How to set new team members up for success

I have the secret for how you can make sure that your next new team member stays longer within your business and adds value faster.

Everybody knows that to find the right talent and right cultural fit for your business can take a lot of time and energy. So when you find that perfect person, you want to make sure that you hold onto them and set them up for success. 

The way to do this is with a fantastic onboarding experience

Thorough onboarding needs to happen whether it's a contractor you're outsourcing to, whether it's project work or a full-time employee.

Anybody who's coming into your business must get off to an excellent start. That way they'll be feeling happy, supported and want to stay with you long term. 

So what does a fantastic onboarding experience look like? 

It would be best if you shaped it for your own business, but some of the things that you could include to set them up for success are;

On the very first day, welcome them to the business

Provide a big welcome and tell them how much you're looking forward to working with them, reiterating what part they play within your team. Tell your new starter more about your vision and how they will contribute to helping you achieve that. This will help put them at ease and make them feel like a valued part of your team; because they are!

Make sure you have set up all their systems and email access

Do this before they start so that you are not scrabbling around on the first day setting it all up. Provide them with their email address and all systems logins. Make it clear what systems you use and what they are used for. This will mean your new starter can start getting familiar with everything on day one and start to feel at ease with what is in your tech stack.

Access to your business information

Ensure that they have access to all the information they need about your company, about the team, about your Mission, Vision, Values, your products, your customers everything. Because if they can have that broader picture, they're going to better understand where they fit in within your business and what value they will be adding. The more self-sufficient people can be, the quicker they will add value and the happier and in control, they will feel.

How to communicate with you and your team

Ensure that they understand how they can communicate with you and the rest of the team, whether by email, Slack, Voxer or a PM tool. Explain to them when it is a good time to communicate with you, your working hours, and your preferred ways of working. Set up regular meetings together. Ask them for feedback and make sure you engage in two way communication.

Introduce the rest of the team

Explain to them who else is on the team, share an org chart and let them know what part everyone plays. Make sure you have explained to your team who you are bringing on board and why, this will help keep your existing team members engaged, and they can help welcome and support the new team member. Set up a team meeting within the first two weeks so everyone can get to know each other and start feeling like a whole team.

Set expectations and agree on success measures

Within their first week of starting with you, make sure that you're setting expectations to understand exactly what you expected of them and that you work together to set up some success measures. This will help everyone understand what good looks like. 

If you invest in this time by sharing information and communicating well, your new team member will invest back in you and your business. 

Helping them work quickly and easily with you, your team and your business will set them up for success. They will deliver higher quality work, and you will see their results will shoot up. 

Happy, supported team members stay for the long term and add value quicker.

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