Five practices to enable new team members to contribute more quickly
The article was originally published at www.inc.com.
As leaders, we’ve spent many years focused on getting new hires onboarded and performing in their new roles as fast as humanly possible. There is solid research and a lot of experience that tells us that a formal, structured onboarding program is one big key to helping new hires hit the ground running. However, the pace of change is increasing and standard operating procedures (SOPs) can’t keep up. This puts a strain on most of our onboarding practices, especially in high growth organizations. It’s time to evolve our thinking.
I’d like to suggest that rather than focusing on “competence” we should focus on a higher order of thinking and behaving; that is “contribution.” This goes beyond being fluent and capable in the skills and knowledge needed for the role today with your team seeking to build the future capabilities most valuable to your customers and, ultimately, your business. There are five key enablers that have helped increase speed to contribution for our new hires:
1. Define decision rights
A common practice in many Fortune 500 companies is to share guidelines with executives and leaders on their decision rights for spending, hiring, etc. In our firm’s job descriptions, we list the key decisions held by specific roles. We’ve found it better to be more formal with decision rights. Though they can be challenging to create, if teams don’t feel the expectations are transparent they may feel less empowered. This can slow decision making and create a two-inch pipe at the top where all decisions flow to the founder/CEO. Capturing decision rights in job descriptions has aided our ability to scale and helped us stay aligned across similar roles within the firm.
2. Identify key stakeholders
Key stakeholders are another helpful element we added to our firm’s job descriptions. You can think of these as their top collaboration partners, which vary by role. By highlighting the role’s most important relationships, you set the new hire up to prioritize which connections to build and deepen first. It also provides additional clarity on how to move work and decisions through the organization.
3. Define desired and undesired behaviors
We have already hit on some important elements which, in part, define a company’s culture: how decisions are made and which relationships are key. Perhaps the most critical element to round out the culture trifecta is “how to act.” Our most successful new hires contribute to our culture in a way makes us better which gives us confidence we can scale and not lose the essence of who we are as a firm in the process.
It’s important to share details about your current and ideal culture as specifically as possible. One tool our firm uses is our model behaviors and anti-values list. This list, detailed by core value, shares what good and not-so-good looks like. We provide tangible examples to build clarity and also set an expectation that we all want to be held accountable to these behaviors; empowering the new hires to also coach each other’s actions from Day 1.
4. Provide a mentor
Most of what we learn, we learn “in the wild.” As the 70/20/10 learning model implies, 70 percent of learning occurs through experience/application and 20 percent through coaching. This is one reminder of why we can’t just “educate” for onboarding; that’s only 10 percent of how we learn.
Our firm assigns an onboarding mentor to help see new hires through the first six months of learning and development experiences. This mentor is a coach, alongside the new hire’s leader, and provides specific, timely feedback to more quickly deepen learning. In an ideal situation, the new hire and mentor have a checklist of items they are working through to gauge competence while also targeting specific development needs that focus on ramping up “contribution.” It’s important for the mentor/coach to continue to push beyond skills and knowledge verifications to get to the point of fully unlocking the new hire’s potential.
Sample discussion items include:
- Where do you feel it’s “safe to fail” today? How can we expand on that and give you more opportunities to learn?
- What barriers or boundaries exist today for you that prevent you from fully showing up in your role? How can I help you remove barriers or expand boundaries?
5. Communicate “commander’s intent”
Perhaps our most powerful contribution enabler is “commander’s intent.” Our CEO, Ken Thompson, is a military veteran and brought this practice into our firm the last few years. A commander’s intent makes the desired end state clear for all involved. This can be overarching for the organization or specific to a situation. It goes beyond setting a vision, mission statement, or a set of strategic goals and instead speaks more to the heart and art that will drive our actions. This guidance and direction setting allows our team to trust that leadership will have their back and will support the resulting outcome, even if it provides a learning experience for all because we know they had the right end state in mind.
When our team, new hires included, are acting in a way that represents and builds on the commander’s intent, that is where the magic happens. With clear decision rights, collaboration partners, cultural behavior norms, and a mentor’s support, the new hires are equipped to think on their feet and react to new and changing dynamics in our business.