Hiring and Retaining the Right Staff (continued)
You’ll notice that I talk about organizational culture a lot on my blog. It truly is the backbone of any organization and needs to be understood and tended too. You’ve likely read articles about how one person can wreak havoc at a company. It’s likely due to that person not sharing the overall beliefs and values of the company - aka their behavior was polarized with the organizational culture - even if the culture was unspoken. So how then do you ensure the hire will be compatible with the culture? YOU KNOW AND UNDERSTAND YOUR CULTURE.
An organizational culture is built from the ground up. I’ve recommended this book before and will again now - Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture, Cameron & Quinn, Jossey-Bass, 2011. It’s a must read for any organizational leader.
Let’s break the culture down into how it is formed. In the beginning there are the Implicit Assumptions.
Implicit Assumptions – Automatic
“AT THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL, CULTURE IS BORN FROM THE IMPLICIT ASSUMPTIONS THAT DEFINE THE HUMAN CONDITION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE ENVIRONMENT. ASSUMPTIONS ARE NOT RECOGNIZED UNLESS CHALLENGED BY INCOMPATIBLE OR CONTRADICTORY ASSUMPTIONS” = THE BASIC BELIEFS, VALUES, AND INTERPERSONAL CAPABILITIES OF THE CULTURE CREATOR.
What this is saying is that the leaders at the top of the organization - initially those that started the company and/or lead it today define the beliefs, values, and behaviors of the organization as a whole. They are the culture creators. If there is peace and compatibility at the top, there will be peace and compatibility below.
I’m not speaking of religious or political beliefs or values - although that can come into play. I’m speaking their beliefs and values in how a company should be run, how people treat each other, what they actually do in any given situation.
You can see that if a hire is dichotomous from these beliefs, values, and behaviors, that will be a source of contention.
Knowing the base of your culture is important. Attaining your potential hire’s beliefs, values, and behaviors is critical to see if they are compatible. We’ll get to how you find that out as these series continues.
