We all know how essential a new employee onboarding process can be for the company. To make an onboarding process successful, it is highly recommended to ensure that the process is well-planned and thoughtful. This will increase the likelihood of a new employee succeeding in his role.
When a new manager joins the venture, it brings an excellent opportunity for the team to learn. His productivity will lead to creating a positive working environment. Unfortunately, the statistics show that 60% of managers fail in the first two years of their position.
The responsibility now lies on the organization to make sure that new managers don’t fail. Although the onboarding process is similar for all employees, for new managers, the process is added with more guidance, attention, and support.
What is new manager onboarding
The new manager onboarding is a process of integrating or prepping a hired or newly promoted manager into the company. The purpose of this onboarding is to help him get transitioned into the role as quickly and as smoothly as possible.
Why is new manager onboarding different from a standard employee
I know you must be thinking by now whether the new manager onboarding process and a normal employee onboarding are different or not. They both are quite similar to each other.
The only difference is that the new manager onboarding requires more attention to detail as their job role is different from a standard employee. A new manager may act as a representative of the company. Therefore, it is important for new managers to have a more comprehensive onboarding framework.
Why is it important
According to Gallup research, 70% of the employee engagement variance comes from the managers. There are numerous benefits associated with the onboarding process which result in steady integration into the company. Following are some of the reasons which show its significance:
- A new manager onboarding process helps in offering a structured integration and learning process.
- It makes the new manager aware of short- and long-term goals and objectives.
- It helps in increasing the retention rate and overall productivity of the organization.
- An effective onboarding will also benefit in maintaining the consistency of the company culture
How to onboard a new manager
By now I am sure you must have understood the importance of onboarding the new manager. The next question is how we can make the onboarding process stand out for managers. The following are the best practices for getting a new manager smoothly onboarded into the organization:
Introductory meeting before joining
The role of a new employee and a manager is entirely different and requires a different approach to onboarding. They both have different job responsibilities on their shoulders.
Having them met their team before their joining will give them the opportunity to know their team better. They can share their expectations and experiences with each other during the new manager onboarding. A detailed document can also be shared with them which have details of employees, performance highlight, and more.
Make their expectations clear
The new manager onboarding program should start off with ensuring that the new managers fully understand their roles. Their expectations goals and objectives must be well clarified from the very beginning.
This clarity in the start will help them quickly jump into their job role. They will be able to understand the value of each task and will start to contribute towards the business objectives of the organization.
Train them on treating employees
When employees are hired, they are often trained on how to treat a client. Similarly, when managers are hired, they should be provided with training on how to treat employees/subordinates.
The organization needs to make sure that the first level of management i.e., the new managers know how to treat an employee. It could be possible that this is their first time being a manager in their career. This kind of training would also help them understand how the company dynamics work.
Provide Job shadowing
An excellent way to ensure that new managers are well-settled in their existing roles is job shadowing. It is a type of job training that enables the new manager to follow and closely observe another existing employee performing in a similar job role.
It will provide the new manager onboarding process with the opportunity to have practical learning and observation of what is expected from them and how they should solve a conflict and issue. With the help of job shadowing, they will start to feel engaged from the very beginning.
Pair with a mentor
Pairing a mentor with the manager can be very beneficial as they will require support during the new manager onboarding process. It is important that the new manager must be paired with someone who has been in his position before.
This onboarding mentor will tag along with the new manager and will answer queries. He will be providing him with all the necessary information, training, support, navigating company policies, and more. This mentorship program will ultimately help in improving the turnover rate and engagement in the company.
Follow up
After putting in all the efforts in making the new manager onboarding as efficient and effective as possible the human resource management should follow up with them from time to time.
They must also ask for their feedback as it will give the organization a chance to improve their onboarding process. Continuous follow-ups will also help in identifying a problem in solving it there and then.
Final thought
The new manager onboarding program is specifically focused to help managers get aligned with job roles and responsibilities. The manager is indeed in a key position. He is the one who leads the team in achieving the goals and objectives of the department.
If he is not well integrated into the company, then he will not be to lead well. Hence a well-planned onboarding process specifically designed for managers will help them transition quickly to their job roles.
