I had the pleasure of running a session for a selection of Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions and Young Eco Champions this week.
Art4Agriculture does an amazing job of training young people in the agricultural and natural resource management sectors to speak and engage with confidence, particularly with urban audiences.
I was asked to speak to a select group who, after their training, are now looking to step up into industry or career leadership roles.
Jamberoo, NSW - an inspiring workshop location
Being selected for the Art4Agriculture programs means they have already demonstrated their ability to present well in writing and at the interview stage. So, I decided to focus on giving them an edge in achieving their goals by adding an understanding of values and culture to their kit.
The words values and culture are so over-used these days; they’ve almost become meaningless. But they underpin (sometimes sub-consciously) almost all decisions made by selection panels and recruiters. So it’s important to understand how they contribute to success.
This is some of what I shared with them....
Understand and align your values
What drives you? What attitudes define you?
Values are important and lasting beliefs that influence your behavior in certain situations and circumstances. In a corporate/organisation context it may be shared ideas of what is desirable or undesirable.
Grab a list of values, like this one here and try and determine what’s important to you. You can then use this list to align your values to those being expressed by the organisations / companies you are targeting.
Identify the culture
Aligning your values is a key way of determining whether you will fit the culture.
Corporate culture is often articulated on company websites and tends to include words like integrity, respect, flexibility, accountability, safety and sustainability.
But the real culture is often not defined; it’s implied and develops organically over time. The major contributor to culture is people and it is the cumulative traits of people hired over time that will shape culture.
Recent media coverage of US research found top-tier banking, consulting and law firms are recruiting entry-level positions based on “cultural compatibility.” That is, someone who will fit in. Therefore, those candidates with a 100% match on education, skill sets and experience, may miss out to someone with an 80% skills match, but who is a better cultural fit.
So, combine the fact that culture is built by the cumulative traits of people being hired / chosen and that people tend to select successful candidates based on cultural compatibility and you should have a pretty good indicator of your chances of success anywhere.
It’s not about ME. It’s about THEM.
So, when you miss out on an opportunity, don't beat yourself up. It's not about you, it's about them. This means you need to stop thinking about yourself and what you want, and instead think about them and what they want.
Start asking yourself questions like:
What sorts of people succeed there?
What do they want from the successful candidate?
Why would they want to attach their brand to me?
What return will they get on their investment in me?
How will I benefit them?
Will I fit in?
Use the answers to these questions to craft your application. Find out who is making the decisions and try and get a sense of the people that tend to be selected, then sell yourself in a similar way. The more you can start to think like the recruiter or selection panel member, the better targeted your applications will be.
Note that I am not advocating changing who you are to fit in somewhere. Rather, once you have determined you support their values and fit their culture, ensure you articulate that somehow.
Use your network
Understand that websites are an amazing (free!) resource to research values and culture, but it is your networks that will provide the best insights. Remember websites are a public relations tool and will not tell you if senior management are control freaks who never promote Arts graduates.
I always leave these workshops inspired about the future of agriculture and look forward to watching these young people’s careers take off!
* Thanks to a bunch of Twitter pals who helped me craft some messages via their feedback on what leadership looks like these days.
