•There are many reasons for this, the most understandable being that it takes time and effort from existing staff to help a new colleague settle in.
•If you are busy and not motivated to give a little discretionary effort, the easiest thing to do is ignore the newbie.
Working with a client in Zambia last week I gained a new insight.
We assume that staff in a department will welcome a new joiner, but often that isn’t the case.
There are many reasons for this, the most understandable being that it takes time and effort from existing staff to help a new colleague settle in.
If you are busy and not motivated to give a little discretionary effort, the easiest thing to do is ignore the newbie.
Then there’s the fact that people are naturally change averse and whatever else a new colleague represents she opens up the possibility of a change in the status quo.
Darker motivations arise when incumbent staff feel their own jobs might be threatened, or when they are not really aligned with what the business is trying to achieve.
That means bad attitudes and habits get seeded into the minds of new joiners.
With around one-third of new hires quitting their job within the first six months, successfully integrating a new employee into a department has never been more important.
Success prevents position washouts and might even produce new perspectives on how things are currently done ‘around here’. But you have to be quick: after the first 30 days you’ll have missed the opportunity.
So what can we do to welcome a new employee quickly and set them up for productivity?
From the employer point of view, technology now makes it easy to create and deliver a simple company onboarding film coupled with a comprehension test and a ‘success’ certificate.
New joiners should access this on Day One. Then you can apply the same approach to an introduction to their department.
It’s a quick and enjoyable collaborative exercise to set the staff of a department to act out ‘things you need to know if you work here’.
Then capture them in a written script or use someone’s phone camera to make a short video.
Most people will enjoy doing this and you’ll soon see the ones who don’t, which will prompt another kind of conversation.
Importantly, the short video they make will promote an emotional reaction in them (sense of ownership) and in a new joiner (sense of belonging).
How much better is that than sending them all for a teambuilding session?
New hires don't know your cultural norms. Hopefully this means they'll share fresh ideas, but people are often quiet until they see how others behave.
Make sure they know you're excited to hear their point of view in meetings. Try picking one of their suggestions and turning it into action, to prove the point.
Chris Harrison leads The Brand Inside
www.thebrandinsideafrica.com