5 questions to ask every new hire...EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK!
It never fails to happen after hiring...the honeymoon phase is over, the patience is wearing thin with the new employee, and they seem to maybe have fibbed a bit on their resume. Well, they’re your problem now...YOU HIRED THEM!
We see it so often with our clients. A business owner gets so excited to hire someone and thinks they’re going to magically fix so many problems just by existing in the business! But, as you and I know, that rarely happens.
New hires come with baggage! They come with bad habits and different ways of doing things. So often, business owners tolerate things that drive them nuts until finally it all boils over and they blow up...ok, let’s NOT do that if we can help it.
This is the reason we put together an incredible onboarding process for every new hire. I know this process backwards and forwards, because I’ve been participating in it weekly for almost the past 6 mos. That’s right...every week. For 6 months!
Here’s what I can tell you… it works! It has given me radical clarity for how to do the job I’m being asked to do and also has helped shape me into the employee that my boss desires.
So, here’s 5 questions to ask your new hire...every single week! Carve out some time and get it on the calendar for onboarding time. Never cancel it and watch the results!
1. How are you seeing us live out our Mission/Vision/Values?
Give your employees a chance to tell you if they even know the mission/vision/values of your business. You might be shocked to realize you’ve never communicated that to them. Hopefully, you hear a little bit about how your business is accomplishing these things and it’s an encouragement to you as the owner, but if they can’t point to anything you need to swallow your pride and figure out a better way to show these in the day to day.
2. What are you seeing?
You’ll never get your employees eyes back. Now, what does that mean? Well, they will see things and experience things that you want to capture. Things that seem a little off or things that they’re probably asking why do we do things this way? You want to give them an open ended question to be able to ask about them. WHo knows? It may give you perspective you need that you had never considered before, since you’ve see it done one way forever! It’s so valuable to capture their experience and what they’re seeing from day one.
3. What questions do you have about your Job Role?
This ones simple, give them a chance to tell you where they’re struggling and where they lack clarity in their role. So often new employees just want to act like they have it all together, but this gives them the chance to admit where they’re struggling so you can get them up to speed faster! It also helps you record processes that are unclear or ones that you need to have written down!
4. What do you need from us?
Again, this ones simple. Give them an open ended question to ask for help, if needed. This is relational more than anything. Ever week they will hear that you are for them, on their team, wanting them to succeed and willing to do what it takes to help them succeed. That’s all you can ask for as an employee.
5. Here’s what we see…
Here’s your moment to offer encouragement and critique their work. Notice that it needs to be BOTH! But too often, we wait for a year end review to offer critical performance reviews. This gives you a weekly time to make small tweaks along the way. It makes job performance normal instead of it feeling like the end of the world when your boss unloads on you! It also keeps you from sweeping things under the rug and building up resentment towards employees. Let’s talk about it, get it out of the way, fix it and move forward!
That’s it. Record the answers as you go, so you can come back to them and have documentation from all of these answers. It’s life changing for your employee, too. Imagine having a boss that gave you a voice to speak out on what you see, gave you clarity about what you’re being asked to do, offered to help whenever needed and then offered constructive feedback each week.
That’s what your business needs! That’s what your employees need from you, as the owner. Don’t wait for them to figure it out, but take control of the onboarding process today...even if your employees have been around for months or years. It’s never too late to start.
Have a great day y’all!