Why did you show up at work today? Whether to gain authority, help others, make money, or have fun, the answer most likely connects to your values. Organisations have values too, whether declared or implied. Organisational culture is formed by the values of leaders, which can be revealed in executive assessment.

On episode 128 of The Science of Personality, cohosts Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp discussed why values are so crucial to executive selection. “Values represent our key drivers, our philosophy of life,” Ryne said. “They motivate us in ways that we often aren’t even aware of.”

In this article, we consider values and fit. Please note that when we refer to fit, we’re talking about alignment between a person’s values and the demands of the role, team, and culture. With that context in mind, let’s discuss executive assessment and organisational culture.

Values Alignment and Executive Success

When decision-makers evaluate people for executive roles, they typically look at skills, leadership experience, strategic vision, and industry expertise. But values are often overlooked. That’s where executive assessments offer benefit. “Ultimately, we want to make sure that the values of executives are in congruence with the values of the organisation,” Ryne said. “It’s about getting the right set of values together to help that organisation thrive.”

When organisations get values alignment wrong, the consequences can be dire. Consider AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. While AT&T has a culture focused on engineering, Time Warner’s was more about content creation. When you try to merge a culture that values process and control with a culture that values imagination and innovation, you get executive conflict. After only four years, AT&T sold Time Warner at a loss.

How Executive Assessment Reveals Values

At Hogan, we describe values using the 10 scales on the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI). The MVPI assesses what we desire and strive to attain, such as visibility, relationships, structure, or quality. (These correspond to the MVPI scales Recognition, Affiliation, Security, and Aesthetics, respectively.)

To find out what an organisation’s values are, assess the values of top executives. For instance, the executive leadership team at Hogan Assessments shares the value of MVPI Science, which indicates a preference for data-driven, analytical decision-making. Ryne gave several other examples of executive values affecting organisational culture:

• A business accounting firm – MVPI Commerce
• A high-end computer software company – MVPI Hedonism and Aesthetics
• A chemical company specialising in plastics – MVPI Science
• A military special operations organisation – MVPI Tradition
• A functional, practical apparel brand – MVPI Commerce and Altruism
• A luxury apparel brand – MVPI Aesthetics and Power

He pointed out that companies in the same industry don’t necessarily have the same values, as in the case of the two retail brands. “In a succession plan, the candidates you would consider for one apparel company would be very different from the candidates you would consider for the other,” he said.

Leadership Values and Cultural Change

Once an organisation has a good idea of internal leadership capabilities (and the capabilities of external candidates, if applicable), the key question changes. It’s no longer whether someone will be a good leader in general but whether that executive is going to be effective in this role right now. The organisation must consider whether the executive candidate’s values match culture needs, either the current culture or the desired culture.

“This is one of the most critical questions for an organisation to ask during executive transition or succession planning,” Ryne said. “Do we want the future leader to change something about our culture? Are we happy with the current culture, or are there strategic shifts we need to make?” Although leaders have an extensive influence on organisational culture, they can’t effect cultural change without buy-in from the rest of the organisation. An executive whose values are dramatically different from the existing organisational culture risks rejection.

Talent leaders and those who are making succession planning decisions face challenges to find someone who matches the core values but can also bring change.

Unconscious Biases in Executive Selection

To build an equitable succession planning strategy, organisations must use an objective, scientifically validated approach to evaluating a candidate. Executive assessments focused on values will predict how candidates are likely to fit with the culture. Ryne addressed the common misuse of the wordfit: “Far too often, organisations will say they’re hiring for fit, but fit is often used to cover up personal biases.”

These unconscious biases can include age, sex, gender, race. ethnicity, and affinity bias. Affinity bias, also called similarity bias, is giving preference to people who seem similar to us based on arbitrary criteria (e.g., alma mater, style of dress, preferred sports team).

“Fit can be scientific and objective,” he continued. “Assess a candidate’s values, compare those to the values of the organisation, and decide empirically how this person will fit with the organisation.”

Executive Assessment and Cultural Stewardship

Executive search professionals play a significant role in the future culture of the organisations they serve. Ryne uses the term cultural stewardship to indicate how HR leaders and executive search consultants steer organisational culture. Cultural stewardship means helping an organisation impact its culture by curating executive values. What kind of future culture is desired here? In which direction might values need to shift? What executive assessments and selection criteria will achieve the most desirable outcomes?

Sometimes organisations need help letting go of values that are no longer effective. “Cultural stewardship says, ‘This is the culture you need to bring in. Let’s find you the executives who can shift your culture in a way that remains true to who you are,’” Ryne said.

Assessing executives using the MVPI and comparing leadership values with results of cultural evaluations can reveal alignment or misalignment in organisational culture. Analyse values in depth by comparing executive assessment results with cultural survey findings. “Start with those executives, get their values, and talk about what that pattern of values means for the kind of culture they’re creating,” Ryne said.

Listen to this conversation in full on episode 128 of The Science of Personality.

*This article originally appeared on Hogan Assessments.