We’ve seen a lot of articles and research lately on hiring for culture fit and how it has come to the fore in importance.
I wanted to put in my 2c.
🎯 It belongs down the list somewhere, not at the top of it.
This should be self evident. You don’t want to hire somebody for a nuclear scientist role who happens to be a good addition culturally but has just finished up a gig as a folk singer in a bar in Kentucky.
🎯 you’ll never get total and absolute culture fit – and you don’t want to either.
I always find it quite amusing to read some companies’ statements on their culture, at times it feels a bit like “we wrote it so therefore it is”. And then there’s statements like “The customer always comes first” or “we collaborate” or “we’re outcome driven”. If you’re in Accounts Payable then the customer who pays comes first. Everybody else is open to torment. Typically good sales people aren’t collaborators, they’re highly independent, I want that person on my team. Just as I want somebody who is outcome driven. But if you’re in accounting, I absolutely need somebody who is process driven, not outcome driven. So there are two reasons for not wanting total and absolute culture fit. 1. because you should be looking for where they fit as it complements the role that they are hired to do. 2. see below.
🎯 “Culture add” has benefits too.
This goes back to what has suddenly become a contentious topic, DEI. It relates to it but it isn’t it. But suffice to say, if you are intent on hiring everybody who is outcome driven let’s say, you’re going to get an awful lot of bad accounting decisions as they didn’t follow the process. Or IT security, those people are masters and mistresses of governance, they need to be. Can you imagine putting one of your top salespeople in charge of that area? Good enough is absolutely not good enough whereas salespeople work on the premise of “imperfect action”. So let’s not just hire on culture fit but let’s look at the opportunitiess in culture add as well.
🎯 You can actually measure a person’s culture fit
Soooooo……let’s assume that you have a clear idea on what your corporate culture is. There are way too many cynics on Linkedin nowadays who love to think the worst but in my experience, my clients invest a lot of time in who they are as well as who they want to hire so if you are a cynic, stop it. Anyway, off my soapbox I go. Behavioral profiling allows you to see where the culture fit is and where the culture add is as well as where it just doesn’t matter.
🏅 This is the bit where the highly outcome driven owner of Gateway, a sales organization asks you if you’re currently putting any effort into identifying those elements and are you doing it scientifically and objectively or are you just guessing at interview?
🏅 If you want to see how we measure culture fit and add then drop me a note, 6 minutes of your life, that’s all I need.
