Page 83 - Successful Onboarding

72 • Successful Onboarding

Leaders also should contribute across the four pillars, helping unveil the
nuance of the culture in community discussions, partaking in social events,
holding career development workshops in which they offer their own inspi-
rational success stories, and most importantly, providing new hires with
specific direction and challenge—letting new hires know what the firm
expects from them. Management bears responsibility for setting specific
policies and structures, ensuring that a new hire’s reporting structure and
team is well positioned to help the new hire achieve early wins. Although
it may sound outlandish, imagine the impression that new hires would
have if they received a riveting message from each member of your com-
pany’s board of directors expressing thanks for joining the team and build-
ing excitement for the mission at hand. These do not need to be
personalized, but they do need to be regularly updated to reflect the cur-
rent posture of the enterprise. In truth, engaging the board in this most
critical investment is far from outlandish, because new hires represent
nothing less than the company’s future.
As far as cultural mastery of onboarding is concerned, mid-level man-
agers should evaluate whether they themselves live up to the expression
of culture that the organizational leader is communicating. If the organi-
zation is in the midst of cultural change, mid-level managers need to help
new hires navigate between the old and developing culture, since both
matter during this transition period, and the newest members of the tribe
are most inclined to misunderstand the character of the change. Middle
management should hold periodic roundtable discussions with new hires
that report beneath them to see how they are navigating the culture.
Because hiring managers interface directly with new hires, they represent
the front line of cultural practices. As part of a systemic approach to
onboarding, managers need to have periodic pointed conversations about
the culture with new hires, starting at the very beginning, and at a mini-
mum during interim and annual reviews. The greatest contribution man-
agers can make involves providing real-time lessons. With some coaching,
managers can learn to make the most of teaching or mentoring opportu-
nities as they arise.
Rather than failing because of design flaws, many programs fail because
of the lack of clear role assignments for those responsible for delivering
the onboarding experience. Those responsible for program delivery must