Dan Martell - 5 Ways to Successfully Onboard New Hires

00:00:00.000 Hey there, Dan Martell here, Serial Entrepreneur,

00:00:01.680 Investor, and Creator of SaaS Academy.

00:00:03.120 In this video, I'm going to teach you

00:00:04.920 the five ways to successfully onboard new hires

00:00:09.200 so that you can get the most out of them,

00:00:11.320 because you already spent the money.

00:00:12.480 They start with you on day one.

00:00:14.080 You want to get them productive as fast as possible.

00:00:16.120 And the worst thing is you don't want them to come in,

00:00:18.560 feel like they're not in the right place, and quit on you. 0.98

00:00:21.000 That sucks.

00:00:22.000 Be sure to stay at the end. 0.95

00:00:23.120 We're going to tell you how to get access to my business

00:00:24.960 playbooks.

00:00:25.800 These are the templates that you can

00:00:27.240 use to actually systematize the processes

00:00:29.920 I'm going to go through in this video.

00:00:31.840 Let's get it started.

00:00:45.540 So recently, I had one of my really good friends

00:00:47.860 hire a new person.

00:00:49.260 And they were all excited.

00:00:50.300 And the person came in.

00:00:51.300 They really needed to fill this role.

00:00:53.620 And after the first week, the person didn't work out.

00:00:57.200 And I was really bummed.

00:00:58.440 I was like, what happened?

00:00:59.280 He's like, man, it was really weird.

00:01:00.980 I brought them in, I thought we were good,

00:01:04.720 and I wanted to give them independence

00:01:07.380 and have them do their thing,

00:01:09.440 but I just, and then I think I pushed them out the door.

00:01:11.920 And I was like, what do you mean?

00:01:13.140 He's like, well, you know, I was like,

00:01:15.340 is this a fit for you or whatever?

00:01:17.560 And he was literally not really sure

00:01:20.000 how to onboard the new person

00:01:22.720 and inadvertently had the person leave.

00:01:26.000 And the funny part is the person, I know them really well.

00:01:28.800 They're incredible.

00:01:30.980 If you would have kept them,

00:01:32.080 they would have been rock stars for my friend,

00:01:35.400 but they lost them.

00:01:36.500 And what I've discovered, because I shared with him,

00:01:38.640 I was like, well, what's your onboarding process look like?

00:01:40.620 And I went through my steps

00:01:41.680 that I'm gonna share with you guys.

00:01:42.800 He's like, oh man, I'm not doing any of that.

00:01:45.200 Here's what I've discovered, okay?

00:01:46.900 There's two parts to it at a high level.

00:01:48.920 When somebody is outside the world and they're applying,

00:01:52.400 you wanna filter, you wanna qualify,

00:01:53.800 and then towards the bottom of the funnel, you wanna sell.

00:01:56.000 Once they've joined your team and they're coming in,

00:01:59.280 there's no more filtering or qualifying.

00:02:01.480 It is a enrollment engagement job.

00:02:05.160 It is getting them indoctrinated,

00:02:07.220 getting them part of the culture,

00:02:08.360 connecting them with the team.

00:02:09.160 Because if you don't do that, you will lose people

00:02:12.040 or you won't get the most out of them fast enough

00:02:14.740 that you probably need to solve the problem

00:02:16.800 and is the reason why you hired them in the first place.

00:02:18.340 So these are the five steps to successfully

00:02:21.880 and quickly onboard new hires.

00:02:24.960 Number one, orientation session.

00:02:26.920 So I've been involved in many different ones.

00:02:29.480 When my company, Flowtown, got acquired,

00:02:32.160 the company acquired was Demandforce,

00:02:33.960 had a very structured two-day training.

00:02:36.600 And I remember the first day, they're like,

00:02:38.180 oh, you need to go to new orientation.

00:02:39.780 And I was like, whoa, when is it?

00:02:41.360 And they're like, well, it's every week on Thursday and Friday.

00:02:43.440 And I'm like, well, it's Monday.

00:02:44.540 They're like, yeah, Thursday, Friday, you got to go.

00:02:46.160 And I was just like not wanting to go.

00:02:48.280 I do it a little different,

00:02:49.660 but the big idea is you have to have that, okay?

00:02:52.580 So every new person that joins my team

00:02:54.520 goes through essentially a ramp-up period

00:02:57.780 with an individual,

00:02:59.020 ideally the person they're reporting to,

00:03:00.560 and they go through an orientation,

00:03:02.360 a conversation about here's the expectations,

00:03:04.900 here's where things are, here's the process,

00:03:07.280 there's a checklist, go through the checklist,

00:03:09.240 there's other things that I'm gonna talk about in a second

00:03:11.200 that is part of that.

00:03:13.840 But the big thing for me is in orientation

00:03:16.740 is you need to sell them on the vision,

00:03:19.280 the values, why you started the company.

00:03:21.660 It's more the high-level things that they may not be aware of,

00:03:26.280 the accountability chart for your team.

00:03:28.840 So to me, the orientation is you're here,

00:03:32.340 and it's kind of like on a map, right?

00:03:34.240 You go and you're going to hike in some nature park.

00:03:37.740 And you stop, and there's a map.

00:03:39.180 And it says, you are here, and this is the rest of the map.

00:03:42.040 If you don't orientate your new team members,

00:03:45.420 then they're going to feel lost, OK?

00:03:47.600 So what you want to do is think about, OK,

00:03:49.840 I want to give them a high-level picture.

00:03:51.740 This is where we're going over the next 25 years.

00:03:53.800 Here's our mission.

00:03:54.460 Here are our values.

00:03:55.300 These are the things that we reward.

00:03:57.400 This is the team structure.

00:03:59.000 Here are the people.

00:03:59.900 This is where you're at on the team.

00:04:02.960 These are the ways we communicate, et cetera,

00:04:05.080 et cetera, et cetera.

00:04:05.920 So to me, that orientation is really

00:04:08.860 your opportunity to help them feel situated

00:04:13.440 in the organization.

00:04:14.840 So that's number one.

00:04:15.640 Number two, training system.

00:04:17.840 So the way I like to do it is every department

00:04:20.960 in your business, OK?

00:04:22.140 In software, the world I spend all my time in,

00:04:25.040 you know, there's product, there's engineering,

00:04:26.680 there's marketing, there's sales, there's customer success,

00:04:28.740 and there's ops and admin.

00:04:29.580 Those are the six big core areas of a SaaS business.

00:04:32.720 And each one of them should have what

00:04:34.700 I call a program document, OK?

00:04:36.480 So sometimes you'll hear me use the word business playbook,

00:04:39.080 which I'm going to tell you how to get a copy at the end.

00:04:41.700 But the program document is one place

00:04:45.060 where all of the information somebody

00:04:47.300 knew joining that team would be able to go to learn

00:04:51.240 about that role, learn about the history,

00:04:53.140 see any additional training, understand the playbooks,

00:04:56.160 understand the process, the systems, the best practices,

00:04:58.540 the FAQ, it's all in one spot.

00:05:00.960 Because the cool part is you can hire somebody,

00:05:03.600 give them that, say, open up every link in this document,

00:05:07.440 and just consume it.

00:05:09.320 And if that takes you three days, great.

00:05:11.280 But at the end of that, they'll have the social awareness

00:05:14.760 for that area of the business on a level

00:05:17.200 that they otherwise wouldn't trying to learn these things

00:05:19.560 through is osmosis, which is what most of you

00:05:21.940 are doing with new hires.

00:05:23.740 You're dropping them in the deep end and you're saying,

00:05:26.700 swim, and if you're lucky, the person figures it out,

00:05:29.620 and if you're not, they get overwhelmed

00:05:31.480 and they bounce in six months

00:05:32.640 because they don't feel like they're in the right place.

00:05:34.360 So you want to have a training system for new hires

00:05:36.280 specifically to that role.

00:05:37.880 Number three, 90-day goals.

00:05:40.040 I think it's really important for somebody new

00:05:42.200 to have a clear vision and picture

00:05:44.760 of what success looks like in the next three months.

00:05:47.760 90 days, from my experience, and my buddy, Todd Herman,

00:05:50.300 has an incredible program called The 90 Day Year.

00:05:53.080 His argument, and I believe it, that's

00:05:54.500 why we do all of our sprints and our planning 90 day sequence,

00:05:57.020 is that truly humans can't accurately predict

00:06:00.080 past three months.

00:06:01.440 So what you want to do is help your new hire

00:06:03.560 set a vision for their role in the specific goals

00:06:06.440 that you would love for them to achieve

00:06:08.160 so that they can feel like they're winning, OK?

00:06:10.520 People join companies and will stay

00:06:13.040 because they feel like they're succeeding,

00:06:14.840 they're being challenged, and they're being supported.

00:06:17.520 And if you don't take the time to do that,

00:06:19.880 they're going to go, right?

00:06:21.000 Or they're not going to be as productive as you need them

00:06:22.980 because they don't have a clear direction.

00:06:24.580 So 90-day goals need to be set in the upfront.

00:06:28.160 Number four, assign a buddy.

00:06:30.240 OK, now maybe your company's 12 people

00:06:32.840 and you don't have the need for a buddy

00:06:34.700 because they have a direct report and technically that person

00:06:37.000 will be their buddy.

00:06:38.000 What I like to do, especially at scale,

00:06:40.580 if all of a sudden you have 100 people in the organization,

00:06:43.160 is I want to assign somebody a buddy that

00:06:46.200 would be maybe a similar role in another department

00:06:49.580 or a peer in their team or whatever it is,

00:06:52.040 but not typically their direct report,

00:06:54.140 because you want somebody that can invest the time

00:06:57.120 on the softer side of things.

00:06:58.500 So if somebody joins, I just want you to know

00:07:00.560 that the question they're asking themselves

00:07:02.020 is, am I in the right place?

00:07:03.340 Because here's what's crazy.

00:07:04.340 If they applied for your job and you hired them,

00:07:06.580 They probably had other people that they were already

00:07:09.340 talking to.

00:07:10.520 And if something doesn't feel good in your team,

00:07:13.380 they're going to bounce and they're

00:07:14.540 going to go join one of those other companies.

00:07:16.580 And that's just the truth.

00:07:17.640 And what I've discovered, and this is some data that backs

00:07:19.780 this, is that if somebody doesn't make a new friend

00:07:22.340 within the first two weeks of joining a company,

00:07:25.140 they have like an 80% chance of making up that stat.

00:07:27.900 I don't know.

00:07:28.460 But it's a high probability that in six months they're

00:07:31.360 going to not be with the organization.

00:07:33.180 So what I like to do is say, hey, Jane,

00:07:35.880 It is your responsibility to be the buddy for Mark.

00:07:39.440 You just joined.

00:07:40.220 Can you please be his buddy?

00:07:41.900 And have some clear understanding of what that means.

00:07:43.660 It might mean that you take them out for lunch once a week.

00:07:45.700 It might mean that you try to incorporate them

00:07:48.120 in some kind of employee outings.

00:07:51.460 Maybe it's you send them an email,

00:07:53.540 check in with them every other day.

00:07:54.880 I don't know what it is.

00:07:55.880 But you need to define the buddy system

00:07:58.040 and assign it to them because that will help them stay

00:08:00.600 and be more productive.

00:08:01.720 Number five, schedule one-on-ones.

00:08:04.400 So one of the most important things

00:08:07.980 that I think out of all of this

00:08:09.640 is that you create a heartbeat, a sequence, a cadence,

00:08:14.060 where you're connecting with the new person

00:08:16.220 and just checking in.

00:08:17.180 And in the early days, it might be more frequent, okay?

00:08:19.700 Even if they don't report to you directly,

00:08:21.540 maybe you're the CEO and you just hired somebody

00:08:23.980 to work on the marketing team.

00:08:25.680 I think it's important for you to know

00:08:27.580 that person is just like maybe not feeling 100%

00:08:32.580 and they just wanna know they have direct line to you

00:08:35.340 to support them.

00:08:36.820 So what I like to do in the early days

00:08:38.280 is I might call in on the first day

00:08:40.600 and just say, hey, Jane, I know you started with us today.

00:08:43.200 I just wanted to check and see how things are going.

00:08:45.120 Or maybe after the first week, you know, on Friday,

00:08:47.960 hey, I know it's been your first week.

00:08:49.600 You know, what's been the most interesting thing

00:08:51.460 you've discovered so far?

00:08:52.920 You know, is there anything you've seen

00:08:54.060 as opportunities that we can make better?

00:08:55.300 Like, I love getting feedback from new hires

00:08:58.020 on what we can make better

00:08:59.440 because it teaches them that we as an organization

00:09:02.020 are open to feedback and we want to learn.

00:09:05.040 So scheduling that in, you as the leader,

00:09:08.060 into your calendar to not forget.

00:09:10.320 And over time, maybe you go every two weeks,

00:09:12.020 then every month.

00:09:13.080 And usually within the first 90 days,

00:09:14.960 so if you go like the first day, first week,

00:09:18.000 two weeks, monthly after that, another month after that,

00:09:20.800 that's usually enough to make sure

00:09:22.240 that you really build the connection

00:09:23.400 for them to know that you're listening, that you care.

00:09:25.880 And it just goes a long way.

00:09:27.420 It's the subtle things, three-minute conversations

00:09:30.340 that will change the game in regards to their performance,

00:09:33.380 the way they show up for you and your team.

00:09:35.200 So quick recap on five easy ways

00:09:37.360 to successfully onboard new hires.

00:09:38.960 Number one, orientation session,

00:09:40.820 so they know the vision that you have

00:09:42.980 and where they sit on that map.

00:09:44.520 Number two, the training system

00:09:45.960 to bring them up to speed quickly.

00:09:47.400 Three, 90-day goals.

00:09:49.680 Number four, assign a buddy.

00:09:51.800 And number five, schedule your one-on-ones.

00:09:54.680 As I mentioned at the beginning of this show,

00:09:56.980 I wanna share with you my business playbook templates.

00:09:59.640 Essentially, if you're curious what the training system

00:10:03.400 looks like, what the communication guideline looks

00:10:06.360 like, the accountability chart, all those things

00:10:08.740 are available in the business templates.

00:10:10.200 Click the link below to get access for yourself.

00:10:12.640 You can literally make a copy into your world

00:10:15.560 and then edit them to make it really easy for you.

00:10:17.760 But I want to get you going, so you click the link,

00:10:19.700 download your copy of my business playbooks

00:10:22.620 to help you onboard new hires quickly.

00:10:25.400 And as for usual, if you like this video,

00:10:26.980 smash the like button, leave a comment,

00:10:29.000 Let me know what you like the most.

00:10:30.720 And if you feel like there's somebody

00:10:31.720 that you care about that can be served by this video,

00:10:34.460 feel free to share with them directly.

00:10:36.140 As per usual, I want to challenge you

00:10:37.860 to live a bigger life and a bigger business,

00:10:40.060 and I'll see you next Monday.

00:10:40.840 Best friends, best friends.

00:10:43.440 Subscribe to my Playbooks.

Dan Martell - January 13, 2020

5 Ways to Successfully Onboard New Hires

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript