These guys seem to be governed by a different set of rules and make no attempt to learn or adhere to the existing ones. They come with high stakes poker on their mind, ridicule other players who make mistakes or bad plays, and generally spoil the mood of the game. Worst of all, you suspect one of them of cheating! By now, the original players are quite upset that the card club culture has changed, and they begin to react to this change.

There are three primary reactions:

Reaction #1: Fight

The true leaders of the group may step up and, politely and professionally, fight back against the changes that are disrupting their good thing. They may confront the new players about the importance of the rules and insist that if anyone is to be involved any further, they MUST adhere to the rules. The regular weekly get-together is so important to these members that they are willing to fight to keep it the way it was intended.

Reaction #2: Flight

Some of the members may feel that, because of all the changes and the new members not adhering to the rules, it is no longer worthwhile to show up, and may leave the group. The get-together is important to them, but not important enough to confront the new players or fight for the game to return to its original culture.

Reaction #3: Freeze

This may be the worse case of all. These members are negatively affected by the changes in the culture, but do absolutely nothing about it. They quietly play out their hands while watching the culture of the “good old days” slip away. While they show up each week, they are merely going through the motions and are shells of the energized, fun, and value-adding contributors they used to be.

Whether or not the culture remains true to its original goal is almost completely dependent on how many fighters there are. Sometimes, it only takes a few fighters to incite the others and make leaders out of them. But the more members that choose to take flight or simply freeze and do nothing, the higher the odds the culture will change.

THE REAL WORLD

In any size company, in almost any industry, in any location, culture plays a significant role in both attracting and keeping great talent. When hiring employees, hiring managers have a major responsibility to ensure that each person they “invite to the card game” and introduce into their group has been effectively screened for both their ability to perform their job and their cultural fit within the organization.

The Best Practice

Make sure your recruiting and hiring process considers both skill and culture fit as the basis for selection. Consider breaking your hiring criteria down into a two-part equation — using both a numerator (the X factor) and a denominator (the Y factor) to determine the value of the potential new hire to the overall organization.

The X Factor: The job-related skills that are determined to be vital to the job, and/or are skills needed to be acquired by the group.

The Y Factor: The attributes that ensure the candidate will thrive in and contribute to the organizational culture, while adhering to the cultural “rules.” These include cultural attributes such as strong work ethic, integrity, and the ability to thrive in a team environment while respecting individuality.

Organizations that embrace this hiring formula often put the emphasis on the Y factor. This is because it is easier to provide skill-based training than to change cultural attributes.

Based on a standardized 1-10 scale (with 10 being the best), give each candidate two rankings, one for the X factor and one for the Y factor. Then, set guidelines as to how to select based on these rankings.

An example of a guideline is to say that no candidate would get considered if the cultural fit was ranked a 6 or below on this scale:

• A great hire would be an 8/8 ranking. Significant job-related skills with room to grow, and seemingly aligned with the organizational culture.
  
• A good hire would be a 7/7 ranking. Majority of job-related skills and meets minimum standards of cultural fit.
  
• A marginal hire would be a 5/7 ranking. Essential job-related skills but will need some training and support to get to peak performance. Cultural fit suggests they will make it.
  
• A bad hire would be a 7/6 ranking. Essential job-related skills but will need some training and support to get to peak performance. Cultural fit suggests they may not make it. That, on top of need for skills training and support, increases chances of this employee failing or quitting.

A possibly tempting, but potentially disastrous hire would be a 9/5 ranking. This candidate has superior job-related skills and thus can seemingly add tremendous value to the organization. However, the cultural ranking suggests they would actually disrupt your existing culture and couldn’t thrive in it.

These are “prima donna” employees selected purely on their X Factor. Once hired, their dissonance and contempt for the cultural “rules” begin to change the culture, causing the same effect on the other employees as was seen in my card club analogy.

Fighters will confront such a new employee, and if not handled properly, this can lead to a rift in the team and a weak team spirit. Flighters will resign, and you will lose some good employees who have been valuable contributors for a long time. Freezers will do nothing at all about the culture changes, but will withdraw from the mission, becoming drones. They lose their edge and the organization does, as well.

The Benefit of Culture Fit

As you can see, the stakes are much higher in the work world than in the example of our friendly game of poker. This is why you can find attention to the X Factor within any recruiting and hiring process that serves business leaders who want to build great companies. The organization prospers when the culture is healthy and vibrant. Everyone wins!

Once the word gets out that an organization puts this much emphasis on culture fit, you will begin to attract talent to your organization with a shared vision of your cultural environment, which continues to fuel the organization well into the future of workforce planning. As a hiring manager, you are the key to ensuring that the next “player” you invite to your card club thrives and survives within the culture, and has a positive, value-adding effect on your existing members. Don’t gamble! Use the X/Y Factors to win each hand!

Article by Scott Beardsley courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry level jobs and other career opportunities.