Hire The One Who’s Kinda Like Us — Or The One Who’s Different? (Hint: It’s The Wrong Question)

Article after article keeps appearing: “Hire people with similar temperaments for harmony in the workplace.” Then other articles say: “Hiring people with different ‘styles’ shakes things up in a good way.”

But all this is answering a question that has no place in a work context. Your workplace is not a bowling league, private club, bridge club, book club, fraternity or sorority or golfing foursome where camaraderie is the end goal.

Forget about “fit” and “compatibility” and other out-dated ideas that were popular when there was more clarity, stability and durability of company goals and individual roles and responsibilities. Today’s competitive business environment requires lots of different kinds of creative forward-thinking, all happening at the same time you’re executing the initiatives you started yesterday or last month.

You need people who “get” the bigger picture of finding new and better ways of satisfying customer needs and getting paid for doing it. Lots of different skills are needed to get that done right. That means hiring the people who are the best you can find at those skills, and it’s unlikely they will have similar or even complementary personalities.

Yes, people will be showing up with some outlooks and behaviors others might find quirky or unusual. But getting people with varying backgrounds, experience and points of view to work together and contribute meaningfully to the work of your organization is one of the key roles of management.

Here’s how to make a good beginning:

• Tell everyone that every associate was hired because they appeared to have skills and experience we need to solve customer needs and help the company grow and prosper.
• Remind them that the work environment is not a clubhouse and that associates are not expected to arrive with natural compatibility with everyone else who works there.
• Make it clear that you are expecting each worker to get to know and find a way to work with every other worker and to help them get their work done.
• Issue a warning that petty disagreements, cliques, infighting, taking sides and sabotage will not be tolerated.

Once you’ve laid the groundwork, watch and see who steps up to help you. When they do, call attention to that positive behavior. Other good things from others will follow.