One of the best ways to find out about a company is to ask about how it evolved. But those stories can be complex to understand, and this is where the company system can a really useful structure.
Understanding the evolution of individuals, teams, products, markets, and impacts have evolved can give a very comprehensive understanding of a company. The stories also reveal how decisions are made at an individual and team level across the organization. This can be a particularly helpful tool for new employees onboarding.
Some questions that can help reveal the company stories:
- How have you evolved inside the organization?
- For managers: What were some of the inflection points that led to your growth as a leader?
- What did this product look like before? What were some of the biggest features / capabilities added over the last few years?
- How did our understanding of the market evolve over time?
- How did our vision for what the company could be evolve over time?
There are I’m sure many others.