Don’t Underestimate Onboarding

I have heard it before, people don’t leave companies, they leave their managers. If someone isn’t performing, don’t look at them, look at their manager. What this line of thinking tells us is that when something is wrong, don’t just go with your first reaction, look deeper in and find the root cause. This line of thinking is really pragmatic, actually. While it may not bring you the instant gratification that a first-reaction decision can bring, it does usually lead you to the truth. So when I think about issues around culture assimilation, training and development, and performance - why don’t we look deeper at onboarding as the driver behind these issues?

When I look at some of the most successful performance organizations I’ve been a part of, one thing they had in common was a well-crafted and thought-through employee onboarding process. Now, onboarding shouldn’t be a closed book but rather, fluid. Something that is constantly changing, making it better for the next hire. Onboarding is about decreasing time to productivity, among other things. So, with that in mind, here is what I advise clients to do when crafting an onboarding program:

• Craft a guide that you can share with your new hires. This guide should include your company vision, mission, and values, leadership bios, organizational structure, what technology they will use, creative downloadables, glassdoor site, etc. One guide, each hire, get them started.
• Schedule a new hire orientation with your CEO and Executive Team, virtually if you have to. In a time where employees are demanding CEO transparency, getting to know your employees within their first week goes a long way towards building trust.
• Schedule a Core Value Training. You just got done using your values in the recruitment process to help make your hire, keep your foot on the peddle by scheduling a training with your new hires that reviews your values, shares stories and examples where they’re applicable and continue to gain buy-in on your values and how people at your company work towards common goals.?

Employers have an opportunity during onboarding to make a lasting impact on your new hire, even to the point where you won’t be asking the question, should we be looking at onboarding??