Page 71 - Successful Onboarding

60 • Successful Onboarding

wonderful. Neither HR nor an onboarding program can remake this real-
ity, nor should it try to or claim to do so. Yet we can do two things: (1) help
new hires become far better prepared and conditioned to overcome these
downsides themselves; and (2) excite new hires so that they feel motivated
to address their challenges enthusiastically.
For an example of how a traditional onboarding program can come up
short, consider the story of one new hire at one of NASA’s research cen-
ters. In recent years, this research center brought in new managers and
executives only to lose more than they hoped because of cultural clashes.
One recent hire, a former military officer, was unusually organized and
punctual. Imagine his unease at discovering that meetings at the research
center often did not start on time, and that a loose, academic atmosphere
of experimentation, discovery, and spirited debate reigned. The new hire
thought he had achieved a lot as a soldier, and he expected that his accom-
plishments would lead people at his new organization to accept his opin-
ions without much resistance. Yet NASA scientists had different notions
of credibility; they were used to coming up with decisions consensually
through discussion, proofs, and peer review rather than yielding to some-
one simply on the basis of his or her rank or past experience. Because the
new hire knew little of the research center’s organizational culture, and
nobody bothered to orient him to it as part of a formal program, he found
it hard to adapt, and he wound up leaving the organization in short order.
Although this outcome represents a failure in the recruiting function
(which hadn’t vetted for it well enough), strategic onboarding can over-
come such failures with great success.
Cluing a new hire into an organizational culture’s unwritten rules
would comprise a step forward for many firms, but it would not be enough
by any stretch. The most fundamental problem with existing programs is
their non-strategic nature. At most organizations, the HR or Learning and
Development department owns onboarding. They deliver the content, but
this content is not connected to the business units and therefore is not
aligned with actual activity or expressive of actual strategy. Onboarding
also does not have buy-in from diverse stakeholders, so participation is half-
hearted or worse. We have seen cases in which operating personnel have
openly ridiculed content and participation. A new hire starts, and the new
hire’s manager, not understanding the broader importance or workings of