By: Courtney Beam

Integrating leadership development into onboarding. As I sat down to write on this topic, I paused. Adding development to your onboarding strategy isn't a revolutionary idea, but are organizations actually doing it? Should they be? I was surprised to discover that many do not combine development with other traditional onboarding procedures.

Companies spend an inordinate amount of time and money educating new management hires on company mission, vision, values, setting up email, going over key tasks, etc. But what about soft skills? They’re likely a good manager, or you wouldn’t have hired them, but do they have what it takes to be a good manager at your company? Consider these three areas to support your new managers as part of your onboarding strategy.

Skill Building: Take it back to the basics. Focus on the key skills managers must have to ensure their success as a leader at your company; communication, change management, managing performance, goal setting, delegating, and more. Provide them the opportunity to practice these skills now before they swerve off track. Think small, bite-sized learning to fit into their already-busy schedule as they’re working hard to assimilate into their new role.

Coaching: Giving new hires the opportunity to practice these skills in their new workplace with the guidance of an unbiased, professional coach is an unexpected benefit that busy new managers rarely receive. Imagine how quickly they could integrate into a new team with someone coaching them through real issues in the moment.

Manager Support: Support and involvement from the manager’s direct supervisor are crucial to the success of a new hire. The manager is arguably the biggest success factor in both onboarding and development. Any development needs to be fully supported by their manager, and even better if you can include them in the process. Their manager should know exactly what they’re learning and when so they can provide additional support and accountability.

Want to make sure your new hires have the leadership skills they need to succeed? Leave us a comment or contact us today – we’d love to help you think differently about your onboarding strategy.

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