Shawnee Love   •  
January 15, 2014

As companies, we give a lot of thought to whether a new hire can do the job, but not nearly enough to whether they will work well in the team and the environment.  Perhaps the person is the best in their field, or (at the other end of the spectrum) all we could afford, both well-worn reasons (ahem excuses) for why we sacrificed organizational culture for operational practicalities.

What we probably don’t anticipate is the extent of the damage that can be done to the company’s ability to operate and get work done if the organizational culture is dysfunctional.  And once a culture is dysfunctional, it is very difficult to break bad habits and change it to a good culture which means you are doomed to years of effort with a low likelihood of success.

Organizational culture is simply “how we do things here“, i.e., a collection of decisions and actions by the owners/ leadership and the employees.  Assuming a desire to be a decent place to work, most management and culture problems begin in bad hiring decisions.  The easiest way to prevent problems is to make good hiring decisions means looking for these 3 things:

• Can the person do the job (do they have the education, experience, knowledge, skills, availability, physical and mental capability, etc.?)
• Will the person do the job (do they believe it is interesting or challenging or is it a fit for their interests?  what is behind their interest in this role)
• Will the person fit the company (are they the type of people who can be successful in the organization you have created?)

That’s it, 3 little criteria that provide big insight into whether someone is right for the job at your company.