It’s no secret that a company is only as good as the talent it keeps – in other words, businesses often thrive or fail based on the quality of their leadership team. At the helm of these vital roles are managers who are entrusted with responsibilities such as guiding teams, supervising projects, and shaping new business strategies. However, many managers are thrown into their positions without any adequate preparation, which can lead to difficulty in fulfilling their roles and other consequences like lower organizational morale, mediocre performance, and an increase in attrition rates. 

By investing in proper leadership training and support for managers at the onboarding stage, companies can create a positive work environment that leads to improved performance and greater job satisfaction. This commitment to well-prepared leadership also sets the tone for an organization’s overall work culture. With adequately prepared managers, teams can better collaborate, make strategic decisions, and innovate. 

The Onboarding Process
First and foremost, to effectively set the tone for your company’s culture from day one, it’s essential to reevaluate and reshape your onboarding process. Traditionally, onboarding introduces new team members to their roles, responsibilities, and the company at large. This can involve everything from a building tour and meeting the team to reviewing the employee handbook with human resources. Once the onboarding tasks have been completed, the new leadership team member is often left to focus on their individual role and responsibilities. However, this inward focus can often neglect the broader impacts their work can have on their team members, leading to unforeseen challenges within the organization.

Thus, a shift is needed in how we view the onboarding experience for new hires to create an experience that involves leaders going beyond teaching them their roles and responsibilities to one that focuses on helping new team members build connections and understand how their role impacts others in the organization, including the business objective each is trying to achieve.

For this reason, it’s important to inform new managers of the broader impact their work has on their team and the company. This involves understanding their team members’ needs, challenges, objectives, and how their roles interact. Additionally, new managers should be encouraged to reflect on these insights and how they inform their game plans and goals. This approach enables a more outward mindset, fostering a culture where team members feel seen, heard, and understood, ultimately leading to better work culture and better outcomes for the organization.

In addition to reinforcing an outward mindset, supporting new managers in their transition is essential. Leadership training and coaching can equip new managers with the skills and attitude they need to lead effectively. 

Tools to Support New Managers
Below are four key strategies and tools for equipping new managers with the necessary skill sets to reinforce positive company culture and create effective leadership from the onset. 

• Meet to Learn: Strong interpersonal connections are critical to an effective management structure. Managers should be encouraged to build open and trusting relationships with their teams. By fostering a sense of curiosity and openness, managers can significantly improve understanding and collaboration within their teams. One way to do this is by emphasizing the importance of meeting with team members to learn about them truly.

• Job Mapping: Transparency in role expectations is a challenge faced by half of the workforce, which is why when onboarding a new manager, you should set clear expectations on their responsibilities. Tools like job mapping can be invaluable in setting those expectations. By mapping out the relationship between an individual’s role and its impact on others, you can simplify complex organizational dynamics and show how your manager contributes to larger objectives within your company. Providing this clear perspective during the onboarding stage can enable managers to align more effectively with their new teams and goals. Additionally, leaders in your organization should be encouraged to use this tool to set clear expectations for their team members to ensure internal alignment. 

• The S.A.M. Model: A successful manager must have an effective strategy for managing team dynamics and enhancing leadership effectiveness. The S.A.M. model, which stands for Seeing others, Adjusting efforts, and Measuring impact, provides an excellent framework. By integrating a model such as S.A.M. into your leadership strategy from the very first day, managers can profoundly transform their leadership strategy and increase their effectiveness as leaders.  

• Right Foot Forward: Oftentimes, entering the management realm presents a slew of challenges, making it essential for new managers to adopt effective strategies to navigate complex situations. When onboarding a new member to your leadership team, providing them with the tools to navigate delicate matters is crucial. One helpful approach we have found at Arbinger is the ‘Start in the Right Way’ system, which encourages an outward-focused mindset. As a manager, fostering a sense of responsibility, promoting cooperation, and enabling proactive behavior is vital. This approach helps prevent the establishment of negative patterns and ensures that motivation and morale remain high.

The key to nurturing successful future leaders lies in equipping new managers with the right mindset and strategies from the onboarding stage. It helps create a culture that values interpersonal interactions and understands the broader impact of individual work, resulting in better outcomes for your organization down the line. So it’s time to rewrite your onboarding playbook and focus on reinforcing your company culture from day one.