How to Recognize and Embody an Organization’s Core Values  

When interviewing for a new job, it’s easy to ask the employer the obvious questions: “What will I be doing in this role?” “Can you describe a typical day in this position?” “How quickly can I advance in this role?”

However, an equally important, but often overlooked element is company culture.

So what exactly is company culture? Culture can include many factors—the company’s physical work environment, mission, expectations of employees, goals, and more. And it has a big impact on your motivation, work habits, and general happiness in your role. As an employee, you want a culture that aligns with your own values and beliefs so that you can live up to it and be both a successful and content employee.

Understanding company culture goes beyond visiting the company campus, or even reading extensive online reviews. To truly understand a company’s values and styles, you must dig deeper.

Three Key Components of a Company Culture

While culture varies from one company to another, there are a few common aspects: quality of work, strength of the team, and the functional area of expertise.

• Quality of Work: If you want to be challenged and have your skillset put to the test, quality of work is of upmost importance. You want to be in a place that values and rewards a strong work ethic and results. By surrounding yourself with people who encourage you to go above and beyond, you will ultimately excel and grow at a quick pace, while producing the necessary results for your team. And, with good results come necessary celebration; celebrating success boosts employee happiness and confidence and reinforces that high-quality work brings high praise.

• Strength of the Team: Being part of a team that is complementary to your skillset allows you to balance one another’s strengths and weaknesses, ultimately leading to optimized performance and a strong group work ethic. Even if you prefer to work independently, relying on your teammates and their contributions enables you to harness your full potential and add relevance to your work product. It’s crucial to understand how your team functions before you judge anyone, and this knowledge will allow you to evaluate your own priorities and how they impact both the team and the company. 

• Functional Area of Expertise: If you want to excel in your area, it is important to think more about your specific role and responsibilities than about the industry itself. A company that embraces growth in your functional area of expertise will give you the opportunity to develop the necessary skillset to level up. 

How to Recognize Culture

So you know what you want in a company’s culture, but how do you find the company that is right for you? It is not as easy as asking “What’s your culture like?” or “What’s the work-life balance like?” because these questions can elicit vague responses that generally skew positive, even if this isn’t the case.

To get honest and thorough answers that give real insight into company culture, your questions must be more specific and informed:

• “I’m interested in a high-energy environment. Could you give me a sneak peek into what a high-energy week might be like at this company?”
• “Can you describe this team’s dynamic during a busy time of year?”
• “How does this team resolve conflicts? How does it celebrate successes?” 

Asking the right questions will elicit genuine responses and anecdotes to let you know if you will be a good fit with the company.

How to Embody Culture

Once you’ve joined a company with a culture that aligns with your values, it will be important to embody that culture. To do this, you need to understand what is expected of you. For example, if your company’s culture encourages curiosity, become an employee who learns quickly and willingly puts  herself in uncomfortable but innovative environments. If pride is part of the culture, it will be important to own up to your mistakes, accept feedback, and acknowledge different perspectives. Cultures that value adventure might expect their employees to be flexible, go beyond their job descriptions, and be comfortable with ambiguity, while companies that encourage their employees to aim to win will want them to go above and beyond to create the highest quality results.

In addition to exemplifying your company’s cultural pillars, there are other steps that you can take to embody company culture. For example, participate in company events, contribute to off-site activities, or get involved with grassroots efforts or social causes that you believe in. This will give you the chance to interact with other teams and understand their values and lines of work which, in turn, will help you see the impact they have on the business and build support with them.

Company culture sometimes gets overlooked, but it really is the glue that holds a company together, allowing the business to thrive and contributing to employee happiness and a positive work ethic.