For new team members, the first few days and weeks on the job set the stage for their entire tenure with you. Employee orientation helps acclimate people who are new to your organization, but you may also have an opportunity to welcome new people to your team who have already been with the organization for a while. Think about what happens when a new person joins your team.

• What is the experience like for that person?
• What is it like for current team members?
• What do you do to get that person comfortable and productive?
• What do you do to jumpstart trust and collaboration?

A seminar participant recounted her recent experience joining a new department in her organization. The other employees in the department were surprised to see her. They had no idea she was joining. Unfortunately, this experience is all too common. It affects your current team members negatively, too. As a manager, how can you make sure this never happens to anyone who is new to your team?

Many organizations have a formal orientation process for onboarding new hires, and research shows that effectively implementing those kinds of programs results in:

• Increased job satisfaction and commitment
• Improved retention
• Higher performance
• Lower stress¹

You do not need a cumbersome, formal process, but you should be thoughtful and intentional in crafting the experience. We discussed a simple process in Chapter 13, and a simple, consistently applied process is likely to achieve outcomes similar to the ones found in the research. Cultivating relationships should be your number one priority in creating a fruitful onboarding experience. The more rapidly you can get positive relationships going, the more rapidly a person will become comfortable and productive. To get relationships going, people must get to know one another.

Make sure new people get invited to join team members at lunch, on breaks, and at social events outside of work. If there are no social gatherings planned, plan one. It can be as simple as an informal drink or a pizza after work. Make it part of your department's culture for current team members to go out of their way to make new team members feel welcome. In some cases, it might be helpful to appoint a “buddy” (not a supervisor) who can answer questions for a new person. Perhaps team members can connect with new people on social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

If you do only what is in the preceding paragraph, you will create a more positive experience for the entire department, integrate new team members more rapidly, and enhance morale and productivity for your entire team. To create an even better welcome experience, conduct Focus On You (see Chapter 2) with new people and their team members during their first day or week.

Here is another effective technique from our own experience. Some years ago, we had a couple of team members who really enjoyed creating good-natured initiation experiences for new team members. For example, in one case, we filled someone's office, floor to ceiling, with balloons. In another, we wrapped everything in aluminum foil. The timing was crucial. We were wise enough not to do this right away. We waited a couple of weeks, after relationships had a chance to form. The message from these pranks was crystal clear: You are one of us now. Every new person just loved it!