Congratulations –– you’ve just hired a new team member! Whether you’re just starting a small business with fewer than a dozen employees or you head a multi-million dollar corporation, bringing in a new professional is always an exciting occasion. However, the efficacy of your latest hire could depend on your orientation setup. Since it’s crucial that all new employees hit the ground running, how you integrate team members into the fold can make a massive impact on their productivity. To that end, here are four best practices business owners should implement into their orientation process:
Get Everyone Involved
They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, in a similar vein, it takes an entire office to welcome a new employee. It’s important to include multiple staff members in employee orientations for several reasons. Firstly, it allows new team members to get acquainted with people they’ll be working closely with in the coming weeks and months. In addition, communal orientations will help fresh recruits understand their place within the larger office as a whole. Sometimes the best way to appreciate the fine details is by first taking in the “big picture.”
Stick to the Highlights
Every new job is a learning process to a certain degree. No matter how thorough your orientation segments are, eventually your new hire will have to sink or swim on their own. What’s more, trying to cram too much information into an orientation presentation will likely have an adverse effect. Instead of trying to cover everything, focus instead on a few key concepts each day. Adopting a microlearning strategy can help your new employee adjust without feeling overwhelmed.
Keep Things Casual
The worst orientations are stuffy, overly corporate, and don’t provide all that much valuable information. Rather than relying on decades-old videos or painfully obvious icebreakers, let the process occur more or less organically. Don’t try and force new team members into immediate camaraderie; remember that it takes time to build relationships!
Ask For Feedback
It’s typically beneficial for new employees to listen more than they speak during orientation sessions. Yet, business owners shouldn’t let the opportunity to ask for an outside perspective on their operation pass them by. New team members can examine your internal processes with fresh eyes, and, often, they’ll be able to spot inefficiencies that you and your staff have overlooked for years. True, it may prove a little awkward to ask for a new employee to critique your business. But if you’ve made the right hire, they’ll be able to move past this and offer your organization a real advantage right away!
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