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Popping the Hood on Candidates Using Assessment Tools 183
The wholesaler hired her and saw her excel as a sales rep, but only
for a time. Ultimately, Janet was not driven enough by the financial
rewards of the job to stay with the company. She ended up leaving
to spend more time with her kids and to pursue other interests that
paid less but that she found more rewarding.
Avoiding an Organ Rejection: The
Importance of Cultural Fit
The topic of cultural fit often comes up when I consult with companies.
Every executive understands on a gut level that A-players typically
possess more than just strong technical skills. A-players also
build relationships, earn trust, and influence others in ways that
make the entire organization more effective. Zeroing in on such
skills is another area where the right assessment tools can help to
avoid bad hires.
I once aided a consulting firm in improving its business development
and client satisfaction results. As part of this project, we assessed
every consultant from the managing partners to entry-level
associates. One particular item jumped out at me upon reviewing
the results: Not one person in this entire firm was deeply motivated
by personal autonomy and having control. In fact, most of the consultants
disliked people who wanted to be in the limelight. This
firm’s leaders supported a highly democratic environment in which
no one felt left out or taken advantage of as decisions were made.
Anyone strongly motivated by autonomy and control would stick
out in this firm. Their coworkers would dislike them and see them
as power-hungry and constantly jockeying for position. Like a body
rejecting a transplanted organ, this firm was likely to snub any individual
who did not fit into its democratic culture.
Of course, there could be a situation where this firm actually
needed to hire a much more autonomous, individualistic person for a
particular role. But because of this cultural issue, the firm’s leaders
needed to pay special attention to the motivational profile of everyone
hired. We used assessment tools to identify people with both the
technical skills and the cultural fit to be effective in this environment.