Successful onboarding for your business
Starting a new job can be intimidating and overwhelming, even for senior hires. An effective onboarding process can shorten the time it takes for your new employee to feel integrated into your team and successful in your business, as well as reducing the risk that new hires will leave the organisation before they’ve had a chance to settle in.
Where’s the evidence?
A 2021 Gallup report found that new employees typically take twelve months to reach their full performance potential. Providing a positive onboarding experience helps to ensure that new hires feel prepared and supported in their roles, boosting their confidence, and improving their ability to perform well in your organisation.
Gallup also found that building strengths-based coaching into your people management process leads to an increase of up to 23% in employee engagement, an increase of up to 18% in performance, and a reduction in employee attrition of up to 73%.
Effective onboarding
In my experience, the onboarding process is most effective when there is a seamless transition from recruitment to onboarding, onboarding to probation, and probation to performance reviews. The employee feels welcomed and valued, expectations are clear and there is a transparent, integrated path to providing great performance in their new role.
Where this seamless transition does not take place, it maybe because the employer is engaging in a tick-box compliance process, rather than focusing on the needs of the new employee. This might feel like the easy option, but reduced employee engagement and performance, and increased attrition as the new hire moves through the process, can prove to be very costly for your organisation in the long term.
Look to your recruitment partner to provide high level service in terms of knowing your business, values, culture, and strategy. If your recruitment partner isn’t digging into these areas they are less likely to be able to effectively find the right people for you. As soon as they find the right people, your onboarding efforts should kick off. For the optimum chance at getting your new people onboarded effectively:
- Ensure your interviews reflect the culture & values of the organisation
- Get offers out quickly and follow up with a call
- Prior to the start date, kick off a strengths review with both the new employee and (separately) their manager
- Ensure a seamless first day and that your induction process gives the employee all necessary information at their fingertips
- Follow up with individual and joint strengths-based coaching conversations and expectation setting to ensure both the new employee and their manager can deliver their very best
What is strengths-based coaching?
Strengths-based coaching is a process of identifying and developing an individual's natural strengths with the aim of enhancing their performance and productivity. Rather than focusing on and trying to improve their weaknesses, this approach looks at what an employee does well, and helps them to develop those strengths.
Strengths-based coaching has been shown to improve job satisfaction, enhance performance, help new employees to build confidence in their own abilities and strengthen connection and collaboration within and between teams. It offers a personalised approach to employee development that values and develops their strengths, rather than lamenting their weaknesses.
As an employer or manager, investing in strengths-based coaching for your new hires can help to build a solid foundation for their role in your business, and bring long-term benefits and growth for your organisation.
The next step
Effective onboarding is a fundamental element of our People EcosystemTM model. Contact me if you have any questions or book a discovery call to discuss how we can support you with your onboarding process, and enable you to create the best possible chance for your new hires to succeed.
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