Remember what it’s like being the new employee? How was your onboarding experience?
Great first impressions can lead to long-lasting relationships. In fact, Research conducted by the Brandon Hall Group found that successful onboarding programs increased retention by an impressive 82%.
On the other hand, bad onboarding experiences can lead new hires to leave their employer soon afterwards. And losing a new hire is expensive. Studies show that when a newly hired executive leaves, it can cost the organization up to two times the salary of that individual.
Successful onboarding is not the sole responsibility of human resources (HR), learning and development (L&D) or even the new hire’s manager. Direct reports are also crucial to this process. Reverse onboarding, when a direct report plays an active role in supporting their newly hired managers, is a capability that L&D can build.
Why Direct Reports Matter in New Manager Onboarding
A new manager should be their direct reports’ cheerleader, support system and mentor. They help their direct reports succeed in their careers and open the doors to new opportunities and learning experiences.
Likewise, direct reports should support their new manager and want them to thrive in their new role. Typically, direct reports want their new leader not to disrupt their normal workflow but are eager to see them make new improvements to help the organization succeed. By actively supporting the onboarding process, direct reports can gain increased visibility, take on new responsibilities and develop new skills, all of which further their career growth and create new professional opportunities.
This kind of reverse onboarding may appear counterintuitive. After all, it requires that direct reports take an active role in orienting someone who formally holds authority over them. It also reflects the psychological, institutional and skill-level hurdles that often prevent direct reports from stepping into this role, whether they’re as tricky as navigating power dynamics or as relatively simple as not knowing what’s helpful to share.
This is where L&D leaders and effective soft skills training can help.
How L&D Can Build a Reverse Onboarding Program
L&D leaders play a crucial role in providing the support and tools direct reports need for successful reverse-onboarding. Here are some actionable steps for L&D to take.
Prepare the team before the manager starts.
Partner with the direct reports prior to hiring a new leader to not only build trust but also to understand potential obstacles that have derailed past leaders. This will help both L&D leaders and direct reports work together to resolve these issues prior to the new leader’s start date.
Train employees to support a new manager.
Courses around how to give upward feedback and how to escalate red flags respectfully provide confidence to the direct reports and empower them. Consider implementing a mentorship program before a new leader starts. Pairing direct reports with a mentor can help spread wisdom, knowledge, motivation and trust. This also builds skills that will be essential for reverse onboarding.
Clarify roles on day one.
Explain everyone’s role and responsibilities on the leader’s first day. Doing this sooner than later will help the leader get acclimated and feel part of the team and put the direct reports at ease.
Share institutional knowledge.
The direct reports have a wealth of knowledge. By sharing workflow processes, best practice manuals and current data, the new leader will feel supported and valued. L&D leaders should encourage direct reports to keep their new leader in the communication loop in group emails and meeting invites. This will help solidify that everyone, including the new leader, is an integral part of the team.
Build early trust and team connection.
Make the new leader feel welcome. Be intentional about creating opportunities for the team and their new leader to learn about one another. This includes planning team lunches, happy hours or simply starting a meeting and asking what’s everyone’s favorite food. Inspire direct reports to recognize exceptional work. There’s nothing quite like being recognized to give a motivational and supportive boost. Encourage team members to not only recognize each other, but also their new leader. This gives everyone a clearer picture of what’s valued and reinforces healthy norms.
Reinforce a learning culture.
L&D leaders must consistently amplify the value the organization places on continuous learning and a growth mindset culture. With a self-directed learning and development program, employees can block off time on their calendars for upskilling opportunities such as advancing their soft skills. A new leader who is eager to succeed will be thrilled to take advantage of self-directed leadership training. There is always plenty of room to learn, no matter what your salary grade.
7 Soft Skills That are Key to Reverse Onboarding Success
Reverse-onboarding may meet resistance when leaders experience it as being “trained” by their direct reports. A strong learning culture that’s shaped by L&D leaders helps mitigate this resistance by positioning learning as continuous and shared across the organization.
Soft skills training for both the new manager and the direct reports can help ease discomfort on either side. Here are the seven skills to train on to ensure reverse onboarding success.
Communication: Communicating effectively helps employees express themselves clearly and with confidence to their new leader. Furthermore, strong verbal and written communication skills make it much easier for direct reports to clearly express their goals, accomplishments and contributions.
A skilled communicator will ask thoughtful questions, such as about their leadership and communication style, during the first formal one-on-one meeting. Helpful communication training topics include assertive verbal skills, and DISC training, among others.
Active listening: When direct reports can hear what their leaders need in the same way they want to be heard, a solid working relationship happens leading, to high productivity and successful outcomes.
Active listening is the key to gaining wisdom. Active listening training teaches direct reports about what’s required to successfully listen to and understand others. It includes being empathic, reading nonverbal cues, and how to take beneficial notes.
Self-management: If direct reports are efficient at setting priorities and managing their time, they will make it much easier for their new leader to focus on big-picture initiatives rather than managing their team’s timelines. Solid productivity and time management training reduces the time it takes to get a new leader up to speed when they have a confident, self-managed team.
Collaboration. When direct reports openly share their knowledge, they accelerate the onboarding process. They’ll communicate the team’s and the organization’s goals, both short-term and long-term. They’ll share perspectives on the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
Both direct reports and new managers should be training on how to have an effective two-way conversation. They should be able to listen as well as share and understand the value of compromise and being open-minded. Training topics include collaborating across generations, working in a digital world, working in a hybrid work environment and addressing unconscious bias.
Diplomacy: Conflict management courses help direct reports move from reacting to responding, which is the core of being diplomatic, especially with a new leader. A smooth onboarding experience with their direct reports will make the new leader feel they made the right choice in accepting their new position. Courses in maintaining self-control and de-escalating conflicts are beneficial.
Goal setting: When direct reports and new managers are goal-driven, it’s easy to align expectations from the start, clarify priorities and create goals that support a productive working relationship. SMART goal courses teach employees how to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
Positive thinking: Typically, positive thinkers are adaptable and can successfully cope with change. Managing a positive thinker is ideal as they approach challenges with resilience and solution-focused thinking, which helps maintain morale and momentum even during change, such as a new leader. Positive self-talk training teaches learners how to focus on positive self-talk.
Reverse Onboarding Doesn’t End After the First 90 Days
The direct report’s role in onboarding a new leader does not end after the first meeting or two. It continues throughout their tenure together, perhaps throughout their careers.
Over time, a direct report’s role shifts from sharing the basics to offering deeper context about the team’s processes and dynamics. As the relationship is nourished, direct reports become trusted partners who can point out opportunities and challenges before they become bigger problems.
When L&D leaders and the new leader’s direct reports partner together, the new leader and their team are off to a very good start.
