Leadership Onboarding in 2009

What's ahead for leadership onboarding in 2009? With all the dreary economic news, it seems that organizations will typically cut discretionary spending and focus their time and money on what will successfully drive their businesses into the next year and beyond.

A survey that I just read today, published by the International Association for Human Resources Information Management (IHRIM) reports how human resource leaders said that they would spend their information technology dollars next year. The findings say that of the companies making investments in software, 12% will be spent on core HR management systems, 25% will be spent on benefits management solutions and the most will be spent on onboarding tools at 28%.

This result indicates that more and more HR leaders are recognizing the business need and competitive advantage to providing a formal onboarding process. How many of these will have a dedicated focus to leaders is unclear. But the numbers are encouraging.

The article goes on to report that there is still an indication that companies will continue to cut budgets and staff in the slumping economy. These cuts will probably include development-like programs such as leadership coaching, team development and leadership onboarding. I was at a conference this fall and a key-note speaker from Home Depot said the their leadership onboarding was "suspended indefinitely" to save cost as their sales declined.

Unfortunately, this is a big mistake. Top talent will go to companies with these types of programs and organizations risk losing their competitive edge.

Now, more than ever, is the time to protect your biggest investments, your leaders.

Read the full article about the survey

Can't Afford Not to Do Leadership Onboarding

The talking heads on CNN and Fox News are telling us to "Hang on, it's going to get worse." The economy, that is, by way of tightened credit markets, crumbling financial institutions, big lay-offs and shaky consumer confidence. It is the typical reaction to hunker down, not spend any money and "wait and see" what happens next.

That might work for individuals and families, but not organizations who have to figure out how to keep and grow their competitive edge. Strong leadership is needed now more then ever and organizations are still paying big bucks to get it.

So, if your organization has sunk several thousand dollars into recruiting, interviewing, assessing and relocating a key leader, why would you leave their onboarding up to chance? Wouldn't you think that a small additional investment of time and money to insure that he or she "sticks" and does what he or she was brought in to do would be worth it?

We are continually surprised that operational and human resources leaders will agree that a leadership onboarding process "makes sense" or is "nice to have" but not a necessity. We beg to differ. Statistics in study after study prove that failure rate of newly hired or promoted leaders is in the 40 to 60% range.

The platform is on fire! Look down!

HR Tech Show and Leadership Onboarding

Connect the Dots participated in the HR Tech Show that was held in Chicago last week. It was great to talk with several HR professionals that understand the need to provide onboarding support to new leaders! At the same time it is surprising to learn that many organizations are not providing the support they know new leaders need.

The business case for leadership onboarding speaks for itself:

• enables new leaders to "hit the ground running"
• allows for faster recruitment ROI
• provides platform for building relationships with key stakeholders
• increases engagement early on

It can be easy to over-complicate the leadership onboarding process. A successful leadership onboarding approach is based on three key elements:

1. provide the right knowledge at the right time
2. identify key stakeholders with which the new leader needs to build relationships
3. give timely and actionable feedback

So don't over-think it--get started!!

5 Strategies for Effective Meet and Greets

No one in any of the organizations that we talk to would disagree with the importance of building relationships as part of a new leader's onboarding process. They nod their heads and add that in their organizations it is not only important, but critical, for a new vice president to get to know and build real relationships with the people (sometimes called stakeholders) who can make or break his/her success.


But what is the plan to create those relationships? How does the new person know who the important players are and how they affect their function's objectives? What does the organization do to support these budding relationships? If your organization is like most, there is little formal support and the new leader is often left to "figure it out" on his own. After all, you pay them alot of money to know these things, right?


The Research

In a March 2007 study by RHR International, they found that the biggest challenges for onboarding new leaders are--

Adapting to the culture 45%

Building relationships 29%

Role clarity 19%


One out of three new leaders said that meeting the right people and building the relationships that help them achieve their objectives is their biggest challenge.


The Typical Stuff
A pretty common way that organizations handle the "relationship-building" part of a new leader's onboarding is by making a list of several (or a lot!) of people with whom the person needs to meet in his/her first few weeks or months. Unfortunately, this list is not always reviewed strategically and the participants are not chosen with purpose. The other mistake that is made is that there is little or no structure given to these conversations; there is poor communication about the meeting's purpose and usually no follow-up actions are required. This is a recipe for failure and both the new leader and his or her stakeholders are frustrated and off to a rocky start.

Missed Opportunity
The impact of these weak "meet and greet" meetings is really missed opportunity. Missed opportunity for the new leader to experience the organization's culture through its people. Missed opportunity for stakeholders to get to know the new person and his or her thoughts and observations about the organization and how they could work together. Losing that window of a new leader's first few weeks can make it extra difficult for both the new leader, his or her team and the other stakeholders to form solid working relationships.

5 Strategies for Effective Meet and Greets
Here are five strategies that you can implement in your organization to avoid the pitfalls of ineffective or non-existent "meet and greet" meetings:

1. Gather information from the hiring manager.
-Why was this person hired?
-Whom should they get to know and why?
-Consider their own team, internal and external stakeholders.

2. Create a strategic list of stakeholders.
-Shrink the list to the critical few.
-Determine action items and follow-up strategies for each.

3. Schedule the right meeting at the right time.
-Ensure that the meeting is timely with the business cycle.
-Calendarize the meetings so that the new leader has context.
-Too much too soon, can be too much too soon.

4. Consider the audience.
-Who are the key people in each area?
-What influence do they have over the new leader's success?
-What demographic do they represent?

5. Develop and implement a communication strategy.
-Tell participants what is expected and when.
-Send separate anouncements with suggested agendas to participants.
-Encourage that meetings be kept as scheduled by holding participants accountable.

With the implementation of these 5 simple strategies, you will see your new leaders and their key stakeholders benefitting almost immediately. Although this process is largely intuative, most organizations do not take the time to implement a formal strategy.

The numbers don't lie. Relationships are critical, and developed the right way, lead to not only individual success for the new leader, but the organization.



For more information on how to put together a comprehensive leadership onboarding process, email us at info@connectthedotsconsulting.com

"Mastering Onboarding"

We have reached the point that HR professionals feel pressure to "master onboarding" for their organizations.



In the past six months we have seen a flood of conferences, webinars, teleconferences, articles and studies around the topic of onboarding. Each offers to help HR professionals relieve the pressure they are under to develop a program that is right for their organization.



Before we can "master" we should first focus on the basics by defining the following:

• the business case for onboarding in your organization



• objectives for onboarding



• the audience for whom the onboarding program is intended



• roles and responsibilities of the three primary participants; new employee, hiring manager and human resources for both creating and implementing the program



• how your will measure progress and success

If we jump to designing a "solution" before these basic building blocks are in place, the onboarding process will likely fall flat and become another HR program that misses the opportunity to add value.

So, take the time to build a solid foundation by defining the basics and you will "master onboarding".

Mastering Leadership Onboarding

Mastering Leadership Onboarding Webinar


Onboarding Senior Leaders:
A Different RoadMap

Wed May 21st 12:00 PM EST
Register today!



We are launching a webinar focused on developing and implementing a leadership onboarding program.

Leadership onboarding surfaced on the human resources landscape about 8 years ago. The first “scary statistics” published, stated that 64% of new leaders FAIL within their first 18 months on the job. While not all organizations have experienced this staggering number, most talent managers recognize that a purposeful onboarding process will address “avoidable” turnover, get new leaders up to speed faster and align new leaders with his/her new culture faster and “smarter”.

Our webinar will provide you with the most recent research and best practices and how to put them into practice in your organization.

Here is what you’ll get from the webinar:
· Why senior leaders need a different roadmap
· What is in the roadmap
· How to deliver the roadmap
· Ways to measure success

Onboarding Senior Leaders: A Different Roadmap
May 21st 12 noon to 1pm EST
$95.00 per participant

To register click here

Orientation vs Onboarding: What's the Difference?

Every organization needs both.

My partner and I attended and presented at a conference in January dedicated to the topic of onboarding talent. The interesting take-away for us was the lack of distinction between orientation and onboarding. Most of the organizations presented their orientation programs as "onboarding processes" even though each have distinctly different purposes, activities and, in some cases, different audiences.


So, we thought it would be helpful to clearly define each process and build context for when and how they can be used effectively in any organization.


The purpose of orientation is to manage the "new hire paperwork" in a way that represents the organization’s brand and confirms the individual's decision to join the organization. It also provides a "captured audience" to which the organization can communicate general information that is needed by all new hires, regardless of position.

By contrast, the purpose of onboarding is to provide a supported process that provides new employees with the opportunity to gain knowledge; build relationships; and act on feedback for the purpose of successfully and quickly integrating into the organization, taking into account thier unique positions and job functions.

Timing:

Orientation is a single event that usually takes place in the first week or so on the job and lasts for a few hours up to a few days.

Onboarding usually begins when the new hire accepts the job and continues for between 3 and 6 months, and sometimes up to a full year. During this time, the new associate is not exclusively "onboarding" but learning and delivering work according to a structured plan that was prepared by the hiring manager, the HR partner and the new hire.

Delivery:

Orientation delivers information to a group that is common to all new hires. This allows for efficient use of the HR facilitator's time and organizational resources. It is usually in a classroom-style setting and more of a "one-size-fits-all" format. Organizational culture information can be presented in this format, but it doesn't allow for any real-world application for the new associate.

An onboarding process allows for information to flow through several channels, including to and from the new hire. It also provides a scalable method to deliver consistent organizational information, while delivering customized content by function and by role. So instead of an "information dump", onboarding gives the new associate what he/she needs to know and "just in time" so that it can be used on the job as needed. A more blended learning approach is used to deliver the information, so that the new associate also gets feedback as to how he/she is doing in the new culture and can make appropriate adjustments.

Results:

Orientation programs' results are rather limited to the processing of new-hire paperwork and the exposure of new hires to general organizational and cultural data. The associates are still considered "new" after their orientation experience and usually need quite a bit more assistance from their hiring manager and functional peers to be able to start being productive in their new roles.

Onboarding takes a longer view and allows the new hires to "learn and do" during their first weeks and months on the job. The process builds a plan that provides resources and tools that the new associates can draw on to support their transitions. When onboarding is complete, the new associate is fully integrated into the organization and has begun to contribute and "payback" the investment that the organization has made in him/her.

These associates are usually more highly engaged in their roles and the organization and have a higher likelihood of staying after 6 months, according to the most recent study by The Aberdeen Group.*

So, the question isn't really orientation or onboarding, it's how can organizations do both effectively? One is not a substitute for the other. In the world of the shrinking talent pool, no organization can afford slow productivity and/or high turnover of their new associates. A relatively small investment of time and money in the first few months of a new hire's tenure will provide high impact to the organization through an engaged and productive work force.

If you would like more information about orientation and onboarding, contact us at info@connectthedotsconsulting.com

*All Aboard: Effective Onboarding Techniques and Strategies, January 2008

Five Steps to Shape-Up Your Onboarding Process

This time of year always seems to be that time when the topic of “fitness” is everywhere. Magazines, newspaper articles and morning news shows are crammed with ideas for getting our bodies into shape for the New Year. Increasing concerns for health and well-ness tend to drive this focus, but so does the looming swim suit season!

Borrowing from the fitness frenzy, it is also important to take a look at our business processes and identify where they can be improved and “shaped up” as well. If your onboarding program has not been reviewed in the last year and updated, it is one of those processes that can definitely benefit from a shape-up.

If your organization is like most, you have had some type of process to integrate new leaders and new associates that has been developed over the last 2-3 years. The Aberdeen Group, in its August 2006 report on onboarding states that in 2005, 60% of all organizations did not have a formal onboarding process, compared to 24% who do not have them today. So the good news is that more companies understand the need for a more deliberate integration process and are actually doing something about it. But, most are probably not reviewing their metrics and results from their onboarding processes and making the appropriate adjustments. The original program may no longer be meeting the needs of the organization, and possibly may not being used or followed at all!


Five Steps to Onboarding Shape-Up:

Step One: Find out what is working and what isn’t. Ask some of your newest hires about their onboarding experience, and if it was timely and relevant. Take care to include those new hires that are in your target audience for onboarding. If your process is fairly new, you may want to include both new hires who have participated in the onboarding program and some who have not. You will get data about the impact of your process on the individuals as well as on the organization. Validate that each participant in the process is fulfilling the roles that were outlined. Check out simple things like making sure that all the new hires’ logistical needs were met. Document this information, or send out a simple email survey to capture the data.

Step Two: Review current best practices. Do some research on-line. There are a number of websites and blogs that give information about what companies are doing and what thought-leaders are saying about current trends and practices in onboarding. It may also be helpful to contact peers at other organizations to ask what they are doing. Articles in trade journals often include the author’s email address, so it may be beneficial to drop a note to one to get more information on the topic. Onboarding is also a popular conference topic these days, so there may be some information out there from conferences that have already occurred, or some upcoming events that may help provide more best practices data.

Step Three: Make recommendations for changes based on data. This cannot be overstated. Too many organizations decide to implement changes to a process or program with anecdotal information and not hard data. They may respond to one or two individual’s experiences without regard to the whole population affected by the process. By making changes based on real data, you also have a much greater chance of having a larger impact with those changes. For example, if you find that most of your newly onboarded associates are not feeling connected to the new community and are having difficulty finding personal transition support, you may recommend adding these resources. However, if you have isolated incidences of these issues, you may not want to take the time or commit resources to a change that could have little impact.

Step Four: Balance the three critical components for onboarding success. Look at your onboarding process to make sure that it includes and balances the critical three components for success:
1. Knowledge
2. Relationships
3. Feedback
Many onboarding processes are “knowledge-heavy”. They bombard their new leaders and new associates with information about the organization, its history, its purpose and immediate goals. Some do a good job of extending that knowledge to include functional and role information like, “how does my role fit within this company?” while others leave that piece a bit more to chance. It is important to continue to “hone” the right amount and right type of information that a new associate needs in his/her first months on the job.

Secondly, providing a method for building key relationships is extremely important to successfully onboarding someone, regardless of level. In a recent study by Deloitte, titled “It’s 2008: Do You Know Where Your Talent Is?” reports that people learn the most (67%) when working with a colleague on a task. The report continues with “people also learn from those they trust: bosses, subordinates, peers and mentors.” So it is critical that the organization create a structure to support such relationships if they want to see these results.

Thirdly, the organization’s ability to give timely feedback to a new hire and create a process to support acting on that feedback is essential. This is the most common missing component of the onboarding process. Without such feedback, a new hire (and particularly one with leadership responsibilities) can be making serious cultural mistakes without knowing it and creating damage to him or the organization that may not be repairable. Timely feedback, given in a way that the new hire can understand, process and create a plan to address is what sets apart a great onboarding process from an adequate one.

Step Five: Measure, Measure, Measure! Both quantitative and qualitative data are important to collect from your onboarding process. It is fairly easy to track the number of new associates and how many have engaged in onboarding. It can be a little more challenging to measure the effectiveness of the process, but it’s not impossible. Ask the same questions to each person or group—that way you will have consistent data. Use existing measures like retention information and employee engagement information to augment your results and show impact. Tracking the “time to performance” will be easiest while collaborating with your hiring managers and pre-determining a success profile for each position. That way you can benchmark the new hire’s performance against a standard. Comparing this data for those associates who were on-boarded versus those associates who were not, gives you impact data of your onboarding process on your associates and your organization.


While thinking about taking on a comprehensive review and assessment of your entire onboarding process may seem daunting, you can start with these first five steps to either “jump-start” your initiative or make a few changes that have greater impact. Either way, jumping in and doing something is better than nothing. You will get some results and the more you work at it, the better the results.

At least that’s what they say about exercise. Start small and make it a habit. You’ll wonder how you did without it.