Speaking with a couple of college students who have internships this Summer, I was unpleasantly surprised to hear them say how bored they were. How they surfed the internet all day. How they “made up” work so that, when a boss walked by, they could “look busy.” How stressful they found it to have little or nothing to do all day.
Is this any way to treat a potential new hire? What sort of impression are these interns getting of your company? What produces this sad situation? In a nutshell, poor talent management.
With hiring on the upswing again, it won’t be long before you have some new hires. What are you going to do to avoid the outcomes above?
With the new science of employee engagement in mind, here are Seven Engaging Steps that you can do to get your new hires on the road to success:
1. Welcome warmly – Make sure the first day is a celebration. During the first few weeks, see that team members take the new hire to lunch a few times. Friendly socializing with the team will start the bonding that will later become cohesive work relationships.
2. Review job and expectations -Although this was discussed during the interview process, go over it again. Make sure that there is a clear grasp of what the new hire is there to do, who she is to work with, and what she is expected to produce. Take the time to draw her a picture of how she fits in to the bigger frame.
3. Plug the new hire in – Don’t keep the new hire sitting and waiting for things to happen. Instead, select one or more ongoing projects and attach her to the action as soon as possible. Describe her role initially as observer and listener; then, as soon as she is ready, as junior member of the team.
4. Engage fast – The prior step is an example of engage fast, a galvanizing approach to learning the business by jumping in vs sitting in a cubicle reviewing documents. The new hire will be immersed in the life of the department, and will quickly see what’s going on, who’s doing what, and how to contribute.
5. Assign mentor – New hires can get overwhelmed quickly. They will have a lot of questions. Pair her up with a mentor, ideally one of your staff who “knows the ropes” very well and has a positive outlook on the company. The mentor’s role is to take the new hire under his wing and continue the team and task socialization process begun on Day One.
6. Communicate frequently – Daily communication may sound like overkill, but in a high engagement approach such as this, anything less is high risk. Why? With so much new information to process, a newcomer can easily go off track, with questions, misunderstandings and unrealistic perspectives starting to form in their minds. Much better to have engaging and intensive conversations with diverse members of the organization about what each party is doing, how they contribute to the organization’s goals, and how they inter-relate with each other.
7. Ask for their ideas – If you have hired well, you will have added an enthusiastic person to your team. If you’ve engaged them with the steps above, you will have a “new idea engine” waiting to be unleashed. Ask them what they think about what’s going on, what they have observed, what they have heard. Ask them what they want to do. Listen and empower them to pursue what they are most excited about.
With an engaging approach to onboarding your new hires such as this, you will avoid the waste of talent described above. And you will be well on the way to new hire success.
Remember: Every new hire is an opportunity to change and improve the brand of your business.
For more tips on managing talent, engaging people, and improving your workplace, visit my website Facilitation Solutions and invite me into your organization.
