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When teams underperform, the first instinct is to look at individuals. But often, the issue isn’t the person you hired. It’s how their behavioural traits interact with the team they joined. Even highly skilled professionals can struggle when their natural working style clashes with the rest of the group.
We’ve seen this many times. A candidate looks perfect on paper. They bring experience, they handle the interview well, and they start strong. But within a few weeks, the signs appear. Team members begin working around them. Meetings feel disjointed. Priorities don’t stick. The issue isn’t competence. It’s misalignment.
Hiring decisions are often made in isolation, without considering how the team currently operates or what it needs. A 2023 Predictive Index report found that 61% of executives say misalignment within teams slows down business growth. That friction often starts with a hire who unintentionally disrupts the group dynamic.
The Predictive Index helps address this by giving leaders behavioural data that supports hiring decisions with more context. It doesn’t replace experience or judgement. It adds a layer of evidence about what your team needs, how it currently functions, and who is most likely to strengthen it.
This article will show how performance issues are often linked to behavioural fit, and how PI insights help teams hire in a way that supports strategy, improves collaboration, and reduces costly turnover.
The Predictive Index (PI) is a talent optimisation platform that helps organisations make data-driven decisions about hiring and team design. It includes behavioural and cognitive assessments that give insight into how people work, what drives them, and how they are likely to collaborate with others. By understanding these patterns, leaders can hire more effectively, build stronger teams, and align talent with business strategy.
Most hiring mistakes aren’t about skills. They’re about fit.
A new hire joins the team with strong experience, a confident interview, and the right qualifications. But within weeks, the signs appear. Meetings feel tense. Collaboration slows. Priorities drift. The team becomes less productive, not more. It’s rarely because the person can’t do the job. It’s because their natural working style doesn’t complement the team around them.
This kind of misfit is more common than many realise. A study by Leadership IQ found that 89% of hiring failures are due to attitude and behavioural mismatch, not technical ability. And yet, most hiring decisions still focus heavily on experience and personality, without considering how that person will actually perform in the team environment.
These issues often start because no one has taken the time to understand how the current team works. Without behavioural insight, the decision often comes down to gut feel. That can lead to repeating the same hiring patterns and wondering why the team never quite clicks.
Understanding how your team communicates, makes decisions, and works under pressure changes that. It gives context to the role, highlights what traits will support or strain the team, and helps you make more confident hiring decisions.
This is where the Predictive Index adds value. It reveals the behaviours already present in your team, the gaps that may be holding it back, and the traits that are likely to improve performance. That insight shifts the hiring question from “Who looks good on paper?” to “Who will help this team work better together?”
Before you hire anyone, you need to understand the team they will join. This isn’t about reviewing job titles or team structure. It’s about how the team actually works. What drives them? How do they handle pressure? Where do things break down?
That starts with self-awareness. When individuals understand their own behavioural patterns, they can work more effectively and avoid some of the tension that comes from misaligned expectations. When the team shares that understanding, it becomes easier to spot where a new hire might help or hurt performance.
The Predictive Index provides that insight. Through a behavioural assessment, it shows how each person prefers to communicate, process information, make decisions, and respond to change. These patterns are then analysed across the team to create what PI calls a team type.
There are four core team types:
Each type comes with strengths, risks, and trade-offs. For example, a Results and Discipline team tends to move fast, take charge, and push for outcomes. That can be valuable in a high-growth or turnaround environment. But without enough stabilising or collaborative behaviours, these teams can become impatient, risk burnout, or struggle to bring others along.
If a team like this is planning to scale and needs to build more sustainable systems, a stabilising hire may be the right move. Someone who naturally brings structure, consistency, and caution can help anchor the team’s energy without slowing it down completely. But if that person lacks confidence in fast-paced settings, they could become isolated or overwhelmed.
This is why team awareness matters. It shows you the behavioural context a new hire is stepping into, and what they need in order to contribute effectively. It also helps the existing team understand how to support that person, rather than resist them.
Leaders who invest time in understanding how their teams work make better decisions. They reduce friction, improve communication, and hire people who support the team’s ability to perform under pressure.
Once you understand how your team is wired and what it needs to achieve, hiring becomes more strategic. You stop looking for someone who simply meets the job requirements. You start looking for someone who supports the team’s ability to perform.
The Predictive Index makes this possible by connecting three layers of insight:
At the heart of this is the PI Job Target. It’s not a generic template or competency list. It’s a behavioural and cognitive benchmark tailored to the role, the team, and the outcomes you’re aiming for. It’s created by aligning input from key stakeholders with the data from your existing team profile and business objectives.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Imagine a leadership team that falls into the Process and Precision type. They’re strong in planning, structure, and consistency. They’ve built a stable foundation, but now the business is entering a period of expansion. They need someone who can bring pace and innovation, especially in product development.
If they hire someone just like themselves (structured, detail-focused, risk-averse) they’ll stay exactly where they are. That hire might be easy to integrate, but won’t move things forward. On the other hand, hiring someone with high levels of drive, creativity, and risk tolerance could inject momentum, but also create tension if the team isn’t prepared to work with someone who pushes boundaries.
The PI platform helps you find that balance. It shows how a candidate’s behavioural traits align or clash with the Job Target, where they might thrive, and where support might be needed. It helps you see the full picture before making the decision.
Used well, this approach reduces guesswork, cuts down on mis-hires, and helps new hires contribute faster. It doesn’t just protect your hiring investment. It protects the health and performance of the team around them.
Even the most impressive CV can lead to a costly mis-hire. Discover why good hires often turn out to be a bad fit, and what you can do to stop it happening again.
Hiring mistakes don’t just cost money. They affect team performance, slow down progress, and knock confidence. When a hire doesn’t fit, the impact is felt across the business. It shows up in strained relationships, dropped priorities, and goals that don’t get delivered.
That’s why I focus on helping companies make hiring decisions they can stand behind. By combining the Predictive Index with strategic support, I help you understand how your team works, what kind of person will support its goals, and where things could go wrong if you get the hire wrong.
If you want to reduce risk, avoid disruption, and make your next hire a decision you don’t need to second-guess, I’d be happy to show you how it works. Contact me today, I will be happy to help.
Dave Crumby
Founder at 360 Talent Solutions
Certified Predictive Index Practitioner
360 Talent Solutions Ltd is an Associate Partner of Humanostics® , a PI Certified Partner authorised to use the science, assessment software, and curriculum of management workshops of The Predictive Index.
In partnership with Humanostics, we provide companies access to the assessment tools provided by The Predictive Index.
Take the 6-minute PI Behavioral Assessment™ today. Once you have completed the 6-minute assessment, I will send you a Full Behavioral Report by Predictive Index.
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