Why is “culture fit” a bad fit for creating an inclusive work culture?

Aubrey Blanche, head of diversity and belonging at Atlassian, was a guest on Inclusion Works recently and shared her thoughts about how most businesses seeking to diversify are doing it backward.

Blanche calls culture fit one of the worst talent concepts that's ever been invented, one that is anti-innovation.

At Atlassian, they interview for values alignment instead. They look for specific behaviors that are congruent with their corporate values. These include:

• A commitment to candor and transparency
• Thinking about the folks around you
• Finding some joy in your work

Their interviews are designed to tease out the people who have demonstrated those behaviors in the past and who want to work in a way that is collaborative, positive, and additive to the culture.

Blanche said applicants don’t need to fit a perfect mold, just be interested in going above and beyond to support and help their colleagues.