Onboarding as a Leader
I have been a newcomer several times in my career now, and started a few leadership roles, I thought I would give some of my findings on how to make your onboarding successful.
Starting a new job
Starting a new job is never easy. We’re navigating between the excitement of discovering new things: new colleagues, new challenges, new culture, and the little concern of showing what we’re capable of.
You’re re-discovering the excitement that you had when starting a new year, in a new school where you were going to learn new things. Are my teachers nice and competent? Are the other students going to like me? Will I find some people to play at the things I like? Am I going to fit in?
But we’re not in school anymore. And on top of the ‘fit’ process, there’s an element of fear about showing what you’re capable of. Am I going to succeed? Will I really understand my mission and how can I be impactful?
Everytime I start a new job; or I have a newcomer in my team, my answer is: Trust the process.
Trust the process
As you may know, knowing what’s coming is removing 50% of the fear. That’s why they put the time it takes for the train to arrive in railway stations now. Psychologically, you will reduce stress and complaints by giving people visibility. Your brain is wired like that.
It goes the same with onboarding: you KNOW you will be lost, acknowledge it. You will have a gigantic amount of new information to swallow, new faces, new acronyms, new business even — it’s normal to be lost. Even if it feels trivial to say it like that, people often forget it when they experience it. So, remember it and don’t panic!
The magic of it is that at some point, things will make sense. You will understand what people are telling you. And it doesn’t suddenly come in one single night, where you wake up in the morning and say: Ah, today is the day — everything makes sense. No, it’s a steady process, connections make their way subtly in your brain, and step by step you will not have to sweat about having this thought ‘I have no clue what they’re talking about’.
Write everything down
I am a writer. Meaning that I need to write everything down for the information to be digested. It’s not even about forgetting and having to read my notes, but the process of writing by itself is a powerful tool for my brain to remember.
I learned recently that writing something down rather than typing it on a computer can help you retain the information better, after researchers found putting pen to paper boosts connectivity between different areas of the brain. When taking notes by hand, it’s often impossible to write everything down; you have to actively pay attention to the incoming information and process it — prioritize it and consolidate it. This conscious action of building onto existing knowledge can make it easier to grasp new concepts.
At the end of my 4 months- onboarding, I usually have my first notebook completed.
But you could say: that’s nice, but what do you do with those notes? I read them all at the end of my work day. Studies show that sleep after learning fosters the consolidation of new memories and enhances knowledge connections. Particularly, periods of night-time sleep after learning have been shown to enhance the consolidation of memories in comparison to equal periods of wakefulness. As you can see you don’t even have to do anything (apart from sleeping), trust your brain to do it for you!
So, now that we’ve established that you have the capacity to assimilate all the information you are getting — even subconsciously — how to get the best information?
Meet everyone
Again, it seems trivial, but bear with me a bit.
You have a unique perspective (that you’ll lose afterwards) to put a fresh eye on every information you get, and everyone you meet. By not being already heads down on your own scope, you have the time and space to listen actively to what people are saying, take a step back and see the big picture. And the best way to see the big picture is to meet with the majority of people.
Of course, if you have a manager who’s doing their job properly, you’ll already have a list of people that you need to meet. But if it’s not the case, do it proactively.
My tip here: every time you hear a new name of someone that is working on a topic that you’ll be involved in, go and book some time with them.
Second tip: some people (or roles) are connectors. Those employees are not always leaders (actually they are usually not) but they are the go-to experts on one subject, and/or have the ears of a lot of people in the organization. They are a mine of knowledge and they will help you navigate much easier once you’ve identified them. Hence, going back to writing everything down. When you hear someone mentioning a name, write it down, and if you have this name coming up in different introductory meetings, make sure to book some time with them.
It can happen that some of the names that pop up are not good connectors: they can be the bottleneck of a lot of the challenges your team or colleagues are facing, but that’s also the best reason to meet with them and forge your opinion with your fresh eyes. Identifying those bottlenecks early will accelerate your impact.
I have a list of (very straightforward) questions during my introduction meetings. Of course, take the time to present yourself and to know about the person you have in front of you. Remember that it takes only 7 seconds to make a first impression, so give your best self!
Building trust is key, and you’ll do it better if you connect with the person — showing you care about knowing them personally. After that, here’s my go-to questions (bear in mind that I’m a HR leader, so a lot of those are related to my field):
What’s your role in the context of the organization?
If they have a team: can you show me your team organization? (deep dive into each individuals)
How do me/my team interact with you, on which topics and how frequently? How have been those interactions?
What are the (HR) tools and processes you are using that really help you?
What are the main issues/challenges you’re facing today (related to People topics)?
How can I help you?
I usually book 1 hour with each individual, some meetings can go as quick as 15 minutes (and the gift of time back is always appreciated), some can take the whole hour. Better to have more time than rush for this first impression.
Remember also that you are here to take as much information as possible: every time you speak is an opportunity’s loss of hearing the person in front of you. You are not a candidate anymore, you don’t need to ‘sell yourself’. And most of the time, you are too new to have already the answers, so listen actively: 90% of the talking should come from your interlocutor.
Know (and care for) your team
Meeting everyone starts with your team. Especially as a leader.
Put yourself in their shoes: while it’s exciting and a bit uncomfortable to be a newcomer, they also have the same level of excitement and stress about having a new boss. Even more. What if they don’t like me? What if they think we’re working badly or not doing the right things? Are we going to get along?
First thing first, if you are replacing someone, understand what was working well with that person and what was not. Try to replicate the good things — if they are not counterproductive of course. If they are counterproductive, ask questions, share your concerns about the outcome of it and let them explain what they like about it. Most of the time, you can find an easy compromise that would work for both of you.
As previously stated, meet each and everyone of them. Doesn’t matter about the numbers, you want to know the good, the bad and the ugly. And you want to hear it at every level of your organization, to identify blockers and patterns.
And when you meet them, don’t jump right into work related topics. If you want to be followed as a leader, you need to build trust. A captain needs a willing and engaged crew. What are their aspirations in life and at work? What do they like to do to take off steam? What’s frustrating them the most? And what are they looking at in their leader? Your leadership will be as good as it aligns with their needs.
Finally, while it’s not possible nor necessary to have regular 1:1s with all the team members in your organization, state clearly that your door is always open and what is the best way to reach out to you when needed. Don’t assume that your team will do it proactively (and it’s not a matter of incompetence), they may not have the habits of doing it (especially if your position didn’t exist before joining), and/or they want to show their best and it takes courage to ask for help. By proactively showing your willingness to be involved, you give them the right to come to you. And you will have the opportunity to give feedback along the way to adjust the amount or level of topics you want them to bring directly to you.
Build your team dynamics
Apart from meeting them and knowing them individually, you also want to touch on the team dynamics. Try to bring the whole team together in one location in the first couple of months, especially if you have heard complaints about ‘not being a team’ during your individual 1on1s.
A great exercise that I love to do when I am leading a new team is to organize a workshop supported by a personality test — like Insights Discovery. Having everyone take the test and learn about their strengths and shortcomings, communication styles and challenges, is such a powerful tool — both from a personal growth mindset and also for team building and enhancement.
Transparency and safety are key when you’re conducting those workshops. To put those safety guards in place, you need to lead by example. I am always the first to share my results very openly, showing self-awareness and humility about my strengths and areas of improvement (no one is perfect!).
It also brings new common language in the team (“oh that’s my red coming out” / “haha, I can see your blue trait when asking me this”) for closer links, strengthened collaboration and reducing friction.
Finally, team rituals are crucial:
Your 1:1s should be scheduled in your agenda within the first 2 weeks,
Ask to be invited to all the regular team/sub-team meetings, and attend them all with active listening setup,
If there was no regular team meetings, schedule one immediately (either a weekly or a monthly one depending on the size of your team),
Deep dive into all the previous 1:1s, performance reviews, feedback loops, team documents, etc. Read everything that is documented to grasp a sense of your current team dynamics and ways of working. Bookmark those who seem essential.
And let them know you
Your team also needs to know about you. Try not to be distant and embrace the opportunity for them to discover who you are as a person.
One thing I was reluctant about but learned to appreciate truly at a leadership position is to write down a note called “How to work with me”. I was reluctant before because it seems very self-oriented, a bit narcissist and vain. It could be actually, depending on your level of the organization and who you direct this note to (your boss? ;)). But I learned to appreciate it when one of my previous bosses did one (I was actually referring to it on a monthly basis), and the amount of feedback from my former direct reports who truly found it useful when I started it.
This doc contains a lot of information, including:
Who am I: my background, personal life (and how it can impact my agenda: e.g. I don’t take meetings after 6pm because I am taking care of my kid), and also my hobbies/passions. That’s where I put my personality test results usually.
My mantras: what’s my vision of HR, articles I really believe in (or have written), my go-to books on HR, some HR principles that I value above all else,
Team spirit & behaviors: how do I envision the role of the team, behaviors that are crucial for me (ex: transparency, respect), and things I don’t tolerate
My ways of working: how do I like topics to be brought to me (emails format for example), my agenda (focus time, asynchronous), and also personal views or things that can be surprising (for example: I’m very detail oriented when commenting documents, don’t take it personally!)
The team organization: career grids, roles & responsibilities, roadmap, rituals and communication channels
Final tip: try to make it digestible and fun, it’s still a ‘Me, Myself and I’ type of doc — try to make it the most enjoyable reading possible!
Don’t change anything for the first month(s)
Trying to be provocative here of course, but I have witnessed this error so many times. This is for me the most common mistake: a leader arrives and jumps into changing everything without being aligned on their company’s goals, competency model, culture promises, and decision making model. They wing it. And it shows.
I don’t blame them, directly. I mean, when a new leader is hired in, there is usually incredible pressure right out of the gate to make an impact on business goals and on team management. I’ve actually been rejected during a hiring process because the CEO was frustrated I couldn’t show them how I would build my future team on the spot. It was 10 years ago and I felt I had failed my interview at the time, but now I can easily smile at how wrong their expectations were.
Reshuffling your team during your first month(s) brings too many risks: you will surely break more things that work than fix bad ones. It can lead to bad hires: bringing someone with the wrong set of skills, the wrong mindset or just the right hire but at the wrong time. It can also lead to highly regrettable attrition: you can bring high dissatisfaction to some of your talent by not taking their knowledge of the company, the challenges they are facing and putting their current work in the trash. After all, they know more than you about what’s going on here. You should acknowledge that.
There’s one exception to that (IMHO): removing a bad element. While you need to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, if you hear from several trusting people that someone is under-performing in your team (and has been given feedback and opportunity to improve), and/or someone who acts inappropriately or bring the team morale down by their negativity and wrong behaviors, you should act very quickly. This is a great way to bring your team productivity and dynamics to a better level and to bring some trust in your leadership capabilities.
Build an agile roadmap
It goes the same with your roadmap. Don’t reshuffle all the priorities at once. It brings confusion and frustration.
First, there’s a whole analysis part that needs to take place:
Analyze what are the company goals: what are the main OKRs? What are the previous ones and our achievements against those? What does the C Suite focus on? What are the biggest pain points the organization is facing that are linked to your team/business units?
Compare with your team goals: are they aligned with the company goals? Are the issues/challenges from the C-Suite taken into account? Is your team aware of the right priorities? What were the previous achievements and what impact did they have?
Deep dive into the individuals’ focus: are they working on the right priorities? What is their workload? How satisfied are they with their current goals settings?
This pre-analysis will help you to avoid the ‘stop and go’ effect: asking your team to stop working on their roadmap because you think there’s more urgent and important things to do, but then coming back to it because you figured out it was actually needed.
What I want to say by ‘agile’ roadmap is to have one that gives you the space to:
let your team accomplish their current most impactful goals,
remove the ones that are really useless or less impactful,
and add progressively the ones that you want the team to focus on, by order of priority, while being conscious of not overwhelming and overloading the team.
I like to navigate with a quarterly roadmap, I feel that 3 months is the ideal length. While keeping most of the current quarterly roadmap, you give visibility to the team and what’s coming in the next quarter.
The power of quick wins
I will finish this article on that powerful tool: quick wins. This is my most preciouuuuuuuuuuus secret to you.
While I’ve talked in the previous sections about being mindful of not changing everything at the same time, quick wins are the exceptions. Most of the time, when a company is bringing a new leader, they have things to fix. Things that are identified already because they are the most annoying ones — like a mosquito in your room at night.
And in this list of annoying things, you can find your quick wins.
They are usually the ones during your introduction meetings when you ask what’s bothering them, and they end by “oh yes, and there’s that. I know it’s not that important, but that’s really annoying”. And you hear it once, twice, three times… THERE — I know you see what I mean ;)
Well, make the list (it shouldn’t be a long one TBH) and try to fix them as soon as possible. And communicate about it. You’ll see, this will bring you several thank yous, and most importantly show direct impact. The trust you’ll gain from your new teammates in your capabilities to make things better is enormous with not that much effort.
