Culture is a Commitment
Here’s a controversial one. It is often said that companies should not hire for culture fit, because diversity is favourable and hiring should rather enrich the culture. I think companies should hire precisely for culture fit, and avoid hiring people that aren’t cultural matches.
At first, that sounds like a complete contradiction. I don’t think it is, especially when it comes to the diversity bit. Diversity of thought, when brought to a foundation that encourages healthy conflict (as in: conflict of ideas), can only be good. Diversity of culture, however, is detrimental.
A company’s culture is the sum of its actions and behaviours. If nurtured right, it is the very outcome of a well-understood and carefully picked set of cultural values. Hiring someone who disagrees with those can’t be right, because it would lead to a deterioration of the culture, rather than enriching it.
Disagreement with the culture, with the cultural values, is a no-go. Otherwise, what are those values worth to begin with? Consequently, when a company hires, it should hire people it expects to strengthen the culture, not weaken it.
That is independent of the aforementioned diversity of thought - the “foundation” bit above is key. This foundation is the culture. As long as there’s agreement with the culture, a broad variety of views and opinions can only grow the cultural strengths.
Tags: work