You have perfected the virtual interview and your top candidate has accepted your offer to join the company. Now what? In the current remote working environment, how do you virtually onboard your new executive? When you can’t have a team lunch or an executive off-site strategy session to welcome him/her, here are some ideas to consider when the onboarding process becomes a virtual experience.
Value of the Onboarding Roadmap
The onboarding process is just as important for the company and the new hire as the interview and assessment process was. Just because it is now virtual does not diminish the critical role it plays in the C-Suite. It colors the lens through which the entire working relationship is seen. If you have an onboarding process and plan, stick with it. If you don’t, now is the time to rely on your trusted advisors and develop one. Most of these include a 30-60-90 day roadmap. Be open to adjusting this as we evolve in our new normal. It is ok if 90 days actually takes 120 days.
Foster Relationship Building Across the Team
Have a strategy to communicate and connect in all directions. This includes new managers, new staff members and new peers. It is natural that the onboarding process morphs into solving the problem that caused the new hire in the first place, whether it was replacement, retirement or expansion. The result is a spotlight on the issue at hand, and the new hire is laser focused on building relationships with the CEO and the Board, leaving his peers and staff in the dust. Or, if he or she is rebuilding a team, the onboarding process is focused on collaborating with staff and relationship building upward is overlooked.
Enhance the Virtual Experience
This is the company’s time to shine. Onboarding is the first real-life perspective of a company’s culture. If it’s a professional services provider, this demonstrates how clients are treated. If it’s a manufacturing environment or other industrial provider, this mirrors leadership’s appreciation of the team.
Keep these tips in mind to further enrich the experience:
- Ensure the new hire is equipped with the technology needed at the outset;
- Outline, in one place, the digital tools and platforms you use to connect, share and assist the teams;
- Provide a schedule with a series of informal and formal virtual meetings over the course of the first few weeks, including any training on new platforms and organizational guidelines;
- Assign a peer as an onboarding coach;
- Arrange for a welcome package delivery (or a virtual welcome lunch), and help support a local business along the way.
Overall, we recommend the following mantra: be thoughtful; be flexible; be forgiving (of yourself and others) and have fortitude.
Remember, this situation won’t last forever in its current state, but how you welcome a new hire will be remembered and have a lasting impact.
