Successfully Onboarding New Employees

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Fast Company's Julia Phelan has written a good article titled "The ultimate guide to onboarding an employee successfully."  As I read the article, several key points resonated with me, and led me to think about what else I might consider as suggestions about the onboarding process.  Here is a synthesis of Phelan's recommendations and my own:  

1.  Put yourself in the new employee's shoes.  Think about a time when you were brand new to an institution, whether it was a company, a school, or a volunteer organization.  Empathize with the new team member.  Recognize how and why they might be stressed, confused, or anxious.  If you have been at your firm for a long time, putting yourself in their shoes will be more difficult.  Therefore, companies should think about having recently hired employees be part of the onboarding process, and not just rely on seasoned managers. 

2.  Set them up for a small, early win.  Don't give them a huge project right off the bat.  Give them something manageable so that they can get some experience working within the organization and delivering desired results.  

3.  Make sure they know where to go for help. Beyond their direct supervisor, who else can be a resource to them?   What other sources of information and training are available to them?  Who are the key people they need to get to know as soon as possible, including key employees in other departments?

4. Establish a clear schedule for the initial set of one-on-one meetings with their supervisor.  Make sure that these meetings can put on the calendar right away.   

5. Introduce them to other new or relatively new hires.  Help them build a cohort of new members of the organization who can help each other navigate the onboarding process.  

6.  Make sure they understand the big picture.  It's important that they understand their personal goals.  However, it is also very important that they understand the broader organizational goals and priorities.  How does their work fit into the bigger picture?  Providing that clear viewpoint will help them discover purpose and meaning in their work. 

7.  Be clear about what technical skills and capabilities they will need to learn as soon as possible to succeed in their role.  Take a quick inventory.  Make sure you know what they can do and what they can't do.  Is Tableau required for the job?  If so, make sure they know how to get up to speed on that software?  What if they know Tableau, but it is not currently used in their department?  Could it be useful?  Could they teach others, or introduce the software to make key activities more effective and efficient?   

Thinking about these key questions can take onboarding to the next level.  It is about far more than insuring new hires know the company policies and procedures.  Onboarding should be about setting people up to succeed and thrive in the organization.