Ducks in a Row: Which Culture?
by Miki Saxon
Last Thursday we looked at the importance of using your culture as a screening tool to be sure the people hired are, at the least, synergistic with it.
Note that being culturally synergistic has nothing to do with either age or gender.
Friday warned against confusing perks with culture.
But with culture, what you see may not be what you get.
More important than the company’s overall culture is the culture that develops under any given manager, based on individual MAP, and the individual’s management approach.
To ensure a successful hire the culture and management style described must actually exist as opposed to an idealized or misleading version created for interviews.
Strange as it sounds, managers often describe their style more as it ought to be, i.e., what they think it is or what they think the candidate wants to hear.
Obviously, managers aren’t about to tell candidates that they micromanage or don’t believe in helping their people grow, because they might leave.
But today’s workforce is the savviest in history.
Mix that savvy with the uncontrolled and unfiltered information provided by social media and you have a situation that demands authenticity and honesty.
At the least, it requires sins of omission.
Lies, AKA, sins of commission, such as describing the opposite — a boss who encourages growth, provides complete information, then gets out of the way, etc. — as reality pretty much guarantees a turned-down offer or fast turnover — in other words, an unsuccessful hire.
And in case you’ve forgotten exactly what a successful hire is, it’s hiring the right person into the right position at the right time and for the right reasons.
Flickr image credit: Susanne Nilsson
