shift from intimate, family-like culture to a more structured one.
Communication Breakdowns
Direct communication decreases, requiring more structured processes, meetings, and tools to maintain alignment.
Emergence of Subcultures
Teams naturally form their own cultures, which can create silos, inconsistencies in company values, and even resentment within a company if not managed well.
Leadership Challenges
Founders and executives who one knew everyone personally must adapt by relying on middle managers and scalable leadership structures.
Loss of tight-knit culture — Maintaining personal relationships across the organization becomes harder, leading to weaker social bonds and a shift from intimate, family-like culture to a more structured one.
Communication Breakdowns — Direct communication decreases, requiring more structured processes, meetings, and tools to maintain alignment.
Emergence of Subcultures — Teams naturally form their own cultures, which can create silos, inconsistencies in company values, and even resentment within a company if not managed well.
Leadership Challenges — Founders and executives who one knew everyone personally must adapt by relying on middle managers and scalable leadership structures.
If you’re paying attention, you’ll start to notice evidence of Culture Erosion when your team grows beyond 15 employees.
Those problems will become glaringly obvious the further past 150 employees you get. The bigger the team, the more complex, and difficult to solve the issues become if left unaddressed.
Warning signs include—but are not limited to:
People show up for the paycheck, not the mission
Values become slogans on the wall, not actions in practice
Employees feel left out of decisions
“Us vs. Them” rivalries start to develop between teams or layers of management
Employees become reluctant to speak up, challenge ideas, or take risks
Employees complain about feeling “like a number”
There’s a growing gap between what execs say and what employees experience
Feedback loops disappear or become politicized
Lack of transparency in decision-making leaves employees feeling confused or resentful
Innovation dries up, and employees stop taking creative risks
Hard conversations get avoided leading to resentment and passive aggressiveness
Information silos develop as cross-team communication degrades
Employees feel burned out instead of energized
What’s the solution to Culture Erosion?
If erosion is the slow breakdown of values, norms, communication, etc.
… then the solution needs to be a consistent reinforcement in the creation of your culture, including the development of processes and tools that reinforce the behaviors, values, that will preserve your culture.
The cure for Culture Erosion is to be a Culture Creator. That one simple word—"CREATE"—represents our framework for maintaining a thriving culture as you scale.
Culture Creation
ˈkəl-chər krē-ˈā-shən
(noun)
The intentional, ongoing process of shaping and reinforcing the shared norms, trust, values, and human connection that define your organization’s identity and align its people—especially through periods of growth, change, or scale.
It is actively designed and sustained through the thoughtful use of systems, rituals, communication practices, and everyday behaviors that turn values into lived experience.
More than words on a wall, culture is embedded in how decisions are made, how people treat one another, and how work gets done.
The slow, quiet, and often unnoticed breakdown of the shared norms, trust, values, and connection that once defined your organization’s identity and united its people.
CREATE stands for Communication, Recognition, Environment, Alignment, Trust, and Elevation. Let's break it down.
➡️ Communication
Imagine your company's communication as a garden hose. If it's got leaks, nothing gets watered properly. Silos, lack of transparency, and inconsistent messages are the weeds choking your communication. Think: centralized hubs, regular all-hands, and clear channel guidelines.
➡️ Recognition
Everyone wants to feel seen, especially as teams grow. Generic "good job" emails just don't cut it. Implement formal programs, encourage peer-to-peer praise, and tie recognition to your core values. Make it personal, make it meaningful.
➡️ Environment
Your workplace should be a place people actually want to be, whether it's a physical office or a virtual one. Inclusivity, well-being, and flexibility are key. Think: comfortable workspaces, empathy, and work-life balance.
➡️ Alignment
Everyone needs to be rowing in the same direction. Growth can blur your company’s purpose. Reinforce your mission, communicate goals clearly, and hold people accountable. It's about keeping everyone on the same page.
➡️ Trust
Micromanagement is a trust-killer. Give people autonomy and let them make decisions. Transparency, empowerment, and flexibility are your friends. Trust your team, and they'll trust you back.
➡️ Elevation
Growth is about more than just the company; it's about your people, too. Offer learning opportunities, create career paths, and foster mentorship. It's about investing in their future, and yours.
Culture isn't something you set and forget. It's a living, breathing thing that will erode over time regardless of how awesome things were at the start.
This newsletter is dedicated to helping you identify cultural erosion in your company, AND showing you how to use the CREATE framework to ensure your company culture gets better as your company grows.
To help you get started...
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Welcome to the Culture Creators newsletter, the raddest secret club in the world of business!
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