Great ideas for your company’s culture could easily be scuppered if you don’t hire the right people. But, asks Simon Kent, does this mean culture is all about recruitment?
“Let’s get one thing straight,” says Dominic Monkhouse, business coach and CEO of Monkhouse & Company. “You can’t train Blackpool beach donkeys to win the Grand National. It doesn’t matter how good your coaching programme is, how many motivational posters you slap on the wall, or how much leadership offsite waffle you invest in – if you’ve got the wrong raw material, you’re not building a winning culture. You’re running a petting zoo.”
There is, no doubt, some truth in Monkhouse’s comment. After all, if it weren’t then recruitment would be a breeze – hire whoever you like and shape them to be whoever you want them to be when they’re in your organisation. With the right onboarding, training and support they’ll soon understand what your business is about, readily contribute in the way you expect and happily comply with your business’ values. Perfect.
But of course they won’t.
And not just because, according Monkhouse, most training doesn’t change behaviour – in his words it just “makes everyone feel slightly better about not being very good at their jobs.”
People are people
They won’t because people are individuals with their own sense of what is right, wrong and acceptable. Everyone has their own take on how things should be done – although equally they understand the need for agreement, compromise and respect in order to work together. So does this make recruitment pivotal to creating the right company culture? Indeed doesn’t it mean recruitment is the determining factor in building a business with the culture you, as a leader, desire?
Yes, and no.
“Hiring the right people is important for culture, but organisations must be very cautious about hiring for ‘culture fit’,” explains Zara Whysall, Research & Impact Director at business consulting services Kiddy & Partners. “Culture is complex, so this can introduce ambiguity and bias into selection decisions, and risks becoming a mask for ‘hiring people like us’. That’s a recipe for groupthink, blind spots and lack of agility – not to mention discrimination claims.”
Moreover, a tendency to recruit according to culture can mean businesses miss out on other advantages: “Sometimes organisations might even seek people with qualities that are purposefully counter-cultural, because they recognise that they need to change,” says Whysall.
The challenge of perpetuating culture
Businesses may, therefore manage their recruitment work according to how they want the business to progress, but ensuring the right culture is delivered and maintained, argues Jonathan Evans CEO of international workforce strategy consultancy Discovery ADR, depends on the actions and outlook of those already in the business rather than those who are coming through the door: “Culture must be actively set, modelled and reinforced by leaders,” he states, “otherwise, even the best-intentioned people will fill the gaps with their own assumptions. In the absence of clarity, things drift – and over time, culture can fragment or be undermined entirely. I’ve seen it happen. Everyone plays a part in maintaining culture, but without direction, it quickly becomes the Wild West.”
“Hiring the right people is a strong start, but it’s not the whole answer,” agrees Joel Marotti, Senior Managing Partner, Vertical Media Solutions. “Culture is reinforced through what leaders do, what behaviour is rewarded and what is quietly overlooked.” Marotti notes an organisation can hire people who seem aligned, but if the reality of being in the business doesn’t match the pitch, they’ll either disengage or adapt to whatever culture is there. “Culture is shaped by action and consistency,” he says. “So yes, people matter, but hiring alone won’t build culture unless it’s backed by structure, leadership and everyday habits that reflect what the company claims to stand for.”
Culture isn’t what you say in the boardroom – it’s what your people do when nobody’s watching
In fact, while leadership matters, line management probably matters more. “The bigger myth is that ‘culture comes from the top,’” says Monkhouse. “It doesn’t. Culture isn’t what you say in the boardroom – it’s what your people do when nobody’s watching. And that’s shaped, day in and day out, by line managers.”
Monkhouse therefore argues that yes the business needs to hire right but it also needs to ensure the environment of the company is such that it will perpetuate, and perhaps only tolerate behaviour that supports the ongoing culture.
In it together
“Culture is not something people bring with them – it’s something they co-create,” says Caroline Hughes, CEO at Conscious Leadership Development. Hughes believes hiring does matter, because it is only by getting that right that you’ll get people who are aligned to your values, vision, and ways of working – and that will mean you have employees who are more energised and ready to contribute positively. But she also emphasises that the influence of leaders – what they tolerate, reward and role-model – has a bigger influence on what company culture actually is.
“It’s about building the conditions where your people can thrive and want to bring their best,” says Hughes. “After all, both brilliant and bad leaders are created in the same environment.”
Hughes states a preference for recruiting people who will ‘stretch’ rather than ‘fit’ the culture of a company. People who push the boundaries and bring it forward: people she terms as ‘way-showers’ and role models for what better looks like.
The best HR leaders don’t just hire for culture – they support leaders to define it, cultivate it, challenge it, and nurture its evolution
“In truth, it starts with clarity,” she says. “Being honest about what your culture actually is – not just what you say it is – and taking responsibility for how you’re reinforcing or evolving it through your leadership, structures, and behaviours.”
This then, is HR’s role – not just as curators of great talent, but as stewards of the cultural blueprint. “The best HR leaders don’t just hire for culture – they support leaders to define it, cultivate it, challenge it, and nurture its evolution,” concludes Hughes.
The moving culture
“Culture shouldn’t be static or prescriptive – it should have the potential to evolve,” says Sam Price, Talent Solutions Director, Morson Talent.
Price says attracting the right cultural fit or complement begins with the job ad, which needs to be simple and clear but it also needs to signpost potential candidates to other sources of information. “Attracting talent that will align with a company’s culture or culture ambitions is broader and more holistic than the recruitment process alone because it is so easy for candidates to gain a picture of what an organisation is like before they apply,” she notes. “Website content, online interviews with senior leaders, tone of voice on LinkedIn – all those touch-points can influence a candidate’s perception of whether a company is a workplace that might be right for them.”
AI technology can even be brought into play here, used to offer candidates a platform through which they can ask any question they wish of the business, letting the technology scrape the information together for them articulating the brand online and ensuring it reflects the culture.
Culture, then, seems at once to be desirable as a standard expected experience, and also an evolving set of expectations, reflecting the values of a business within a world of change. Ideally, new employees will ‘get’ the idea, but also they’ll challenge and push the culture forward, leading the organisation into new, more rewarding pastures – both in terms of what the business achieves and the experience of those working for it.
