13 Jul 2021 · 7 min
A senior salesperson quit after eight weeks because onboarding focused on expense claims instead of purpose. Three fixes: ground new hires in why the work matters, use warm language that makes them feel wanted, and keep onboarding going with peer channels and anniversary messages from leaders.
The onboarding process. We need to rethink that, don't we? What about the onboarding experience? And very few companies have cracked that. Recent Denison research showed that whilst cultures had actually grown stronger over the past 12 or 15 months, what had really suffered was employee engagement and levels of engagement, particularly among people who had been in organizations for less than 12 months. It had gone down. People who joined in the past 12 months didn't feel particularly engaged, didn't feel particularly connected to their organizations. I know a story of a small IT firm, 100 people, hired a senior salesperson. He lasted for 8 weeks before he left because he didn't feel that sense of connection, because onboarding had failed, because they hadn't succeeded in bringing him on and helping him feel a sense of connection to the organization. And yes, of course, the operational things are important. That yes, we need to know how to put in an expense claim and where our policies and procedures are and where the smoking hut is and how I book annual leave and all of those things. They're all really, really important. But where's the connection stuff? And what perhaps can we learn in the onboarding process from our colleagues in internal communications or just from some internal communications and engagement thinking more generally. So, here's 3 things. Number 1, for me, big, big question, how do you make people feel connected? Because all the operational stuff helps with this. All the operational stuff helps me get from A to B. But what about this? What about heart? What about feeling that connection to the organization? And for me, that all starts with your purpose. What is it that your organization does in the context of others? And how do you make the world, and this sounds slightly out there, but how does what you do make the world a better place? I work with an injection molding client. They make bits of plastic that go onto a defib machine that might save somebody's life. Ergo, that piece of work that that person's doing, lifting bits of plastic from the end of a machine, might save somebody's life one day. I remember working in one of the banks here, the chief marketing officer joined and he said, we have to stop talking about selling mortgages. And we have to start talking about getting people buying homes and how we help them to do that. It's two sides of the same coin, but so much more powerful. So storytelling is really important. Stories from staff, from customers, from the CEO, talking about why she or he thinks that your purpose is at the very heart of what it is you do and how that is. Tell me some stories about something you've done that really shows how you bring that purpose to life. Make me feel as a new joiner, wow, this is somewhere that I can't wait to get into because I want to make a bit of a difference as well. And of course, the whole point here, if you don't have a purpose statement, get one, start working on that right now, because it's something that runs through your organization, not just on onboarding, but through everything in an organization to help people feel a sense of connection and help drive engagement. Number 2, think about language. I talk a lot about tone of voice, but it is really important, really critically important to make people feel connected to your organization. Really simple things like using first-person pronouns, I and we and you and us, and language that in the emails they receive and in the letters they receive and in the presentations that they get when they're in their first day, that make them feel part of you, that make them feel welcomed, that make them feel this is a place that I really want to be. By using language like, "We're really looking forward to having you here. You're gonna be an amazing asset to the team. We can't wait until you land. Your teammates are really looking forward to meeting you." That language can make a huge difference when somebody's joining that organization in the first few days, weeks, or months. You're making them feel loved, needed, wanted, connected to what it is you're trying to achieve as an organization. Lastly, a little bit about creativity. Because, you know, organizations have their onboarding process and it's been the same for 10 years, 5 years, 8 years. You know, it's just what we do and we sheepdip everybody in the onboarding and that's the end of it. It's not good enough. We need to get a little better, particularly in the context of what's gone on over the past 15 months with COVID and remote working and everything else. Because we've got to work that little bit harder to drive connection. There've been lots of stories and pictures on LinkedIn of, you know, here I am on my first day at insert company here, and here's my mouse mat and my laptop and my name badge and my mug, my keep cup with the logo on there. That's all lovely, it's really nice, but it is a bit of a once and done. What organizations have to think about is how do we keep that onboarding process going until all that stuff just becomes BAU, until it's how I work, until I feel that sense of connection and I'm getting in there and I'm starting to get my job done and I'm being productive. Maybe it's an app. Maybe it's a way to send messages to other new joiners to ask those seemingly, what you think might be stupid questions, that you didn't want to ask anybody else. Maybe it's a series of joining letters that you get on day 1, and then you get an anniversary letter at the end of week 1, and month one and quarter one and half year and the end of the year to say, I hope you're getting on okay, I hope you're doing well. It's from the CEO or the COO or the Chief People Officer. I hope you're getting on really well. If you're not, please get in touch. The bottom line is you don't want to lose people. You don't want people's engagement levels to dip just because you haven't onboarded them properly, just because they don't feel that sense of connection, because that's something. That is in your gift to fix. You just have to think about it a little bit differently. And if you don't, what ends up happening? It costs you in time and money. Whether people are not being as productive as you'd like them to be, or they need to be, whether they come in and leave after 6 months, it's costing time and money. So, what you need to do as an organization is think about how you can make yourself and your company more compelling to them. Thanks a million. Take care, and we'll see you again soon.
