Culture fit isn’t everything - here's what REALLY matters

 Want a high-performing team? Here's how to get it right from the start!

*hint* it goes beyond hiring for a great culture fit...

The best teams don’t just have the right people... they have the *right people*, in the *right roles*, at the *right time*

Here’s how to make the magic happen:

• Hire for today AND tomorrow – What does your team need right now? What will they need six months from now? Plan for both.

• Balance experience levels wisely – A seasoned team might be the perfect place for a high-potential rookie. But a newer team? They might need a subject-matter expert to level up the team.

• Think beyond just culture fit – Culture is important, but a cultural fit isn't everything. Someone can be a great cultural "fit", but be completely wrong for that job.

• Transcript

  [00:00:00] Let's talk about the idea of having the right person in the right seat. If you're familiar with the EOS framework, Entrepreneurial Operating System, they have this idea of right person, right seat. Back at Target, we call this right person, right place, right time.

  It's the idea that you have the right person in the right job.

  I can't tell you the number of times I have worked with clients and teams who talk about how someone is such a good culture fit, but then we look at their performance and they're not performing well.

  So what gives? Well, that's a perfect example of right person, wrong seat. Or maybe it's the right person, but it's the wrong place and the wrong time. So how do you solve that?

  The first place that you can impact this is in your hiring process. It's really easy to be dazzled by someone who is an impressive person, or really fits the culture.

  Or we think, oh, they're so cool, we want them on our team! But if they're not going to be the right fit for that role right now, then they're not the right fit for your team. So let me explain what I mean by that.

  I see this a lot when it comes to hiring someone who we think will be a good fit [00:01:00] someday. They're a little green, maybe newer in their career, but so is the rest of the team. If the whole team is inexperienced or trying to learn, hiring another person who's also just as green may not be the best fit.

  On the flip side, if you have a team of seasoned professionals excellent at what they do, maybe now is the time you hire someone who's brand new in their career because they have a bunch of mentors around them to help get them up to speed quickly.

  Either way, you should assess what the true need on your team is right now and also what the rest of the environment calls for.

  Sometimes you need to hire the expert, and sometimes it's okay to hire someone who can grow into that role. Either way, think about this. Right person, right place, right time. Or, right person, right seat.