Culture Club - Business Style & Profile

Business culture is the style and personality of a company. There are many types of culture that mostly depend on the size of company and type of industry in which it operates.

For example working in creative fields such as fashion, music and the arts can be quite unstructured in terms of career development as you may be self-employed or employed on a contractual basis. These industries can be notoriously low paid compared with working in financial services sector. However our colleagues in this sector are under government scrutiny and heavy regulation which means they most certainly have a policy and procedures manual for every eventuality. Their sector will definitely be a culture of conservatism and structure.

What you need to discern and to make the most of your career is, does your company culture match your personal style, personality and career goals?

You need to ask yourself several questions to ensure your company’s culture will enhance your personal growth rather than hinder it.

- Do you prefer to work with the reassurance of a policy and procedures manual or would you like to re-write the rule book?
- Does your dress sense match that of your colleagues and superiors or are you considered ‘a little different’ by teammates?
- Get a little abstract and think of your company as a drink and then ask yourself – would you drink it? If not, why not?

For instance if your ambitions want to take you to top of your field but you work in a structured environment, then you will need to play by the rule book. You may need to climb up every rung of the ladder. If that isn’t you, then you may experience problems in the long-term and feel unhappy in your job.

However for those in more flexible and fluid operations, particularly in small businesses you may not have much career growth in that there aren’t really any promotions but gain immense experience very quickly in a range of different areas. That can be great fun, the excitement of not knowing what will happen from one day to next and having to develop new material or very draining and stressful depending on your expectations and personality.

On the positive side, whatever type of culture your firm offers, whether good or bad, you’ll know exactly what you want or don’t want in your next job!