People often ask me what is my favourite part of running your own agency and I often respond ‘the people’. People also ask me what is the hardest part of running your own agency and I often respond ‘the people’.

The truth is that, whilst we all like to think that our businesses have a unique capability or identity, the only true differentiator is (and will always be) the people. And at the heart of that sits the importance of your culture. Get it wrong and you find yourself literally losing money and talent hand over fist, but get it right, the work you do, the relationships you create and the value of your business go through the roof.

Whilst this is hardly new news to any of us, I do believe that you can’t manufacture a strong culture. As the leader of the organisation it is not about you and it is not about a long list of initiatives, ideas or perks. It’s something that grows from genuine authenticity and being, and once people start to feel that they belong the culture grows from within. A good culture is an inert force that drives a group of people to naturally find a common purpose and identity. It is constantly evolving, can be there one minute gone the next, and it needs constant care.

Most importantly of all it is not something you can tell people to do or make. I’ve never understood why so many organisations take to plastering their values all over their offices in the vain hope that their employees will live them.

At Bicycle London we set out with a vision to leave this industry better than we found it. At the heart of that belief sits a business with a clear identity and purpose - not to mention all of the excellent analogies we could use within the world of cycling.

From these two things grew a culture that focused entirely on making sure people feel that they belong to our peloton.

When people feel like they belong, they feel like they know each other, understand each other, work together and not against each other. At the heart of this is knowing each other, I mean really knowing each other - not just office banter or pub chat. We encourage two people to share their ‘whakapapa’ (a Maori term loosely discussing roots and connection to one’s past) each week.

Each person spends twenty minutes telling the whole peloton about their background, what makes them who they are, where they’ve felt vulnerable and where they’ve felt the most belonging. These are awkward and inspiring and enlightening moments of openness. We’ve heard numerous stories of coming out, residential psychiatric care, depression, murder, and being forced into the Jehovah's Witnesses.

This sense of belonging has then been underpinned by a number of further initiatives all of which have come from the Peloton itself. One example being that we now give each rider a miniature of themselves on a bike that is physically added to our model peloton in our office. Each rider has their bike to keep for life, each one is numbered with their employee number. Our latest rider joined the peloton with shirt number 36, which isn’t bad given that we’re only just over two years old.

From branded hoodies to free branded Brompton Bicycles for our staff to use, these ideas keep coming. That is why I say a great culture can’t be manufactured, you just have to let it grow from within. But as a leader you simply have to be the authentic you.

As a result of all of the above we have doubled our overall employee net promoter score  from 43 to 85 in the last 9 months. Great culture is always a work in progress.