You Had This Nametag Once

Remember when you were the newbie? How did it feel? Did you enjoy being on probation? Did your leader make it easier, or harder, for you?

As a leader, one of your challenges is to quickly and effectively integrate newbies into your team. If you ignore them or treat them like everyone else, they’ll never make it; you’ll be starting over with another newbie in a few months. You should care because after a few cycles of that, your leadership will be questioned.

There are three “N’s” about new employees that a good leader must accommodate:

NEED—they need this job.
NEWBIE—they are unknown.
NERVOUS—they are really—or emotionally—on probation.

If you want your newbies to succeed and come up to speed quickly, then you must:

Make sure expectations are 100% clear
Spend time with them:
- To know them
- To be known
Give lots of feedback on a regular basis
Make sure they know it is okay to ask for help
Be an encourager
- Praise progress
- Correct shortfall
  - Not with criticism
  - With example
- No surprises—ever!

There’s a lot at stake when you bring in new people. You did it for a reason—you need them. So put intentional focus and effort into helping them make it because you need to make it too.

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