Principles-First Distributed Culture
Unite distributed teams around principles while preserving their heritage
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 7
- Confidence
- 94%
Build distributed culture around a small set of shared principles, not forced uniformity in every habit or tradition. Begin by identifying the values and client commitments that cannot vary. Then create recurring peer connections across offices: planners meet planners, managers meet managers, and employee groups connect around shared interests. Smaller, frequent sessions can absorb new employees more effectively than a single annual gathering. When another business joins, distinguish its local customs from genuine value conflicts and preserve its origin story. The acquiring organization should also adopt useful practices from the new team, demonstrating that integration is reciprocal. During remote work, replace formerly organic encounters with deliberately coordinated virtual interactions. The output is one culture expressed through multiple histories rather than a collection of isolated offices or a centrally imposed monoculture.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business, where Dave Welling explained how Mercer Advisors connected roughly forty-five offices and integrated acquired firms.
Core principles
- 01Culture rests on shared principles rather than identical habits.
- 02Peer relationships connect people across locations and functions.
- 03Acquired teams contribute practices rather than merely adopting them.
- 04Heritage can be preserved without fragmenting the organization.
- 05Distributed culture requires purposeful recurring contact.
How to run it
- 1
Define shared principles
State the beliefs and service commitments every team must uphold. Keep the list focused enough to guide decisions across locations.
Pro tip Use real trade-offs to test whether each principle is operational.
Watch out Avoid filling the list with vague aspirations that cannot resolve disagreements.
- 2
Separate principles from traditions
Identify which differences are merely local norms, habits, or celebrations. Allow those differences unless they violate a shared principle.
Pro tip Ask whether changing a practice would improve outcomes or merely make offices look alike.
Watch out Do not label every unfamiliar custom a cultural mismatch.
- 3
Build peer networks
Bring together people doing similar work across different offices. Let them exchange expertise, form relationships, and solve common problems.
Pro tip Organize sessions by role or discipline rather than by office.
Watch out Office-only gatherings can reinforce local silos.
- 4
Increase contact frequency
Use smaller recurring sessions so new employees do not wait a year to meet the wider organization. Combine structured learning with informal relationship-building.
Pro tip Design a cadence that reaches each cohort soon after joining.
Watch out One large annual event cannot keep pace with rapid growth.
- 5
Create interest-based communities
Support employee resource groups and initiatives that connect people around identities, interests, or causes. Give them channels to influence the wider organization.
Pro tip Provide executive sponsorship without taking control away from participants.
Watch out Groups without authority, resources, or leadership access can become symbolic.
- 6
Integrate reciprocally
Preserve and celebrate the origin stories of incoming teams while identifying practices the larger organization should adopt. Make integration a two-way exchange.
Pro tip Publicize an acquired practice that improved the whole company.
Watch out Demanding unilateral adoption communicates that the incoming team's heritage has no value.
- 7
Engineer remote connection
When spontaneous contact is unavailable, deliberately coordinate virtual social and professional sessions. Vary formats so interaction remains useful rather than obligatory.
Pro tip Mix peer learning with light social activities.
Watch out Too many centrally mandated events can create participation fatigue.
In the wild
A distributed advisory firm stops flying complete office teams to one annual gathering. Instead, it brings financial planners from many offices together in recurring peer sessions, builds employee resource groups, and uses its central hub as a meeting point. Acquired teams retain meaningful traditions while sharing practices that can improve the national firm.
→ Employees form relationships across geography while the company preserves local heritage within a coherent principles-based culture.
Common mistakes
Confusing culture with uniformity
Shared principles do not require identical traditions, habits, or office routines. Forced sameness can destroy useful local identity without improving alignment.
Relying on one annual gathering
Fast-growing organizations may add many employees immediately after the event. Smaller recurring cohorts connect people sooner and more deeply.
Making integration one-way
If only the acquired team must change, employees infer that their experience and heritage are unwanted. The combined culture should adopt strong practices from both sides.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for rapidly growing organizations with multiple offices, remote employees, or teams brought together through acquisitions.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for leaders seeking immediate uniformity through centralized rules without allowing local practices to influence the whole organization.
From the transcript
“people sometimes confuse culture with norms and habits and traditions”
“We we adopt practices at firms that we acquire”
“we'd take all the financial planners and get them talking to their peers”
From the episode
Dave Welling on What Financial Services Should Look Like
Dave Welling