We all know that feeling we have had on the first day of a new job, we have never been more engaged and excited! But then something happens, and all that engagement that the leaders and HR people are working so hard to create in their organizations, slowly or rather quickly disappears. This is even if we have invested so many resources into building an extensive onboarding process with excel schedules, countless E-learnings, and a picture of the new joiner on the screens in the office.
| So what happens along the way that leaves so many of our new joiners losing their engagement and excitement? Could it be because we have created one process for all of the individual people? Could we compare this with giving all of our new joiners the same size of shoes, and then expect them to not stumble or get blisters? |
Here is the list of what I wished my previous managers had known about me when I first started:
- Am I collaborative and need to feel that I’m part of a team or am I independent and take pride in ownership? Depending on this you could adapt my onboarding, either making sure I get involved in a lot of meetings with my colleagues and team projects, letting me support and contribute. Or give me ownership for a task or small project early on, giving me the opportunity to learn while doing.
- Am I sociable and talkative or more reflective and analytical? Is it a good idea for me to meet everyone at once, and then we can casually talk and follow up on my onboarding experience over lunch? Or do I prefer getting to know the team one at the time, and would like to get the questions for my follow-up meeting emailed to me before, so I can reflect and get the most out of the meeting?
- Am I calm, patient and methodical, or fast-working, intense and need variety? Perhaps it’s a good idea to give me one new task at a time, giving me the time to master it before you add the next one. Or will I thrive if you present all of them at once, and I can multitask and jump between tasks as I learn along the way.
- Am I detail-oriented and need structure, or am I flexible and don’t want to be confined to too many rules? Yes, everyone likes to get some sort of overview of what the onboarding will look like, but to what degree? Will I appreciate a three-week schedule with what to do and when, including detailed information about the different processes? Or will I be happy if you provide me with an overview of what I should have done by the end of each week, but I get the freedom to decide how and when?
All of this information, and more, my managers would have known if they had used the PI Behavioural Assessment.
Because of course, we should use our carefully created standard onboarding programs. But if we can just tweak it, adapt it a little bit, for that engaged and motivated individual that is standing in front of us, I promise that that will make a huge difference for their engagement.
You can give every employee the same type and brand of shoe, just take the time to make sure you provide it in the right size.
Are you already in the process of tweaking your onboarding process, making sure that your new employee will thrive, great! Do not hesitate to reach out if you need any help or air your ideas and current processes.
If you are still struggling with decreasing engagement early in the onboarding processes, even if you felt like you found the PERFECT candidate? Let us know and we can look at your processes together, perhaps are there some small changes we can do that will have a great impact!
Best Regards,
The Predictio Team