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Onboarding New Employees
Onboarding is the current jargon used for the old fashioned process of orienting new employees and getting them
off on the right start in a new role.
Once you have taken care of the basics of the org chart and key people and where the rest rooms are, managers
often tell the new employee what they as the manager expect of the new employees: goals, objectives, priorities,
targets etc. Sounds logical, but I think there is a better way….especialy for new managers and new “support”
personnel such as finance, information technology, or human resource roles.
Instead of telling them their objectives….assign them to go off for a few weeks and then come back to you and tell
you what they think the key issues and problems are and what they might contribute to addressing them. This will
trigger a rich discussion where you and the new employee explore the issues and problems that the new employee
should address.
There are several advantages to this approach:
Limitations and disadvantages of this approach:
By Paul Slobodian
www.pivotconsultingllc.com
607-725-0044
email: paul@pivotconsultingllc.com
Please call or email if you have any comments or questions about this article.
Acknowledgement:
This approach is derived from a course Richard Beckhart taught at the Sloan School of Management at MIT call
Organizational Diagnosis.
Onboarding is the current jargon used for the old fashioned process of orienting new employees and getting them
off on the right start in a new role.
Once you have taken care of the basics of the org chart and key people and where the rest rooms are, managers
often tell the new employee what they as the manager expect of the new employees: goals, objectives, priorities,
targets etc. Sounds logical, but I think there is a better way….especialy for new managers and new “support”
personnel such as finance, information technology, or human resource roles.
Instead of telling them their objectives….assign them to go off for a few weeks and then come back to you and tell
you what they think the key issues and problems are and what they might contribute to addressing them. This will
trigger a rich discussion where you and the new employee explore the issues and problems that the new employee
should address.
There are several advantages to this approach:
- The new employee is forced to listen and observe and engage people in order to come up with something
that shows their insightfulness and ability to analyze. - You, the boss, have an opportunity to get a fresh viewpoint….I’ve often found out about issues and
opportunities I had overlooked or improperly prioritized myself from my new hire. - You will learn a great deal about the new employee by seeing how they approach this task.
- The employee ends up with a heightened sense of understanding and commitment to his or her objectives
since they are at least in part based on what they discovered, not just what they were told to do.
Limitations and disadvantages of this approach:
- Not very helpful with lower level positions or transactional positions.
- Not useful if there is a bona fide crisis at hand….if the ship is sinking you need to tell them “start bailing
water” rather than go off and study the situation. - Many people will find this process frustrating…after all it gives them a complex analytical task right off the
bat.
By Paul Slobodian
www.pivotconsultingllc.com
607-725-0044
email: paul@pivotconsultingllc.com
Please call or email if you have any comments or questions about this article.
Acknowledgement:
This approach is derived from a course Richard Beckhart taught at the Sloan School of Management at MIT call
Organizational Diagnosis.
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