Culture Fit vs. Culture Add
When hiring new talent, many organisations instinctively look for a “culture fit.” On the surface, this makes sense—recruiting someone who shares the organisation’s values and outlook seems like the safest route to team harmony. But increasingly, we’re learning that hiring for “fit” can unintentionally reinforce sameness, stifle innovation, and hinder long-term performance.
Instead, forward-thinking organisations are embracing the concept of “culture add.” This shift moves beyond seeking alignment to intentionally welcoming difference—diverse perspectives, backgrounds, thinking styles and lived experiences that enrich the organisational culture, rather than simply mirror it.
This isn’t just a nice idea—it’s backed by evidence. Research by McKinsey & Company consistently shows that diverse teams outperform their more homogenous peers, especially when it comes to creativity, decision-making and financial returns. Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends also highlights that inclusive organisations are more agile, resilient, and better able to solve complex problems.
Why? Because when everyone thinks the same, it limits the ability to challenge assumptions or innovate. Psychologist Irving Janis famously coined the term “groupthink” to describe what happens when the drive for consensus overrides critical thinking. Hiring for culture fit—when done narrowly—can reinforce unconscious bias, reduce diversity of thought, and inadvertently create echo chambers.
In contrast, hiring for culture add strengthens your culture by stretching it. When you recruit someone who brings a new lens, a fresh set of questions or a different life experience, you expand your team’s collective intelligence. You better reflect the clients and communities you serve. And you’re more likely to create psychologically safe spaces where people feel seen, heard and valued.
Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei reminds us that “leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence, and making that impact last in your absence.” The same can be said of culture. A strong, inclusive culture isn’t static—it evolves. It invites contribution. It celebrates positive challenge.
For business leaders, this requires a mindset shift. Instead of asking, “Does this person fit in here?”, we should be asking, “What does this person bring that we don’t yet have, and how will that enhance who we are?”
This approach is not only good for innovation—it’s good for people. When people see difference being valued, they feel safer to be themselves. They’re more engaged, more motivated, and more likely to stay. In short, they have a more positive people experience—and as a business psychologist, I know from both research and practice that this is the cornerstone of high performance.
The organisations that will thrive in the future are those that are curious about difference and courageous enough to embrace it. Culture is not a museum to be preserved; it’s a garden to be cultivated. By hiring for culture add, we plant the seeds of resilience, relevance and real inclusion.
And in doing so, we don’t just shape better workplaces—we create better outcomes for everyone.
