Onboarding and offboarding – a guide for the leader
What do you associate oboarding and offboarding with? With procedures developed by the HR department, often dehumanizing and formalized processes? I understand. However, I would like to show you another side of the process of implementing a new employee and saying goodbye to a former one. This is because it is often forgotten that direct supervisors and leaders play a key role in its individualization and improvement. Onboarding should be a process that is not created in isolation from the person.
Let’s look at what practical steps leaders can take to individualize and improve implementation processes.
Individualized approach and communication
Every person is different, so it is difficult to approach all new employees in the same way. So take care at the outset:
- Partner approach and tailor language to the audience: when implementing an experienced professional, use expert language;
- Dialogue – don’t hide behind processes, talk to the employee more than the procedures assume;
- verification of expectations and experiences – ask the employee how he feels about the tasks assigned to him, whether he has done something similar before and what he did not like in the previous work environment (collecting this information allows you to better serve the employee and adapt him);
- Tailor the process to experience: the same onboarding process will not effectively handle both a graduate, a specialist with 10 years of experience in one company, and a specialist who has changed companies several times – hence as a leader you should adjust the intensity and content of the implementation:
- So if you are bringing an experienced employee into the company, you don’t need to focus on substantive support, but on integrating them into the team;
- on the other hand, for a chief accountant, the in-depth part of onboarding (e.g., 2 days in production, 2 days in the warehouse) is not necessary;
- Provide a broader context: it is important for the new employee to have a broader view of what the company produces, what services it sells, and what the overall processes are, while focusing on the key aspects of the role.
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Cluture of support and security
A sense of security is one of the main human needs. Also at work, because would you want to work in an organization where your sense of stability is severely shaken? What fosters an atmosphere of mutual support and security?
- Intensive recurring meetings: at the beginning of the onboarding process, it is worth increasing the frequency of meetings with the employee. Conversation can be a key support when the new person’s motivation naturally decreases due to challenges and the new environment (the so-called knowledge and ignorance curve).
- Creating an environment of safety: it is the supervisor’s job to create such an environment so that the employee feels safe and has the sense to say certain things. This is especially true when a probationary employee may be embarrassed to ask questions or admit that he or she is unfamiliar with advanced systems (e.g., SAP, Excel).
- Transfer of the employee to the care of the leader: it is much more effective to transfer the employee as soon as possible to the person who should care that this new person is the best in the company, i.e. the immediate supervisor or leader.
- Demonstration of knowledge and willingness to help: A good example is a leader who knows the processes and is himself willing to show a new employee how to perform certain activities, saying: “Cool, don’t worry, you’re new, we’ll help you.” This is an expression of empathy and willingness to provide support – the basis of cooperation.
Gathering and using knowledge (Feedback)
Today it probably doesn’t need to be told to anyone how important feedback is. How to get it so that you do not resemble an intrusive phone caller from an insurance company?
- Anonymous surveys: an onymity increases the propensity to talk about certain topics directly. It’s a way to gather information (especially unfavorable information) from people who are not fond of giving direct feedback. It’s easier for an employee to write something anonymously, then fearlessly point out a problem that will make their patience threshold.
- Use of a “fresh” perspective: it is worthwhile to ask the person who is in the onboarding process freshly about what support he expects and what he gets from his leader, mentor or team. This will help us find out what aspects of onboarding were key for him and how he finds himself in our company culture.
- Ideas platform (Kaizen): you are encouraged to create an environment based on Kaizen ideas (a platform where employees can submit ideas for change or propose new directions). By doing so, you increase the likelihood that new ideas will hit the right ground.
- Avoiding “artificial pushing” through the checklist: Rushing an employee to pass all the stages of onboarding when he or she needs more time to understand the processes can stir up negative emotions and a feeling that the new team member “doesn’t fit here after all.” It’s worth being open to the idea that an employee needs more time to ask questions and process information.
Remember culture and image
Onboarding is an investment, not a formality. Leaders must remember this. Treating onboarding merely as a “checklist to tick off” is wasting the new person’s potential, which can result in a quiet departure.
The second important aspect here is consistency between expectations and reality. Leaders should ensure that what is done at the recruitment stage is consistent with what the employee receives. The big risks are dashed expectations (e.g., with a welcome package) and a sudden lack of support when the rest of the team returns to work and the new employee is left alone. Inconsistency can lead to a feeling of having been cheated, and oi frustration when, for example, the position turns out to be less decisive than announced.
If you are in a leadership position, don’t let offboarding processes happen separately from you. Leaders should not hide behind HR. Onboarding and offboarding is not a checklist. It is a test of a leader’s maturity and a test for the organizational culture that exists in the company.
What do you think will be remembered by your employees: what they had in the contract, or how they were treated?
A good leader can make the first day at work associated not only with stress, but also with excitement and curiosity. In turn, the last one – even if it is full of difficult emotions – with respect. Because an organization is known not by how it recruits, but by how it says goodbye.
