“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” – Rumi

Last month we did a podcast with the Lake Oswego Business Chamber on why small business should consider HR sooner than they think ( Listen here. ) One of the main themes throughout our discussion was on HR as cultural creators for your business, and how to support the environment you envision for yourself and your dream at the very start. This month we wanted to dive a little bit deeper into how HR can function as a partner and business developer for you. 1. Setting your values early and frequently – One area that I find business frequently neglect is the area of what a team and a company wants to value. They discuss what to value in their output and with their clients, how their external position is being perceived but never what their internal culture should feel like to the people that work in the business. If you don’t talk about this, it creates itself and is therefore less controllable and harder to fix if it goes in the wrong direction. Early in our business, I insisted that we as a business partnership sit down and talk about what was important to us. How it should feel to work with us and be around us. What our behaviors and actions would speak to. HR early in a business can mediate this discussion for you and help you create a code of conduct that reflects these values. Having this structure helps later call people back when abusive behavior occurs, helping elevate larger problems in the future. Values work can be a living aspect of your business and should be reviewed frequently. Changes don’t mean you have failed, but help you recognize your progress 2. Holding the leaders responsible – Most small businesses do HR in house, and even though that is cost effective, often, the person running HR does not have the training, education and experience to do so effectively, opening the company to a lot of risk. This is where HR can step in and start holding business owners accountable for ensuring legal and ethical practices are taking place. That those values, mean more than a statement. Business owners need this check and balance and a way to stay compliant. It is what helps maintain trust through the long-term. 3. Labor & Recruitment – One of the more practical ways business owners can use HR at the beginning is helping with retaining and keeping labor. Recruitment is hard and often made harder when a business owner is too busy to give it the full attention that it needs. This can also affect your output and cost you clients, as well as damage culture. If you are constantly churning through employees, unable to hire quality labor, and seeing high turnover, then that constant state of change can lead to a lot of burnout for business owners and those who stay. HR can help stabilize this and create a structure around recruitment for the future. Oprah Winfrey recently said, “HR is the custodians of culture.” I believe that when HR is introduced early and done well, it helps create the kind of workplace where values are not just written down but actively practiced. Culture does not wait until a business is larger, more profitable, or less busy; it begins forming from the first hire, the first conflict, the first leadership decision, and the first time someone’s needs are either heard or dismissed. Small business owners have a unique opportunity to shape that culture intentionally before harmful patterns become embedded. By clarifying values, holding leadership accountable, and building strong labor and recruitment practices, HR becomes more than an administrative function—it becomes a partner in protecting the dream you are building. When we treat culture as something worth tending to from the beginning, we create businesses where people can stay, grow, and contribute.