The Culture Culprit

By Hayden Jones
Managing Consultant

Some time ago, I had a friend who was a successful manager in what I like to call a Midwest Mother Mutual (a nurturing insurance company). He had worked his way up from junior underwriter to become the underwriting manager. He was liked by his employees, the sales staff, and his peers. So, when he announced he was leaving for an underwriting vice presidency at another company, we were disappointed that he was leaving.

A year later, we were very surprised to learn that he was looking to leave the new position and was willing to step back in order to expedite his departure. We all asked the same question: “How could someone labeled ‘successful’ in our company move to ‘disaster’ in less than a year?” Why had he failed in the move? I looked for an answer.

I concluded that there were three basic elements that must be considered in making a move to a new company. (As Andy Rooney might say, “There may be more, but these three are mine.”) They are:

1. Skills and knowledge
2. Management/leadership ability
3. Culture fit

Technical skills and knowledge include industry knowledge as well as process and functional skills and knowledge. In insurance, this equates to being familiar with industry trends and the various products being marketed and sold. There is also a need for understanding the core insurance processes, including acquisition, retention, claims, customer service, and the various support services. And finally, functional (technical) skills and knowledge are necessary in underwriting, rating, claims, and/or other functions within the organization.

Often, the interested company will spend a great deal of time questioning the applicant’s abilities along these lines. The company will want to be certain that the applicant does, in fact, have the skills and knowledge to be effective in the job under consideration.

In addition to the applicant’s technical skills, the company will want to discuss the applicant’s background in an attempt to develop a clear understanding of his/her management/leadership ability. They will want examples of the applicant’s work in planning, controlling, and monitoring, as well as results delivered by the applicant. This continual probing over a series of interviews builds a confidence that leads to a job offer.

The applicant, before deciding to accept the position, will often seek answers to questions that they feel are crucial before they can make a decision to accept the position. The answers they seek usually include descriptions of the job responsibilities, salary, bonus programs, benefit packages, job titles (a vice presidency always attracts), and moving packages. Too often, the job is offered and accepted with no consideration of the third element in a successful career change—culture fit.

In most screening and interviewing processes, the company’s culture is never mentioned, questioned, or described. Too often, successful, qualified new hires quickly become failures because they were not able to understand and adapt to the culture of their new company. They assumed their skills, knowledge, and their past behavior (which got them where they were) would continue to make them successful. My friend had moved from a Midwest Mother Mutual, where he had been cared for and watched over by the company, to an East Coast Eat-Your-Young culture. What questions should he have been asking about the culture when he interviewed?

Here are 10 simple ones:

1. Does the company provide insurance or does the company provide jobs?
2. Does taking risks bring rewards or punishment?
3. Are co-workers friends from 9 to 5 or 24/7?
4. Do employees (at various levels) interact and/or socialize?
5. How are decisions made? From the top down? By consensus? By no one?
6. How does the company define success? By real goals or making friends?
7. Is helping a co-worker in trouble a sign of strength or weakness?
8. Is the atmosphere more “Team” or “Me”?
9. Does the company culture assume that all employees are workaholics?
10. Does authority come with responsibility?