Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

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  1

  insidesales

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  It's a tricky line to walk

  And probably becomes more tricky if you have a distinct corporate culture (which we all do, some more than others).
  
  If your corporate culture really does require those sorts of elements though, I don't think it's too far to say that this concern in some cases can override qualifications--though not to the point of incompetency.
  
  Our company very early on instituted a "90 day" trial period for both the employee and employer, meaning that either can terminate employment if the cultural differences or expectations are wildly differing, and it's just not a good fit for either party.
  
  -Steve
  
  
  InsideSales.com

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  2

  tgillmore

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  It has become American fashion to "Inbreed." Corporate political correctness and adeptness at buzz-word bingo are the skills people are hired for, not creative thinking. Talented people who go against the grain do promote well, though they are the ones who probably could contribute the most to creating innovation.

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  3

  monger@...

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  There it is:
  
  "If you???re trying to change your corporate culture, bolster diversity, or bring in new skills or talents, it???s harder to do if you???re hiring clones of your current workforce."
  
  Most are not. Those things might require more work, talent and make things harder for managers.
  
  Have you noted that good management concepts are rarely found in practising management

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  4

  pauldg@...

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  No Free Thinkers Allowed

  I agree with you, Monger. Very few organizations really walk their talk. And even fewer are willing to tolerate "misfits" or "free thinkers", regardless of how good their ideas may be.

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  as0199@...

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  Try to avoid treating people as profit.

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  frankhurtte

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  Far too many organizations read diversity as red, yellow, black or white... They high five themselves for being "diverse" when in reality they only managed to find clones with different skin tones.

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  7

  burnettwm@...

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  Weird Ideas That Work

  Right on Target! There's a wonderful book about this topic called Weird Ideas that Work by Robert Sutton, a professor at Stanford.
  
  Also, there is a white paper related to this called "You?re Laying Off Your Best Problem-Solvers" http://www.wburnettllc.com/layoff.pdf

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  nandini_vk

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  Hi,
  I always supported employee referral programmes. But after reading your article realised the flip-side to it. Every company benefits by having a wide range of employees with different backgrounds and ideas.

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  whoisthis

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  Victim

  i am a victim of employee inbreeding.
  
  i report to an inadequate and incapable manager who spends the significant part of his day buddy-buddying with his best buddy, who, coincidentally, is the big boss.
  
  naturally, this renders any form of escalation moot.
  
  somebody help me...

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  H6230

  05/27/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  Mostly, The pschological forces control our behaviour and the person who is like you can be excused for his mistakes and would appreciated more than whta he/she deserves.... It creates, sometimes, injustice situation... It should be avoided at any cost.....

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  11

  Melpo

  05/28/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  I completely agree, but I have had so many weird looks from colleagues over the years when I question the wisdom of hiring former subordinates and colleagues.
  
  If someone is truly the best (insert needed skill) you've ever worked with go ahead and recruit them to join your company. However, more often than not, former employees have many of the same experiences and ideas that you do. They may add competence, but they don't add anything new. I like to hire unknown people who have a proven track record. They usually bring in different, sometimes better, ways of doing things.
  
  Melissa Paulik

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  12

  jwhitley

  05/28/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  Good managers purposefully hire staff who are different than they are and bring additional skills / personalities to the table. It is not uncommon for weak managers to actively weed out or suppress leadership on their teams and replace them with likeminded minions who will maintain the status quo. This is a proven tactic for maintaining power and driving mediocrity to new heights.
  
  A good book on this topic based on the movie 300: http://www.dutyhonorglory.com/

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  LWeller2

  07/01/08 | Report as spam

  Too familiar

  Hiring an employee's "buddies" is not the best tactic. It can lead to the creation of cliques or COCAs (cover our collective a_ _ _ _s). It may also lead to too much together time enitrely unrelated to work. Without meaning to (or some times meaning too), if this group is too large (3 or more), it can make other employees feel like outsiders.
  
  Ask yourself if you're running a company or a fraternity.

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  chris_blackman@...

  08/12/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  I use a tool called "Integrity & Values Profiling" together with Team Profiling to identify prospective recruits (or existing team memebrs) who might conflict in some way with one another - or whose contribution might be net negative.
  
  Details at http://www.asvpconsulting.com/Integrity_And_Values_Profile.htm

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  15

  the limority report

  09/11/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Avoid the Perils of Employee Inbreeding

  Regarding: "One thing managers forget is that this sort of workplace inbreeding has build-in pitfalls."
  
  Shouldn't this be BUILT-IN, not "build-in?"