Realizing the audacious dreams of a startup requires a fully aligned team. But aligned on what? Agreeing on the dream alone is not enough. Long before you’re big enough for an HR department, the culture you create will begin determining your ability to achieve your goals.

• What motivations brought your team together? Which keep you together today?
• What roles do each of you play, official and unofficial?
• What tone and language do you use with each other?
• How do you handle conflict and difference?
• How do you listen to each other?
• How do you enforce your team’s rules and customs?
• How do you handle change?

These are only a few of many important cultural questions that many teams have never discussed out loud. I help teams bring them out into the open, revealing the team’s culture to itself. It’s not always pretty! But once it’s out in the open, we can decide—intentionally, this time—how to be with one another and what action to take to move forward.