If you’re only looking for a candidate that fits your existing culture, then, by definition, you are excluding candidates who don’t fit that culture.
These candidates can’t bring their different viewpoints, experiences and contributions to your business.
At best, we’re losing our best weapon against groupthink; at worst, this is a potentially slippery slope towards discrimination.
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people where the desire for conformity results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making process.
It causes people to reach a consensus decision without conflict, but also without critical evaluation of the issue.
In short, people don’t challenge each other.
They go with the flow and the result is either to keep doing what we’ve always done or, worse, to try new things without considering evidence, threats and risks whilst reinforcing stereotypes.
We might think this is good.
After all, who wants to recruit a candidate that might disrupt the norm?
We don’t rock the boat, and people “fit in” here.
But the trade-off is a lack of cognitive diversity; of different thinking.
The comfort of hiring for cultural fit is paid for at the cost of innovation.
And all organisations – even those that might feel that they don’t require change – need innovation, as the world around them changes…
