How To Ask About Company Culture in a Job Interview

Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their engaging book Nine Lies About Work have demonstrated through extensive international research with major companies that the idea of a company culture is “useful fiction” in that it can’t explain one’s experience of work. “So strong is our identification with our ‘tribe’ (team) that it’s hard for us to imagine that other people inside our company are having a completely different experience of ‘tribe’ than ours. Yet they are-and these local team experiences have far more bearing on whether we stay in the tribe (company) or leave it than do our tribal (cultural) stories.”

Why do I bring this up? When an interviewer asks you if you have any questions and you want to know what the culture is at the company you’re applying to ask him or her what the company has done to build great teams. “The team is the sun, the moon, and the stars of your experience at work.”

About Garrison Leykam, PhD:

• Certified Business Coach (Expert Level)
• Certified Remote Work Professional
• Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC)
• Certified Professional, Résumé Writer (CPRW)
• Certified Employment Interview Professional (CEIP)
• Certified Life Coach (Expert Level)
• PhD Marketing, MA Psychology
• LinkedIn profile in Top 25 MA, PhD profiles in U.S.
• Top 1% LinkedIn Industry Social Selling Index
• Author, Audacious at Any Age and Design You