Making new team members successful….quickly!

Have you ever had a new team member join your business and not succeed? It’s basically the same as asking whether you’ve ever had a new team member join your business! Anyone who has recruited more than a handful of people has inevitably experienced that frustration.

The feeling begins with a gentle absence of excitement as the Newby isn’t fitting in all that well in the first couple of weeks. It grows into mild frustration when they’re making mistakes in weeks 3 and 4 and clearly not operating the way you’d like. By month 2, you’re really disappointed that they’re not contributing yet – you recruited them, you’re paying them well, why aren’t they amazing???

Unfortunately, this tends to go on for a while – often several months of mounting frustration turning into anger and, eventually, letting them go and starting again. Typically, 6 months are wasted and a whole lot of grief on your part.

Of course, it may have been a bad hire, in which case, have a look at my various blogs on how to recruit better. However, often it wasn’t a bad hire but rather a lacklustre (or completely awful) onboarding process. The good news is that you can fix that easily. It is entirely in your control and, let’s be honest if you’ve ever had the opposite experience, where a new team member gets up and running quickly and contributes early, you know it’s worth doing.

So, what are the keys to an effective induction process? I believe there are three. Put another way, these reflect the three most common mistakes I’ve seen when onboarding a new team member:

Spend enough time on it

I have never come across an onboarding process that failed because the manager put too much time and effort into it. I can’t count the number that I’ve seen fail because the insufficient effort was made.

As a rule of thumb, if the new employee reports to you, then you should be spending at least 20 hours with them in the first week, 10 in the second and 5 in the third. In some cases, more will be necessary. I know it feels like a lot but, if that employee is hitting their straps and contributing well within the first month, it is well worth it!

Intentionally cover enough

What is meant here is twofold; be intentional by having a clear schedule for the new team member in those first few weeks. Provide a schedule for them that identifies when they’ll meet the various people they need to meet when they’ll learn the various things they need to learn and when they’ll be doing the activities they need to do.

In addition, ensure that the schedule covers everything they need to be successful. Not just a quick description of the responsibilities, how the computer system works and where the toilet is. You should also be covering the history of the business, strategy and future plans for the business, the culture of the business, an understanding of all major elements of the business (the team, the customers, suppliers, etc) and a good amount of discussion of how you’d love to see them evolve in the business in future.

Clarity of expectations

Hopefully, any new employee in your business is receiving at least a job description that provides them with some direction as to their responsibilities and accountabilities. Be sure to discuss that in detail. Furthermore (and, in my experience, even more importantly), give them real clarity about where they need to be at the end of months 1, 2 and 3. In most cases, they won’t be fully productive until something like month 3. So be very specific as to what you will both need to observe or measure after 1 month, and then after 2 months, to know that they’re on track. They should be at their most motivated at this point in time and, if you’re clear when they get behind early, you give them appropriate support and training, and they still don’t get on track, they’re not going to make it.

If you’re abundantly clear with them, there is every chance they will get on track and stay on track. Worst case, if they’re not up to it, you’ll all realise quickly and be able to do something about it.

Conclusion

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There is simply no reason why any manager should suffer the prolonged agony of a failing new employee. In the great majority of cases, you should enjoy bringing on new people, enjoy them getting up to speed quickly and become successful….contributing well to your team and your business within a short space of time.

Achieving that outcome is entirely within your control. Do the three things I’ve listed and enjoy the success your team have and the speed with which they have it. Learn more about our business coaching programs. Check out our business coaching program today.