Successfully onboarding a new hire is critical to the long term success of that individual at your firm. The first few weeks are essential in establishing expectations and making sure your new hire has all the equipment, skills, and connections they need to thrive. It’s a truth that the more comprehensive and thorough your onboarding process the more motivated, invested, and productive your new hire will be.
But what about your executive hires? Those senior hire individuals should be hitting the ground running, right? There is of course an argument to suggest this should be the case. It’s true that many organisations don’t offer their senior hires the same experience as other new starters. However, organisations that do offer a solid onboarding process to executive hires set them up for immediate success.
Executive hires are conditioned to grasp new challenges and excel under pressure quickly. However, they will certainly benefit from the time to adapt to their new role and the company’s culture.
A thorough C suite onboarding will inform them of the company’s mission. It will outline the company vision, successfully encapsulating the short and long-term business goals of your organisation. It allows them to learn how success will be measured and should inform them of where the current and emerging opportunities and threats lie.
How to onboard an executive hire.
Here are some ways in which you can onboard your next executive hire.
Outline the expectations and priorities.
An executive hire will need to understand what is expected of them. Throughout their tenure, they will be required to navigate the different expectations of their colleagues – be they employees, superiors, or stakeholders. Executive hires’ onboarding should include a clear outlining of guidelines and requirements so that the new senior hire knows exactly what is expected of them.
Promote opportunities for networking.
Within any organisation there are layers of management and key decision-makers. Senior hires should be given opportunities to meet and network with their inter-departmental management colleagues as well as meet their own team. It is also crucial that executive hires are invited to important meetings and included in any relevant communications.
Offer feedback.
Executive hires have often worked their way up through one organisation, earning many promotions along the way. This means that often, a senior hire has learned one set of behaviours or ways of working. These may not align with those of your company and could require them to make significant adjustments. Receiving regular feedback in the early weeks and months of employment is crucial for the growth of your senior hire. It will make sure they are meeting the needs of your organisation. Your new leader needs to learn how their management style may impact their colleagues and how it may affect the workings of the business.
Make your executive hire visible.
A new senior-level hire ought to be given a platform within the business and should be able to communicate with team members at all levels. This level of exposure means they can have insight into the concerns, workforce, and stakeholders of the business.
Increased visibility within the company will also help new executive hires to earn the trust of their colleagues, team members, and peers.
Offer a mentor.
Many leading organisations provide new hires with a mentor during the first few months of their employment. Mentoring helps promote networking and relationship building within a company. For senior management hires, mentorship offers insights into how a company is operating and what it takes to thrive.
Colleagues who work at the same level or above are well positioned to offer constructive guidance as a mentor.
Then, once your senior hire is well embedded a year or so down the line, they can also enjoy the benefits of becoming a mentor themselves.
Read our recent blog on the benefits of being a mentor here.
Takeaways.
No new hire will enter a new role as the complete package. Each company has its own ways of working, so every new hire will require a tailored onboarding scheme based on the information and skills they require to succeed.
New executive hires are no different. The success of these senior employees relies as heavily on a thorough onboarding process as more junior hires.
It is important that an executive onboarding program offers
- Clear expectations
- Visibility
- Mentoring partnerships
- Networking
- Feedback
For more tips on how to successfully onboard your remote workforce, read our blog here.
Do you need help finding an executive hire?
Is your organisation on the hunt for C suite tech talent? Why not Work with Ignite?
Our knowledgeable and well connected team can help. Our executive search team has an extensive network full of the very best tech, digital, and data C suite talent.
Reach out to us today to leverage our connections within the UK tech community.
