Companies obsessed with ‘cultural fit’ risk becoming cult-like

Great company culture is an important drawcard for potential employees. Companies with great culture tend to have staff with value alignment. Employees demonstrate open communication, mutual respect, shared goals, and a commitment to company objectives.

Studies show that employees with values that match the company values are more productive, contribute to the organisation and build stronger workplace connections.

Which all leads to the hiring obsession with ‘cultural fit’. Because employing the right candidate has a significant impact on company culture, profits AND the happiness of existing staff. Many of us have experienced the effect of negative or toxic colleagues or bosses. I once had a colleague who was unrelenting negative about almost everything, for example she once spent 10 minutes complaining about how they’d sold out of roast chicken at the shops the night before so she had to make something else for dinner. Another former colleague would make frequent inappropriate comments about what the women in our office were wearing. We would all prefer to work somewhere that’s a good cultural fit but if companies aren’t careful, cultural fit can twist into company conformity which isn’t healthy.

Why the obsession with cultural fit?

Back in the 1970s a research paper introducing the concept of cultural fit theory was introduced. The paper suggests individuals and organisational environments vary in their needs, values, and cultures, leading to differing levels of compatibility or misfit. The paper concluded that people are more comfortable and enjoy work more when they work with people who have similar interests and personalities as them. Multiple businesses mistakenly took that to mean that teams with similar interests and personalities would achieve more at work. However this isn’t actually the case.

The power of difference

As Shane Snow highlights in this fantastic Forbes article from a few years ago highlights, “You don’t want culture fit. What you need is culture add. The distinction between these two things makes the difference between a great culture and… well, a cult:”

Organisations should be hiring for cognitive diversity and not uniformity as is too often the case. Companies may be concerned that too many different perspectives and personalities may lead to conflict. However, as Shane Snow points out “a bit of cognitive friction turns out to be the very thing that helps groups of disparate people become more than the sum of their parts!...

With different ways of thinking comes different interests and personalities. With that comes more discomfort. But in the same way that exercise without discomfort leads to zero growth, a team without cognitive discomfort limits its own potential.”

Once hired these employees should be encouraged to share their unique perspectives rather than being pushed to conform with a narrow and accepted way of thinking. You don’t want to simply replicate what you have, you want to harness new ideas and perspectives. Hiring staff with company value alignment but diverse personalities is highly beneficial for innovation and productivity.