Historically, organizations prioritized hard skills and proven experience when evaluating executives for senior leadership roles. They focused on candidates with the right track record, assuming that leaders would figure out the soft skills over time. However, it has become increasingly clear that capabilities alone cannot predict success. Attitude, motivation, and leadership style are equally, if not more, critical to performance. Recognizing this, organizations began emphasizing culture fit and how individuals relate to the culture and interact with others.
New research, aided by “big data” approaches, suggests that organizations should also assess culture adaptability—how well a person can recognize cultural traits and adapt to styles different from their own.
Why Culture Adaptability?
Interest in culture adaptability has grown as organizations prioritize culture change and recognize the risks of insufficient diversity. The rapid pace of change in the business environment often leads leaders to seek a more future-focused and strategically aligned culture. In our experience with clients, a majority of the organizations showed a preference for a more flexible culture than they have today.
In these cases, finding leaders who fit the current culture is not the goal. Evolving the culture requires leaders who do not fit the current culture but align with the desired culture. For example, a company undergoing digital transformation may seek a change agent who models an inquisitive, adaptive, bold, and action-oriented culture. Additionally, increasing diversity in leadership styles can reduce groupthink, benefiting innovation and complex problem-solving.
The concept of “culture fit” has faced criticism because it can reinforce biases when defined by similarities in backgrounds or interests. Evaluating culture fit based on factors like shared hobbies or mutual friends does little to ensure true culture fit and perpetuates hiring biases.
Assessing for Culture Adaptability
The emerging insight into culture adaptability has significant implications for hiring and promoting. There are several ways to assess for culture adaptability:
Career Track Record
A willingness to engage in and adapt to new environments and challenges, such as taking jobs in different countries, industries, or functions, indicates culture adaptability. These roles test individuals’ ability to broaden their thinking and learn from different people and new ways of working.
Capabilities
Proven leadership experience in managing organizational change in complex environments is a strong indicator of culture adaptability. This can be assessed through behavioral interviews and feedback from current and former team members on how a leader adjusted their approach to changing situations.
Reference Checking
References from people who have worked with the leader can provide insights into the person’s style and interactions with others. Do others recognize their adaptability? Are there examples of the leader adapting to different styles?
Measures of Intellectual Agility and Social Intelligence
Measures of social intelligence, learning intelligence, and intellectual agility can identify individuals with high self-awareness and the ability to navigate complex social environments. These traits are common in culturally adaptable people.
As our understanding of the talent equation continues to improve, we’ve moved from assessing leaders exclusively on their skills and track record to incorporating culture fit. While alignment with culture remains an important consideration when selecting leaders, there are risks in overemphasizing it, particularly in a world where more organizations recognize the value of diversity and inclusion. A growing body of research demonstrates the role of culture adaptability to individual success. Organizations that are able to identify individuals who can adapt to the prevailing culture, to new culture aspirations and to other’s preferred styles will be in the best position to leverage cultural diversity and grow along with the business.