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In this blog post, we will delve into the three biggest team onboarding mistakes many entrepreneurs make and provide valuable insights on how to avoid them.
3 Biggest Onboarding Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
By learning from the experiences of others and implementing effective strategies, you can build a high-performing team that drives the growth of your business.
Mistake #1: Not Figuring Out Your Management Capacity and Budget
One of the crucial aspects of team onboarding is understanding how much you want to manage and what your budget allows. Consider the following questions:
- How involved do you want to be in the hiring and management process?
- Do you prefer a hands-off approach or an active role?
- What is your budget for management? Remember, the more you have to manage someone, the less you may need to pay, and vice versa.
By answering these questions, you can determine the right balance of management and allocate your resources effectively. Consider whether you need to hire an implementer or an expert for your team based on your management capacity and budget.
Mistake #2: Positioning Team Members Based Solely on Knowledge
Relying solely on a candidate’s knowledge or technical expertise can be a mistake.
Building a successful team requires looking beyond qualifications and considering factors such as team dynamics, communication skills, and cultural fit.
A well-rounded team with diverse strengths and complementary skills can drive collaboration and innovation.
To avoid this mistake, during the hiring process, focus on evaluating candidates based on their soft skills, ability to work well within a team, and alignment with your company culture.
By prioritizing these factors alongside knowledge, you can build a cohesive team that thrives together.
Mistake #3: Neglecting a Comprehensive Onboarding Process
A lack of a structured onboarding process can lead to confusion, inefficiency, and low morale among new team members.
To ensure a smooth transition for your recruits, develop a comprehensive onboarding plan that includes the following elements:
Clear expectations: Clearly communicate the roles, responsibilities, and goals of each team member.
Training and support: Provide adequate training and ongoing support to help new team members understand their roles and responsibilities.
Buddy system: Assign a mentor or buddy to facilitate the onboarding process and help new team members integrate into the team.
Regular check-ins: Schedule regular check-ins to provide feedback, address concerns, and ensure that new team members feel supported and valued.
Regularly assess the effectiveness of your onboarding process and make necessary adjustments to improve it over time. A well-structured onboarding process sets the foundation for a successful and motivated team.
The Mic Drop:
As you embark on hiring and expanding your team, it’s crucial to avoid common onboarding mistakes that can hinder your growth. By understanding your management capacity, considering more than just technical expertise when positioning team members, and implementing a comprehensive onboarding process, you can avoid costly errors and build a cohesive team that propels your business forward. Remember, team onboarding requires thoughtful planning, clear communication, and ongoing support. With these strategies in place, you can set your team up for success and achieve your business goals with confidence.
PS – Continue to explore strategies and best practices for team onboarding and management in future episodes! Video Transcript
Yvi Wisdom Bombs:
- “To hire smart, you need to first understand how much you want to manage and what your budget allows.”
- “Don’t underestimate the value of soft skills and cultural fit when building a team.”
- “A well-structured onboarding process sets the foundation for a successful and motivated team.”
Video Transcript
If you’ve ever spent weeks or even months trying to get a new hire up to speed only to eventually realize you were still essentially doing their job yourself, you know just how costly and time consuming onboarding mistakes can be.
And in this video I will share with you the three biggest mistakes I have made when bringing on new hires into our team. So you don’t have to make them and I’ll also show you how to set clear expectations with new employees from day one and how to provide them with everything they need to be their best self. And then you position right from the start.
Number one of team onboarding mistakes I have done. My way is not the only way.
Having said that delivering the best outcome possible in a process or workflow. Is a great thing to have and really wanting to deliver that quality. However, the way of how you get there, there’s multiple different ways. My way is not the only way.
And this has been one of the biggest team onboarding mistakes that I have done is expecting my team to work exactly how I work. It’s not. We have different personalities. We have different ways of going there. The task doesn’t have to get done exactly. How I’ve done it, as long as the framework and automations and all that stays in place, it doesn’t matter if I go around the tree that way or that way, we are still ending up in the same spot.
Also, the problem that comes with this and why this is such a big team onboarding mistake is I am a list person. I am a type A person. I work with a lot of creatives. They think differently. They work differently and then meet their task differently.
Number two in this whole onboarding mistake of forgetting the human. What motivates them?
I am somebody that is motivated by getting away from something. I don’t want to be broke. I want to get away from being broke and making money. Other people are more forward driven, meaning they are driven by the goal of making money, not by the pain that not having money gives them, but by the joy of having that money.
What motivates people? Are they towards or are they away? And also with this whole team onboarding mistake of forgetting the human in it. Allow them to take ownership of the processes you hand off to them. Let them go with it. Let go of that process and really let them own their job and the department or the processes they are taking care of, which also makes your life easier because you also handing off updating set SOPs standard operating procedures becomes simply a part of their job description.
Now, last but not least in our three team onboarding mistakes, mistake number three, not giving this new team member the resources they actually need to be their best.
We already mentioned standard operating procedures. If they don’t know what they are supposed to be doing again, they can’t reach your mind.
So how can you set your new team member up for success and skip the whole team onboarding mistakes that I have done?
Number one, again, speaking back to the human. Set them up with a dashboard. You have an example right here where the tasks would be right here. Now a task list. Now Lush has done everything on her list, which is why it’s empty.
You can track hours of last month and this month here, give them the resources to the standard operating procedures, as well as potentially a calendar view of the content they are generating, make it really easy for them to know what they are doing and what’s important. Talking about what’s important, a dashboard is not the only thing right here in ClickUp that can help you really onboard a team member efficiently and productive, set them up with an on fire list.
If you are using your priority flags right here in ClickUp and on fire list is a godsend because you are easily and effortlessly can tell the team members what’s important by setting that priority flag and having a custom view on the everything level that is grouped by priority and then filtered. By the specific location.
So you do not have all of the resources you have in ClickUp in here, but actually actionable tasks and then sorted by due date that allows you to have urgent tasks on top, which need to be taken care of. And then secondary sorted by the due date, you also should train your team. Do you have a team space with a folder for each team member that has their ClickUp training that has company specific training that potentially even has their onboarding in there?
Do you need their W 9? What information do you need from them? If they are becoming a full time employee. Have your team onboarding ready so you can give them all the information and knowledge they need to be their best self. And last but not least, you already should have your company hub as that single source of truth so that your new team member can find all the resources you have for them right here in your ClickUp.
And with all of these resources, team onboarding will suddenly become a breeze. And if you want to be better with, and for your team, I have a playlist for you for your team management that allows you to be more efficient and productive with and for your team. So make sure you subscribe because more videos are coming up that will help you run your business more efficient.
Timestamps:
00:00 | Introduction
00:42 | My Way is not the only Way
01:57 | What Motivates My Team?
03:05 | Missing Team Resources (and why that sucks!)
03:25 | How to Avoid Team Onboarding Mistakes
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