What Cultural Nuances Energize YOU - Melissa Llarena

What Cultural Nuances Energize YOU What Cultural Nuances Energize YOU? When I read Bill Barnett’s Harvard Business Review blog entry, “Investigate Culture, Ask the Right Questions,” I shook my head in agreement. A firm’s culture is difficult to articulate. Yet, cultural nuances such as the behaviors that are supported within a work environment as well as the conditions that exist internally are easier to put your finger on. Bill gives us ideas on how to identify the right questions to highlight these cultural nuances. He begins with six organizational dimensions as sources of inspiration for our queries: purpose, teamwork, colleagues, communication, performance, and productivity. For example, he says that you should learn how teamwork plays out in a firm and as a result you can ask questions that tap into this organizational dimension such as: “are there special activities to promote teamwork?”However, my advice is to use YOUR professional experiences as the launching pad from which to ask targeted and rel evant questions to get at the specific cultural nuances that matter to your own success. If you apply Bill’s logic, which is to use those six dimensions to inform your questions, then you may not distribute enough weight to the cultural nuances that have shaped your past experiences and which I argue will shape your further experiences.   The key to figuring out these critical cultural elements is to ask yourself while considering each of your prior jobs: what cultural nuances have energized and which ones have stifled your success? The output of this exercise should be used to inform what you will ask folks (i.e. company employers, partners, suppliers, etc.) to uncover the key behaviors or critical conditions you need to support YOUR success.Let’s consider a fictitious job seeker, Mark. He has worked for a startup in the energy space. Below is the OUTPUT of my suggested exercise as he evaluates his own professional experience.Exercise: Go through your resume. Job by job, identi fy the cultural nuances that have energized as well as the ones that have stifled your success. Highlight the key implication of that workplace experience. Brainstorm questions that will uncover whether the cultural nuances that have energized or stifled your success exist within a target company.Company: Energy Start-up    Energizing Condition: The frequent ability to present directly to the CEO made me step my game up and I loved it.Key Implication: I thrive and learn the most when I interface with senior executivesSample Questions: Have you ever presented your work directly to senior leadership at the firm? Do you get to present work to your boss’ boss directly? If so, then tell me about one time. How common are these interactions?Stifling Condition: I was ignored on day one of my employment, I was not “onboarded” properly and I never learned why the company had been founded. I lost interest quickly at this job.Key Implication: My long-term dedication is linked to whether I feel part of an organization early onSample Questions: What did you do on day one when you joined your current company? What do you know about the heritage of the company? How much of that learning was self-directed versus part of a formal indoctrination process of the firm?