When taking a job brief from a client, one of the most commonly asked of key selection criteria is matching the correct ‘cultural fit’. The phrase is used so widely these days that then going on to define and describe the ideal employee cultural fit goes unspoken. It’s presumed. Perhaps, therefore, the meaning of ‘cultural fit’ for an individual team, section or even company, is lost or, at worst, unknown.
Let’s ‘unpack’ what we mean by cultural fit and in doing so, refine it’s meaning to be more digestible and understood.
By cultural fit we usually mean that the person ‘fits in’. Some examples: the person can dress appropriately to a client meeting yet also knows what to wear on casual Friday; they can make banter at the table tennis table but aren’t socially awkward when they meet a new staff member at their introductory morning tea; they can handle a call from a client out of the blue even if they don’t have the right answer; they know when to ask questions – and – when to research the answer themselves.
When we hire the right ‘culture fit’, it’s done in good faith, with the best of intentions. However, we don’t unpack cultural fit as frequently as we should; we presume that everyone knows what we mean. The re-action from this presumption results in lazy hiring– when we hire, what we actually do, is to choose people like ourselves – those we like, those who are alike because we think this is what we mean by cultural fit. Rest assured, we have all been guilty; it’s a natural choice – it makes us Homo Sapiens feel safe. If we like them and they like us, we will support each other. It’s a safe choice in the evolution of human beings, to ‘hang out’ with people who share the same ideas. It’s often unconscious.
Of course, the right thing is to hire based on a level of cultural fit. But understanding what we mean by that that is not only important, but critical. Essentially, cultural fit is finding those we work with successfully for the reasons above and many more.
Consider that one of the reasons Apple is so successful is their ability to innovate. Cultural fit is important here: getting cultural fit wrong, because teams don’t work as well together, leads to the exact opposite of innovation. Of course we want innovation. Innovation creates efficiencies and greater success. Get cultural fit right and you create a philosophy of innovation; get it wrong and you are going backwards. If your team or company can’t adjust, flex, be fluid in its delivery, the shelf life of the business becomes finite.
Back to our new recruit – the new employee makes a brilliant impression on their first day (wears a jacket, no tie, suitably coloured chinos and tan shoes), they breeze through IT and OH&S training, have a chat over a burger at the office local where you take them for their first lunch with the company – and the days whizz by into months. Fast forward 12-18 months and one hopes that the lunches are still just as entertaining. However, it’s sometimes not the case.
The danger of being stuck on cultural fit when hiring often plays out down the track, when the thrill of the new job has passed. When an employee is at the stage where they wake up one morning and consider just flunking a day of work and calling in sick, right then, that’s when culture counts. Culture is about the team; you don’t need the people then who just see eye to eye with their hiring manager, you need the people who respect each other (and respect their differences).
Too much of a good thing, too much common ground, too much back-slapping – is a bad thing. Too much of the same values, the same style, leads to mediocracy, leads to stagnation of ideas, leads to the exact opposite of innovation.
Innovation comes from someone willing to speak up and suggest something different to the status quo. This requires confidence from the individual and a culture of support from everyone else. It requires the idea-giver to feel comfortable feeling vulnerable; requires them to feel support from their leader in their speaking forward their idea. They need to feel that even if their proposal isn’t taken on, they will still be ‘one of the team’. A lack of confidence in volunteering ideas leads to the idea being withheld. The individual may have the idea, but they may not voice it. The next time, they may dismiss it. The time after, they may not even think it. By that stage, your team has lost trust – but worse than that, you’ve damaged culture.
A healthy level of support in the office isn’t bred from hiring the same types of people. People who live in the same area of the city, or who support a particular sports team, or who went to a particular university aren’t examples of cultural fit. The healthiest level of support comes from respect for the diversity of peers. So find people who respect differences, who challenge the status quo, as they will innovate.
When putting cultural fit high on the agenda when choosing new staff, be sure to have first considered what that actually means for you, for the team, for the company. To do this, you may need to revisit your purpose and think beyond or above what you might usually consider. You also need to think about the candidate’s ‘why’ – what is in it for them beyond a job that pays bills. It’s your job to ‘sell’ to them why you, your team or your company can meet their purpose, your ‘why’.
Where your ‘why's’ match, where there is common ground, that’s where you’ll find mutual respect. That’s where the candidate, your future employee, will feel supported – when you’re all going about your work with the same cause. That person is a true cultural fit. And teams like that allow innovation to flourish.
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