The Fourth Factor - The Right Match

Why:
Hiring the right people is one of your most important leadership tasks. You must align your hiring process with your intended culture.

Objective:
Ensure that all new hires “fit” your culture.

How:
1. Document behaviors that fit your directives.

Hopefully you’ve already done this as part of "State the Directives" (Chapter 10). This list is the foundation for hiring for culture fit.

2. Use the list to develop interview questions which allow you to explore how the candidates have applied those behaviors in their work.

For example, if one of your behaviors is "We admit our mistakes and ask for help when we need it." Then one of your interview questions might be "Tell me about a time when you made a mistake that might impact the team's timeline or a co-worker’s project. How did you handle it?" These behaviorally-based questions will help you see how the candidate’s style and beliefs will fit with your culture.

3. Brief members of the interview team regarding their task in assessing culture fit.

Just as each interviewer may be exploring different facets of the functional or technical fit, each should have an area of culture fit to explore. They'll use the question you developed in Step 2 to do that.

4. Hold an interview debrief meeting after all interviews have been conducted.

Be sure that there is time in the meeting to discuss your observations about culture fit with as much attention and focus as the technical/functional fit. Encourage interviewers to give specific examples of why they believe the candidate is or isn’t a good fit. This part of the process not only helps ensure you make the right hiring decision, but it also demonstrates how important these behaviors are to you.