Written
by Cameron
“Example
is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” ~Albert
Schweitzer
“High
achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” ~Charles
Kettering
It is
no surprise that how you treat your new hires in the first day, first week, and
first month shapes their expectations. For this reason, slick presentations,
fun teambuilding, access to Executives, sessions on Brand and Culture, and a
number of freebies have become the norm.
In many companies, being a new-hire is
more like Christmas than work for the first week or more. Now I’m not saying
these shouldn’t be a part of the process, but I would add one more:
Throw
them into their role sooner than you think you should
Do you
expect them to ACT? To be challenged to find SOLUTIONS?
And do you expect them
to CONTRIBUTE. Now I’m not saying don’t give them training, but I am saying to
give them access to their job for at least some part of their day WHILE they
are training.
And I’m
not talking about side-by-side shadowing; I’m talking about giving them
applicable job duties and expecting production from them. This accomplishes a
few things:
Establishes
a culture of challenge and contribution –
You are expected to fight through
the struggle and still produce. And everyone
is taught to contribute immediately.
How
powerful are those two things to culture? Forget the session that waxes poetic
about the
organization’s culture. SHOW THEM how it works when the rubber meets the road.
Leverages
the energy of new hires – I’ve talked
before about how new-hires
infuse fresh
energy into any operation. Why wait a week or two for it to cool down
while
they go through training? Get that energy into your current operation right
away.
Makes
your training better – Getting hands on
experience is how many people learn best,
but
beyond that, it allows anyone to come back and ask questions, share
observations,
and
share best practices. This enhances the quality of the training for everyone.
Gets
new productivity ASAP – And let’s not
forget that if your new-hires are making
an
immediate contribution to the productivity of the organization, you’re already
getting
an ROI
on hiring them. Forget weeks of payroll that pays off later, get some of that
now.
Based
on the above factors, there’s big upside.
The
first few weeks on a new job should be very exciting, but they should also be
very challenging. If you aren’t pushing your new-hires to be phenomenal during
this time,
when
are you expecting to do it? Yes, you need to set them up for success
with a
clear understanding of duties, but we all have aspects of our team’s day to day
work
that can be taught quickly and we all hire people with specialties that
can be folded
into operations
quickly, so what’s holding you back?
Push
your team towards being exceptional by demanding it early on.
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