2.8: Is Cultural Fit Really Values Fit?
2-8: Is Cultural Fit Really Values Fit?
The debate between cultural fit versus values fit can be as confusing as your child’s elementary school math homework they asked for help with. It may feel a bit daunting to wade through the differing opinions to determine which your organization should really be focusing on. This polarizing discussion pits culture against values, when in fact, they are related. Many articles and professionals, both off and online, passionately make the case that only one is the correct answer. In fact, the real solution is c.) All of the above.
So what is the difference between cultural fit and values fit? Let’s take a closer look:
Cultural Fit
An organization’s culture is essentially its ‘feel’ - how individuals interact, their perceptions of job duties, organizational structure, and overall goals of the company. Thus, the key to organizational culture are the people there, from the CEO to the security guard at the front door who greets you every morning. In the hiring process,cultural fit refers to the search for candidates that share the beliefs and values of the organization. When there are similarities between the organizational culture and the candidate, they mesh well with that particular culture and have a much higher likelihood of job satisfaction, performance, and retention.
Values Fit
Values are an individual’s principles or standards of behavior. Essentially, values are what someone feels are important in their life and motivate them. These are the core pillars that they live their life by that influence their behaviors, interactions, and decision making. Different people value different things and with varying intensities. Two individuals may value happiness or career success but have very different ideas about what those mean to them and how important they are relative to other values that are central to their personal belief system. Values fit occurs when an individual’s values align with those that professionals in an organization embodies.
Yes, values and culture are indeed two different topics, but they work together to create a successful organization. This is because an organization’s culture is built on the foundation of its core values. Cultural fit does not mean only hiring someone you would want to hang out and have a beer with. In reality, cultural fit means hiring someone who shares a company’s core values. Thus, the argument should not be between focusing on cultural fit or values fit, but how some hiring teams may use cultural fit as an excuse to limit diversity in the hiring process. This is why it is so important to have an objective means to measure how well a candidate aligns with the values of a company’s culture like Priority Bridge’s Cultural Fit Assessment. Cultural fit is not about finding candidates that are clones of current employees. It is an opportunity to find professionals who are uniquely aligned with the values of the organization and would feel comfortable and excel in the organization’s culture.
Priority Bridge LLC. Is dedicated to helping organizations of all types achieve greater success by using a proprietary analytical process that increases the cultural fit of employees to an organization. Eliminate Bad Hires. For Good. Hire right the first time, every time with the right cultural fit using Priority Bridge.