Written by Holtby Turner
CEOs from leading real estate and construction firms know the wrong cultural fit is costly: in lost revenue alone, the cost is around 60% of a candidate’s annual salary. On top of this is the lost revenue that this disruption brings to colleagues who are affected by a new joiner leaving abruptly.
As a corporate concept, ‘cultural fit’ is hardly new. Yet it sits at the top of almost all our executive search briefs. What was for many years simply a way of defining a company’s mission and its way of working, now fills the pages of management magazines and has even prompted a backlash.
Experts in management studies have of late warned against established organisations hiring for ‘cultural fit’, lest it engenders a ‘same old, same old’ way of working which hinders different ways of thinking, innovating and expansion.
To real estate and construction leaders, I felt this raised a very good point. In what is still a pretty white, male and traditional sector, we have a real problem with lack of diversity – beyond the trade press headlines.
With PropTech start-ups growing exponentially, real estate organisations need to be energised, unified and forward-thinking to come out winning. How can one hire individuals who both complement and challenge an organisation’s way of working, so it remains ahead in the market?
Applicants usually need specific skill-sets and sector experience to succeed in a role. But when you look beyond someone’s experience and start to assess their personality and cultural fit with the organisation, it’s important not to fall back on unconscious bias and simply favour those who reflect the existing types within the organisation. A candidate with different views can, in fact, complement and add to the existing culture, for the benefit of all.
This is especially important to bear in mind when trying to attract millennials to your business. Whilst social bonuses are often highlighted as a perk, not all millennials are drawn in by them. Many are driven by a commitment to personal development and are excited by learning from smart people and doing meaningful work. This is a very strong sign of culture fit, especially if your mission is to “make a difference” or “change the world”!
When colleagues are also friends outside work, it’s great, but it does not mean there is necessarily a cultural fit.
Before anyone hiring starts measuring a candidate’s culture fit, they should be able to articulate the organisation’s values, goals and way of working so these insights are incorporated into their recruitment process.
Hiring standards should be objective and measurable, not a mythical bar that can be raised or lowered at will. This is one of the reasons why at Holtby Turner Executive Search we insist on psychometric and skills-based testing; bias can slip in at an almost imperceptible level, causing some outstanding individuals to be discounted.
When it comes to building a new development, delivering change management, or creating a five-year plan, too much sameness can lead to awful decision making. Therefore, perhaps think about ‘cultural cultivation’ and ask what a person can bring to a team, not how seamlessly they will slot into it.
We suggest letting candidates see what it’s like to work with you: give them a tour of the office so they can see how staff behave around each other. That may be in a meeting or the canteen at lunchtime. Carefully examine their comfort levels and get feedback from the staff who meet them.
The person whose values are consistent with their behaviour, and those of your organisation, will naturally rise to the top, as will your organisation in the market.
