TM - August 2007 - (Page 17) Threes Lisa Rummler “They need to set the tone for the organization,” Bradt said. “If they’re not embracing onboarding and saying, ‘This is an important thing for us to do,’ the organization won’t do it. When we work with senior leaders who are onboarding people, one of the first things we tell them to do is to prepare themselves — we push them to understand that their mission is to make the people working for them, the people coming to work for them, feel valued by and valuable to an organization they can take pride in.” To achieve this goal, senior leaders must do three things, Bradt said. The first is to make sure the people they bring in get a head start before they start. “It turns out that the key to getting someone up to speed fast is not so much trying to cram in as much as you can into the first orientation but giving them a head start before they even walk through the door,” Bradt said. He said the second critical point is to manage the person’s messaging. “They need to control their messaging, particularly in the early days, as they’re making a first impression because it is so hard to correct an erroneous first impression,” Bradt said. “If someone comes in like a bull in a china shop and creates bad relationships, it’s very hard to undo them.” The third and final aspect goes beyond the new hire as an individual to the team or teams that person will create. “If you’re talking about senior leaders, almost by definition, we’re talking about people who are going to be leading teams,” Bradt said. “The faster they can create a highperforming team, the better for everybody.” “The state of onboarding at this point is similar to that. There is no downside in giving somebody onboarding assistance. Almost any help you give them is appropriate, and there’s such a huge upside in doing it well that it’s almost immoral for senior leaders not to provide this assistance to people they’re bringing in.” Bradt said there are three main approaches senior leaders can take in regard to onboarding. Determining which to use depends on the situation, he said. If the situation is a stable one, that is, the new person needs nothing but knowledge transfer (as in the case of a promotion), Bradt said the senior leader’s role is simply to be a mentor. “If, on the other hand, the situation is mixed, where the individual needs extra help getting acclimated to the new organization or maybe has some issues, then that person needs a coach,” Bradt said. “It is appropriate for the senior leader potentially to be the coach or, more likely, he or she will find somebody else to be the coach such as an HR executive.” The third approach supports the notion of fast onboarding: When the situation is a very complex one, and the new person whom the senior leader is bringing in needs to act quickly. “In that case, the senior leader probably needs to get some outside help for that new leader,” Bradt said. Although senior leaders likely will play a direct role in onboarding only the individuals who will report to them, they are critical in establishing companywide practices and attitudes toward onboarding. talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 17 http://www.TalentMgt.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.