What is Process & Performance?
This component creates time to prepare the new employee for success in their new role and helps them understand their place in the organization. This is also the time to develop a plan for training the new employee. This time is about ensuring that the employee understands what the organization is doing; that they have an idea of the big-picture mission and vision of the organization and the various ways it goes about accomplishing the mission and vision. As they grow in their understanding of the organization, it can help them develop a sense of how their role fits into the whole of the organization.
Why is it important?
Role clarity is a driver of employee engagement so discussing the employee’s role and responsibilities will help the supervisor set expectations for them and thus increase engagement. As part of that discussion, make sure they know how their role ties into the organization’s goals. Checking to make sure they know the tools available helps them get up to speed quickly. This is also a great time to gather feedback about the onboarding process for continual process improvement. It’s a good idea to work with your HR to establish and document expectations as well as determine the cadence and modality for creating and supporting two-way communication with the employee.
General Guidelines
You can begin by reviewing the department’s strategic plan, the duty statement and employee expectations memos with the employee. Some departments may not have a strategic plan in place. If so, you can review strategic goals and the mission of the department as it’s still important that they have a sense of the department's strategy. If your division has its own strategic plan or other business planning documentation, it’s a great idea to review this also. It's a good idea to have desk manuals and process documents relevant to the role. We strongly recommend having process documents in place, but if not, take time to walk the new employee through the various processes they will be using in their role. Then work with the new employee on a plan to increase their productivity over time.
A great use of time during this component is to identify any on-the-job development opportunities or trainings needed which sets the foundation for accountability and constructive feedback and allows the employee to show their ability to perform in the new role.
Gathering feedback from new employees about the onboarding experience is crucial to understanding their experience and helps the organization know how onboarding is being applied across the organization. This will help improve the process down the road.
