What Does Your Ideal Culture and Work Environment Look Like?
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
What does your ideal culture and work environment look like? How do you contribute to building that ideal environment? This is a tough interview question that will be asked of those of you at a managerial level and above. Please do not give one of those dull boring answers. Instead, answer something like this.
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This is a fun tough interview question that will be asked for those of you at a manager level and above. And this could also be asked at a staff level but the answer this time I’m going to give is for those of you at a manager level and above.
Now, I want to start by discussing what not to answer, and how not to approach this. You know, ‘I could work in an environment like yours. Yours is exactly the place for me.’ Bland, obnoxious. ‘You know, I can be very flexible. You know, I’m adaptable. I like collaboration, good teamwork.’ These are vague answers, and there’s going to be nothing that’s going to distinguish your answer from anyone else’s. And if you give it that way, well, if you want to work in a place that likes such dull stuff, give them that kind of answer.
Talk about your work-life balance being important to you. You know, just say all the pablum that you would expect to come out of your mouth.
Here’s what I want to offer up instead. And for those of you at the manager level and above, this is a better way to answer. ‘It all really starts off with our
relationship with one another. If you can clearly communicate with me about what your wants are, I can deliver that message to my team. And thus work in ways that are congruent with what you’re attempting to accomplish. The more vague you are, the more we have to play guess what the right answer is, and that makes it hard to accomplish things. Now, what’s my part in this is part two of the question. And thus, part of my answer is pushing you as a manager, you as a leader, to give me clarity.
Number two is working with my team in order to accomplish things. So part of my job is to eliminate friction, and eliminate excuses that people have that impede them from getting results. Another thing is in terms of leadership style, displaying courage, authenticity, service to them and the organization, being honest with them, having them feel that I care, that I actually love them enough, so that we can all be effective together in accomplishing the goals. My job is to inspire them to excellence, just like yours is. And thus, my goal also is to hire exceptional people who care about their work. And not just simply people who can do the job. Inspired people always get better results. I don’t want to have to motivate them. And the difference between the two is motivation requires that you light a fire underneath someone. Inspiration is lighting a fire within someone. Sometimes I’ve seen organizations hire people who have incredible desire and drive, but put enough friction in their way that they lose their heart and soul for things. So part of my job, like I said, is eliminating friction. Part of my job is to hire people who want to do great work. Part of my job, as I said, is being courageous, authentic service, serving them and the organization, being honest, you get the idea.’
So giving an answer like that is far more powerful than just saying, ‘I want quality of life in the workplace. I think I can work in any place imaginable.’ Ho hum, and thus, you wind up losing because you’re no different than anyone else.
Hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. Visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us There’s a ton in the blog that will help you. In addition, you can schedule time for a free discovery call, a coaching session, interview coaching sessions, and find out about my courses, books, and guides. There’s just a lot there that’ll help you. Also connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day and be great!
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management or support with a workplace issue. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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