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Tag: orientation

A group of coworkers sitting around a table with notebooks and pens, listening and taking notes. A group of coworkers sitting around a table with notebooks and pens, listening and taking notes.

New Hire Orientation

Written by Mark Miller on . Posted in Culture, Development, Organization. No Comments on New Hire Orientation

Horst Schultze, the former president of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, said, ”The most important time in an employee’s career is the first 40 hours.” How much thought have you given to this crucial period? What should you include in new employee orientation?

To start the conversation, let me say that every employee has an orientation – formal or informal. The opportunity you and I have as leaders is to think strategically and leverage this time for the benefit of the employee and the organization.

I don’t believe there’s a formula for a successful new employee orientation. I do believe there are a few principles and some key questions that may help as you create your own program.

  1. Orientation starts before the class. When a new employee arrives, is there a designated workstation or office? Is their workspace furnished? Do they already have business cards? Has a computer already been assigned? Does it appear that you’ve prepared for their arrival?
  2. Involve senior leaders whenever possible. Let’s face it – a message delivered by a senior leader carries more weight than when the same message is delivered by a middle manager. Horst did the opening session of orientation at each of their new hotels. Dan Cathy, President of Chick-fil-A, invests an entire day with all new employees.
  3. Use the time to establish context. This can include the history of the organization, significant accomplishments and milestones, the competitive landscape, current strategic priorities, annual plans, etc.
  4. Showcase the Vision, Mission, and Core Values. These things are foundational! If you don’t let people know what’s important and why, they’ll spend weeks or months trying to figure it out.
  5. Talk about the cultural norms. What do people need to know to be successful? Is there a dress code – official or unofficial? Does correspondence need to adhere to a particular style guide? Are people expected to be early to meetings? Is email preferred over text messages?
  6. Proactively answer questions. Think about the questions you’ve historically received from new employees in their first 30 – 90 days. Go ahead and answer those questions early for new employees.
  7. Constantly evaluate your orientation. Get feedback from new employees. Get feedback from senior leaders. Benchmark other organizations. If you can, participate in other organizations’ new hire programs. I’ve personally learned a lot about this topic by seeing what other organizations are doing.
  8. Orientation extends beyond the class. What can you do to help people after the class? Should you assign each new person a buddy or training partner? Should you have a monthly or quarterly “lunch and learn” to expose new hires to other members of your staff? Are there written materials you can share?

Time invested in helping new employees get up to speed quickly will pay huge dividends.

 

A woman sitting at a desk looking frustrated, with a manager standing next to her pointing at the papers in front of her on the desk. A woman sitting at a desk looking frustrated, with a manager standing next to her pointing at the papers in front of her on the desk.

The Happy Trap

Written by Mark Miller on . Posted in Culture, Planning, Vision. No Comments on The Happy Trap

The best leaders don’t make everyone happy. That may sound harsh to you – it may even sound wrong. It’s not intended to be rude or mean-spirited, and it doesn’t mean that great leaders try to make people unhappy. It’s just a byproduct of leading well.

This is a lesson I learned early in my career – one I could have easily missed. Like many young leaders, I didn’t invest a lot of time reflecting on my leadership style or philosophy – I was trying to learn to lead!

One day, the president of our company came into my office. I don’t recall him ever visiting me before that day, so it must have been important. When he entered the room, I stood to greet him. Here’s how the conversation unfolded:

“Congratulations,” he said.

“Thank you, sir.” I paused. “Congratulations for what?”

“You’ve figured out something many leaders never understand, and you’ve discovered it early in your career.”

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, so I knew I needed to probe. “What’s that, sir?”

“You’ve learned that not everyone is going to be happy with your leadership, and you’ve decided that’s okay.”

Had he not pointed that out to me, I guess I could have missed it. My goal had always been to try to do the right thing. If I felt I had done so, I wasn’t too worried about those who disagreed.

Let me be clear and say again, I don’t believe leaders TRY to make people unhappy; it’s just part of the role.

Why is that the case? Here are five reasons – I’m sure there are more.

  1. Leaders create change. Leaders understand that progress is always preceded by change. There will always be people who don’t like change, and they’ll not be happy with us for instigating change.
  2. Leaders make hard decisions that affect people’s lives. Sometimes we have to terminate an employee, close a business unit, stop funding for a project, or set a strategy that is not popular. These are activities leaders are paid to do that make people unhappy.
  3. Leaders hold people accountable. To most leaders, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Unfortunately, many people see it as a huge negative. I prefer to think of accountability as a gift we give to those we lead, a gift that enables them to be successful.
  4. Leaders stretch people and organizations. Leaders know that if we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten. Therefore, we often ask people to do things faster, cheaper, better, differently. But stretching creates discomfort, and many people aren’t happy to be stretched.
  5. Leaders are unreasonable people. Leaders are compelled by a vision and fueled by the desire to see that vision become a reality. Leaders live much of our lives thinking about what could be, an orientation that often creates an “unreasonable” view of the world.

So, what are the implications for us as leaders? My advice: Don’t be surprised if there are always some people who are unhappy with you. And if no one’s unhappy with you as a leader, perhaps you should be unhappy with yourself.