She is my Daughter in Law, a well qualified engineer and a great house-maker too!

“She is my daughter in law, a well qualified engineer and a great house-maker too!” …. The sentence that lingers in my mind and I become nostalgic when I remember how my Mother In Law used to introduce me ! I do this today on the occasion of #ganeshafestival... in the time of this tough pandemic ....

I revive the fragrance called “Confidence” when I remember her and the immense respect we had about each other.

As I walked my career path changing organizations, I heard that from couple of my Indian bosses who repeated likewise “Here is she, who brings a great experience in multiple areas in software organization, performing equally on personal front and must surely be a great mother, wife and daughter in law…”… that sometime put me in awkward situation when praised in front of other employees but then I realized that’s the Introduction!! That’s the way I am perceived.

Since a many days, I was grappling to get time to write about this topic… #Introductions!!! How do they matter? When are they of great importance?

Professional life is like surfing on the waves.. We start small, may be in an area we never planned to work and land into first job . Every step creates an identity for us and when we step out, we carry that Identity and experience with us. In fact that’s the bundle of achievements that gives us confidence to try new challenges. Many of us go the path of leading people and many enjoy holding the flag high herself/himself and walk.

I wish to bring out a point here that Introductions are important! They are an employee's mettle for the new path.

Introducing an employee in right way and at right time is absolutely essential and key gesture in professional life.

I have seen beautiful welcome emails written by some managers in my past/recent tenure when people joined teams. They acknowledged the experience baggage an employee brought in and allowed them in the new room with a hearty welcoming email... The very act of accepting the strength of a newcomer is nothing but the “Welcome Bonus” one can give to the person.

This makes double the impact . Firstly, employee felt absolutely at new home feeling that this is now going to be her/his new success field and secondly the team and employees around realized the strength of having someone expertized in the area is now a part of their team… and that’s going to propel the growth.

So, How best can an introduction be?

Hey – Crispness may not help here unless fine tuned! We could start with the welcoming message for a person, followed with her/his immediately switched role and briefly write about the wealth of experiences he/she brought. Mention the key areas we could expect advice from her/him and enjoy being with her for XYZ things… Writing her/his hobbies and extracurricular activities and interests could be a good gesture to show the humility and respect we have about her/his life….

A 12 year experienced person having done a great stride in Performance Test Automation would make this way in my team

“Lets welcome Siddharth, who joins us after his wonderful achievements in ABC Ltd and brings in wealth of experience in Software Testing ( almost more than 10 years in hard-core testing) and the most amazing thing you may find about him is he enjoys marathons and is an origami expert.. Wish you good luck Siddharth and we await great days with you in the Performance testing team”

Sounds classic right? Siddharth is powered to join the team and team is equally excited… so here are some facets I would jot down of this noble professional ritual…( IMO )

Systematic Conclusion of the Hiring Process

Every selection is by rigorous rather thoughtful process and lets also honor the right outputs of this process – one checkpoint is that it concludes with right introduction.

Right Welcome Message

Often it happens that an employee switches role within the organization and she/he matures in the same place. In such a case, if an organization is a big one, then there is hardly any connect between the previous and the new unit and the new team may not know the person. In such a case, the best welcome to an employee is a “Gentle yet powerful” introduction. I stressed on this because sometime this may be missed...

Raising Respect about the hiring manager

The one who welcomes well will surely lead the path of the employee well in the organization. Introducing rightly will make the team see the hiring manager with respect

Set the right set of Expectations

An appropriate positive introduction of an employee will surely lay right expectation at the start of the role and will always remind the employee of the gratitude shown by the organization towards her/his entry into the system. Also this helps her/him further in the job to stay focused towards the beliefs set

By the way… Lets not wait for the start of the role to introduce the person but take an opportunity to do it when connecting dots!! That immensely helps.

So, just look back …and see …Have you introduced someone recently and how?

#leadershipmessages #introductions #gratitude #professionalgestures