Where you start is what you get. I regularly hear managers say:

• “An unexpected problem arose and the team didn’t step up.”
  
• “I can’t figure out how to motivate them.”
  
• “No one goes above and beyond.”
  
• “They are just so passive!”

Alternately:

• “They won’t stop arguing!”
  
• “People complain about being interrupted all the time.”

	Stephen Balzac

Businesses like to describe their culture in positive terms, as “can do” or “fun-loving, but hard working,” or “highly motivated, team-driven atmosphere,” and so forth. Unfortunately, as the comments above illustrate, this is often wishful thinking. Culture is a complex construct and actions taken early in the company’s history can have far reaching effects. And while everyone knows that who a company hires can make a big difference, what is less obvious is that how a company hires can be even more critical.

How a company recruits will determine whether it creates a culture of aggressive problem-solving or passive waiting in the face of difficulties or unexpected situations. Management can say whatever they want; it’s how they act that will set the tone.

On the extreme end are those companies that announce a position but provide no information about the company, the product or the management team. Many have no Web site, no phone number and no physical address. Apparently they expect people to shoot resumes into a black hole.

Far more common are those companies that ask for resumes and specify no phone calls, or which provide a phone number which usually goes to voice mail. When the phone is answered, it appears to be by someone who saw too many old movies: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” Calling risks having one’s resume tossed for being “annoying.”

Still other companies will only respond to the people who aggressively make the phone calls. Those who call repeatedly are the ones who get called back and invited to interviews.

What sort of people will respond to these different approaches? The first two yield very similar results: the aggressive problem solvers get frustrated because they cannot get past the wall of silence. If they are effective at solving problems and focusing their energies, they concentrate on the businesses where they are getting a response. Meanwhile, the people who are happy to sit back and wait do just that. The longer the business takes to make its decisions, the more likely those people are the ones available. Even the more aggressive players, should they be hired, have been given the very clear message that the correct behavior in this company is to shut up and wait. Thus are the seeds of culture sown: a behavior that is successful once is likely to be repeated, and it takes only occasional successes to reinforce the initial belief. In other words, once the expectation is set, it is very difficult to change.

It may seem as though the best case is to be company number three. In general, although not perfect, it’s probably a better place to be than the companies in examples one and two. The danger is when it goes too far in the other direction: the aggressive approach becomes the norm for interaction in all situations. As a result, team members never really take the time to get to know one another and understand each other’s working styles. Team members never develop trust and a strong sense of team identity, limiting overall productivity.

So how do you hire in a way that creates the corporate culture that you want? If you can answer the following questions, you can at least tilt the odds in your favor:

• What values does the company hold? What are the standards people should strive to meet?
  
• Which behaviors reinforce your values, which are irrelevant, and which actively send the wrong message?
  
• How does the hiring process reinforce the behaviors you value? Are you discouraging behaviors you don’t want? Are you wasting time on behaviors that are irrelevant?
  
• A team is a system. How will the members of the system interact?
  
• What does your behavior during the hiring process say about what the company values and what behaviors are expected? Does it match with your expressed values? If there is a mismatch, how will you resolve it?

Remember, where you start is what you get, and you control where you start. Good luck.

Stephen Balzac is a consultant, professional speaker and psychology professor. He is president of 7 Steps Ahead (www.7stepsahead.com), a consulting firm based in Stow, Mass. He can be contacted at (978) 298-5189 or steve@7stepsahead.com.