The 4 stages of a new hire (but only use 3)
Congratulations: you hired someone new!
And of course, they are the right person. Probably. Almost definitely. But, still, we need to have a conversation.
New hire journey
First of all: of course you do. It will take everyone time to learn the job, the business, the culture, and even what to do when the coffee runs out or the Slack channel isn’t working.
Second: hiring is hard. It feels like a gamble. When the new employee isn’t meeting and exceeding your expectations by the second month, you might feel like you made a mistake.
Keep an open mind
Don’t despair. And don’t make a rash decision.
There will be people you hire who aren’t exactly what you expected, but that doesn’t mean they’re not right for you. Be open to training, be open to development, and be open to making changes.
Meet with your employee, ask the right questions, and then analyze what you have learned. After that conversation put all their skills and expertise into one of these four categories:
1 – Working well
You don’t have to worry about this part, just encourage more of it.
List the ways the employee uses their technical skills correctly, fits in with the team, makes clients happy, and makes you happy.
2 – Needs training
These are parts of their work that are almost there, and that will get “there” with the correct experience and guidance.
Not everybody can be taught all the things. Start with what the person is already good at and what they enjoy doing. Then, when you decide which areas of their work need more training, be realistic about the areas where this person will improve enough to move into the “working well” category.
3 – Wrong role
They have all the right skills, the right personality, the right attitude… just not for their current job.
Don’t give up on them. Instead, adjust the business. It may mean moving the person to a completely different role.
The most likely thing is that you adapt the role you hired them for, so it fits their skills better.
4 – Wrong person
When all else fails.
If there is no other conclusion than that you hired the wrong person for the business, then I urge you to self-reflection. What did you think this person would be like, that proved completely wrong? And then work out how to avoid that mistake in the future.
Go back to hiring for essential skills (first link above), and make sure you know how to recognize those skills (or a lack thereof) in the next candidate.
Performance reviews are meetings
And as such, this list is your meeting report.
What next
How do you make sure that you only need space in the first 3 categories? Schedule a 30-minute discovery call with me to go over your review process and see what is missing.