Hiring for fit may be stunting your company’s growth. Sure your company culture may be the bee’s knees now, but if you continue to scale, two years into the future your culture might not be recognizable. With that said, not everyone has a culture they can rave to their friends and family about and the fact that you do is something to write home about. However, in order to be a sustainable company organizations have to be willing to transform, balancing profit-centered business practices with people-centered business models.
People-centered organizations have mastered building amazing cultures. However, they take it a step further. What they do differently is identify the true vision of the organization and what paths should be taken to match its culture with its employees. Notice how they aren’t matching the employee to the culture. That’d be like fitting a square key through a round hole… impossible.
It’s Time to Move On
It’s only natural to want to protect the things about your company you value most, your culture. When you think about it, holding onto the past makes about as much sense as trying to preserve your youth. Your responsibility as an organization is to evolve rather than hold onto a memory of what once was in style.
Who remembers parachute pants? I mean honestly, were you planning on taking a trip to space? And forget about carrying a purse or wallet, there were plenty of pockets for storage. We’ve come a long way since then. Fashion is always changing and adapting as time goes on, and so too should your culture.
Embrace Individuality
From the time you enter school until well, the end of time, fitting in is a major concern. Is the status quo all it is cracked up to be? Fitting in is boring. Could you imagine if we were all the same? How unexciting and uneventful would that be? The same is true in business.
Fitting in is often a top criterion for many organizations when it comes to recruiting. This skewed way of thinking results in workforce homogeneity that curbs growth. To truly become a sustainable company you will need to embrace people from all walks of life. A growing business requires a whole new human capital. That’s right I said human capital, because it is humans that truly create value in growth in this world.
The CEO will need a head-strong sales force, creative and maybe a little eclectic marketing folks and even some data gurus. No two people will be the same, but that’s the best part. It’s unrealistic to think you can fit all these people into a similar mold. Be open to change, who knows, maybe some will bring a new dynamic to your organization; one that propels you to new heights.
Preserving your company culture may be what’s holding you back from exceeding organizational excellence. You should hire to enhance your culture rather than try to find someone to fit the mold; it just doesn’t work like that. As I said to begin this article, one size does not fit all.
