3 steps to hiring for the culture you want to create

Have you ever tried to change the culture of your organisation? Wouldn’t it be easier if you hired for culture fit in the first place?

Some of the consulting work we do centres around changing an organisation’s culture – something which is engrained and difficult to budge.

But what if you could set the culture from the moment you hire somebody?

If culture is ‘the way we do things around here’, then it’s not beyond your power to design it for your organisation.

One place to start is with your hiring and selection processes.

Technical ability and soft skills usually take pride of place when we hire.

While I don’t dispute these are basic and important, ignoring cultural fit can be where the seemingly perfect match comes unstuck. How can you avoid this trap?

1. Know what culture you want to create

What’s important to you in your work and your dealings with colleagues, clients and suppliers? How do you want the world to see your organisation?

There are as many answers to these questions as there are organisations!

One may focus on delivering their product or service as efficiently and inexpensively as possible.

Another may highlight the importance of staff engagement to deliver the best client and financial outcomes.

At Balance at Work, for example, we pride ourselves on how much we care about our clients and are known for going ‘above and beyond’ to help them achieve their objectives.

This attitude is the foundation of our culture and helps us identify who we want to attract, employ and work with daily.

2. Have a strategy for finding the right people

Once you’ve defined the culture you seek, it’s time to ensure you are seeking staff who align with your culture.

There are several parts of the recruitment and selection process that give you the opportunity to make decisions related to getting the best cultural fit:

• The advertisement: Make it reflective of your culture, not a cookie-cutter generic ad. Also, be honest. Only use the phrase ‘fun place to work’ if it actually is.
• Screening resumes: Look for experience, interests and skills that indicate a good fit, including those outside their employment. For example, if it’s important in your culture to help others, then look for volunteering. If teamwork is important, what have they done that shows it’s important to them too?
• Interview: The interview is your big chance to describe the culture and to ask questions specifically aimed at finding out more about cultural fit. Make sure you are using behavioural questions that give the candidate an opportunity to describe how they work.
• Objective assessments: Using psychometric surveys that cover values and motivations will help you see how well the candidate’s views align with your culture.
• Reference checking: Get in the habit of asking referees to describe the culture in the candidate’s previous or current workplace(s). Tip: you also need to ask the candidate why they wanted to leave. Often it’s the culture that has driven them away. If your culture is different, you now have a great way to attract them to work for you if they meet all your other selection criteria.

3. Get help

You can easily get feedback on your culture, what works and what doesn’t, from your existing staff and other stakeholders.

They’re also well-placed to help you identify what you need (and don’t need) in your new hires to build your desired culture. Some questions you could ask:

• How would you describe our culture to someone who doesn’t know our organisation?
• What are the qualities you think a person needs to be an excellent fit for our culture?

Armed with this information, you can then fine-tune your recruitment and selection processes to screen for cultural fit.

Want to create the culture of your dreams? It all starts with the right people.