Employee success is largely affected by two things: Personal factors and environmental factors. Personal factors include the appropriate skills to perform a job combined with the motivation to utilize those skill-sets effectively. Environmental factors include manager fit and cultural fit. Employees are often hired on skill but fired or leave based on fit.
Factors that Impact Fit:
Technical skills: Without the right skills to perform a job, an employee is potentially disastrous to the bottom line. This not only includes technical ability, but the management or interpersonal skills required to get the job done.
Management: Employees typically don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. A simple change in management can make or break an employee’s future. This can result from different expectations, change in communication style or ideals of the “right” fit. Same person, same skills, same organization, but different manager equals different performance potential.
Culture: There are a many recognizable cultures and endless combinations. Corporate culture is defined as the total sum of the values, customs, traditions and meanings that make a company unique. Corporate culture is often called “the character of an organization” since it embodies the vision of the company’s founders. The values of a corporate culture influence the ethical standards within a corporation, as well as managerial behavior.
Potential employees are attracted to organizations based on their cultural reputation; organizations select employees who seem to “fit” their culture; and, employees who don’t fit leave through either voluntary or involuntary attrition.
How to match employees to culture:
1. Make sure the applicant first fits the technical and motivational requirements of his or her job. This will include manager fit.
2. Overall cultural fit – this means identifying factors that touch all positions. Most commonly, these include a preference such as innovation, working in teams and being competitive.
Determining this fit can be even more difficult than most people imagine. It can be achieved through the use of a Job Fit Analysis tool such as Prevue assessments. This process allows you to determine personal and corporate preferences and compare potential hires ranking suitability and identifying coaching areas. Done right, this kind of survey ensures getting the right people into jobs they will enjoy. Caution should be taken, however, to remember that culture usually tells us very little about job skills. Maximum performance requires measuring both.
This article is published courtesy of Mercer Bradley Specialists in Financial Recruitment and Job Fit Analysis. For more information visit the Mercer Bradley Website at www.mercerbradley.com
Related to The Importance of Corporate Culture:
- Company culture as a recruiting technique
- Interviewing potential employees
- Employee Surveys Yield Important Insights
