Learn Your Company Culture First!

"The combination of your performance and your personality determines how you're viewed. Probably 95% of firings or early exits are the result of failing to fit into a company's culture.

If people don't know you, they can't trust you."

The importance of culture can't be overestimated. It is like knowing the core operating system before you get to code your products on top of it. Without the knowledge of the underlying operating code, any application of your work will fail at the test run. 

This talk summarizes the steps in an easy to understand way to learn the company culture you work for. 

(The audio quality is not up to the mark. Apologies :( Please try and adjust the volume to make it more audible :)

There are three key learning here.

One, getting to recognize the organization culture is analogous to - climate and weather. People make a sense of the world around them  by responding to patterns that they experience over time. As an example, you would normally prepare and make arrangements to pack some warm clothing when moving to a cold climate. When you move organizations or companies, you need to prepare for similar shifts by packing additional learning relevant to the new organization. To pack new things, you need to unpack a few things too. Just as you learn, prepare to unlearn a few things too.

Two, learn the context. It is like assessing the pitch/play ground that you are going to play the match on. There is nothing like a right or a wrong pitch in the game of cricket. The conditions are different and good players know how to read them well and quickly adapt to the new playing conditions. 

Three, soliciting feedback is very important to gauge that you are in the right direction. Adapting yourself to the organization culture can be very difficult at times and without having a good sense of whether you are doing things right is a very important point of validation. It is like using your GPS system when you are on the road and listening to the right cues and alerts to help navigate to your destination and goals. The role of the Manager is very crucial here to help give the right directions and support.

Thanks,

Dheeraj