How the entry of new managers can be optimised through onboarding
For a successful start to a new employment relationship, it is important that euphoria does not transform into disillusionment. This means that onboarding of managerial employees is now of central importance to avoid losing arduously recruited and qualified candidates in the first few months, and instead enabling them to work efficiently in the new environment and bond to the company in the long term.
Currently, one in four employees leaves their company in the first year after being appointed. This was reported by the Haufe Onboarding Survey 2017 of 227 HR representatives, with comparable numbers for managers. Some kind of guide for new recruits could prevent this. But this integration task appears to pose major challenges for many employers: only around a third of companies introduce employees to their future job in a structured way. This is even more astounding given that in most cases, a great deal of time and money are invested in advance, particularly when it comes to filling management positions. But there are effective methods of quickly and sustainably bonding the candidates to the company with the right assistance.
Onboarding oriented on culture and goals
In terms of onboarding, personnel management requirements have significantly increased in recent years. Though it used to be that “jumping in the deep end” was often the standard, newcomers at management level today are more likely to go through onboarding programmes with coaches who acquaint them with the company and their responsibilities in a professional process, one step at a time. They gain rapid insight into the processes and infrastructure of their new workplace and are introduced to the corporate culture and its goals. This also includes being acquainted with the organisation’s “unwritten rules” and the social and power-political structures in as much detail as possible. After all, managers are likely to otherwise quickly put their foot in it with employees and customers in their new areas of responsibilities. On the other hand, if the newcomer is socially accepted, they receive more information and can react appropriately.
The key role of the HR department
The initial period in the workplace is particularly crucial to successful integration. But onboarding of new managers is about far more than just purely imparting knowledge. A professional onboarding process at management level starts in advance of the new employee’s first day of work in the company, and mostly only ends after months have passed. In many companies, the HR team is responsible for developing and implementing integration programmes. Employees from the HR team, internal mentors and, increasingly often, external coaches assist with integration.
Mentors and coaches
In hierarchical terms, mentors are equally ranked experienced managers from another area of the business. A mentor provides considerable support in terms of identification with the company, as they can make a great deal explicable and understandable for the new recruit through their knowledge of the company and its culture. In the initial phase, mentors help the new manager with all technical and organisational concerns, which means that technical integration is accelerated. Mentors also support their candidates in establishing and expanding personal networks with key figures in the company.
External coaches on the other hand offer neutral support and regular dialogue. They have mostly worked in leading positions and know the new recruit’s hierarchy level, but do not necessarily need to come from this sector. Together with their coaches, the recruits develop individual strategies for addressing challenges in everyday work, which then help them reflect on their own role in the new company on an ongoing basis.
Google: five musts during onboarding
In the best-case scenario, all employees as well as management colleagues are guided to engage appropriately in the onboarding process. To achieve this Google remind its managers, in an email on the evening before a new employee’s first day of work, of five must-do obligations in this respect:
- Discuss tasks and responsibilities
- Connect the new person with a point of contact at the same hierarchy level
- Support them in establishing a network
- Talk about introductory training at least once per month
- Encourage them to give feedback
Feedback makes integration successful
Regular feedback is of crucial importance for the successful integration of new managers. Therefore, both sides should request regular feedback and set out their expectations. In this way, the new manager receives feedback and can align themselves better. Anonymised interviews by the onboarding coach with colleagues, superiors, colleagues and customers, for example, can be used to determine how the candidate is perceived on a technical and interpersonal basis. This kind of 360-degree feedback provides important information and is a valuable foundation for the individual’s own next steps.
Onboarding programmes frequently end after the first 100 days. However, studies show that “emotional slumps” only occur between the seventh and eleventh month, when the newcomer’s initial euphoria is worn away by everyday work and they start to notice that perhaps not everything is going as they had imagined it. Here, a longer-term onboarding process can pick up on the candidate’s dissatisfaction and an external coach can neutrally discuss the strategy for the next months.
Cost-benefit calculation
This type of intensive support by onboarding coaches of course has a price. But this is worth paying if it means expensive failures in the integration of new managers into the company can be avoided through targeted onboarding, and early turnover can be correspondingly lowered. In addition, professional onboarding contributes to increasing the manager’s bondedness to the company. Ultimately, good integration also increases their satisfaction and loyalty.