3 Subcultures Lurking Beneath Your Corporate Culture

When hiring you have to take into account not only the corporate culture that exists, but also the subculture of the team you’re hiring for.|When hiring you have to take into account not only the corporate culture that exists, but also the subculture of the team you’re hiring for.|When hiring you have to take into account not only the corporate culture that exists, but also the subculture of the team you’re hiring for.

We talk to our clients a lot about corporate culture and the value that hiring for alignment to the corporate culture can have on an organization. It is proven that by on-boarding individuals that share a similar set of values, beliefs and goals there is greater employee engagement, higher productivity, and longer tenure. While it’s true that each organization has an overarching company culture, it’s also very true that within most organizations, if not all, subcultures exist. In the article Jacque Vilet wrote for TLNT, “Why It’s So Difficult to Really Change a Company Culture,” she outlines the 3 most common:

In the article Jacque suggests that the “goal of business leaders is to create a broad, overarching business strategy that doesn’t crush these subcultures but pulls all of them together and ensures they can work as a unified team.”

Here is how “Cultures” and “Subcultures” can help to guide your hiring process:

First, when making hiring decisions you have to take into account not only the culture that exists across the organization, but also the subculture of the team you’re hiring for. Second, one of the best ways to ensure your new hire is a great all-around cultural fit is to include individuals within that particular subculture within the hiring process or on the hiring team. Finally, compare the assessment scores of current successful employees as a baseline with the assessment scores of candidates.

Author: April Jennings