What is “culture fit”?

Culture fit was voted by you as the number six Sales Trend for 2010. What is “culture fit”? Well the first place you are likely to hear about culture fit is when you are recruiting for new staff or being recruited yourself. For instance, culture fit interviews differ from behavioural interviews, in that the behavioural Interview attempts to find out about the candidate’s behaviour, skills, knowledge and experience. Culture fit interviews generally do not try to determine the individual’s capability, but rather considers the candidate’s “cultural fit” with the organisation, their values and motivators.

Values, motives, codes of conduct and organisational charters are now on the main agenda. More and more managers, sales people and the broader workforce are making value judgments and career choices based more heavily on values, ethics and work practices, rather than just the roles themselves. The phrase ‘you hire on skill and fire on fit’ has never been truer, however it’s not just the employer firing on ‘fit’. Employees and customers are doing the same. If there is misalignment around core values and codes of conduct, employees and customers are just as likely to fire the organisation and go elsewhere for a better ‘fit’.

Culture fit is usually considered as an internal organisational matter, however I propose that culture fit has now migrated to the main world stage with our organisational and corporate values and conduct being scruitinised on every level by our customers, constituents, members, suppliers, employees and communities. It is now a brand, sales and customer matter with ethical and moral consequences. Many of us are asking:

• What is our purpose for being in business?
• What are our core values?
• What is our promise to our customers?
• Is our promise aligned with our core values and actions?
• What value do we create for others beyond the product?
• Are we proud to work here?
• How do we behave in times of crisis?
• What do we expect from our suppliers, partners, etc?
• How do we want our leaders (business, political, community, etc) to behave?
• Who would we be proud to be associated with?

These are just some of the questions that are likely to knock loudly on our collective doors in 2010 and beyond.

Why? Because organisations everywhere are undergoing breathtaking changes. Their products are changing. Their markets are changing. Their management philosophies are changing. Their values are changing. Their focus is changing. And most importantly, their customers’ views on what is ‘true value’ are changing.

Now, more than ever before the accepted ways of doing business are shifting. Old institutions are crashing and dying. Trusted names of yesterday will not live to see the future. Many have failed to keep pace with changing consumer and community demands, values and needs. Many business CEOs and their management teams have missed the opportunity and pressing need to account for a quadruple bottom line:

1. Purpose
2. People
3. Profit
4. Planet

Hanging onto the past, they are blinded by leadership nearsightedness — often acting wildly when their status is threatened. The current disaster that is BP’s environmental oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is a case in point. This environmental catastrophe has now blown up beyond all proportions. Beside the communities and ecosystems severely affected by this tragedy, BP is now fighting for survival, the entire oil industry is under scrutiny for their poor safety and disaster management plans, and the credibility of big business leadership has been severely eroded as we witness blame shifting, self-serving game playing, indecision, narcissism and quite frankly, gutless and pathetic attempts to distance themselves from the issue at hand. Which leadership and business management schools did these CEOs attend? If this is what they are teaching our leaders we are in big trouble.

For instance, Tony Hayward’s (the CEO of BP) response recently to the oil disaster: “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused to their lives. There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back” just shows you how vulnerable any organisation is to misaligned values, self-serving motives, poor choices and weak leadership.

Just imagine saying something similar to an unhappy customer – you would be laughed off the phone. Tony, you have failed miserably in Customer Service 101 – handling difficult situations and so have most of your high powered colleagues in this instance.

No wonder these and other organisations are left wondering where their customers and profits are going. This leaves them weak and vulnerable. It begs the question ‘Did the dinosaurs hear the asteroid coming?’

One of my trusted mentors, Neville Christie, says that in the 21st century, the role of the CEO is a dual purpose role:

1. Chief philosopher, and
2. Chief salesperson/storyteller.

There is recognition that a clear promise, code of conduct or charter, and accompanying message to markets and the broader community is critical for organisations of all persuasions, and only the leaders and their employees can bring this to life. Savvy leaders and organisations will not just ‘talk the talk’; they will ‘walk the walk’ and show the way forward.

In the words of one Senior Leader, “Don’t ask me what I value and stand for; ask the people who work for me. They’ll tell you what I really stand for and then you’ll know if I am true to my word.” In fact, we can take this one step further, in this increasingly transparent world, we can witness for ourselves what the leaders of businesses, political parties, communities, and other organisations stand for – plain and simple.

Making your philosophy, values, team charter and steps for action crystal clear for everyone to witness will be key when recruiting, training, managing, leading teams and engaging with our customers and communities in 2010 and beyond. Being transparent, honest and engaging in real conversations will need to be top of mind. Make no bones about it, whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not, you and your organisation are on show like never before and employees, customers and communities alike are asking these questions on a daily basis. They are checking for ‘culture fit’.

Remember, everybody lives by selling something.

Sue Barrett practices as a coach, advisor, speaker, facilitator, consultant and writer and works across all market segments with her skilful team at BARRETT. Sue and her team take the guess work out of selling and help people from many different careers become aware of their sales capabilities and enable them to take the steps to becoming effective and productive when it comes to selling, sales coaching or sales leadership.To hone your sales skills or learn how to sell go to www.barrett.com.au.