Culture Add
What is culture add?
Culture add is a strategic approach in Human Resources and organizational development that focuses on hiring individuals who bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and ideas that enhance and evolve the company’s culture, rather than just fit into it.
Unlike the traditional concept of “culture fit”, which focuses on assimilation into pre-existing company culture, culture add seeks to identify candidates who bring new dimensions, perspectives, and skills that complement and enrich organizational culture.
According to McKinsey, companies with diverse leadership teams are 39% more likely to experience higher profitability. Prioritizing culture add can help create a workplace that is both inclusive and high-performing.
Examples of culture add
Let’s take a look at a few examples of culture add:
- A candidate strongly aligns with your company’s focus on teamwork and collaboration, but is more introverted and reflective compared to the extroverted and outspoken existing team.
- A candidate values the organization’s agile and adaptable work environment, yet exhibits a meticulous and detailed-oriented planning style, unlike the team’s preference for spontaneity and flexibility.
- A candidate aligns with the organization’s focus on teamwork and collaboration but brings a unique self-starting, independent work style, differing from the team’s tendency for constant collaboration.
Case study: Patagonia
HR Chief Dean Carter has revolutionized Patagonia‘s hiring process by emphasizing culture add over traditional culture fit. His innovative approach involves meticulously evaluating résumés for candidates’ hobbies and volunteer activities, particularly environmental activism.
This hiring strategy aligns with Patagonia’s commitment to environmental causes, while ensuring the team comprises individuals with varied backgrounds and perspectives. It reflects a deliberate move away from the conventional culture fit paradigm to promote innovation and inclusivity within the organization.
These examples demonstrate that adding individuals with distinct perspectives and values to an organization does not detract from its core culture. Instead, these unique contributions enrich the workplace environment, making it more dynamic, inclusive, and innovative.
Use culture add to drive long-term business success
Develop the talent acquisition skills you need to identify and incorporate culture add to improve your company’s existing culture and set it up for long-term success.
AIHR’s Strategic Talent Acquisition Certificate Program will teach you how to create and implement a talent acquisition strategy aligned with business priorities, and redefine your employee value proposition (EVP) with culture as a key element.
Culture fit vs. culture add
The concepts of “culture fit” and “culture add” represent two different approaches to evaluating potential hires within the context of an organization’s culture. Here’s how they differ:
Definition
The extent to which an individual aligns with an organization’s existing core values, norms, and behaviors.
The extent to which an individual contributes new perspectives, skills, and dynamics that enrich existing organizational culture.
Focus
Conformity to existing culture.
Diversity and enhancement of existing culture.
Goal
To maintain harmony and minimize conflict by ensuring new hires mesh well with current teams.
To innovate and grow by introducing new ideas, perspectives, and problem-solving approaches.
Pros
- Simplifies integration of new employees
- Maintains a cohesive work environment.
- Encourages diversity and inclusion
- Drives innovation and adaptability
- Broadens the team’s skill set and perspectives.
Cons
- May limit diversity of thought
- Potentially stifles innovation and change
- Workforce risks becoming homogenous.
- Could lead to an initial culture clash
- May require greater integration and management effort
- Potentially disrupts existing work dynamics.
Selection criteria
Candidates who demonstrate behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs similar to those espoused by the organization.
Candidates who bring unique qualities deemed valuable for the organization’s growth and innovation, even if they differ from the current norm.
Culture add interview questions
Hiring for culture add means looking beyond a candidate’s ability to fit into the current company culture and focusing on what new and diverse perspectives they can bring to the organization. Here are some interview questions designed to uncover a candidate’s potential as a culture add:
1. Tell us about a time when your idea or approach differed from your team’s. How did you handle it?
This question helps identify candidates who are not afraid to offer unique perspectives and can constructively contribute to diversity of thought.
2. How do you adapt to changes or new situations in the workplace?
This question assesses the candidate’s adaptability and openness to change, which is crucial for integrating with and contributing to a new culture.
3. What unique skills or perspectives do you believe you could bring to our team?
This question directly addresses what the candidate sees as their unique contribution, encouraging them to reflect on how they can enhance the existing culture.
4. How would you react to receiving constructive feedback on a task you believed was well-executed?
This question gauges a candidate’s openness to growth and their ability to positively integrate constructive feedback, highlighting their potential to contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability.
HR tip
When screening candidates, ask behavioral interview questions that assess how they’ve introduced new ideas or challenged the status quo in previous roles. This helps gauge their ability to contribute meaningfully to your organization’s culture.
Hiring for culture add: Tips for HR
When hiring with culture add in mind, you can boost your recruiting strategy by focusing on several key practices:
- Identify gaps in diversity of thought and experience: Look for areas within your team or organization where new hires could introduce diversity of thought, experience, or background. This might involve seeking candidates with different industry knowledge, innovative problem-solving approaches, or experiences that are currently underrepresented in your team.
- Value soft skills and emotional intelligence: Recognize the importance of soft skills and emotional intelligence in contributing to a positive and evolving company culture. Candidates who excel in communication, empathy, and teamwork can significantly enhance team dynamics and company morale.
- Incorporate culture add into job descriptions and employer branding: Clearly articulate its value in job descriptions and your employer branding. This attracts candidates who are not just looking for a job but are eager to contribute to and grow with the company’s culture.
- Use structured interviews to assess culture add potential: Implement structured interviews with specific questions designed to gauge how candidates might contribute uniquely to the company culture. This approach helps to evaluate culture add potential among candidates objectively.
- Promote an inclusive culture that welcomes diverse contributions: Ensure your organizational culture is genuinely inclusive and open to diverse contributions. This supports the integration of new hires who are culture adds and encourages existing employees to share and develop unique perspectives.
FAQ
A culture add test is an assessment employers use to evaluate how a candidate’s unique perspectives, experiences, and values can enhance and evolve the company’s culture. Instead of focusing on alignment with existing norms, it identifies how a candidate can bring fresh ideas, diversity, and innovation to the workplace.
An example of culture add is hiring a candidate who values teamwork and collaboration like the rest of the team but brings a more introverted and reflective approach, encouraging deeper discussions and thoughtful decision-making.
Culture add isn’t necessarily better than culture fit, but it offers a more dynamic hiring approach. While culture fit ensures harmony by selecting candidates who align with existing norms, culture add focuses on bringing fresh perspectives and diverse experiences that drive innovation and adaptability. Many organizations now prioritize it to foster inclusivity and long-term growth.
