How to Successfully Onboard a New Team Member

Hiring a new team member is exciting and sometimes daunting all at the same time. It means your business is growing and scaling, be proud of that. It also can present obstacles that you may not have anticipated. 

What can you do to prepare yourself and your new hire? 

Start by having an open and clear conversation with them. 

“Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” – Brené Brown

You might need to discuss things outside of a typical onboarding process such as:

Managing Expectations – Both the employer and new hire will have expectations. But, this time we’re talking about managing the new hire’s expectations and not yours. Provide clarity around the learning curve of the position they’ve been hired for. Help them understand that even if they have previous experience in a similar role elsewhere, there may be differences in your organization, and they won’t be good at everything right away. 

Training Time – Set aside an adequate amount of time for training and make sure your new hire understands what that length of time is. Have another seasoned employee (or two) that will be available to them for assistance if/when you are unavailable. This is a good way to help build and strengthen the bonds of your team and identify those with an ability to teach effectively.

Get on the Same Page – It can be easy to assume that we are on the same page with the new hire with expected behavior, task management/execution, and potential outcomes. Don’t assume anything. Instead, ask leading questions to discern how they receive feedback best, their natural strengths with specific tasks, and what they’re the least (or most) confident about in this new role. Taking the time to understand them at a human level and the emotional aspect of this process can put you a step ahead in building a successful team.

Ultimately, we all want this transition time to go smoothly but expect it not to. Expect the bumps along the way. Expect it to take time to adjust for everyone involved. Make sure you prioritize meeting in person as much as possible at the beginning of this process, then stick with it.

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart

Successful teams are built upon a foundation of clarity, trust, compassion, humility, and communication. If these are areas you and your team could use assistance with, please reach out to us at . We’d be happy to explore the ways we can support you best.