"As time has passed, we have found line managers wanting more and more assistance in developing onboarding plans—to the point that we have trained all our HR leaders. Now, the majority of new hires in management roles will have detailed 100-day plans developed ahead of their joining. Critical is the phrase “ahead of joining.” They need to walk in the door on day one confident in knowing what’s expected of them and with the credibility to talk about the business and their own priorities."
So said LexisNexis' head of HR, Robert Rigby-Hall in the summer 2010 edition of the HRPS' "People and Strategy" magazine.
There are a couple of really really good things going on here:
- New managers having 100-day plans "ahead of joining"
- HR leaders helping those new managers develop those plans
Let's look at them one at a time.
New Managers having 100-day plans "ahead of joining"
As Robert points out, this is about confidence. A little preparation goes a long long way. Thinking through the scenarios and possibilities and having a plan gives people the confidence to execute that plan better and to adapt to changes along the way.
HR leaders helping those new managers develop those plans
This seems to be an example of HR at its best. LexisNexis HR people do not see themselves as administrators. They see themselves as essential leaders of organizational processes. Onboarding is one of those processes. As leaders they seek out best practices, set the direction and enable others to deliver. In this case, the delivery is done by new employees' managers and those new employees themselves working together with HR "helping". To paraphrase the song from Avenue Q, there's a fine fine line between helping and in the way. These people are on the right side of that line.
