I get the ick when leadership team members start dropping buzzwords like “company culture” and “cultural fit”. Here’s my hot take on the latter: Too often, “cultural fit” is just coded terminology to discriminate in a socially acceptable way against applicants from working-class backgrounds. I always joke about when I asked my first boss how to answer the phone, she said, “Oh, you know, professionally…” My dad was a jet engine mechanic, Britt. You’re going to have to be more specific.
Good “Cultural fit” is how white-collar people describe job applicants whose parents taught them the unspoken etiquette and social norms they expect in their work environment. The applicants who don’t understand these things aren’t good cultural fits — they might “fall a little short in their professionalism” or “lack polish”. In the words I grew up with, they’re just kinda weird. Of course, some people aren’t weird — management just doesn’t like them, and that’s enough to be a bad cultural fit too.
As for company culture, I’m convinced a large chunk of the people talking about it aren’t active participants in the cultures they claim to have built. If they were, they would understand that’s not how it works. At best, you can — and should — police the culture. My old boss, Marc, used to say, “For the first six months, all new team members are an attack on the culture.” It’s so good I like to repeat it verbatim.
New team members don’t know what’s normal at your company. They can come from workplaces where putting other people down is normal and talking openly about personal growth isn’t. It’s a problem, because a lot of things that are generally accepted as normal aren’t good. When it happens that they break your company’s cultural norms, they need to be corrected. Having a mission statement or company values isn’t enough; either needs to be enforced. If you let things slide, well, welcome to your new company culture.
I’m being semantically picky, but grooming your team to align on values is not the same as making or building a culture. New team members bring good attributes too, and those things contribute to and benefit your culture regardless of your involvement. They are ultimately the ones who make the culture. Don’t give yourself so much credit.