"... always hire for cultural fit over competence."Brad Feld
Managing Director of the Foundry Group.
Here's a useful matrix when hiring and firing:
- High cultural fit, high competency - always hire
- Low cultural fit, low competency - never hire, always fire
- Low cultural fit, high competency - never hire, always fire
- High cultural fit, low competency - never hire, always fire
Here's the interesting one:
- High cultural fit, moderate competency but not incompetent - always hire if you believe they will grow into competency and you have the bandwidth to grow them into high competency or the role can be redefined to achieve high competency.
Warning: Cultural values of an organization are not personality or style. Examples of cultural values of an organization are:
- We are on-time for meetings
- We don't interrupt
- Everyone contributes
- We are transparent about our mistakes
- We encourage others
- We offer to help when we can
- We ask for help when we need it
- We always fulfill our commitments
- We are design driven
- Our customers are partners
Diversity of style, personality and ethnicity are what make organizations richer and provide a broader perspective. Linking these with cultural fit is what takes an organization from good to great.
Listen to the interview of Brad Feld covering a number of topics at the This Week in Startups podcast @ http://bit.ly/WJmAaV
