Being the Hare in a Tortoise’s Office

You may have heard the phrase, “Slow and steady wins the race.” This may be good advice for a box turtle racing a bunny rabbit, but for a woman in the business world who is known for her decisiveness and drive, it can be a pill impossible to swallow. If you are interested in making headway in your market while everyone around you is bent on sticking with the tried and true, your work style may be incongruous with your work environment.

Such disconnects between an established group culture and individual behavior styles can result in a challenging environment in which to work. In order to make the best of a difficult situation and advance your career, you must first understand the culture and then leverage its strengths. You must also be willing to work within the constraints and confines of your work culture.

If you are a highly driven career woman, the aforementioned work culture, which we’ll call a “steadiness culture,” has certain characteristics that may be helpful—but some may be downright disturbing. The cooperation and team focus of this work environment will work to your advantage, but its discouragement of innovation and change, coupled with a tendency to equivocate on tough decisions, will prevent you from achieving the results you want and need.

For example, if you are more likely to get results by making bold decisions and taking risks, you may find resistance within this culture. Your adventurous spirit can find a place here if you use a lot of patience, abandon any abrupt or gruff demeanor, and recognize that the soccer game of a coworker’s child is going to take priority over your new client proposal. You will benefit this organization by your willingness to take the risks that others will not. You will be successful in attaining your goals if you can show the team how it will benefit everyone—not just you. Be a leader by example. Taking the risks that other workers will not take proves to them that they are safe. Once you have tried these avenues, they become true.

If you are more of a socialite (a queen of networking, as it were), your behavioral style will bring enthusiasm to projects because you know how to get everyone excited and working together. You build community. Remember, though, that this culture embraces systems that provide dependable and reliable results. Your spontaneous expressive behavior can cause stress and uncertainty. Frustration will be felt by others on the team if they have to pick up the pieces of details you overlook. You will be more effective with this team if you ask for help from those who can easily create a workable plan around your idea. In this way you will gain more support because the team will see they will not be overburdened by your ideas.

If you are more of an analytical, just-the-facts type of worker, your rock-solid, detail-oriented tasks and analytical skills will be welcome in this environment. You will benefit the organization by insuring that each concept is as refined and coherent as possible. It will be your responsibility to make certain that expectations and boundaries are clear. Yet, this is a warm and fuzzy environment filled with people who are friendly. Your manner of delivery may be seen as cold and insensitive. In order to increase your effectiveness, remember that before a decision is made, consideration is first given to how it will impact the people involved. Give a thought to how you can deliver news or give constructive criticism in a way that, while not sugar-coated, is palatable to a steadiness culture. In this way, your thoughts will be heard and implemented, rather than fussed over or sidestepped.

Remember that members of this culture rely on cooperation, loyalty, and humility. They like to include everyone in decisions and victories. Their natural approach is to support each other and rely on systematic approaches to work. Polite, tactful behavior is key. If you are able to implement your strategies with these characteristics in mind, you will be able to function well within a steadiness culture and advance your company at the same time.