Even the most detailed and thought-out onboarding plans can fail during the implementation stage if not enough attention and effort is put into connecting the new employee to the organizational culture.
Consider:
- What are the unwritten rules that your department, college or unit lives by?
- What do people pay attention to?
- What is rewarded and recognized?
Reflecting on these questions and more will help you gauge where your department falls within each of the common characteristics* of organizational culture:
- Innovation and risk-taking
- Attention to detail
- Outcome orientation
- People orientation
- Team orientation
- Competitiveness
- Stability
*Adapted from Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2017). Organizational behavior. Boston: Pearson.
Review the printable guide below to learn more.
Review Conversation Guide
Onboarding is a two way street - as a supervisor, you play a primary role in the process. However, the new employee must take responsibility for learning the details of their role and begin to perform their job duties. In addition, encourage new employees to ask questions to learn about their role, co-workers, organizational culture and leverage their strengths.
Oftentimes new employees are not sure where to start. The guide below will help them reflect on their experiences and think through some of the questions they might want to ask of you and their peers. The guide also contains recommended to-dos and timelines. Consider sharing the guide with your new employee and incorporating some of the topics into your regular check-in conversations.
Apply What You've Learned
Need more practice? Work through the questions below to see what you have learned so far.