Culture and Competence
I had Rand Fishkin, the CEO of Sparktoro, on my podcast earlier this year. In Rand’s book, Lost and Founder, he shared a graphic that made me stop, pause, and contemplate. Rand suggested that most companies keep and train their employees who are high on competence and low on culture, but don’t hire/don’t keep those who are high on culture and competence. Of course, Rand points out that in the perfect world people who are high on culture and high on competence should be hired and kept
Rand defined culture fit as, “shared values, ability to work well together, mutual respect and trust, brings positive energy to the team.”
Rand defined competence fit as, “productivity, quality of work, raw intelligence, and return on investment of contributions.”
So, what should we do if we are deciding between culture and competence? Well, like most things, I think it depends on a few things.
Role. How much does being a low culture fit impact others in the role they are in? Perhaps they are in a role that is simply about being an individual contributor or a role that is siloed from the team. The role determines how valuable culture fit is.
Timetable. Is this person a short-term fit or a long-term solution? If they are short-term, swapping out culture for competence could work. Sometimes we need band-aids. As long as you are clear on knowing what you are signing up for and the upsides and downsides of that decision, it can be effective.
Security of Current Culture. How strong is your current culture? Can it absorb someone who might not fit? Will that lack of fit ruin or be cancerous to the ideal culture, or is the culture so strong that it can mitigate the challenges that come with a non-culture fit?
Potential. Can people change? I believe so. That’s not suggesting that people don’t have a baseline of personality and values, but it is possible that a new environment in an elite culture can transform someone into seeing the world differently. It’s important to assess this ahead of time, but all humans have untapped potential. Perhaps for some, it’s actually their capacity to improve as a cultural fit.
All of the above are just some ideas in a non-exhaustive list. The truth is that I really appreciate Rand’s thoughts on prioritizing culture over competence. Too many organizations don’t do that. I simply want to add a bit more nuance to Rand’s perspective. Sometimes we have to value competence over culture. When we do that, we better be have a clear understanding on how role, timetable, security, and potential impact of that person will be successful.