Five Thoughts on Including Culture in Your HR Process

5 Minute Read…

There are few things more frustrating as a leader than the realization you’ve made a hiring mistake.

Let’s be clear: Not everyone struggling to contribute within the organization is a hiring mistake. For some, the organizational growth out-paced their personal development. For others, a new reporting structure or organizational transformation created the problem.

But there are some that, if we are honest, we never should have hired.

Those are hiring mistakes.

As a hiring manager, we want to ensure we hire great people to do great work in a great way. We often call it the three “C’s” of hiring:

Character

Competency

Chemistry

Some like to add one or two more “C’s,” like “calling” or “convictions,” but for now, let’s stick with these three.

Character is relatively straightforward. Do the applicant’s values and integrity align with your organizational values?

Competency is simple to assess, as well. Does the applicant possess the skills necessary to be successful in the role? Or, does the applicant display the ability to grow and learn the skills required for success?

Then we have chemistry. Chemistry is cultural, and hence the problem. Too often, we assume this “C” references the applicant’s personality. Do we like them? Do we want to answer the phone when they call? But chemistry and culture are deeper than personality. There are plenty of people you may like who would become your next hiring mistake.

Chemistry is difficult to ascertain in an interview because most organizations have never defined their culture. I’ve previously written about culture here and discussed how to define and document your culture here. Read these first if you have a moment.

Here are the cliff notes:

1. Culture is not what we do but how we do it.
2. Understanding culture is critical for organizational success. Defining culture is crucial for staff success.
3. Writing down your unwritten rules is how you define culture. This document describes how you do what you do while providing interviewers actual questions and insight into a candidate’s preferred culture.

Bottom Line: An organization must define its culture to hire for chemistry.

Let’s assume you’ve done the hard work of writing down your unwritten culture rules. You have a culture document in hand. Now what?

Here are four suggestions for incorporating culture into your HR processes:

1. Draft Culture Questions

We’re all familiar with behavioral-based interview questions. Creating culture questions is similar, but with your culture defined, now you can ask interviewees specifically about how they like to work. Here are a few examples I like to use (keep in mind, I lead a church):

• • Being on staff at a church puts you under a community microscope. How do you plan to live above reproach?
  • In the past, how have you set an example for those following your lead?
  • What is the most challenging part of receiving feedback?
  • Tell me about a time you helped make something better? What did you specifically do? How did you go about the effort?
  • What’s one thing you would like to learn?
  • How do you define success?
  • We all tend to lean toward relationships or results. Which is most natural for you? How do you ensure you lean in the other direction at times?
  • Tell me about a person you helped develop?

2. Divide Up The List

No doubt your culture definition will include more than one value. At Woodstock City Church, we have four core cultural statements that define how we work together. When you are interviewing applicants, divide up these cultural elements among several of the interviewers. This seems basic, but allowing an interview to focus upon one or two cultural aspects helps ascertain the interviewee’s cultural fit.

3. Compare Interview Notes

This should go without saying, but just in case, it’s wise to gather with each interviewer and specifically compare notes on the applicant’s cultural fit. Remember, culture is not good or bad, but people will do good or bad within your culture. If a person doesn’t naturally fit your culture, they will better serve in another organization. Helping people thrive is essential for them and us.

4. Refuse to Hire Outside of Your Culture

I’ve been in leadership positions for quite some time, meaning I have experienced my fair share of difficult staff conversations. When I consider all the people we’ve asked to leave our staff, culture issues prompted most exits, not character or competency. 

This is precisely why it’s so important to write down your unwritten rules! It’s unfair to hire someone only to discover it was a mistake. That is your mistake, not their mistake. They do not know your culture. When you hire a person who doesn’t fit your culture, you rob them of other potential opportunities where they may thrive.

I’m passionate about hiring for culture. I hate that my lack of cultural definition allowed me to hire candidates I eventually had to release. That’s on me, not them. 

5. Commit to Let Go of Bad Culture Fits

We aren’t going to get this right every time. Hopefully, most of the time, but not every time. When you realize you’ve made a cultural hiring mistake, make a change. It would be best for everyone if you let that person go. Here’s why:

1. 1. Keeping a person who doesn’t fit your culture weakens your culture and creates frustration within your staff. Everyone else probably knows the person isn’t a fit. And they are wondering why you aren’t doing something about it. 
   2. More importantly, keeping a person who doesn’t fit your culture robs them of their future. A lousy culture fit will never ultimately succeed in your organization. If you are keeping them around, you are doing it selfishly. You need to free up their future, no matter how difficult it may be for you or your organization.

The last thing I want to do is let a person go. I imagine you feel the same. The best way to avoid a hiring mistake is by defining and documenting your culture and leveraging what you learn in the interview process.

How can I help?

Helping you change to do something better and transform to become something better is why I created Transformation Solutions. At Transformation Solutions, we help leaders gain traction for organizational transformation.

Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.