Hiring and Firing for Core Values and Culture Fit

My mentor Bob told me, “Hire slowly and fire quickly Nikki”. While I’d love to stand here and tell you that I took his advice and acted accordingly every single time, I didn’t! There were times that I waited WAY too long to pull the trigger. Perhaps you can relate.  Few leaders have ever thought to themselves after firing someone, “Man, I wish I kept him/her around longer.” When we know, we know.

The role of values in your hiring process

What brings an extra level of clarity to the decision is when you base the decision on culture and core values.  They become your compass and North Star and there’s total clarity which happens very quickly when you’re basing decisions on this type of alignment.

We recently did a “Core Values in Action” workshop for a small team. They have never sprinkled core value questions into their interview process. We mapped out exactly how core values would show up in how people would respond in the interview process and she emailed me to let me know that they had dodged a bullet because of the workshop! They heard a candidate’s response that immediately set off alarm bells and as a result they didn’t slip through the cracks in the final rounds. What is very cool about this team is that when we did the workshop everyone was involved. They decided on culture norms, rules and regulations. They decided what their ideal future colleague would say and do in each situation and it provided complete reassurance that they made the right move collectively.

Culture-based questions

We recommend including 15-20 core values and culture-based questions in an initial interview. We care less about credentials and more about whether they take ownership or play the victim card.  Here are four questions we ask that bring to light the right and wrong candidates at Sigma.

• Tell me about a time you set a difficult goal for yourself. What did you do to achieve it?
• Tell me about the relationships you’ve had with the people you’ve worked with. How would you describe the best and worst?
• What is the hardest thing you have had to forgive in the workplace?
• What book has had the biggest impact on your life?

The answers we get provide insights into some of our most important core values. Do they take ownership when things go wrong? Do they learn from relationships or place blame? Did they forgive and move on and appear humble, or are they full of resentment? Have they picked up a book since the day they left school and do they have a growth-mindset?

This is a really important exercise to include and we ask these 4 questions as part of our online interview process, which eliminated HOURS of in-person time and limits actual interviews to the very best candidates!

Review your core values in action

When you develop your onboarding program, we highly recommend reviewing each core value and exactly how they show up in action. Too often companies have values on the wall, and they are static. Your team should be charged up about living out your core values daily and when they have a list of practical examples, they are more likely to do so.

Fierce Conversations

When you reach a point where you see that your core values and or culture no longer are in alignment with a team member, you must have a fierce conversation. This doesn’t mean be as aggressive as it may sound, but it needs to be matter of fact. It should provide examples of the misalignment, genuine concern from you as a leader and lay out the implications if behaviours do not change.

In some cases, you may already know that there’s no turning back, in which case, don’t delay and put it off. This is a soul-sucking part of business. No one enjoys firing anyone and no one wants to work with a toxic colleague or someone who blatantly bumps up against culture. It just makes everyone feel uncomfortable.

Acceptable Culture Breaches and the "Never" List

As a leader, or with your leadership team, I would encourage you to develop a list of acceptable culture breaches which, if corrected, would be forgivable and a “never” list. Determine what would never be allowed and a fireable offense. Better yet, get your entire team involved so they have a refresher for clarity. This also promotes peer-to-peer accountability which is awesome to witness.

You deserve to work with an exceptional team

Remember that you’ve spent years of blood, sweat and tears building your company. You’ve had the sleepless nights over meeting payroll, the right next strategic move, when to hire as well as firing decisions. You deserve to work with an exceptional team where each member buys in to your vision and your company’s culture. Stop hesitating on the decision, release them to find their perfect fit and be at peace. Your team will thank you!