When you think about growing your team, your main concern should be finding the right candidates. But that’s only half the battle; once you’ve found them, you need to be able to keep them and help them thrive in their new environment.
Part of being a great business owner is developing an onboarding process that will help new team members adjust to your workflow quickly, make them feel welcome, and show them how their work meaningfully contributes to the company’s success. This is one of the processes you’ll want to sort out early, so you don’t lose any potential tram members to a bad onboarding experience!
That’s why today, we’ll be giving you some simple suggestions that may help you improve your current onboarding process. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Give New Team Members A Warm Welcome
There are many ways to welcome a new team member into your company. You could organize a simple meet-and-greet between them and your current team before they officially start working, or you can even put together a package of goodies for them. The possibilities are endless—get creative!
What matters is that your newly hired team member knows that you are sincerely happy that they are here. Put in a little extra effort to show them that they will fit in and that the company welcomes them with open arms. This will help them feel more relaxed and comfortable, making their transition much smoother.
Have a One-on-One Meeting With the New Team Member
Another surefire way to quickly build rapport with your new team member is to hold one-on-one meetings with them, especially during the first few weeks. Get to know them better and check where they are struggling or excelling. This gives you an excellent opportunity to guide and correct them, and see if any of your processes can be improved to support your team.
Plus, this will make it easier for them to get closer to you and trust you. You can foster camaraderie and lay the foundations for stronger connections with your whole team. When you are open with all your hires from the very start, they will be more transparent and cooperative with you in turn.
Ease the New Team Member Into Their Workload
If you overload your new team member with difficult tasks while they’re still learning the ropes, chances are they’ll get overwhelmed and maybe even start to reconsider their decision to join your company.
Here’s what you should do instead: spread out their workload and give them light tasks before gradually progressing to more complex ones. This gives them time to seek guidance, get accustomed to the workflow, and absorb new instructions and information while still being productive and making a positive contribution.
Starting new team members out slow will help them build the confidence that they need to perform at a higher level and thrive in your company!
The Final Word
We hope you're able to use these suggestions to craft an onboarding process that will help your team members thrive and encourage them to stay. Remember that your new team members don’t just need to prove themselves to you; you also need to show them that your company is worth sticking with for the long term! Your onboarding process is critical because this is when they start to make their initial assumptions about you, your company, and the way you treat your team members.
Best of luck, and watch out for more insightful, business-related blog posts from TopVA!