Interviewing for Organisational Culture Fit

Most of us ask interview questions based around skills and experience

Some of us ask interview questions based on past behaviour because we’re trying to predict future behaviour and uncover attitude. 

It’s less common though, to find an interviewer who asks questions to determine cultural fit as well as behavioural fit. 

To interview for cultural fit, you first have to be able to describe your organisational culture. Then you have to determine how to test for alignment with that culture.

One of the best ways I’ve found to identify and describe organisational culture, with a view to formulating cultural-fit interview questions, is The Predictive Index’s quadrant framework:

Quadrant 1: The Exploring Culture

Companies who have a clear exploring culture are, at their hearts, creators and innovators. These organisations are nimble, flexible, and creative. They are not about perfection, but rather thrive from learning as they go, taking risks, and opening other’s eyes to new ways of doing things.

Quadrant 2: The Cultivating Culture

A true cultivating culture is centred around developing people, not around the perks and benefits of working at the organisation. Working in this organisation is like being part of a large family; people are personally invested in each other and go out of their way to develop and support each other. 

Quadrant 3: The Stabilising Culture

Stabilising cultures value reliability, efficiency and scalability. Days are orderly, consistent, and predictable. These organisations are about doing things right and on time, following established practices that have proven successful time and time again. Structure and control are seen as welcome necessities to ensure the success of the business. 

Quadrant 4: The Producing Culture

These companies want to win. Employees who work in a producing culture are driven to be on top and see competition as a way of life. Goals are exceeded and then pushed higher to ensure they can claim the best of the best. At the heart of a producing culture, there’s a burning desire to bring 110% of yourself and beat the competition. 

Which of the quadrants best describes your organisational culture?

And how do you then craft interview questions to test for alignment, once we’ve identified the culture?

Here are a couple of sample questions you can ask, based on the culture you’ve identified. If you’d like examples of more questions that will help you select candidates who are a good cultural fit, just comment “interview questions” below and I’ll shoot you our Interview Guide for Cultural Fit.

Exploring culture sample question:

Tell me about a time you had to change directions quickly. How did you respond? What was the outcome?

Cultivating culture sample question:

How do you like to be recognised? How do you go about recognising others?

Stabilising culture sample question:

How do you ensure the quality of your work?

Producing culture sample question:

How do you set goals for yourself and ensure that you meet them?

Join the discussion: if you’ve got some questions you’ve successfully used to test for cultural fit, please contribute to the discussion below.