Integrating Employees in Workplace

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New Employees Into Your Organization Successfully: ALean Approach- Raphael L. VitaloandJames. S. Byron

Contents

IntroductionBackground Knowledge

The Task

The Support the Work Setting Should

Provide

Challenge 1 - Learn about the new organization

Challenge 2 - Align with its purpose, vision, andcore values

Challenge 3 - Understand his/her role

Challenge 4 - er!or" that role e!!ectivel#

Challenge $ - %or& cooperativel# with others

How Ready Is Your Organiation to

Integrate !ew "#ployees "$$iciently%

P&' o$ (rticle

'eed)ack Please

Introduction

Onboarding new employees is always a challenge. Everyone has a learning curvea

gradual progression from initial level of understanding to mastery of a new role.Succeeding in a new workplace requires that this learning process culminate with theworker producing the level of results required by the new organization. Succeeding fromthe perspective of the organization also requires that the process be rapid and theerrors made along the way be minimized. How do you enable a new worker to rapidlyintegrate within your workplace with the least waste of their personal and yourorganizational resources
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Background Knowledge

!eople"s performance is a function of their personal capabilities #capacity$ motivation$

and competencies%$ the task they must accomplish$ and the support the setting providesthem. &o enable people to rapidly integrate within your organization$ you first mustdefine what task you e'pect them to do. Once the task is defined$ you must understandthe support they need to succeed at it efficiently. (e't$ you need to assess the degreeto which you supply that support. )inally$ you need to correct your deficiencies$ if any$so that new employees can succeed reliably and efficiently.

The Task

&he task of integration has five different but related challenges. Each new worker must*

+. learn about his,her new organization-. align with its purpose$ vision$ and core values-

/. understand his,her role-

0. perform that role effectively- and

1. work cooperatively with others.

The Support the Work Setting Should Provide

2iven the task you e'pect new workers to perform$ there is an obvious set of resourcesthey require to succeed efficiently. &he absence of these resources makes integrationand the satisfying of your e'pectations more difficult to accomplish and froth with waste.3t leaves every new worker either trying to fill the gaps on his,her own or to perform their

4obs without the assistance of these critical resources.

)irst and foremost$ the new worker needs to understand the e'pectations he or shemust satisfynamely$ to successfully meet the five challenges listed above. &his mayseem obvious and therefore unworthy of statementbut it is not. 5 written statementthat makes clear to new workers these five challenges should be included with thewelcoming materials sent to new hires. Such an e'plicit statement sets the focus fortheir orientation efforts and confirms in their minds what it is that you hold important.&hey do not need to e'tract it from observations$ infer it from what is said to them duringtheir hiring process$ or create it from multiple perspectives shared by people theyencounter in the workplace. &he remaining elements of support are described inassociation with the challenge each enables new workers to satisfy.
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Challenge 1 - Learn Aout !is"!er #ew $rgani%ation

6orkers need to have a written description of their new organization.+3t should e'plain

what its purpose$ vision$ and core values are- what outputs or outcomes it must provideto its parent organization- what the key performance indicators are that measure itssuccess and the target for achievement set for each. &hey should understand how theorganization is structured$ how it is arranged physically$ where key people are located$and to whom they report. &hese are simple information elements that you need toproperly manage the organization so they do not constitute any additional demand.&ogether$ they might amount to a half dozen pages of materials plus perhaps atelephone directory. 3f your organization has a home page on the business"s intranetsite$ the workers should be informed about this and provided access to it as well.

Challenge & - Align With Its Purpose' (ision' and Core (alues

5lignment means each performer is pointed in the right direction. Each worker manageshis,her performance in a manner that advances the organization"s success andcomplies with its core values. &he support provided workers for 7hallenge + enablesthem to succeed in aligning their performance to the organization"s direction. 5lsohelpful$ however$ is a setting where alignment by the current workforceespeciallymanagers and supervisorse'ists. &o the e'tent that the organization"s currentpersonnel are aligned$ they will demonstrate that behavior and reinforce its emergencein new workers. 3n contrast$ to the e'tent people do their 4obs as they see fit or work

units focus on their tasks and operate without adequate coordination or communicationwith each other$ new workers will be confused by what they see. &hey are also likely toencounter resistance to their efforts to be aligned.

Challenge ) - *nderstand !is"!er +ole

Every worker needs a written 4ob description that clearly states the function of his,herrole$ assigned tasks$ e'pected outputs or outcomes$ what authority and resources willbe provided the employee$ to whom the worker reports$ and with whom he,she must

coordinate work. 5 4ob description is essentially a personal work standard. 3t is everyemployee"s basic guide for contributing in the workplace. 8et$ many employees havenone or they have some outdated$ generic statement that offers little guidance.

3n addition to a personal 4ob description$ new workers need access to the work processstandards for those processes they implement.3f work standards do not e'ist$ you needto produce them. &hey are essential to a well managed organization. 6ithout workstandards$ new employees must discover by observation and conversation how you
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wish a process implemented. 3n addition$ where there are no work standards$ differentemployees will implement the same named process differently. &his makes coordinationamong workers in the same process more difficult to achieve. 3t makes coordinationbetween workers in interrelated processes almost impossible. )or coordination tohappen in such a setting$ each worker must take the initiative in understanding how

every other worker operates so he or she can define how to coordinate. &his discoveryand definition of individualized coordination requirements by every employee for everyother employee is both wasteful and a perfect formula for repeated errors.

Challenge , - Peror. That +ole /ectivel0

9esides a description of the content of their work$ employees need to know how theirperformance will be measured$ what level of achievement on each measure definessuccess$ and how they can detect where they stand on each measure. 6ho can

perform any role effectively when they have no means for guiding their choices$detecting problems$ or knowing whether the ad4ustments they make are working 3f theymust divine this from the looks and nods of their supervisors$ getting to e'pectedperformance will take much more time and many more errors will be made along theway. Even where supervisors provide regular$ accurate$ and concrete verbal feedback$employees remain dependent on that feedback and cannot detect and correctperformance problems on their own. 8ou waste their capabilities to think and managetheir own performance.

6orkers also require that the organization define their roles rationally. One simple testfor the rationality of a role as defined is whether most people with the skills required for

the 4ob and a reasonable desire to succeed could do the 4ob successfully. :se theperformance of current and past new hires as your reference. ;ook inside the 4obs thathave proven difficult to master at the level required by the organization. 3f your findingsare similar to ours$ you will see many 4obs that are poorly designed. 8ou will uncoverthat some 4obs include tasks that compete with each other for time so that neither canbe done on


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Challenge - Work Cooperativel0 With $thers

6orking cooperatively is onlypossible when the people with whom you are to cooperatehave the same purpose as you and can make decisions rationally in pursuing thatpurpose. &his means that your e'isting workers must be aligned to the organization"s

purposes and make satisfying that purpose the highest priority value in their decisions resources. 5lso$ while aworker may overcome your organization>s deficienciesthe e'tra effort they apply tointegrate will not be available to do value


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"ust acco"plish see above !or the list o! the !ive challenges.+

2+ A written description o! the organizations current purpose, vision, and

core values is provided to each new e"plo#ee+

3+ A written description o! the outputs or outco"es the organization "ust

deliver to the business is provided to each new e"plo#ee+

4+ A written description o! the organizations &e# per!or"ance indicators

that "easure the organizations success and the target !or each is providedto each new e"plo#ee+

$+ An organizational chart is provided to each new e"plo#ee+

0+ A telephone director# listing the na"e, contact nu"ber, and o!!icelocation o! each person within the organization the e"plo#ee "ust relate

with is provided to each new e"plo#ee+

+ A written ob description that satis!ies each o! the !ollowing reuire"ents

e*ists !or ever# role a new e"plo#ee will !ill+ Requirements hedescription clearl# states the roles !unction, assigned tas&s, e*pectedoutputs or outco"es, authorities and resources, to who" the obholder

"ust report, and with who" the ob incu"bent "ust coordinate their

wor&+

5+ he new wor&ers is provided the wor& standard !or each process he or

she "ust i"ple"ent+

6+ 7ach ob has per!or"ance "easures and each "easure has a stated level

o! achieve"ent that de!ines success+

18+ 9ost people with the reuired s&ills and reasonable desire to succeed

could do the ob as described success!ull#+

11+ raining !or s&ills needed to succeed in the ob but not selected !or when

hiring is provided to new e"plo#ees+

12+ 7ach new e"plo#ee is trained in how to detect where the# stand on each

"easure o! per!or"ance !or which the# are accountable+

13+ 7*isting e"plo#ees are &nowledgeable o! and aligned with theorganizations !unction+

14+ 7*isting e"plo#ees are s&illed in using in!or"ation-based decision-

"a&ing and appl# it to "a&e choices in their wor&+

1$+ 7*isting e"plo#ees use clari!#ing and con!ir"ing s&ills and hitchhi&ingand constructive criticis" s&ills as the# wor& with each other+

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4ootnotes

+3f the organization the new employee is entering is a subcomponent of a business$ thenthe new hire needs similar information about the business itself. &he new employeemust understand both the parent entity he,she is serving as well as the host

organization within which he,she in working.5 work process standard documents the procedure a company has formallyestablished as the correct way to e'ecute a process.
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Integrating Employees in Workplace