That’s why it’s so important to be intentional with your hiring practices. Otherwise, when it comes to hiring, mentorship, promotions, and succession planning, people are more likely to “bet on potential” if it’s someone they “have something in common with,” Douglas says.
“Unless you’re going to make a conscious effort to — what I like to say — ‘vibe outside your tribe,’ and go and connect with people that you typically wouldn’t necessarily be associated with, you’re going to keep [hiring and promoting] more and more of the same,” he says.
Douglas gives the example of a hiring manager who works down the hall from someone more junior, but their sons play on the same hockey team. In this instance, the two colleagues have something in common, and that hiring manager is going to see themselves in that employee. However, if it was an employee who had a child playing another sport, something from another culture or part of the world, it’s not as effortless to “assimilate and have a conversation outside of work.”
