“I wanted the position so badly; a fortune 50 tech company, working with a highly visible team that was well funded, and they recruited me. I missed some big red flags that I was misaligned with the culture of the organization. What could I have done differently?”

In reality you could have done quite a bit in the search phase. Think of these three areas:

1. Defining your cultural box
2. Be a student and educator
3. Prototyping yourself

Cultural Box

A cultural box sets your boundaries. It defines those areas that are out of alignment with your values. Here is an example. You are competitive, work hard, and put extra time when needed. For you, a boundary is crossed when competition pits team members against each other and becomes cutthroat with team members focused on individual recognition. Now you find yourself in this exact environment. Every day you have a pit in your stomach when you go to work. How do you prevent this from happening?

When you begin your search for a new position, identify and define your values. Those elements that are personally most important to you. In the example, teamwork is a top value. You define it as ensuring success of the team over individual success. Any behavior not fulfilling your definition will be a negative trigger. More frequent or extreme behavior creates more dissonance and misalignment.

Recommendation:

Define your cultural box by taking these two actions:

• Identify your values and 2) define them with the behavior you expect to have that value fulfilled.

List your top five values with definitions. You now know what you are looking for in an organization.

In your search ask questions, watch behavior, and look for signs of alignment with your values.

Student and Educator

Be a student of the organization and position you are targeting. It takes time to fully understand the details and nuances of an organization and position. Challenge your first impressions. Be a student of what reality is to work every day in that desired position.

Additionally, be an educator to those courting you. Educate them on what makes you a fit and drives your performance. Think of this as dating the organization. In your search do your research about the big organization and the smaller team you will be working with.  Look for opportunities to share and educate your potential new team on what is important to you. It is important they understand the conditions that allow you to contribute and thrive.

Prototyping

This is a concept to test yourself and your assumptions in conversations and experiences. The concept is articulated well in this video by the Stanford Life Design Lab. Have conversations with individuals who are in a similar position or the organization you want to join. In those conversations explore what it would be like to be in their seat. After all they are in the position.

Build a good question bank that will reveal what you are looking for. Then listen and see if you hear your values reflected in the answers.

Here are a few of my favorite questions:

• How is success measured here?
• How does this organization develop its people?
• What does it look like when individuals disagree with the leadership?
• What have been the reasons for people leaving this organization/team?

Prototype experiences, creating possibilities to test if an organization, team, position, or role is a good fit. Be creative. A prototype experience may take the form of an internship, a half day shadowing a colleague, attending a workshop, eating lunch on site, creating or finding a volunteer opportunity. For some organizations such as hospitals volunteering is easy and provides incredible insights. The goal is to get as close to replicating a position or experience you are pursuing.

Summary

Often when searching for opportunities we focus on “selling” ourselves. We try to convince or show the decision maker how we are the perfect fit. This is a different perspective.

This is understanding the shape of our puzzle piece and deliberately finding where it fits best.

“Finally, we found someone who is the perfect fit for our culture.”

“How do you know?”

“In her interview she answered all the questions with what I was looking for.”

Ever have this feeling after interviewing a candidate and then being totally surprised by the actual culture fit after hiring him or her? I have. One person I hired completely snowed me. The suit he wore was never seen again, nor were the values and fit he proclaimed.

How do you truly find out about a candidate’s character. Here are three areas I have found that can reveal a person’s character; their history prior to age 20, relationships, and treatment of the lowest levels in the organization.

History Prior to Age 25

Much of the science around personality that supports our character is mostly formed by the age of 25. So why not explore what a person was like in their early years? Some might say, going down that road is creepy. No way am I bringing up middle school in an interview.

Consider an approach that explores a candidate’s interests. Asking a simple question such as: How have early interests influenced where you are today? You may find influences by mentors such as teachers, coaches, religious leaders, or other associations had a significant impact. I have found individuals readily talk about those influences.

For instance; I interviewed a 32-year-old who grew up with a grandparent who was the victim of a stroke. My interviewee spent a lot of time with his grandfather one-on-one who was nonverbal and in a wheel chair. In his teen years he regularly visited his grandfather without his parents to spend time and often took him on day trips. The same individual continues to work with the special need’s population. What do those experiences tell you about that individual?

How a musician, athlete, student, or community service advocate took on their challenges reveals their character. It is up to you to interpret.

Relationships

What do your relationships say about you and your character.? We spend time with people we enjoy and are often like-minded. We all belong to professional and social organizations outside of the workplace that form our network. Exploring those relationships may provide insights on what is important to the candidate. Maybe more important is how an individual handles close relationship. I have been amazed at what has been revealed in an interview. People have told me about dysfunctional relationships with family members, close friends, and roommates.

My grandmother told me, how someone treats their mother tells you what kind of person they are. Extending that thought to close relationship can be revealing.

Guiding the conversation into these areas is your challenge. However, it easily comes up when talking about life experiences, where someone is from, and interests.

Treatment of Those with No Power

Ever experience an individual berating an airline ticket agent, waitress, or maintenance worker? What were your thoughts of that person’s character?

A practice I adopted for interviews was to ensure each person would wait in my outer office where my administrative assistant was located. My assistant engaged in conversations with every interviewee. That interaction and any interactions on the phone or via email became part of my evaluation of the candidates.

There is the story of Walt Bettinger the CEO of Charles Schwab Corporation, in a business strategy class. The professor gave them a blank sheet of paper for their final exam and said: I’ve taught you everything I can teach you about business in the last 10 weeks, but the most important message, the most important question, is this — What’s the name of the lady who cleans this building?”

How you treat the individuals at the lowest level on the organization chart says more about you than anything else.

What to evaluate if someone is a fit for your organization. Consider exploring the above areas.

Want some insights into how you are thought of; evaluate yourself on the three areas.