Onboarding

Onboarding new team members is what we're going to be talking about today on How to Lead, the podcast for CEOs, founders, and leaders who want the perfect balance of authority and empathy. My name is Kate Waterfall Hill, and I'll be sharing some ideas from over 30 years of working in business and leadership development.

Before we start the show, here's a reminder that if you want to learn how to become a better leader, you can sign up to my free intentional leadership guide, grab a copy of my book, how to lead, or sign up to one of my coaching programs and get my personal support with your leadership challenges. all at waterfallhill.co.uk. So let's turn to Linda the Bad Manager, my alter ego, and see how she welcomes a new recruit on their first day at the office.

“Hi. Hi there. Hi. I thought I saw you come in. Come in. Come in. Come in. Come in. Come in. Sit down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. So, welcome to your first day here at ABC limited. Wanted to give you a bit of the live, the land, how we roll, the ethos, you know, the culture. First thing to say, I'm a very relaxed boss.

Feedback from the team is always really, really good. So I'm not trying to be David Brent or anything, but you know, we do get on really well. Yeah. Yeah. You ask the others. Yeah. Yeah. We go out, you know, sometimes we go bowling. Last time, oh my goodness, Alice got completely smashed, but Don't say anything.

Yeah. Yeah, we do birthday cards for each other. You know, and then you have to sign them all. You know, there's quite a lot of us now, so it does seem a relentless, endless cycle of writing cards. But anyway, when it's your birthday, you bring in cake or doughnuts. Um, but just no nuts. Yeah. Um, but the main thing to say is that my door is always open.

And, you know, just don't take anything too seriously. We're here to have a little bit of fun, aren't we, whilst we're at work? You know, because we are here, aren't we? All hours of the day and night, let's face it. So we, we should try and enjoy it if we can. But anyway, don't you worry about anything. You'll be absolutely fine.

You can always come and see me and ask any questions, uh, at all. Uh, or, or Alice or Jason or Josh. Yeah, yeah, don't ask, will you? No, no. What, what is that awful noise? Alice, are you crying again? I told you before, it'll be fine. Just do those amendments to the report and then it can go out. Oh, stop fussing. Anyway, welcome.”

Channelling her inner David Brent from The Office in that particular clip. And it just makes me cringe. I'm sure it does you. The way we bring new people into our organisations has never been more important than now, because particularly with hybrid working. It's so commonplace, the challenges of creating belonging and ensuring effective knowledge transfer have absolutely been multiplied.

I get this question all of the time. How do I lead in a hybrid environment? loads of organisations still treat onboarding as little more than an administrative exercise. From my experience working with organisations of all sizes, I've seen how poor onboarding often leads to early departures and reduced productivity.

Whilst effective onboarding can significantly improve retention and help new hires reach full productivity so much more quickly, The investment we make in those first few months can make all the difference between a highly engaged team member and someone who's already thinking about their next move.

So let's break down what good onboarding looks like into three key phases. First of all, pre arrival. This starts the moment your new hire accepts your offer. The goal here is to maintain enthusiasm and begin integration before they even start.

Key actions for this phase. Send a detailed welcome pack with practical information. Set up their equipment and systems access. There's nothing worse, is there, than starting on your first day with no computer or no phone. And share the team organisation charts and key contact information, so they've got a vague idea who all these people are.

Provide access to relevant documentation set up and send them a schedule for their first week so they know what to expect. Maybe even the first two weeks. If you can, assign a buddy or a mentor. It's always really nice to know that there's somebody who's going to be available to answer your call however small or insignificant the question seems to be.

What really makes the difference here is it being a personalised approach. Include some sort of handwritten welcome note if you can. maybe have some team members sending short video introductions. Show them that you're genuinely excited about their arrival.

Phase two is the first week. A really crucial period and it sets the tone for their entire experience with your organisation. Your goal here is to balance necessary administrative tasks with meaningful work and relationship building. So ideally, day one should include a proper welcome, even if it's remote, having a workplace set up and systems access confirmation, doing some team introductions, and then a clear schedule for the week so they know what's expected of them.

Have initial project briefings if that's relevant, and then really nice to have an end of day check in, at least for the first week.

The rest of the week should focus on regular check ins with their manager, scheduled time with other key team members, a clear explanation of their role expectations. So often people miss this bit and that lack of clarity sends people on a bit of a wobble.

Make sure they get an introduction to tools and processes, so they understand how to use stuff and they can access the information. Make sure there's some sort of mention about the cultural orientation, So they get the feel of the team and they know what's appropriate and what isn't. And have initial meaningful work assignments. So give them something to get their teeth into so that they feel like they're contributing as early on as you can.

And then phase three is the first 90 days. So the where the real integration happens. Your goal here is to move from orientation to full productivity while building strong team connections.

The key elements include regular one to ones with their line manager. I can't stress this enough, how often people forget this bit because they think it's not important, but actually it really sets the person up for success.

If they know what their line manager is thinking and doing and they can share their questions and, their sense of where they are in, in the team with those one to ones, it just really sets them up for success. Then having a structured learning plan of some description if that's appropriate for the role.

Making sure your expectations of them are really clear so they know how they should be performing. Having regular feedback sessions so they know, you know, what they're getting right and maybe where there are some challenges and some development opportunities. And also having an introduction to wider stakeholders because they might not know, you know, who they should be speaking to.

That's always really useful. then gradually, over the first 90 days, increase their responsibility so they can grow in the role.

From experience with my coaching practice, I've observed several common pitfalls and here's how to avoid them. The first one is information overload. Instead of dumping everything on the new person on day one, make sure you create some sort of structured information schedule so they know what's important to read in what order.

And use a variety of formats. So there's some written, some video, some face to face. And make sure that they're appropriate for that individual. Ask them how they like to take on information, and what would work best for them. Also break complex processes into manageable chunks so it doesn't seem too overwhelming. And provide reference materials for later review.

If your onboarding includes some training, I really recommend whether you do it face to face or virtually, that you record the session So they have a video they can go back to for future reference.

It'll save you having to answer the same question several times when they've forgotten. the second pitfall I see sometimes is a lack of social integration. Particularly in a hybrid world, It really requires some deliberate effort. So make sure you schedule informal team sessions and create opportunities for casual interaction.

Where you can, use a buddy system, that's really effective, and encourage some cross team networking where you can. Third pitfall I see is unclear expectations. So from day one, be really clear about the responsibilities that are included in the role. How their performance is going to be measured, what success looks like, what the team norms and working practices are. Ask them what their communication preferences are, but also share yours so they know. And make sure that they're really clear the extent of their authority when it comes to decision making.

Number four on the list of pitfalls I see is poor support systems. So make sure that you've got a designated buddy, that you have those regular manager check ins. There are clear escalation paths, if people are unsure about what to do next and access to necessary resources and make sure they have the technical support contacts.

There's nothing worse than being stuck on something and not knowing who to ask. And the last one I see is cultural disconnection. So really help people understand the unwritten rules and norms, make sure there's a clear expectation on communication styles, on decision making processes, but also on team dynamics.

And make sure that you're clear on the company values as they are in practice, not just as they are on a piece of paper in the lunch room. To measure the effectiveness of your onboarding, I suggest you track a few things. Time to productivity. So how long does it take before they're actually adding value? Early stage retention. How often do you lose people in the early days? Also measure employee satisfaction. Some sort of benchmark so you can track it. As an organisation, you need to also track manager satisfaction. How happy are they with the process and how happy are they with the new recruit? have a look at process completion and knowledge retention. Are you retaining that knowledge? So the organisation should be measuring the effectiveness of onboarding using these tracking systems.

Where you've got hybrid teams, I suggest you consider some additional elements. Virtual team building sessions, online resource libraries are really useful. so information is not just dumped in a vat and they've got to go and find it.

If you've got some digital collaboration tools, obviously access and training for those. Regular video check ins is a good idea. not just. You know, by text or, or email. And if you can, set up a system for virtual coffee chats. I've heard some companies use coffee roulette or lunch roulette, where everybody who's interested sticks their name in a virtual hat.

Two names get picked out, and those two people spend 15 minutes on a Teams call, having a virtual coffee, and not talking about work stuff, but, you know, just sharing who they are. And if you've got online learning platforms, put them to good use and that will really help new recruits as well.

Create a structured checklist. include a breakdown for week one, month one and month three. So those might be week one administrative setup complete, key introductions made, initial projects assigned, basic training completed and a buddy system established. Nice and easy. Then the checklist for month one. Role expectations are clear.

Key relationships are forming. Initial projects are progressing. Regular feedback established. Support systems working. And then for month three, full productivity approaching, team integration evident, clear understanding of role, strong working relationships, and independence developing.

So those should be the things that you're checking and you need to check those with their team members, with their managers, and obviously with the individual themselves. Key principles I've seen working consistently across organisations include making it personal. So really try and tailor the experience to the role.

Consider individual learning styles and adapt to remote and hybrid needs. And really show a genuine interest. These people are individual human beings after all. Secondly, be systematic. Use a structured checklist to make sure you don't miss anything. Track progress regularly. Gather feedback consistently and then adjust as needed.

As well as outcomes, I really urge you to focus on relationships, so prioritise teamed connections, enable informal interactions where you can, and create mentoring opportunities, if you can and it's appropriate, I encourage you to foster cross team networks as well, to make everyone feel part of the whole organisation.

Make sure you set clear expectations, defining success metrics, establishing communications norms and clarifying decision rights that you review regularly.

And as for nearly everything, it's always a good idea to enable early wins. So assign meaningful work early, provide necessary support, celebrate those small victories and build confidence gradually.

So, to wrap up then, I'd encourage you to remember these key points. Start onboarding before day one. Balance information with integration. Focus on relationships and culture. Set clear expectations and metrics. Enable some early successors, that's always good. And measure and adjust your approach. Don't be afraid to review and change need to.

The investment you make in onboarding will absolutely pay dividends in faster productivity, better retention, and stronger team performance. Please, don't leave it to chance.

That's all for this week. If you've enjoyed this episode of How To Lead, do follow for more leadership insights. And remember, if you'd like my personal support, take a look at my website, waterfallhill.co.uk. There you can find more information about my one to one coaching programs and the Leadership Accelerator, the Institute of Leadership accredited program that I run.

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