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Starting New Job: The Top 10 Mistakes Made by New Hires.

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We know that starting a new job can be a bit overwhelming and mistakes can be made, especially in the first month when new hires are still getting the lay of the land.  And whether or not it’s fair, judgments are made about new employees—often very quickly.

 So, if you’re new to your role or you know someone who is, here is an onboarding checklist of 10 mistakes to avoid.

 

  1. Not showing up early enough

Arriving late for work sends an immediate negative message and a warning sign to your manager and coworkers, but showing up right on time can often mean cutting it close to being late.  A best practice: why not show up early for your first couple of months, which will broadcast that you are reliable, eager to be there, and you’re are a team player?  Showing up early also affords the opportunity to get to know your new coworkers more quickly, both on a personal and professional level.

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  1. Isolating yourself

As the “new employee on the block,” you might be struggling to adjust, but it is important to resist the urge to keep to yourself.  It’s very important to proactively get involved as much as possible at the beginning of a new job.  Make it a point to have lunch with your new coworkers, regularly switching it up to meet and get to know new people.  Be friendly and helpful and let them see the real “you.”  By doing so, you will both accelerate your learning curve and get to know your new coworkers.  Special and meaningful relationships will result.

  1. Being afraid to ask questions

Let’s admit it: no one knows everything.  Especially not new employees.  Thus, there is absolutely no reason for you to start a new role and feel like you need to immediately prove that you were the right person chosen for the job; you did that during the interview process.  It’s much better to dive in and ask questions.  Seek the advice, answers, and opinions of those who are more experienced.  This is how you learn.  One of the smartest people in history, Albert Einstein, once said: “The day you stop learning is the day you start dying.”  Nothing could be truer.

  1. Being negative or engaging in gossip

Bringing positivity to the workplace is an awesome way to assimilate into a new work environment.  Make an active effort to avoid negativity and the archetypical malaise and gossip around the water cooler.  The last thing you want to be labeled as is as one of those actively disengaged employees.

  1. Failing to ask your boss how to best communicate with him/her

All bosses are different in how they prefer interaction with their employees.  So why not ask them upfront?  Do they prefer email, voicemail, instant messaging, a weekly meeting, or the always healthy in-person drop by?  Do not assume your new boss communicates like the other managers you had before.  Ask.

  1. Taking on too much work

There is an enormous gulf between trying to impress your new coworkers and burning yourself out with work volume.  Relax.  Rome was not built in a day.  It’s much better to focus on work quality than quantity.  After all, the number one reason people quit their jobs is stress/burnout.  Your company wants an employee for the long term!

  1. Ignoring corporate culture

This is a big and very common error that can negatively affect the impression you make on your new colleagues.  Rather than fall victim to culture blindness, actively seek to discover the following aspects of your new workplace culture:

  • What are the organization’s beliefs, values, goals, and strategic mission?
  • How do things get approved?
  • How do people dress?
  • What are the office politics? (Often difficult to identify without the help of a trusted coworker or boss).
  • What are the unwritten “policies” that you would not find in the employee handbook?
  • What are the organization’s policies vis-à-vis social media and the internet?
  • How about the policies and expectations regarding personal cell phone use?
  • What are the organization’s policies on being able to work remotely, as well as having flexible work hours?
  • What are the absolute “No-Nos” of the culture or the acts and behaviors that are highly discouraged?
  • What are the most common roadblocks to getting things done, as well as the corresponding workarounds?

Discovering the answers to these kinds of topics will hyper-speed your assimilation to a new work environment, delivering you to profound success.

  1. Not writing things down

When onboarding new employees, companies shower them with a waterfall of information, from new names and faces to tasks, assignments, technology, and even your boss’ preferences.  It’s hard to remember everything, but having to be told the same things multiple times will make new hires look bad.

Numerous studies have shown that writing things down creates better retention of information, so it’s smart to take notes on everything during your first few weeks.  For complex instructions, it’s always good to have notes you can refer back to later anyway.  Writing things down also demonstrates an extra effort to your new coworkers and boss that you are engaged and care about doing a good job. 

  1. Talking too much about your last job

You definitely do not want to be the person who is referencing their old job repeatedly.  Simply put, the re-hashing of your old job to your new coworkers becomes stale pretty quickly.  People might also interpret your remembrances as longing to have your old job back, which is obviously not the message you want to send.

  1. Failing to take initiative

There are always ways to go above and beyond what is expected.  If you aren’t showing that initiative from the very beginning, it’s a missed opportunity to make a positive impression on your new boss and coworkers.

Start before you start.  For example, prior to your first formal day, proactively ask your manager for recommendations on how you can prepare for your first day.  Ask for reading materials about the company, its products and services, and employee communications such that you can prepare to onboard (e.g., notes from town hall meetings, employee newsletters, annual reports, a new hire checklist, etc.).

Once you start the new job, be quick to offer help to others.  If meetings are optional, such as town halls or brown-bag lunch and learn, make it a point to attend.  Seizing learning and development opportunities is an awesome way to establish yourself as a go-getter and accelerate your career and personal growth.

Onboarding new employees are hard for companies, but it’s even harder for new hires!  Whether you’re about to start a new job or you have no plans on leaving your company, bookmark this onboarding checklist so you have it just in case!  Being aware of potential pitfalls makes it much easier to avoid them.

 

FSC Career Blog Author:   Kevin Sheridan is an internationally-recognized Keynote Speaker, a New York Times Best Selling Author, and one of the most sought-after voices in the world on the topic of Employee Engagement. For six years running, he has been honored on Inc. Magazine’s top 100 Leadership Speakers in the world, as well as Inc.’s top 100 experts on Employee Engagement. He was also honored to be named to The Employee Engagement Award’s Top 101 Global Influencers on Employee Engagement of 2017 & 2018.

 Having spent thirty years as a high-level Human Capital Management consultant, Kevin has helped some of the world’s largest corporations rebuild a culture that fosters productive engagement, earning him several distinctive awards and honors. Kevin’s premier creation, PEER®, has been consistently recognized as a long-overdue, industry-changing innovation in the field of Employee Engagement. His first book, Building A Magnetic Culture, made six of the bestseller lists including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He is also the author of The Virtual Manager, which explores how to most effectively manage remote workers. 

Kevin received a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School in 1988, concentrating his degree in Strategy, Human Resources Management, and Organizational Behavior. He is also a serial entrepreneur, having founded and sold three different companies.

Links:

www.kevinsheridanllc.com

Twitter
LinkedIn 

https://www.instagram.com/kevinsheridanllc/

Email: kevin@kevinsheridanllc.com

 

FSC Career Blog | March 11, 2020

#Leadership : 10 Must-Follow Company-Onboarding Techniques.

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Effective employee onboarding is about more than making them feel welcome. It can help employees feel like highly productive and valuable contributors to your mission and success from the start. Plus, when employees have a successful onboarding experience, they’re more likely to feel like members of your team, and this can contribute to employee retention. 

Some of the best onboarding processes are unique, creative and a little bit unexpected. If it’s time to change up your onboarding program, you might find the inspiration you need from these 10 effective techniques.

Related: How to Improve Your Startup’s Onboarding Process

1. Get coffee

During a new hire’s first few weeks with your company, have them get coffee individually with all of their future team members. This works especially well with small businesses, where relationships are crucial. Enjoying coffee outside of the office setting helps to take some pressure off, letting a new employee communicate freely and get to know your staff in a low-pressure setting.

 

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2. Send them on a scavenger hunt

Give new hires a list of tasks, like finding an employee who’s been with the company for over a decade or who likes to cook. This can make for a fun icebreaker activity. If you have multiple new hires, you can make this into a competition.

3. Schedule team meetings

Any new hire’s first day will most likely include meetings with human resources, orientation sessions and new-hire paperwork. But you should sit them down with different teams so that each member can introduce themselves and explain how they contribute. This is a valuable strategy in companies with many different teams that work together. New employees can simultaneously put faces to names and gain an understanding of how each group works internally, as well as how the company functions as a whole.

4. Take them to lunch

Have a new employee’s manager or team take them out to lunch during their first week. This can make for a valuable team-building experience, since you’re likely to see more of an employee’s personality and learn about their interests when they’re not physically in the office.

5. Schedule a happy hour

Create a more casual setting with a happy hour during an employee’s first week of work. Invite the whole team to the fun get-together.

6. Give them a meaningful gift

Give new employees something that ties them to the company, ideally some sort of gear or clothing that features your branding. If there’s a certain laptop bag or travel mug that all employees use, make sure the new hire gets it. You can even buy printed stickers and give them to new team members. These company-branded gifts can help bind an employee’s personal brand to the business, establishing a valuable connection.

7. Schedule a one-on-one meeting

During the first week, budget time for a new employee to meet with the CEO for a check-in. This will make the them feel valued right away, which can further help build their emotional ties to your organization.

Related: How to Breathe Life Into Your Formal Onboarding Process

8. Set them up right

It might sound simple, but take the time to ensure that employees are set up with all of the right software, a functional email account, login accounts and passwords and Slack channels. Ideally, do this before they arrive for their first day. If new employees lack these important tools, it can lead to frustration, delays and a slow start.

9. Help them set up their calendar

Navigating a new calendar isn’t always simple, so help with the setup to ensure that new employees have the tools they need to succeed. This is a great time to talk about meetings, conference calls, remote work, an employee handbook or any other helpful communication or information that new hires should have.

10. Give them some immediate goals

Don’t hold off too long before letting people get started in their new roles. Give new team members some immediate projects to work on and goals to meet. Even if these are smaller projects or part of a training program, employees will feel more useful and productive if they have work to do from day one. This also gives you a chance to learn about an employee’s work style and to give them some feedback and establish a working relationship from the beginning.

When you put some careful thought into your new employee onboarding process, you can transform it into a useful tool that helps you learn about who you’re hiring. Plus, your new hires can learn about your company and its teams. Workers can tell when their hiring process has been carefully planned. Remember, team members aren’t only focused on making a good impression. Many of the more savvy new employees will be looking to see if your company can make a good impression on them during the onboarding process, too.

 

Entrepreneur.com |  February 5, 2020 |  John Boitnott

 

#CareerAdvice : #OnBoarding – Starting A #NewJob ? Follow ‘The 30/60/90 Plan’…By Organizing & Prioritizing, you Can Make the Most Out of the Initial Stages of your New Job.

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Starting a new job comes with a multitude of emotions, some good and some bad. Fortunately, the wonders of organization come to the rescue, yet again, as the transition is eased through the 30/60/90-day plan.

An unfamiliar routine, or lack of a routine altogether, can cause for added stress as well as the growing pressures to impress and succeed at the new position. Although your stress may build for a variety of reasons, getting organized always alleviates the nervous tension at the hip of getting started.

A plan of any sort provides us with a tangible version of where we are going and where we want to be, all while tracking our progress and achievements along the way. By planning out your goals of the first 30, 60, and 90 days on the job, you have created your own vision and you are sure to take advantage of your full potential as a new hire.

3 Job Search Mistakes to Quit Making Today

In just a small time frame, you are expected to learn how to do your job successfully, in addition to discovering how to fit in. Your 30/60/90 game plan can get you there. Here is a sample outline of suggested goals to incorporate into your own customized plan:

1. 30 Days – The Learning Stage

One common mistake of new hires is never taking the time to understand exactly what it is that the company is trying to accomplish through their strategic plan. As a new hire, it is extremely important to put in the effort to study and learn the internal lay of the land as follows:

  • Bring the mission statement and vision to life and discover the plans the company abides by to reach these core values.
  • Understand your boss’s expectations of you.
  • Begin forming professional relationships with coworkers.
  • Learn about your customers and clients.
  • Investigate the overall company culture.
3 Job Search Mistakes to Quit Making Today

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. 60 Days – Adding the Y-O-U

Once you have taken time to fully assess the company, begin adding your strengths to the equation:

  • Progressively begin building your own personal brand within the company by showcasing what you do well.
  • Brainstorm the ways in which your own personal touch can accelerate company growth.
  • You may have started with listening much more than talking, which is recommended. By this stage, begin leveling out the playing fields by contributing to the conversation.
  • Furthermore, be an effective communicator by being open. You’re the newbie, but don’t hide behind your computer screen two months in.
  • Become more versatile by taking on some tasks outside of your set responsibilities.
  • Continue to be mindful of your boss’s expectations of you.
3 Job Search Mistakes to Quit Making Today

90 Days – The Transformation Stage

By this time, you should have a firm grasp of the role you play in the company. Your confidence is likely to have grown since your first day and leadership qualities are hopefully itching to be put to action. At this point, consider the following:

  • You know your employer well enough by now to be proactive when it comes to company happenings.
  • Be attentive and aware of new projects and come ready with possible solutions.
  • Analyze the growth in your network.
  • Dodge your novice mistakes.
  • Look into broadening your horizons by getting more involved. You can do this by joining a club, council, board, or committee.
  • Make time to notice your growth and reward yourself for your progress.

Your 30/60/90 plan is your written path from a new hire to an effective leader. By organizing and prioritizing, you can make the most out of the initial stages of your new job.

In what ways have you eased the first few months of starting a new job? Do you find the power in planning and organizing when starting something new? Let us know below.

 

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#Leadership : #EmployeeRetention – Plan your New Hire’s Next Job from the Moment they Start… Here’s how Here are Three Ways to Start Preparing your #TeamMembers for New and Different Roles Inside the Company (before they find other opportunities outside it).

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Remember when staying in a job for less than a few years was considered a stain on your resume? That’s no longer the case. By one recent estimate, the average length of time people now spend in a given role is just a little over two years among workers ages 25–39. And who can blame them?

Baseless millennial stereotypes notwithstanding, it’s people earlier in their careers who tend to fill lower-level positions, which typically involve at least a few unexciting tasks. I’ve noticed entry-level employees at my own company getting anxious to take the next step in their careers even sooner than they’d used to. Many of our sales reps now start eyeing their next internal moves after just six to eight months.

So lately I’ve had to think creatively about ways to keep new hires engaged while extending their professional lives inside the company. Here are a few methods we’ve come up with.

BREAK ROLES INTO TIERS

The most employee movement we see here at Vidyard is in our sales department. As with a lot of front-line jobs, it’s hard to keep this area dynamic because sales isn’t necessarily a role where you can rotate people through varied projects, like we do with our developers. So instead we’ve introduced tiers to certain sales positions, transparent step-ups that come with added responsibilities and pay. Importantly, these aren’t promotions out of a role that somebody has only started to master. Rather, we’re building discrete new functions into that role.

A higher-level tier might include new responsibilities like mentoring newer hires, taking on bigger accounts, or shadowing more senior team members. Yet each new level comes with commensurate pay increases to reflect the advancement.

Having clear tiers for sales jobs lets our new hires see from the outset that they’re never “stuck” in an entry-level role, and it shows them exactly what they need to do to make it to the next level. They get the support and encouragement to add to their skill sets while also getting better at selling–the critical function they were hired for. For now, we’ve limited this “slice-and-dice” approach to sales, where there are clear, repeatable duties. But it’s not hard to see how it could be useful elsewhere.

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ASK AMBITIOUS EMPLOYEES TO SELF-ASSESS

As any manager knows, dealing with an employee who’s pushing for a promotion before they’re ready can be a tricky (and common) situation. The challenge is to be realistic without dismissing their desire to advance. Simply telling someone they’ll have to stay put will only breed resentment and accelerate a move–likely outside your company.

So we’ve tried to develop what I think of as a readiness pulse-check. Flip the tables and give eager team members a chance to assess their own readiness for a promotion (or lack thereof). A little while ago, one new hire joined Vidyard as a “concierge,” helping direct customer inquiries to the right place, but his heart was set on getting into sales. When he pleaded with me after just a couple months to make the move, I assigned him some homework: I asked him to spend some time with other leaders in the company to learn exactly what his dream job entailed.

He soon realized he still had some work to do, but he now knew exactly which skills and qualifications he’d need to move forward. Within little more than a year, he successfully made the switch and has continued to move up the ranks. In fact, using this same approach, he went on to segue into a product manager role, where he’s in charge of bringing our tools from ideation to market.

Putting the onus on your ambitious employees to figure out whether they’re truly ready for the next step is a great way to give them some control over their career paths. Some may resent the perceived roadblock. But those that rise to the occasion will be doubly dedicated to their jobs, and double their value to you by learning more about how the company works.

EXPERIMENT WITH SWAPS AND LOANS

Indeed, sometimes the best ways to keep team members happy is to encourage internal mobility across functional areas. Jumping to a new role or department can revitalize enthusiasm and preserve institutional know-how while also busting up silos.

We recently began experimenting with a loaner program to let employees cross departmental lines in their work, something that other tech companies have been doing for years. Right now, our initiative is admittedly small and operating on a four-month trial, but I’m excited to see where it leads in the future. Other times a change of scenery is all it takes to renew someone’s enthusiasm for their job. We have a satellite office in another city on the West Coast, and we’ve had a few team members request to make the move. While this doesn’t always entail a change in job description, the shift in setting is often a welcome change, with the added benefit of strengthening our company culture through cross-pollination between offices.

In my opinion, keeping a good employee for many years is important; it’s the goal of every great leader I know. The key is to creating a climate where people hungry to amass new skills can genuinely see a path forward. In the end, a stifled, inflexible workplace only leads to the exodus of your best and brightest. The earlier you start thinking about where your newest hires might be headed, the sooner you’ll start seeing them maximize their potential and make your organization stronger–no matter how long they’re there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Litt is cofounder and CEO of the video marketing platform Vidyard. Follow him on Twitter at @michaellitt.

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FastCompany.com | July 20, 2018

#Leadership : 3 Steps That Make A Real Difference In #Training Your #Team…Your Company’s Training Process Doesn’t Have to be Highly Structured or Complicated. Instead, try Creating a Framework that Evolves Organically from your Culture & is Flexible enough to Work with Any New Addition to your Team.

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For any growing business, hiring is always a process that must remain top-of-mind. There’s no doubt that hiring the right person from the onset is immensely important, but many overlook the impact that training has on the long-term success of any new employee.

job-seeker-3

Training is one of those things most managers/entrepreneurs don’t pay much attention to during the early days of the business. After all, you and your key team members are too busy creating a product, process and culture on the fly to institute a formal training program. It’s only after your hard work begins to pay off and the business begins to scale that the need for a formalized approach to training all of your new hires becomes acute. I experienced this firsthand earlier this year, when it became clear that our team needed to expand significantly to keep up with increasing customer demand.

Initially, my team and I dove right into the process of getting new hires up to speed on our immediate needs. Often, very little attention was paid to helping the new team members understand the larger initiatives at play. Naturally, this approach led to problems. Our new hires were confused about the bigger purpose behind their work, and the established executive team grew frustrated with projects misaligned to their needs and expectations.

We had to change to successfully navigate this period of rapid growth. We needed a framework that was flexible, robust and quickly implemented. To solve for this, my team and I developed a 3 step process for onboarding and training new hires.

Start with culture.

The level of skill that someone brings to the table is incredibly important, but it isn’t necessarily what makes someone successful. Specific skills can be learned and honed over time, but the need to mesh with a company’s culture comes up almost immediately. That’s why we spend the first few weeks on the job helping them acclimate to the culture that make our company unique. Rather than force someone to sit through a presentation about mission and values, we try and have new hires experience them firsthand. They spend time with our customers, partners and founding team. During this time, we reinforce the idea that we want to work with people we trust, respect and admire — setting the stage for long-term success.

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Assign a mentor.

Team members get a mentor who is tasked with making them successful. This way, we’re able to foster strong relationships across the organization and create an environment where people are invested in each other’s success. Mentors are responsible for not only tactical training, but also long-term career development.

When it comes to assigning a mentor, we often try to pair up employees who have had minor conflicts in the past. It seems somewhat counterintuitive, but I’ve found that if a leader has a problem with another team member, the best thing is to create a situation where each person is forced to make the other successful. More often than not, this structure resolves any existing conflict and forms a much stronger bond over time. This process of setting aside issues and moving forward positively help to create a much more balanced, open, and successful team across all levels.

Follow up early and often.

Finally, we follow up with new additions to the team early on and continue meeting on a frequent basis thereafter. This high-touch approach ensures that no one ever gets too far off course at any point in time. I personally set aside a scheduled time each week for an open conversation with each of my direct reports and require them to do the same with theirs. These follow-up sessions don’t have to be time-consuming. Often, they happen while making a coffee run or over lunch. The important thing is that problems and questions are never allowed to fester. By being insanely proactive in this manner, we’re able to make sure people receive the feedback and support they need, exactly when they need it.

Your company’s training process doesn’t have to be highly structured or complicated. Instead, try creating a framework that evolves organically from your culture and is flexible enough to work with any new addition to your team. If you ensure that your new hires understand the company’s culture, are partnered with mentors who are deeply invested in their success and have frequent opportunities for feedback, you’ll find that you’ll develop a more balanced and successful team.

Chris Myers is the Cofounder and CEO of BodeTree, a web application designed to help small businesses manage their finances.

Forbes.com | August 8, 2015 | Chris Myers

Leadership:Manage Executive Onboarding Risk With Three Key Questions…Want to Avoid Being Part of the 40% of Executives That Fail in Their First 18 Months In a New Job?

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Want to avoid being part of the 40% of executives that fail in their first 18 months* in a new job? Answer three key questions before you accept the job to mitigate organization, role and personal risks:

  1. What is the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage?
  2. Did anyone have concerns about this role and, if so, what was done to mitigate them?
  3. What, specifically, about me led the organization to offer me the job?

Directions Man

Answer these questions during your due diligence. The most opportune time to complete this is between the offer and acceptance phases. Waiting until later or ignoring this step hurts your potential for success. Make sure you’re going to fit with the organization, that you can deliver what needs to get done and that you will be able to see and adjust to changes down the road.

Sometimes we fall into the trap of feeling that we should take a role because it’s what others expect us do to. Don’t do that. Make your own choices or you will fail, burnout, or worse, be generally unhappy eventually. Answer these questions honestly, before you move on.

In assessing onboarding risks, three steps can help:

  1. Leverage and supplement these questions about the company, the team, your new boss(es), and the major challenges and objectives you and the organization will face.
  2. Identify potential sources of information: scouts, seconds, and spies across customers, collaborators, capabilities, competitors, and conditions.
  3. Gather and analyze the information.

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Following are key questions to answer during due diligence to help mitigate risk.

Mitigate organizational risk.

1- What is the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage?

2- Are there any risks with the current customer base?

3- Are there any risks with relationships with significant collaborators of the organization?

4- Does the organization have the capabilities required for long-term success?

5- Do competitors pose significant risks to the viability of the organization?

6- Are there any outside conditions that will impact the viability of the organization?

7- If the organization is doomed to fail, you’re going to fail with it.

 

Mitigate Role risk.

  1. Did anyone have concerns about this role and, if so, what was done to mitigate them?
  1. Why does the position exist? Why did they need to create it in the first place?
  1. What are the objectives and outcomes? What are you supposed to get done?
  1. What will the impact be on the rest of the organization? What kind of interactions can you expect with key stakeholders?
  1. What are your specific responsibilities, including decision-making authority and direct reports?

If the role is set up for failure, you need to know that in advance.

Mitigate Personal risk.

  1. What, specifically, about me led the organization to offer me the job?
  1. Is this the company and role that can best capitalize on my strengths over time?
  1. Will I look forward to coming to work three weeks, months, or years from now?
  1. Will I fit with the culture?

If you don’t fit with the organization, you can’t converge well and you can’t lead.

Overall Risk Assessment

Figure out if you are facing a low, manageable, mission-crippling or insurmountable risk. If you are facing

A low level of risk – Do nothing out of the ordinary. (But keep your eyes open for inevitable changes.) This is as good as it gets. You’ll have a high likelihood of success.

Manageable risk – Manage it in the normal course of your job. This is the most normal case. There are always risks. Identifying the main risks in advance makes it that much easier to manage them.

Mission-crippling risks – Resolve them before accepting the job, or mitigate before doing anything else if you are already in the job. This is a tough situation. Not resolving or mitigating these risks means failure. You can’t ignore them. Face them and deal with them.

Insurmountable barriers – Walk away. Sometimes the situation is beyond your ability to control. When this happens, accept it and either don’t take the job or get out. Going down with the ship is a lovely, romantic idea – for others to fulfill. Not you.

 

Note this is adapted from The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan. Request an executive summary.

Click here for an overall executive summary of theNew Leader’s Playbook and links to each of its 250+ individual articles on Forbes organized by category.

Forbes.com | February 12, 2015  | George Bradt 

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