What's your ideal work environment?
You've definitely been asked this in an interview and it's something you absolutely need
to know if you're trying to build career success.
So what is your dream workplace?
In this video, I'm going to help you uncover it.
Hello, and welcome back to my channel where I help you slay your career and cultivate
the successful life you want. We've all had it before the "What's your ideal work environment?"
interview question. Outside of being able to describe it in an interview setting, you probably
haven't put a lot of thought into it - and even then you've probably just taken the bad
advice to describe the company that you're interviewing with. Having an ideal work
environment answer is one of the critical elements of career success, and it's one that far
too many professionals neglect. When you know you're setting for success, it makes it
so much easier to succeed. So in today's video, I'm going to ask you five questions that are
going to get you crystal clear on your ideal workplace.
And make sure to stay all the way to question five, because it's a question that you probably
haven't been asked before.
The first question I have for you is, what is your ideal working location?
This sounds really obvious, but it's something that a lot of people either overlook,
or misevaluate. You probably already know, if you're an office person, or if the thought of
having to work in an office for eight hours a day and be chained to your desk makes you
want to pull off your skin. But one thing that most people don't actually consider is the ability
to work on-site versus the ability to work remote. And if they want to work on-site, what
are the important qualities for their working space for them to be able to thrive?
Now it's interesting, I actually spent the vast majority of my career in the tech industry.
And once upon a time ago, working from home was a really big trend, it was one of the biggest
assets that every company needed to offer in order to attract the best talent. However,
in the past few years, there actually seems to be a trend in the opposite direction.
A lot of big companies and small companies in tech alike have decided that being
on-site is an absolute mission critical element for their employees, and they now require
it outside of extreme circumstances. When you're considering an opportunity or a work
environment you need to figure out which one is actually best for you. I know in theory
that working from home sounds awesome. You got to work in your pajamas and watch
your stories while you work. But if that's actually your attitude, that's a great indicator
that working from home is not for you. Similarly, there is a trend towards open office spaces.
And if you find open office spaces to be really distracting, that might be something that
you want to consider when you're considering joining a new company, if that is the setting
that there is. On the other hand, you may find that cubicles are your own personal hell.
No matter what though, as you consider the different settings and locations that you
could potentially work in, there is one thing that I really want you to be clear on.
And that is to differentiate between what is great for you in theory, and what is great for you
in practice. Some people are able to focus best at home, some people are able to focus
best in the office, and some people need to have both options available to them.
I personally fall into that camp where I need to be able to wake up and in a day to day basis,
I need to be able to make a decision of where I'm going to be most productive to get the
most work done. But this is the first and fundamental thing that you need to square away.
You can simplify this by defining if you do your best work in an office or your best work
remote and go from there into question two which is considering the company culture.
And really what I'm saying is considering the company values.
Now if you watched my video last week, you hopefully already have a jumpstart on your values.
If you've already created your professional mission statement and gone through the value
process to uncover them all link it down below just in case you missed it. Now armed with
your values, it's important for you to align those with the values of the company that you
are potentially joining. For example, if you value risk-taking and adventure, working for
a highly analytical and methodical company is probably not going to be the place that
you're going to be able to do your best work and be super appreciated. If you haven't already
gone through the practice of uncovering your values, thinking about the qualities that
make you thrive. What's really important to you that you want to have in common with
your colleagues. For example, does kindness make your heart sing? Are you dependent on
being in a transparent environment? Is tenacity something that you really value in yourself
and your colleagues? Knowing what your values are and how they align with the company
that you are potentially going to work for is going to help you land in your ideal work environment.
That said, assessing the company's values isn't always so cut and dry.
Now some larger companies already have professed values, you can find them on their website,
you can find testimonials here on YouTube about them. And when you talk to people that
might really be living by them. However, if you're working for a less mature organization,
what you might find is that their values actually have not been defined, or they may have
defined values that aren't actually consistent with them. So what this means is if you're
watching this video, because you're currently interviewing and you're preparing to answer
the what is your ideal work environment question, you need to potentially do a little bit
more groundwork to understand the values of the company and how they line up with your
own. And there's a ton of ways that you can do this including asking those questions and
interviews, looking on Glassdoor, and more. I know a lot of people think that this is fluff.
However, when there is a misalignment in terms of values, it is something that you're going to feel.
And on the flip side, when there is complete alignment, you're going to find that cultivating
career success is so much easier when you're in the right workplace.
The third question that you need to answer in order to uncover your ideal work environment is
what size of company are you looking for, and what what level of formality
helps you succeed at work? Now while these aren't exactly the same thing, I've actually
clumped them together, because in general, you are going to find that there is a correlation
between the size of the company and the formality that's required. Now, I'm not
necessarily talking about dress code, especially if you work in tech, it's going to be
casual across the board. What I'm actually talking about is essentially the level of bureaucracy
that you're going to encounter. So how hierarchial is the company? How many levels of
approvals do you need to go through? So it's those types of formalities and processes that
are going to differentiate a big company and a small company. Now, the reason this is a
really important question for you to get clear on is it's going to help you avoid feeling like
you've acquired a job that fits like skinny jeans, which leave you with a severe case of muffin top.
Different company sizes are going to offer different benefits to you.
Big companies are amazing if you crave stability, if you want to be able to consistently find answers.
And if you don't want to be inventing any wheels. At big companies, there is likely already
a process for everything, they've gone through all of the scaling pain points to figure it out
and in and in general life is going to be very well defined in terms of what you do your
expectations and how you interact with others. It is essentially a well oiled machine.
Now on the other side of the spectrum, we have small companies or startups, these can
range really greatly in terms of how they function, especially as you consider the different
industries if it's tech, if it's like a mom and pop shop, things like that. But in general, you can
expect a lot less structure, a lot less bureaucracy, and a lot more flexibility in terms of
what you do. This can be great, especially if you're someone who likes to wear multiple
hats and likes to make really big impact in terms of scope. However, there is the other side
of working in a startup or a small company. And that is that leadership might not be as mature.
And if you're in a startup that is VC funding dependent, there may be less stability associated
with that. Because if they're not operating profitably, they are dependent on their next
round in order to sustain their business. Then there's the in between, which is a mid-sized
company, and even things like later stage startups. Now mid-sized companies actually
have some of the benefits of both big and small companies. So there is going to be more
maturity in most cases. However, if they're still in growth phase, there's probably still a lot of
and a lot of opportunity within that company for you to make an impact. So which one is right
for you? The answer this question is actually a moving target, because this is something that
is going to change over the course of your career. I've worked with people who have actually
defined that a mid stage startup with between 30 and 1,000 people is best for them right now.
And then as they progress, they've decided that they needed to grow up, and they need to
work for an enterprise company, or they've gone the other way, and they've joined a company
with less than 50 people. So don't worry about defining your ideal workplace in terms of
company size and think that is going to stay the same forever, because it absolutely isn't.
However, if you right now in your career, you would like more guidance, you would like more
support, you would like more access to resources and training, a bigger company might be
the best option for you. However, if you're someone who wants to really take a big risk,
if you like to learn by just getting in there, getting your hands dirty, without any guidance,
and just figuring it out a startup might be a great place for you. No matter what you define
as your ideal workplace right now, I do want to just add one word of caution to you.
And that is to be honest with yourself. I've met a lot of professionals that felt like they
needed to do something that was more on trend with the zeitgeist of the time. For example,
working in an early stage startup is a little bit trendy. However, this is going to pan out for
you most if you join a unicorn, but let's be real, most of those companies are not going to
become unicorns. And if it's not the right work setting for you to actually establish a success,
stressful career and be your best, it's going to be the wrong place for you.
And it's not going to last no matter what. So be super honest with yourself in terms of your needs.
It's going to save you world of headaches, and it's going to help you accelerate your
career the way that you probably want to.
The fourth question to ask yourself is what you need in terms of work life balance.
Knowing what you want to put into work and what your personal requirements are,
is essential. So maybe you really love what you do. And you're totally stoked to do it for
60 hours or more a week, maybe you would do the work for free. But on the flip side, if you
have other things going on, you're trying to run a try out the line, you have kids that are
walking in the door (right now), you have other ideas, maybe you have a side gig, or you just
really enjoy throwing pottery, and those are things that are really important to you that
you need to make sure that you have time for, you need to have that defined, because all of
those things are going to be strong indicators that having reasonable work hours, and maybe
even potentially some flexibility here schedule are going to be essential factors for your
ideal work environment. Again, there's no right or wrong answer. And this is going to be something
that fluctuates over time, however, you want to make sure that you're very clear and honest
with yourself in terms of what your actual work life balance needs are. The fifth question to
ask yourself is what level of autonomy do you need in order to be successful? And to illustrate
this point, let me tell you the tale of two professionals. The first professional when I began
working with her, told me that her biggest obstacle at work was the lack of attention from
her manager, they had bi-weekly one on ones, they had a weekly team meeting, and he sat
in the same office within her general vicinity. However, she didn't feel like she was getting
the support and guidance that she really needed to grow in her role, the way that she wanted to.
And while she liked him, she didn't think he was doing a particularly great job as a manager.
Another client I had was in a similar role at a similar stage startup, her and her manager
actually sat in different location. She actually went more than eight weeks without speaking
to him with the exception of a few emails where she needed his direct input on something or
he needed input directly from her. She told me he was the best manager she had ever had.
So what was the difference between these two?
The difference between these two was really the level of support that they needed in order
to do their jobs in a way that they felt like they were growing and successful. One wanted
regular input and guidance, she actually wanted to be micromanaged because that was
what was going to give her the confidence that she needed to go out there and just absolutely
crush it in her job. And the other one just needed freedom to do her job, she felt like
having space was going to be how she would be able to best perform, she was able
to go out do things, learn from her mistakes, and didn't feel like she was being constantly
judged. Now, these are two very far ends of the spectrum. But you probably sit somewhere
in between the two in terms of what you actually want in terms of leadership, and autonomy
in your role. The reason why this is so important to understand about yourself is that once
you've defined this element of your ideal work environment, it's going to help you assess
the leadership style of the company that you're potentially joining, as well as the manager
who you will potentially be working for this obviously super important if you're heading
into an interview and preparing to answer that interview question right now. However,
if you're currently at a role, and you just want to understand your ideal work environment
in general, this can actually help you have a conversation with your manager about how
they can better help you. Are you someone who would benefit from having additional
guidance and inputs from your manager? Or would it be better if they actually stepped
away a little bit? Help guide them in how in terms of how they can better lead you. A lot
of managers are just going to assume that there is one way of leading and it is the way
that they like to be led. Obviously, that's not true. But the more that we can foster the
conversation in terms of how we can be successful and how they can help get us there,
the easier life is going to be for all of us, and the more ideal your workplace will be.
And once again, I do want to remind you not to judge yourself in terms of how you answer this.
Micro-management gets a really bad rap. I personally feel micromanaged as soon as
someone actually starts managing me, and I don't like it. However, I've worked with
people who absolutely thrive when they have that regular check in. And it doesn't mean
that you're a bad person. One of the most talented people that I've ever worked with has
been one of the people that just needed higher touches from her manager and wanted
additional input and validation. It's how she got the confidence to go out there and be an
absolute badass. The important thing here and with all of the points that I'm making today,
is to be really true to who you are. One of the things that I think is really botched when we
think about our ideal workplace is we're thinking too much about what a personality test
says, or what the company's website says they are, and we're just trying to answer accordingly.
Or we're just really hopping onto the trends. Whether it's working for a startup, whether
it's working for a bank, I don't know, like it depends on your industry.
But when you're not being true to yourself, what is going to end up happening is if you're
not in your ideal work environment, you are ultimately not going to be in the best setting
for your success, which is what we really want to focus on. If you're not in the right setting
for you to succeed, you're going to waste time shrinking instead of succeeding where you
were actually meant to be. If you're navigating this for the first time, I know it can be really
challenging for you to get clarity on these different questions so that not only can you
answer the question of what is your ideal workplace, but also for you to just understand
what your ideal work environment is, so that you can make sure that you're making
decisions according to where you know, you're going to do best.
And that is exactly why I created the Strive Squad, my private group on Facebook,
if you want to come and join us there if you have any questions about ideal work environment,
or if you just want more regular career success advice, I post very frequently there,
we have weekly live Q&A. It's all sorts of fun if you want and it's absolutely free.
And you can check it out using the link down below.
Now if you've gone through this video, and you know what is your ideal work environment,
I would love to know drop into the comments. And if this video have to gain clarity on
your ideal work environment, go ahead and click that like button. Not only does it let me
know that you liked videos like this, it also really helps my channel and I greatly appreciate it.
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as soon as I upload a new video every Tuesday.
In my next video, I'm going to be sharing tips on how you can stop worrying at work.
I know you're not going to want to miss it. In the meantime,
thank you for being unapologetically ambitious for dedicating this time to accelerating
your career and for watching this video.
I'll see you next time. Bye for now.