Your transferees likely need more support than new hires. They just uprooted their home, their family, and their life. While getting to know new faces at the office and learning a new role, they’re also getting to know new neighbors and learning a new city. All of this change at once is jarring. Does your management onboarding plan make it worse?
‘Sink or Swim’ Mentality to Management Onboarding
Onboarding is a difficult task to master. It holds such weight on how quickly the employee will jump in and deliver results. Because of this, it deserves more than a few training sessions and an employee manual. According to Glassdoor, a strong management onboarding process improves retention by 82% and productivity by 70%.
“This is a critical time, yet most people don’t treat it as such,” shares Tanya Fite, Vice President of Service Operations at IMPACT Group. “The onboarding period can launch long-term success through developing thoughtful goals and establishing building blocks.”
It can also start a downward spiral that is difficult to get out of if employees are left to fend for themselves. You might assume transferees already know everything they need to about the business and the role. This assumption may leave them floundering.
Good Intentions Don’t Guarantee Good Results
Most companies have very good intentions when it comes to management onboarding. However, rarely is a process created to walk the person through the first few months on the job with a set plan. While the employee struggles to prioritize their work demands, their engagement and interest may wane as well. Let’s not forget all the relocation distractions that threaten to pull their focus away from the new job.
Partnering transferees with a coach will help them manage all of these demands. As Tanya points out, “A career coach will emphasize the importance of setting goals, prioritizing projects, getting to know stakeholders, and determining how success will be measured. This is so valuable because it sets transferees up to be engaged and show their value.”
When done right, structured plans deliver results well past the immediate onboarding period. “Providing an organized process leads to long-term benefits that the employee can leverage well into the future. A 90-day plan can turn into a 6-month plan, which can turn into an annual plan.” Think of the domino effect this has for future success.
Win at Management Onboarding
Effective onboarding requires an action plan to address:
- Organizational culture and priorities.
- Purpose of the new role.
- Stakeholders and strategies to build productive relationships.
- Manager expectations, priorities and style.
- Goals for personal development.
IMPACT Group’s High IMPACT Start program for new leaders matches new or relocating leaders with a one-on-one coach to create a seamless transition. Discover how you can empower newly relocated leaders to achieve immediate results.
