People make a job, they make a workforce, they make a project, they make clients satisfied, and they make for day-to-day happiness. Never underestimate the power of culture and personalities at work.
When I first started in my career, I was working for a small business straight out of university. There were really only two full-time staffers to start with – me and my boss. When we hired someone new, the people that we co-shared an office with warned us about the new hire. They saw that it wasn’t going to be the right cultural fit. Funnily enough, they worked in the HR business, and they identified that it wasn’t going to work. This new person clearly was very much out for themselves, didn’t have team spirit, and simply had a negative attitude that didn’t work for us. We were all about positivity, and shared a love for health and wellbeing.
The new person was hired anyway, for business purposes, and it all unravelled very quickly. As the junior staff member, I just had to go along with it all and try to keep everyone happy, but there were numerous personality clashes causing serious side issues. That person left very quickly, but not before it did serious damage within the underlying fabric of what we’d already created.
The key take-out here is that people make business. Whether you are the hiring manager, or you are someone about to embark on a new role, this consideration must be at the forefront.
Big businesses know this, and they invest in various cultural and personality tests to ensure that the right fit is being made. There are consultants out there dedicated to this specific task.
As someone new to their career, or embarking on a new career, I would say this to you: make sure that the cultural and personality fit is right for you before you get started – or even think about getting started.
Here’s some ways you can ensure the role is right for you, in terms of a cultural fit – not just a role fit!
- When you’re going for your interview/s, interview them. Ask them about the hours that are necessary to do your job, and not just that – but what’s expected of you. I’ve seen a lot of roles where you could potentially just do 9 to 5 but because it’s culturally expected of you to do more, you really can’t just leave at 5 or 6. You have to be part of the team and stay back so that you can seem to be fulfilling the role. There’s nothing wrong with staying back when you need to, but if it’s going to be expected every day just because the rest of the team does, consider it a red flag.
- Ask about the cultural fit. What are the team’s values? How do they relax after a busy week? How do they celebrate successes and what do they do when there are defeats? What was a key major challenge in the past and how was it dealt with? How can you add value to this?
- What is the management style like? Are you allowed plenty of autonomy in your role, as long as you report back? In the reporting process, what is expected of you – for example, is a daily or weekly update sufficient?
- Who was the previous person in the role, and why did they leave? This is really important, because it tells you more about what will be expected of you in your role and why the previous person was challenged. It could be that they simply didn’t have the right skillset for the role, and in which case it’s pertinent that you ensure you do, or it could be that they weren’t the right cultural fit – in which case you could be. Get armed with the right information, because taking on any role is a big commitment.
- What are the development opportunities like? If there are none, it’s important to know. If you’re expected to be in that role for years to come without any opportunities to progress, does that work for you? Will you be happy doing the same role in one, two, or three years’ time? Does your new workplace invest in the development of its staff? Or can you learn on the job?
All of this is a big part of workplace culture, and these questions will go a long way towards telling you what you need to know about where you’re heading next if you take a new role. If you’ve been in a role for a long time, perhaps you will identify some of these questions as red flags that may have put up warning signals, had you considered them earlier.
I have found that the best opportunities lie when there is a supportive cultural fit and people get along, but also when you’re surrounded by people equally as concerned with detail and output. When you are surrounded by people that love what they do and they’re committed to it, and you have a supportive atmosphere, that’s where the magic happens.
When have you found personalities and cultural fit to be key to your working environment?
