"Onboarding plans, no matter how well-mapped and detailed, should never result in a hand-off to the new leader. The onboarding plan should be a living document that both the new leader and the hiring manager regularly reference and update."
So says Bank of America's VP of Executive Development and Talent Management, Matthew Walter in the summer 2010 edition of the HRPS' "People and Strategy" magazine.
And he's right. The most important onboarding partnership is the one between a new employee and his or her manager. If the new hire works out, it's good for both of them. If the new hire does not succeed, it's bad for both of them. This is why the hand-off is only ever a partial hand-off. It's about empowering the new employee to take charge of his or her onboarding. It's not about the manager walking away in any way.
In an ideal world, after a manager and new employee co-create the new employee's personal onboarding plan, the manager's role changes from doer to supporter. Don't get me wrong, the manager still needs to manage. It's just that the new employee needs to be the one on stage with the manager providing direction, support and resources from behind-the-scenes as much as possible. In the real world, few things every happen exactly as planned. Thus the manager needs to be close by to help the new employee adjust to the inevitably changing circumstances he or she will face.
Much, much more on this in our book, Onboarding – How to Get Your New Employees Up To Speed in Half the Time.
