YOUR MOST POWERFUL CAREER TOOL? The ability to align with your workplace culture!

These days we have some famous (and infamous) examples of unique corporate culture. Take Google, for instance. We all can imagine a working “campus” where there is free or low-cost daycare for our kids, high quality, chef-made meals, and all the lattes you can drink. Top that off with colorful, open workspaces that have cutting edge design. Sounds like an amazing, culture, right? Wrong. Yes, those are bells and whistles reflective of core cultural values, but we don’t want to lose sight of where they started.

Here is Google’s core mission, which directly informs its corporate culture.

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow. 
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well. 
3. Fast is better than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There’s always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.

According to Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com, the main reason that his company fires employees is because there of cultural fit problems. And Barbara Corcoran, real estate magnate, and current host of Shark Tank, the famous television program for entrepreneurs to pitch their business? Her New York City real estate company regularly fired people who were complainers. Why? Because the core values of her company were opposed to complaining, and in her opinion, complainers could not be ‘cured’ of their habit. She fired them and sent them on their way.

How Can I Identify Culture? 

Now you can see why core culture is absolutely critical to the success of your career. Does your company simply post a hollow, meaningless mission statement on it’s board room wall? Then that’s not the true culture of your organization. Do more digging, and learn how to recognize and truly embrace the culture of the place where you spend most of your time-your workplace.

Consider these factors to identify your corporate culture:

1. How the company behaves
2. How individuals are treated
3. What the organization values
4. Attitudes toward key policy areas
5. Who succeeds and who fails, regardless of ability
6. Corporate image
7. What is rewarded and how it is rewarded
8. How people are managed, motivated and developed
9. Community pro bono work and involvement
10. Reputation

Are you a match? 

Think about your current position and organization. Visualize your career in the next five years, and complete the following statements:

1. My preferred culture alignment would include:
2. I perform best when interacting:
3. My goals for management and leadership positions include:

If your career isn’t moving in the direction you’d ike, think about yoeur communicatoin and visual presentation-how you present yourself and communicate in your workplace. What are some things you can do to better align them with the culture of your workplace?

Looking for more inspiration?

Failure to realize that the best possible performance is a result of three simple metrics. We invite you to learn the fundamentals of these three metrics in our latest infographic.

Employee Development Systems, Inc. (EDSI) has been resolving employee development, leadership, generational, professional presence, and personal effectiveness issues for over 30 years, and she is ready to tackle any question you have.