To Fit or Not to Fit

Organizational Culture Fit

Last week, I attended two webinars.  One was entitled, ‘Hiring for Team Fit’ by Ann Hogan Consulting, the other, SnackNation’s ‘2017 State of Company Culture.’  While many of us (myself included) are trying to hire folks for our organizations who will ‘fit’ and mesh well with our cultures, we might wish to take a step back and reflect on this for a while.

SnackNation made the point that “Myth #2 – Culture is all about hiring for the “right fit” and finding people who all get along.  Reality: Neither your culture nor your company benefit from an organization of only like-minded people.

Hmm…I thought organizational culture fit = retention of our talent, no?

SnackNation states: “In fact the opposite is true. Your organization benefits from a diverse team who bring in outside viewpoints that augment your culture with new ideas, rather than entrench existing biases. Diversity helps you eliminate blind spots and pitfalls like group think.  Likewise, a healthy level of dissent is necessary to arrive at the right solution, not just the one of least resistance.  Think of it this way – culture isn’t the absence of problems, culture is the way you solve problems.”

While this appears to make sense, will ‘different-minded’ people be satisfied and/or engaged in an organization where they may be perceived as ‘outliers’ by others?

If culture is the way an organization solves problems, and ‘different-minded’ people help solve problems quicker, better, and, perhaps, in a more cost-effective manner, will that trump whether they will be accepted and ‘fit’ (and play) well with others?

That’s the $64,000 question.  Think back to a time when you were working on a project team where someone’s contributions and style were quite different than yours and others.  If we’re truly honest, at times, particularly under tight deadline pressures, some might have found the ‘different-minded’ person to be a bit irritating at best, and a down right ‘know-it-all’, at worst.

And how might this same person feel about the team or organization he/she joined if some or all of the team did not appear to truly value his/her contributions?

This brings us back ‘full circle’, where if an individual does not feel some level of value, connection, and inclusiveness with the team and organization, over time, they may well leave – and then nobody wins.

Is it possible to find a ‘happy medium’ or the ‘sweet spot’ of ‘different-mindedness?’  How do other teams and organizations, who successfully engage ‘different-minded’ individuals do it?

Today, we have four generations in our  workplaces, which, on the surface, one would think might offer some measure of different-mindedness, so, in effect, maybe we’re not so ‘like-minded’ to begin with?

What do you think?

the HRmeister