Pride Month - Perhaps We've Been Asking the Wrong Question

June is Pride Month, and like many organizations, we’ve been reflecting on what inclusion and belonging truly mean in our workplaces.

As someone who works in People and Culture and executive recruitment, I’ve found myself thinking about a question I hear regularly from hiring leaders:

“Do you think they’ll fit here?”

To be clear, I don’t think that’s a bad question.

In most cases, it comes from a good place. Leaders want to protect the culture they have worked hard to build. They want to create cohesive teams, reduce turnover, and improve the likelihood that a new hire will be successful. Those are all legitimate objectives.

As a Certified Culture Practitioner through the Barrett Values Centre, I believe deeply in the importance of values alignment. Shared values provide the foundation for trust, collaboration, and decision-making. They help organizations navigate complexity and create clarity about how people work together.

But over the years, I’ve started to wonder whether we sometimes mean something different when we talk about “fit.”  Perhaps we’ve been asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking whether someone will fit, maybe we should be asking what they will bring.

I think there is an important distinction between values alignment and cultural sameness.

Values alignment is about shared principles. Integrity. Accountability. Respect. Collaboration. Service. Whatever the values may be, they provide the common foundation that holds a team together.

“Fit,” however, can sometimes become shorthand for something much less intentional. Without realizing it, we may be asking whether someone thinks like us, communicates like us, approaches problems like us, or simply feels familiar.

In recruitment, some of the strongest teams I’ve encountered have not been built by hiring people who seamlessly blend into the existing culture. They’ve been built by hiring people who shared the organization’s values while bringing different perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking.

Different industries.
Different educational paths.
Different cultural backgrounds.
Different lived experiences.

Sometimes, simply different ways of approaching a problem.

Those differences can feel uncomfortable at first. They challenge assumptions. They create healthy debate. They push teams to think differently.  And often, they make organizations stronger.

Pride Month reminds us that inclusion is about more than representation. At its core, inclusion asks whether people feel they can contribute authentically without having to become someone else to succeed.

That idea extends far beyond any one community.

If we want workplaces where people truly belong, perhaps we need to think carefully about the language we use. When we hire for “fit,” are we looking for alignment around shared values? Or are we unintentionally looking for people who make us feel comfortable because they resemble the people already around the table?

I don’t believe organizations should stop looking for alignment. In fact, I would argue the opposite. Shared values matter deeply. They create the conditions for trust and high performance.

As leaders, recruiters, and hiring managers, perhaps it’s worth reflecting on one simple question:

Instead of asking whether someone will fit, what if we asked what they might bring?

I’d be interested to hear what others think. Is there a meaningful difference between hiring for culture fit and hiring for culture contribution?

Tanya Tynski is Practice Leader and Senior Advisor of People & Culture at MC Advisory, focused on executive recruitment, cultural transformation, and organizational success.