Recently, I've had the opportunity to welcome some new team members to my team. It got me thinking: what does a new employee's first day on the job say about you - their manager - and your company? What tone does it set? What are the short and long-term effects from those crucial first hours, days, and weeks?

Beyond the standard desk location and office supplies, computer and monitors, and various tools to get the job done, getting to know your new employee, sharing important information and communicating expectations right off the bat is something I have found to help build a solid working relationship as well as reinforce expectations and cultural values you have worked so hard to build within your team, department, or company.

The tools I have employed to help successfully onboard new team members are listed below.

• Welcome Email
• Face-to-Face Time
  • The "Inner-View"
  • Your Turn

Welcome Email

For each organization I have worked, I have created a basic template that I use to convey basic information to new team members. The goal is to have this email waiting in the new hire's inbox before they start. The quicker someone has information about IDE's, environments, coding standards/guidelines, etc., the faster they can start getting setup, the faster they can begin understanding your environment, and the faster they can start contributing to the overall goals.

Although the details change based on the company and position, the general templates I have created follow the basic outline below:

• Links to software installs or keys (especially IDE's)
• Links to general documentation and coding standards/guidelines
• Source Control access
• High-level system documents
• General meeting expectations (weekly team meeting, weekly one-on-one's, etc.)

Face-to-Face Time

On the first day, I block out time on my calendar to sit down with the new team member in order to conduct an inner-view as well as share general team/department/company information and philosophies. Beyond the interview process, this is the first chance I have to be able to share my core values about what I expect from my team. Culture isn't built in a single day, but helping a new hire understand your culture goes a long way to protecting what you've worked so hard to establish.

The "Inner-View"

The innerview is a tool I use to get to know someone more quickly by interspersing fact-based questions with value-based questions. This isn't my original idea - I had the good fortune to learn about this tool from the Dale Carnegie course Leadership Training for Managers taught by Duwayne Keller. In that course, he shared the inner-view tool and this is one I use whenever a new member joins our team.

Fact-based questions can be used to get the conversation started and are the types of questions to which most of us can rattle off answers:

• Where did you grow up?
• What school did you attend?
• What was your major?
• etc.

The real key to the inner-view is blending fact-based questions with value-based questions. Pair them with the examples above to ask deeper, more meaningful questions like:

• (fact) Where did you grow up?
  • (value) What was it like growing up in ____?
  • (value) What was the best thing about growing up in _____?
• (fact) What school did you attend?
  • (value) What attracted you to that school?
  • (value) Why did you choose that school?
• (fact) What was your major?
  • (value) Why did you choose to study _____?

I have found the inner-view a useful tool to get to know new team members in a quicker, more meaningful manner.

Your Turn

Immediately after the inner-view portion of our time together, I role into some high-level talking points. As a general rule, I prefer to ask questions and do a lot of listening. However, the time immediately after the inner-view is a great opportunity to hit some of the high-points regarding expectations of the position. I also use this as an opportunity to share some of my philosophies in an effort to reinforce the culture of the team/department/company.

Below is a sample outline I keep in OneNote to make sure I review the pertinent information:

• Philosophies
  • Communication & visibility
    • Communication is a big part of this group
    • Share information, keep it open
  • Team
    • We are one team. We succeed together and fail together
    • Rely on each other: paired-programming, all code is code-reviewed by a peer, etc.
    • We are here to work, but be creative/innovative
    • Troubleshooting: don't bang your head for more than 15-20 minutes. Reach out to someone.
    • Don't be afraid to try new things
    • Fail early, fail fast, move on
      • You won't be judged on failure (unless you continually make the same mistakes). Try something and find out quickly if it works or not. Then, share the information with the team.
    • The code you write isn't "your code". It is our code/the company's code.
  • Quick feedback loops
    • Weekly 1:1's, but we can talk any time
• Team composition
• Current projects
• Position responsibilities
• Housekeeping
  • Core hours (if applicable)
  • Recurring meetings (team/department, etc.)

Some of these bullet points deserve their own blog posts for more complete explanations. I'll put those in the 'future topic' list and will dig into those at a later date.

Wrapping Up

Your process is more than likely different than mine. The important thing is to have a process and plan to help your new hire get started quickly and set the right tone from day one. It's important to establish a solid working relationship and the approach you take can help reinforce the expectations and cultural values you have worked so hard to build.

Feedback

What process or tools do you use or have found to be effective in the on-boarding process? Do you actively review your processes and information in order to determine its effectiveness? If so, how?