Culture fit gets a lot of attention by hiring managers, interviewers, and recruiters. But what does that mean? It does not mean to hire everyone just like you, diversity is what makes companies stronger. Make sure you're not accidentally building a team of people who all think, look and act the exact same way. A variety of backgrounds, demographics, experiences, and personalities push teams to think outside the box and drive new ideas.
Cultural fit should be about alignment with the company’s values. Here at Reveal, we value team players. The Ideal Team Player, by Patrick Lencioni identifies Humble Hungry and Smart as key attributes of a team player. We have incorporated questions examining these traits into all our interviews.
- Humble team members are quick to point out the contributions of others, share credit and define success collectively versus individually.
- Hungry team members are self-motivated and driven and they are constantly thinking about the next step or next opportunity.
- Wise (Smart) team members have strong EQ and they are inter-personally appropriate and aware. Wise team members show good judgment in group dynamics as well as the impacts of their words or actions.
Every company should be clear on what their values are and how they contribute to the company’s mission. Every company is different, so what is important to our company may not be relevant to yours. Identify your top performers and what traits they share. For values to be planted into a company, executives must lead by example and follow their own ethics in order to possess the perfect employee. Use these to drive your search and guide your interview questions.
Share the company values and mission from the beginning of the interview process. A good cultural fit both ways makes for the most successful employee/company relationships. Fifty percent of employees leave their jobs due to a dissatisfaction with a cultural fit so in order to reduce your turnover, address the cultural fit from the beginning of your interview process.
Once you have established the company culture, mission and interview process, think about looking for cultural add. Take the cultural fit idea and push it to the next level. Seek out people with a variety of experiences and backgrounds who add to the organizational culture. The skills required for specific roles are important to success but without cultural add, you are limiting the value to be gained from that new employee.
