company culture – Page 2 – Growing Forward

When’s the last time you thought about applying for a new job?

Truth is, much like the cliche “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side,” it may not be your job that’s actually frustrating you.

The reason culture is king and position is queen is because the former rules over the latter.

Let’s say you land your dream job, but the culture is so toxic you end up quitting?

On the other hand, step into a company culture where you feel valued and working your way up doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

As a career coach, here are the implications: don’t just apply for positions, apply to companies you want to work for. If you get into the right cultural fit, it’s fairly easy to move up as an internal candidate.

That means as a job seeker (passive or active) you should be targeting companies you want to work for as much as positions you qualify for. The corporate world is evolving and what forward-thinking companies realize is: if you take care of your employees, they will in-turn take care of your customers.

In this day and age you and I have a plethora of choices.

A.D.D. isn’t a disorder, it’s the norm.

That means as workers, you have options.

Purpose and passion have been replaced by lifestyle as the driver…and culture supports that.

Lifestyle matters.

Not only that, but it’s a driver. Let me explain.

Work-life balance isn’t achievable unless you start viewing your professional and personal life as one. If you’re unhappy at work, you’re going to be unhappy at home (same goes for vice-versa). Therefore the biggest “perk” you can receive is flexibility, also known as control of the way you spend your time.

Use Millennials as an example. One of their most treasured entities is travel. There’s not one particular destination that is preferred, instead work “book-ends” vacations.

Having kids may limit the frequency of trips, but the focus of time-off shifts to family. Ideally school and work schedules coincide to maximize time spent together. On the other hand, if you’re married to your career, you’re better off being single these days.

In both examples above there is one constant: lifestyle. As so beautifully stated in Flexibility: The New Definition of Success, the meaning of work now is to: support your desired lifestyle.

Smart companies get this. You can give people all the perks in the world, but if they don’t have autonomy (otherwise known as trust), they’ll eventually leave to find it.

Lifestyle has even caused a seismic shift in entrepreneurship. Scaling, growth and more profit aren’t assumed goals anymore. More families are starting businesses simply to provide a means to survive together. The term lifestyle entrepreneur shouldn’t be looked down upon anymore because the rules of being an entrepreneur have changed.

In previous articles I cover remote working quite a bit because it supports the shift to lifestyle as a motivator. Just like company culture can be more important than landing your dream job, lifestyle is no longer a means to an end, but an end in itself.