Traditional on-boarding of staff requires a shake-up
Article Type: HR at work From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 6
Short case studies and research papers that demonstrate best practice in HR
Organizations need to radically rethink their traditional approaches to onboarding new staff and reap the benefits. Often for most organizations, when they bring new employees onboard for orientation, the orientation focuses on the culture and practices of their new workplace. But this is the wrong approach, according to research from Dan Cable, professor of Organizational Behavior, London Business School and colleagues, Francesca Gino, associate professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, and Brad Staats, assistant professor of Operations, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
From organizational to individual focus
The research studied the onboarding process of various organizations, as diverse as Disney and Oracle. It was found that onboarding processes seem to share a common goal – to indoctrinate new employees into the organizational culture. Based on the researchers field research, it is suggested that organizations should replace their traditional approach to onboarding with a new approach called “personal-identity socialization.
Rather than imposing organizational culture onto employees, personal-identity socialization involves giving newcomers the opportunity to express their unique perspectives and strengths on the job from the very start, and frame their work as a chance to do what they do best every day.
A new mindset required
On the back of the research findings, four principles have been identified that organizations should follow so that newcomers can identify their unique perspectives and strengths and reflect on how they can use these strengths to contribute to the corporate culture.
This approach does not require more financial resources than traditional approaches, but it does require a new mindset for leaders and a new set of questions on which to focus newcomers. When the organization fails to socialize its new employees, leaders end up right back where they started after months of investment, trying to recruit new employees for their organizations. Recruitment can be costly and time-consuming. Adopting these new practices will help organizations retain their valuable new additions. The secret lies in promoting self-expression and encouraging newcomers to bring their unique values and perspectives to the job and organization. This should be from day one and be carried out throughout the onboarding process.
In fact, there are real gains to be made: from positive reactions (because they are being asked to be their best selves), and better relationships with colleagues, to greater satisfaction, lower stress, less emotional burnout, stronger job performance and greater employee retention. Ultimately, integrating authenticity into socialization processes may actually help organizations remain adaptable and agile across time, as they are not simply replicating values onto newcomers.
The principles behind personal-identity socialization
The four principles of personal-identity socialization are as follows:
1. Break out of the traditional employment trap:
This is the hardest step, because the normal way managers think about jobs is as clusters of activities, where the goal is to pay employees a market rate to complete pre-scripted activities. The employees do not have to care about the activities, and will not likely want to do the activities; after all, that is why it is called work! The implication of this mind-set is that work is what people do to fund their “real lives. Given that we spend most of our waking lives working in todays world, people are starved for places to express their authentic identities.
Break out of this trap by remembering that organizations are made up of people, and all people have an innate need to use and be known for their signature strengths. When you frame the workplace as a setting where people can express their authentic best selves, work becomes a place where people bring the best of themselves. This implies a quiet revolution where organizations seek to fulfill employees basic human desires instead of merely serving as a transactional employment relationship to give employees money to fund their real lives. This view of employment is so rare that it is very noticeable and palpable to employees.
2. Help newcomers identify their authentic strengths:
Before introducing newcomers to their team or even describing a specific job, start by giving them dedicated time to get in touch with their unique strengths. For example, encourage employees to answer personalized questions such as “What is unique about you that leads to your best performance and happiest times at work?
Help newcomers construct a Personal Highlights Reel, where they focus on two to three events or activities where they were at their best.
Sponsor or help new employees conduct the reflected best self-analysis, a form of 360-degree exercise where they gather moments when they were at their best from a wide range of friends, family, mentors and co-workers who know them well.
3. Facilitate introductions to other colleagues around authentic strengths:
When it is time for newcomers to meet each other and their new colleagues, structure this introduction such that each person has time to introduce him or herself along the lines of their authentic strengths. As they meet their team, each newcomer can discuss the conditions that activate his or her best-self, and the conditions that inhibit his or her ability to bring their best-self to life.
By talking about who they are when they are at their best, people can affirm their self-integrity in a new setting and construct a social identity around their authentic strengths.
4. Ask newcomers to reflect on their authentic strengths and how they can be helpful on the job:
When introducing the organizations needs, the specific tasks, and the function of the newcomers job, allow them to reflect on and formulate ways they can actively use their signature strengths in the new job.
This allows people to frame the job as an opportunity to use their best strengths at work, and ladder their own purpose and motivation into the job.
By making authenticity a core value that is communicated to newcomers, organizations may not only inspire greater attraction and inputs, but may also strategically allow for positive deviance that keeps them fresh and agile. For example, firms like Southwest Air and Zappos.com hire new employees based on their willingness to be themselves at work and solve problems using their unique perspectives and strengths, with positive results both for employee engagement and organizational success.
Dan Cable
Professor of Organizational Behaviour at London Business School, London, UK
About the author
Dan Cable is professor and department chair of the Organizational Behavior Group at London Business School. His areas of teaching, research, and consulting include employee engagement, leading change, organizational culture and its effects on sustained competitive advantage, leadership development, and the linkage between brands and employee behaviors. Prior to joining London Business School, he was Townsend Distinguished Professor of Management at the University of North Carolina. His most recent book is Change to Strange: Create a Great Organization by Building a Strange Workforce, and he also has published more than 40 articles on culture and cultural fit, careers, and management in top academic journals. Dan Cable can be contacted at: dcable@london.edu
