Culture Fits, Values, And Diversity
Take away tips on Creating a strong culturE…while leaving space for diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
The foundation of an organization’s culture is its mission, vision, and values. The way culture manifests in an organization is through leadership engagement, community, and rituals. If we are to create and maintain a strong organizational culture, it is critical that leaders understand how our values drive who we are, how we show up, and where we’re going.
How do you preserve a tight knit culture while engaging in diversity practices? These two concepts can unintentionally be at odds (as we talk about diversity in this blog - we refer to diversity in the context of protected classes, as well as diversity of thought and being).
“They’re not a culture fit.”
The phrase “they’re not a culture fit” is a commonly used phrase amongst leadership and people teams. “They’re totally qualified, but I just don’t think they’ll fit on our team - we have a good thing going on.” How might a “gut-oriented, non-culture fit” end up being someone who’s simply different than what we have on the team? Is it possible that our own unconscious biases might cause us to hire people “like us” thus, challenging the diversity that we’re seeking to create.
We all know diversity causes more opportunities, a wider range of solutions, ground breaking and innovative thinking. Could we be sabotaging the very thing that our organization needs by looking for “culture fits”?
What if we thought differently about finding a culture fit - and reframed our thinking to identify a “culture add”?
“What if we...reframed our thinking to identify a “culture add”?”
How would we execute that in an organization? Systematizing how we measure and engage in company values will align us to people and our desired culture while also supporting us in keeping our personal biases at bay. This will cause hiring managers to use objective measures rather than subjective opinions.
Here are some steps an organization can take in order to maintain and measure their value and culture while expanding diversity.
Define organizational values. What do the words mean? What do they look like in action? A helpful frame is to use a “we will…” statement.
What attributes or competencies do leaders need to have in order to lead to those values? Define them. What do they look like in action?
When recruiting to your organization - be crystal clear on the role and what success looks like. Clearly define the knowledge and skills needed to effectively do the job. What are the results expected of the role?
When recruiting to your organization - measure a candidate against your values. How have they previously represented those values in action?
Do not rely solely on “GUT” feeling. Gut can guide us and cause us to engage in curiosity around what is coming up for us with a particular individual or situation. However, engaging in the information outlined for the role and the values of the organization must drive these decisions. Saying a candidate doesn’t feel like a fit could very easily be an unconscious bias manifesting in how you or the organization hires.
Remember: data trumps drama.
Measure your culture and values regularly. Employee experience, leadership engagement,
Your culture is mission critical and remember, we (humans) are naturally flawed and have biases. Create systems to expand and ADD to the company culture. Be purposeful by leaning on a process to avoid unintended biases.