Page 207 - Successful Onboarding

“Limited Upside in Flying Blind”: Driving Strategic Insight • 191

information, and they will have proper context—as noted in Figure 2.7 and
accompanying discussion—to make sense of it.
We advise beginning the strategy immersion portion of onboarding with
a discussion of the broad, high-level strategy. In the weeks and months
ahead, the conversation can then proceed to cover in more detail the new
hire’s role and how it supports the overall strategy. It can also explore how
the new hire’s function/organization fits in to executing the strategy. When
working with the stakeholder map, we advise beginning with organizations
that most closely relate to the one to which the new hire belongs and then
spiral out from there. Later on in the onboarding year, managers should
customize conversations, organizing them in a way that makes sense to
the individual new hire’s role and position in the company.

Best Principle #6: Be honest and realistic when talking
about strategy.
Do not go overboard trying to inspire your new hires. Do not turn strategy
conversations into mere sales pitches. Authenticity inspires, not smoke and
mirrors. Think of The Wizard of Oz: In the end, there was no fancy
wizard orchestrating events, and the real actions of individuals became
inspirational. The CEO and other senior leaders are key here: Honest,
heartfelt messages from the firm’s leadership are more than enough to
inspire individuals; you simply do not need the hype. If leadership can
acknowledge that they have made some trade-offs and tough choices, for
better or for worse, new hires will have more confidence in both leader-
ship and the underlying strategy. They will feel motivated to help out
because of the collective sacrifices that have already been made. They also
will not wind up disillusioned down the road when false expectations
raised by the CEO have failed to come to fruition. If leadership prepares
new hires for challenges and the road ahead, new hires will feel more
inclined to rally. They will be more patient when the company encoun-
ters bumps in the road. And they will be more willing to forgive leaders
for any mistakes or poor judgments they make.

Best Principle #7: Frame strategic thinking as a skill that employees
can develop and that will benefit them in a knowledge economy.
There is a reason strategic thinking stands today as one of the most widely
discussed skills and concepts in business literature: Companies rarely