How Cultural Fit is played out in the workplace

When applying for a job, employers have for some time been assessing cultural fit into an organisation along with the right skill set and motivation for the role.

In fact, the reason many miss out on a job offer is the perceived lack of cultural fit into the working environment.

But just what is an employer looking for when assessing cultural fit? And just what is cultural fit anyway?

Let's start with the commonly accepted definition of culture as "the way things are done around here." This could include, but not limited to:

• working hours
• the acceptable dress code
• group and social behaviours
• interpersonal behaviours between co-workers
• how you interact with your manager
• how much you consult with others
• after-work social interaction and business meetings
• how you conform and deal with office politics
• the extent to which you work within the current systems
• how quickly you assimilate the "unwritten laws" of the company
• how changes are initiated

So in assessing cultural fit, employers are generally looking for evidence that you will quickly adapt to the existing workplace values and norms, and that you will be accepted by the work colleagues already in the team.

In other words, you will hit the ground running within that work team and be able to work within existing systems and procedures.

Stated workplace values versus existing norms

The main difficulty for a job seeker when applying for a job is that you only see what the company wants to display in the public arena. Values, for example, are often displayed in workplaces and on company websites.

Values are typically things like, honesty, integrity, respect for others, teamwork, a "can-do" mentality, safety, and so forth.

Company values, however, do not in most cases, reflect the actual existing norms around how people really behave. They really act as a "mask."

Stated values are really only the tip of the iceberg. Values are there as an aspiration to what the company would like to see happening rather than what is actually happening. The real culture is not seen until you are firmly an employee in the company.

The existing norms are behaviours that exist under the mask. In other words, they are unseen, but are significant drivers of the real behaviours that are apparent within the firm.

This creates a problem.

Is the employer selecting you for the fit into the aspirational values or do they unconsciously determine whether you will fit into their existing norms of behaviour?

This can effectively make or break an employee who is selected for a job. Because whether you have been selected for your values as they are displayed opening by a company, or whether you have been selected so as to "fit in" and work within the existing behaviours, this will immediately test your ability to survive within that culture.

Surviving the first ninety days can be a challenge

Having mixed messages often makes the first 90 days a nightmare for new employees. What behaviours are actually rewarded will be the ones that tend to continue and thrive in the workplace.

This is particularly the case when you have been inducted or trained in the correct procedures, and when you land back in your job, find that the existing work team has created its own short cuts and is actually working against existing policies and procedures.

Behaviour that is rewarded is behaviour that is embedded and continues

When I started a new role some years back in a previous job, I was used to getting everything done on time and working at a fairly fast pace during the day, as I had been taught in the military. On joining the new company, I was told by another colleague to "slow down" as I was highlighting that others were less efficient if I continued working at such a "fast pace."

The unwritten rule in that new job was that work expands to fill in the number of hours available to complete it. So being or trying to be more efficient wasn't actually rewarded.

Do I risk not fitting in and upsetting my work colleagues or do I instead develop new ways to be more efficient regardless of what others in the team would say? That is the biggest and hardest question you need to ask yourself.

So you can see the affect that cultural norms place on employees and managers is a dramatic one.

This is even more striking when a manager is actually employed with an overall brief to "change the culture." Good luck!

Attempts at changing culture can be like walking into a field of landmines. Whilst in principle you have the backing of senior management, when the results of the 360-degree feedback show that your team hates you, marking you down on all those key leadership behaviours, those same senior managers can be less sympathetic towards you.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you're going to innovate. - Jeff Bezos

So it's a tightrope walk. Changing or attempting to change culture is perhaps the hardest thing to do for a leader, but when it's done well, and within a realistic time frame, it can be very rewarding experience and outcome.

Some leaders are exceptionally good at it, most are average, and many pay lip service to it.

But as an employee, it is something that you need to be very aware of. If you are let go by an employer in the early stages of your new job, it may have nothing to do with your performance, but simply that you don't "fit into the culture."

Basically, if the company operates like in a shark infested water, you have to play by the rules of the shark infested waters if you want to survive in that company. It's not the fault of the business, but rather, it's your decision as to whether you wish to play the game.

As preparation prior to accepting a job offer, it is worthwhile to find out how the culture of the company really works. Try to talk to existing employees about what the social norms are and what really drives behaviour there.

To find out what cultural message you send to employers at a job interview, Contact Us or call 1300 366 104 to see how a Mock Interview can reveal these things to you.