TRUTH 6 Why you need to get staffing right

Research indicates that up to six in ten executives fail to achieve desired results within the first 12 to 18 months of joining a new organization!

What could cause such a seemingly low batting average? After all, these leaders had the chance to “kick the tires” before coming on board—starting with a “clean slate,” without political motives or baggage.

Part of the answer is found in acclimation—or more specifically, the lack of it.

After spending countless hours and significant resources to attract and select the brightest and the best talent and placing the individual into a dynamic environment with some risk, many managers fall into the trap of leaving it up to them to “figure it out.” Initial ambiguity or a lack of specific direction is part of “on-the-job training.”

This “hands-off” approach is fraught with peril. You must proactively ensure a “soft landing” for all newcomers, thus maximizing the probability for their integration, engagement, and retention.

Integration for a new hire or new team member may be achieved by becoming personally involved with the oversight and delivery of an individualized “on-boarding” process. This should include key staff and customer introductions, role delineation and communication, a review of functional accountabilities, intranet familiarization, a translation of the organization’s alphabet soup (acronyms), participation in team-building forums, and a review of all policies and procedures. Also, if the new hire is relocating, you should provide resources to allow the individual to understand and appreciate local business customs and ethics, as well as business communication and interaction guidelines and protocols.

Engagement provides the individual with the linkage to meaningful work and personal fulfillment. In this regard, it isn’t so much what you do, but how you do it—by utilizing a participative approach. To the extent possible and desirable by the employee, identify performance objectives and professional development goals within 30 days of hire. It’s also your responsibility to provide a support toward these ends by ensuring that the employee has the proper tools, information, and resources, in a supportive work environment.

Retention is a critical early concern because the new hire is still vulnerable to the marketplace. She may still be in touch with her former employer. Retention has three related aspects:

  The cost of turnover is poison to your bottom line—Intangibles such as lower morale, possible interruptions in key customer or supplier relationships, the loss of “tribal knowledge,” and process inefficiencies are real. Tangible costs such as possible separation expenses (severance and possible litigation), recruiting fees, temporary help or consulting assistance, temporary training, internal reassignments, or increased workload and overtime for others to cover the gap can add up in a hurry.

At the executive level, estimates regarding the actual cost of replacement vary from a relatively conservative 5 times base salary to an astonishing 28 times! More conservative numbers hold true for the middle management and technical levels.

  Your new hire is a direct reflection on you—By extension, his every action, word, decision, and interaction represents to the organization, in the most demonstrative manner, your actions, words, decisions, and interactions. Therefore, with your reputation on the line, you have a vested interest in making sure that your new hire gets off to the best possible start through his accelerated understanding of and adherence to your cultural norms and organizational values.

  The likelihood of your team gaining traction against the challenging objectives that you have identified is greatly increased when you have relative stability on your team—Said differently, it’s hard to win games when you’re constantly short of players.

Managers who embrace a hands-on approach to helping their new hires acclimate will likely have fewer problems when it comes to morale and turnover. You may even make a friend or two in the process.