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A rigorous hiring process must be followed by a carefully planned onboarding process. You’re bringing a stranger into your business and you want the new hire to adapt to and improve your business culture as well as help you get to your objectives.
He or she can’t do this by coming in and just doing what he or she thinks should be done, no matter how much talent and experience the new hire may have. The new hire must first get to know how you operate (your systems) and what you expect him or her to do on a daily basis. You or your best employee must carefully teach the new hire what is expected, what to do and how to do it.
If this is your first hire, it’s the best time to shape the culture and work habits that you want to see throughout your organization. The real point is, the faster the new hire feels welcomed and prepared to do the job, the faster and more effectively he or she can contribute to your business objectives.
According to Talya N. Bauer of Portland State University, there are four levels of onboarding and we will consider them as four ways an onboarding process can help you succeed:
1. Thoroughly discuss and confirm compliance issues -This is a fundamental area that all employees must know and abide by and includes legal requirements and all policies and regulations. An example would be paperwork or documentation requirements for your industry or training on racial and sexual harassment if applicable. The business owner is required to design a plan for and require adherence to all critical compliance issues.
2. Spend adequate time clarifying all performance requirements. -This is the function that makes sure that the new employee clearly understands the job they will perform and what is expected of them. This is taken care of if you have an adequate position description as well as a thorough plan for training and coaching.
3. Point out and explain the Values that are important to your culture.-This relates to the Values that you have adopted as critical to your business. For example, the importance of integrity, excellence or customer respect. Your culture should be introduced in your application process, in your interviewing process and in all phases of your on- boarding process. It must also be seen in the behavior of the owner or manager.
4. Explain and introduce to all connected to your enterprise.– Inform the new hire of the affiliations or interpersonal relationships necessary to do the job effectively. Training on how to interact with customers will probably be the first area of connections that you will address. Relations with all affiliates will, first of all, be modeled by the founder or manager and that makes it easy to teach to the new hires.
Most organizations do a good job of distributing documents and policies to the new hires, but some don’t take the time to make sure that the employee understands these requirements. It’s worth the time to make sure that there is full understanding throughout the onboarding process. Allow the person to ask as many questions as needed.
Often companies don’t put much effort into training about the culture and helping to build connections. This is where the real success happens, so spend plenty of time informing the employee about you Mission and Values showing hin or her how they are played out in your everyday operations.
You may also consider including the new hire in some of the planning for his or her onboarding. This is a great motivator and will help the new hire begin to understand you and your management style.
