Top Culture traits to check before a new role.

New Year, New Job.

But how can we be sure the culture of your new organisation will see you succeed and, more importantly, offer you fulfillment in the role?

Whilst the interview process, a good one anyway, will give you time and access into an organisations culture, the recruiter / hiring manager will likely use the interview stages to highlight the positives and avoid the negatives. It’s selling after all.

The definitive matching process is really cemented during your probation period. Now you have taken the leap of faith, your first three months is not just designed for the organisation to ensure you can do what you have promised. It’s also offers you time to ensure they are who they said they are.

Ventiro has developed a list of the key things to look at in terms of culture alignment to help you either adjust or decide that this organisation simply isn’t for you. It should also serve as a checklist to ensure you cover these off as best you can during the interview process to help ensure your decision about taking this job has all the details you need to say yes, or no.

#1 - Check the values actually exist.

This is an obvious one right? There are so many new joiners across the globe who get into roles and soon realise that those shiny values littering the recruitment process AND the careers site are simply not there. A culture’s values, historically, have been based around what Management WANT to be known for, not necessarily what existed. And that was good enough for then. But this is today’s world.

The global pandemic has taught us to seek authentic connections and it is the connection with a companies GENUINE values that will see attrition rates fall (good for businesses) and see fulfillment in your role rise (good for you).

#2 - Check the political red tape around Change.

Be sure to check the culture’s acceptance / orientation towards change. Typically, leaders will enter an organisation on the back of war cries of “challenge the status quo” or “take us to the next level” or, our least favourite, “shake things up”. This unfortunately puts a lot of leaders in a position to fail. Not through their ability to apply change, but the cultures ability to accept it.

Our advice is to ensure that you correctly assess the cultural cues as to how disruptive you can be AND build supportive relationships around you for backing you when it comes to key decisions.

Most organisations will have hired you based on your past experiences, but please be clear. Your future success will be determined by your impact in your new environment and the culture within it. Depending on how well you understand and work within this new culture will determine if your impact will be a hit - or a miss.

#3 - Check the cultures communication preferences.

One thing to either ask in the interview process or check when you first join, is the way in which the culture prefers to communicate. Is this right for your style?

Is it through formal channels, like meetings that are always set in advance and to which everyone comes well prepared? Or do individuals more often communicate spontaneously with little or no documentation? With the rise in tools like Slack, there is an obvious trend in cultures boosting quick and easy communication between individuals and teams and reducing the number of face to face hour long meetings. Is the striving for ultimate employee efficiency by reducing human contact, even in small organisations, causing us to become unmotivated? Is your preference to have access to both?

What about communication up the hierarchy? Traditional downward “cascade comms” are fast being replaced with access to senior leaders for “chats”. Your peers and direct reports may be well positioned to tell you how to proceed with your manager and those above them.

Check also how information or ideas tend to be presented. Some organisations embrace informally shared issues and debated (relevant) topics/ideas. Others tend to prefer ideas/content presented alongside a 50 page thesis with reams of details and analysis. Ensuring this matches your communication style is key for your fulfillment AND your success in the role.

#4 - Check the relationship status.

Organisations will always differ in how much they value/need collaboration, in how they harvest relationships across the business and in how much actual face to face time is required to get work done and make decisions. This is linked closely to #3 and the communication style within the culture.

Try to see where and how your colleagues get their work done and how they go about making decisions. Do they spend much of their time meeting with one another, do they chat in the canteen / kitchen, or do they tend to be at their desks chatting through Slack? Depending on your personality type, you will want to see how friendly and open to connecting with you your colleagues are.

If you need to connect on a human to human level, then we suggest you seek out allies to help you make the necessary connections. If you don’t and you like the idea of simply getting on with work with your headphones on, then you will know that you will be in the right environment to fulfill this.

This is something that you should really push hard on in the interview process. Finding out that the relationship culture is the opposite to how you like to work is often hard to overcome and will lead to a short tenure in the role.

Cultural alignment is key to your fulfillment in the role and the success you can expect. Use the interview process to your advantage. The process is not solely based around the organisation ensuring you are right for them. It is also a chance for you to ensure that they have a culture that is right for you. That’s the beauty of the matching process. It’s mutual.

Once you have joined your chosen organisation, use your probation period to seek out the authenticity of the cultural values and traits. Are they aligned to your beliefs and the way you like to work?

Your happiness & success in the role depends on it.