Are First Impressions Everything?
You never get a second chance to make a first impression — the same goes for onboarding your staff.
Many of my readers know that a poor onboarding experience leads to higher turnover, which results in staff shortages, lost sales, and even closures.
On the other hand, a well-onboarded team member who clearly understands their role and feels set up for success contributes to higher employee retention, better guest experiences, and increased sales.
With the holidays almost behind you and business levels still manageable, now is the perfect time to focus on staff development and improve your onboarding process.
Four Key Steps to Better Onboarding
Preparation: Each position requires a step-by-step training calendar, mapping out all essential responsibilities within the timeframe for onboarding that role. As you create and improve training systems, include the leaders responsible for implementation to gain insight and create alignment.
Retrain: Onboarding is the perfect opportunity to retrain staff on key skills, procedures, or improvements. This efficient method shows dedication to standards while honing the skills of their team and training managers
Execution: Assign training to exemplary employees who best represent core culture values and are proficient in the training systems. Ensure they follow the process precisely; if onboarding doesn’t achieve the desired results, then analyze the process and systems used.
Feedback & Follow-up: Create an encouraging environment of consistent constructive and positive feedback, with deeper conversations after 30, 60, and 90 days to gather crucial feedback on their onboarding experience.
Rinse & Repeat: Use employee and leadership insights to refine and improve future onboarding. This continuous collaboration will align vision, enhance performance, and strengthen team longevity.
Onboard with Purpose
Once onboarding is complete, your new hire should be able to confidently execute their responsibilities and fully understand the company’s core values and vision.
With Valentine's Day around the corner, now is the perfect time to show your team some love by investing in their success. If you’d like to talk Geoffrey Caliger more about how you can optimize your onboarding process, grab some time on my calendar by clicking this link.