The First 90 Days - Sink or Swim

Special Guest – Kelly Franklin 

In this episode, we break down why those first three months can define the entire trajectory of a new hire’s success—or failure. Too many organizations take a “figure it out” approach, leaving employees overwhelmed, disengaged, and underperforming. We will walk through what a structured onboarding program should actually look like, how to build a clear and intentional 90-day plan, and the critical role leadership plays in setting expectations, providing support, and driving early wins. Whether you’re a hiring manager, executive, or job seeker, this episode delivers practical strategies to turn onboarding from a gamble into a competitive advantage. 

• When does onboarding actually start?
• What do you believe is the true purpose of the first 90 days?
• What are the biggest mistakes organizations make during onboarding?
• What is the Managers role in the first 90 days – difference between micromanaging and coaching?
• What separates managers who excel at onboarding and those who don’t?
• How is onboarding different for remote workers?
• How to avoid overwhelming new hires with information?
• Importance of Culture and Belonging – helping new hires build internal networks and feel included beyond the “meet the team”
• If you could redesign the first 90 days for every company in the world, what would you change first?

Special Guest
Kelly Franklin
Franklin Consulting and Coaching
kellyfranklin13@outlook.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-franklin-96bb3310/ 
Kelly has over 25 years of strategic human resources leadership experience, offering critical insight into the overall employee experience across small to Fortune 500 companies. She provides coaching to individuals to develop and grow their careers and consulting services to companies to drive organizational change, talent management/development, and human resources optimization across their organizations.

GLINTER SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONTACT INFO
Michael Glinter - Host
michael@michaelglinter.com  (Email)
http://bit.ly/michaelglinter (Podcast)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelglinter/ (LinkedIn)
http://www.facebook.com/michael.glinter (Facebook)
https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelGlinter (YouTube)
www.michaelglinter.com (Website) 

 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the offer, the no sugar added approach to the talent triangle with an honest approach to employers, employees, and recruiters. This is your host, Michael Glinter. The Offer. I'm very excited about today's guest. Kelly Franklin is an old client, a colleague, a friend, somebody that I've known for quite a long time. She brings 20 years of HR experience to the table and currently is now consulting and doing coaching with both individuals as well as companies. And so we're bringing Kelly on to really talk through the first 90 days, the onboarding process, that critical period for companies and employees to better understand and get ready for their future at an organization. So with that being said, I would like to introduce Kelly to the show. Kelly, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you? Awesome. Listen, I'm going to start right in, but I want to ask this question because I think it's important for my listeners to understand. We're talking about the first 90 days, right? The I guess you could call it the orientation or onboarding process or whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

But but this process of a candidate, a put or new a new hire joining the company really starts during the interview.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Oh, for sure. I mean, onboarding is really a continuation of the recruiting process.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Right. It's important for people to know that the clock doesn't start at day one. No, for sure. I mean, people's impressions, how they feel about the company, the process of getting through the screening process through, you know, I've got the job now. What? All this matters.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

It totally matters because I mean, honestly, as they're going through that process and starting with a company, they want to know, they want to be constantly reaffirmed. I made the right decision. And that starts when you're, you know, enticing them to come to your company, making sure they have a good fit. And now what? It's definitely continuation for sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, I think a lot of companies, and I've seen this from recruiters, especially when I worked in the staffing business, where you get the win, they accepted the job, and then it's like silence. There's this point of where, okay, now what? And the kid that's like, hello, like, what are we doing here? And you know, it's oh, it's coming. Well, the impression of the organization and who you are really begins from the first time you guys meet. I think it's important, even though we're talking about the first 90 days, I think it's important from the listening audience to understand that you know the this it starts before the first 90 days. I agree. What do you believe the purpose of the first 90 days really is?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Well, I think there's a couple of things. You know, I think most people think onboarding is like great, somebody walks in, we give them their computer and off they go. But onboarding to me is the whole process of thinking about it from a business perspective. You want to return on your investment, you want to get this person to full productivity as quickly as possible, but at the same time, really let them be integrated as a new member of the team of the organization. So I really think it's a two-sided process where we want the new employee to feel comfortable and again reaffirming that they made the right decision to join the organization. And we want them to get up to speed as quickly as possible. And so that goes far beyond. If you almost think of like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? The basics, which most people think about is somebody walks in, do they have their badge? Is their computer ready to go? Do they have access? Great. Okay, we're off and running. And then lots of times employees are left to kind of like figure it out on their own. And if you have a good onboarding program, you know, you're an active participant, the team's an active participant, certainly the HR partner, the hiring manager, and the employee. It's really kind of like a triangle. And all of those guys, it's really important for them to be integrated. So by the 90 days, the employees loving where they are and they're running at full speed, which is helping you because that's why you brought them into the organization to begin with, is to make change, to make a financial impact to the team.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Do you think companies really, you know, the notion back in the day, I'm aging myself. I'm I'm only a generation Xer. I'm not that old. But back in the day, the notion was the first 90 days was the company's chance to determine whether or not they're going to keep you or not. But is that really the case anymore?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

I don't think that's the case anymore. And even, you know, really, while I was at Graham, it was a big deal to us. And and I'll be honest, you know, we hadn't put a huge focus on it before. And then we realized the impact of that, of really making sure they want us. I mean, you go through this whole process, right, of recruiting. And sometimes you're paying big fees to get somebody, you're definitely spending a lot of time and resources to find the right candidate. And the last thing you want to do is have somebody who comes in who's like questioning why they even joined the organization. And there's a lot of options out there now. And so you are really competing, not only, you know, against other companies, people who maybe want to go remote, people want to do their own thing, and you really are still making sure that they know this is the right place for them.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

What do you think the biggest mistakes that organizations make in the anonym in the in this onboarding process? Like what what are like like the the dumbest things that you've seen companies do or not do that just make the onboarding process a failure?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Well, even speaking from what I can remember, some of my own experiences as a new employee, if you walk in the door and somebody kind of directs you, you know, you go fill out your paperwork, that's a basic, but now they're like, oh, we forgot to get your badge. So now you don't know how to get in the building the next day, you know, because they didn't get that. Or you go in to what's supposed to be the office and the computer's there, but the access isn't set up yet. Like doing all the pre-work, all the little things that make somebody feel like, wow, you took the time to make sure I'm ready. That happens more often than not. And it's always like, oh gosh, there must be a glitch with IT. Let me follow up on that. And so now you've got somebody sitting in the office. You hand them maybe like the policies and procedures and say, have fun, read through this. And they're sitting there going, What the heck did I just do? And so I think that's a huge one. Or people feel that onboarding is like maybe like the first day or two. And then you can kind of go figure it out from there. And you'll you'll figure it out as we go along. We'll just start throwing you into meetings, you'll start seeing how things go. And I think the next biggest thing that a lot of people fail to do is like, let's follow up with the the new hire. How's it going? How was your first day? Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't like, tell me where there's some things that are holding you up from getting what you need to get started.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Let me touch okay, hold on. You're running into a different direction, but there, I want to touch but touch on something you said. You made the comment about the initially coming in and the key not working or not having the computer lost login set up. I remember when I was a manager of my last company, I would get from IT, usually the Thursday or Friday before someone starts, all their information, all the login information. This is set up, everything's done. I would literally log into their login and make sure it was set up properly. I would send a test email from their email to mine to make sure I was receiving it. I would check to make sure. I would go down and scan the card to make sure the door actually opens. You talk about companies doing preparations. Duh. I mean, how dumb does a company look if you walk in and they don't even have a computer set up for you? They still have to figure out how to get a printer hooked up. I mean, this is kind of like common sense. Mind you, most managers don't have the, I mean, they onboard what one person every six months, maybe a year. It's not like you're doing this every week. I don't know. Maybe that's being wrong. Maybe there's more than that. But but generally speaking, it doesn't take that much effort. You you talked also about, I want to go back to another piece you talked about, and you talked about HR, uh, the manager, the hiring manager, and the employee. And I think that, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I think most a lot of hiring managers think it's HR, that they're the ones getting this person ready. But I think the manager plays a big role in the first 90 days, don't they?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Oh, for sure. I mean, I think HR plays a role in definitely policies and procedures and understanding maybe how like the performance management system works, you know, those types of what you would call traditional HR functions, but really the onus is on the hiring manager. And one of the things that I think is critical from an HR standpoint is holding the hiring manager accountable, like putting that when you get a new hire, the onboarding process, the assimilation of the new employee becomes an objective of yours for the year. And really, you got to hold some accountability there. HR certainly is going to support through that process because to your point, maybe I only hire one person a year, but it's really critical. The hiring manager is responsible for things like introducing them to the team, checking in regularly to make sure they're getting what they need, setting up those clear objectives and expectations up front. Like let's not wait and watch and see what happens. Let's be clear up front. You know, all that preparation work is key. And I mean, without the hiring manager, you're really setting the employee up for failure.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

There's a fine line in the workplace from a manager who coaches and leads a person and a manager who micromanages. And as you probably can agree, the first 90 days, it's not just about the company reinsuring that they feel good about this person, but it's also the candidate, a lot of times, being reassured that they feel comfortable with the person they're working with. How does one realistically provide the right tools, gives a candidate the things that they need, but also doesn't come across as somebody who's gonna be micromanaging them? Do they, I mean, do they offer but not force? Do they sit down with the applicant, give them their baseline goals, and then check in with them just to see if there's more stuff that they need? Because ultimately, I mean, I'll tell you, this is gonna sound terrible, but I worked for a guy for 30 days, and I told my old boss and my CEO, you either take me back into the I want to work for this person instead, or I'm out. That's the first third, but why? Because he was literally micromanaging me every day that I started working for him, like every day. And I wasn't new to the company, I was being shifted to another manager. So this was a year into me working there. So I already knew what I was doing, but then I had this boss that I was I was, of course, integrating into his team, so I had to learn how his team worked, but it turned into like three times a day, you know, down my throat. Yeah. What did you what did you do today? I mean, what's the line, or is there a line, or how should how should comp managers approach it where the candidate doesn't feel that way?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think first of all, if someone's a micromanager, that's probably in their DNA, and that's not going to change too much. But if you're talking about around the onboarding process, when I onboarded my own people, I would definitely sit down up front, talk about expectations, lay out kind of the plan of this is what we're hoping to achieve this week and getting you acclimated and so on, and then checking in periodically. And I think it's two parts. You check in not three times a day. You might pop in just to say, Hey, how's it going, and spend a little just getting to know you time. And then it's really the manager's responsibility to say, I'm gauging how this is going and I'm gonna, and then I just give space. And I then put start to shift that responsibility onto the employee to be like, Look, I feel like you've got what you need. If you need something from me, come see me. Otherwise, feel free to go out, connect with the key people that you need to, but you know I'm always here as a resource. To that point, I think in the beginning, it is really important for the hiring manager to maybe not micromanage, but check in enough so that the employee feels supported and at that same time help them figure out who the key players are, who you should be connecting with, and so on. And obviously, that pos that depends on the position of the person joining the organization.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

You can tell me if I'm wrong or right or whatever, but I think you're saying really it's more about showing that you have that they have access to you once you kind of get them through that initial goal. This is the goal, this is you know what the objective, blah, blah, blah. Really more so emphasizing the access if they need stuff versus telling them or or kind of forcing them to want to to to to to have to take it, right? I think that's what you're talking about, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:16

For sure, yeah. And like maybe, you know, when somebody first starts, maybe at the end of the first week, you're gonna set up dedicated time, 30 minutes tops to be like, how'd your first week go? What went well? What could we do better? What else do you need from me? Like a more formal kind of check-in, maybe somewhere towards the end of the first week, so that they know, like, okay, I've got these, I've got my manager's full attention. And then exactly what you said. I mean, most people want to know that it's okay to come ask for help, but otherwise I got it, and I'm gonna, you know, go on my way. And so I think that that's a to your point, it's a fine line, right? But nobody, I don't think there's anybody that goes, gosh, I wish I could be micromanaged. That's so much fun.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Well, right. No, and I and I don't, and I don't in some cases, I don't know that it's necessarily we do it on purpose. I think it's I think, and I speak for myself, maybe. You know, when I was a manager, I was always worried that I didn't do enough for the person. You're responsible just as much as they are for them to succeed. And so I would check in a lot to make sure that they didn't feel like they didn't have what they needed. But then in turn, in some cases, I got the impression from the employee that I was being too much. Well, it's like you I think I think you do if you're if the person that's managing you tends to be very hands-on, I think in the first 90 days, you should be leery about judging them on that's their style, more so than they're just trying to make sure that you're successful.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, I think honestly, if you build into that process some open feedback where you're asking the employee, like, how's this going? And you can just be honest, like right now, I'm really wanting to make sure you feel welcome and that you're set up for success. If you've got it, feel free at any point to just let me know and I can back off more and give you the space and then, but know that I'm always available if you have questions. My door's always open.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Now, remote work workers, remote working has always been a thing for some jobs, regionals, you know, salespeople, blah, blah, blah. How does onboarding look different when you're dealing with someone who's out on their own, who's out traveling, who's not really, you know, their first 90 days, they may be in the office for a week and then they're gone.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah. To me, it is a little bit challenging. When I was a manager, most of my direct reports were exactly that. They were all remote, you know, they were out in the field. And that can pose a challenge because, you know, there's just some natural interaction that happens when you walk by somebody's office and the doors open. And you do build that camaraderie quicker. You get to know that person quicker just because of those informal interactions. When someone's remote, I think that initially it's more important to schedule some real one-on-one time. The day will get away from you when you know, out of sight, out of mind. And so I think in those first weeks, it's important to have like formal, uh, just set up meetings, check-in times. How are you doing? What's going well, what's not going well, how can I help? I think those are important. If also you're not able to bring that person in, let's say you're sitting at corporate or what have you, and it makes sense, go see, you know, if yours are out in the field, like mine were at plants, and I made an effort within the first month, maybe two weeks, I'm not really sure anymore, but to go out there and lay eyes face to face in their environment. If you're working from home, that's a little bit different.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Sure, sure. What you're saying is we have the tools, we have the capabilities of seeing a person, engaging them through our eyes, even just through Zoom calls and MS teams. The the challenge is forcing yourself to make the time. Where it's easy for someone if you're in the office to knock on your door, it's not easy for someone who's working remote because they can't just pop up on a video call.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Right, right. It is challenging. That's why I think you build some real set-in times, and then obviously you let them know they can contact you at any time, but definitely those check-ins early on, because I I do think it's challenging as a remote employee. You don't know what that person's doing, versus if you popped in their office. Are they busy? I don't want to bother them. All those kind of feelings. If if I call too much, are they gonna think that I'm I'm needy and I don't know what I'm doing? So I do think it's nice to have some dedicated time where it's like, let's just get to know each other a little bit more, let's check in on how it's going so far, and where can I help you so you can succeed?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

What do you think the biggest reason is that that people fail in the first 90 days? Like a like you get you you bring a hot new hire in, and for some reason in the first 90 days, either they quit or they they've established that they don't feel like they're doing well. Like, what do you think the biggest cause of that is?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

I think it's we haven't given them the tools and the resources to succeed in the first 90 days. And then that person starts to question their decision. That kind of like, oh my gosh, what did I just do? Moment. And we don't put enough effort in the beginning to make sure they have everything that they possibly need. Like one of the things that we did, not trying to veer off too much, that was pretty cool is if you were a new manager, right? So now I'm not only am I coming in new, so I have to find my own way, I have a team. That happens a lot. And we did a process called new manager assimilation. That was done within the first two weeks, 30 days, where the manager and the team got together, and it was really just these like they they talked a little bit, the manager introduced themselves more about how they are, what their style's like, and so on. And then it was the manager went off and answered some questions that they wanted to know, or asked, put some questions together about what they wanted to know about the team. And the team got a chance without them seeing like who's saying what, like, what did they want them to start or stop or continue? And what were the things that gave them the most pause or what they really wanted to know about them? And then brought the team back together, and it was a great way to quickly get everybody kind of ask the questions you wanted to ask. Let's all get up to speed, let's understand what my new manager wants from me. Like, there's lots of ways to really help with that integration process.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

And I and you I think you hit the nail on the head. I I can't stand. I remember as a recruiter when the hiring manager, you know, within that first nine days called and say, Wow, this person's not working out. And I would say, Why are you blaming them though? Have you asked yourself, what are we doing wrong that this person's not working out? Because it's oftentimes it's the manager saying they're not going to be a they're not the right fit, when ultimately it's not necessarily they're not the right fit. You're not giving them the tools to be successful. And it's a hard conversation to have, let me tell you. I I've I've had this quote. I I I had a client one time and his turnover was just ridiculous. And I told him you know, after he decided to fire somebody within the first three weeks, I said, before I give you somebody else, three weeks is not a lot of time. My question to you then is what are you doing? To make sure they're successful, because that doesn't make any sense. We've already gone through the interview process. This is not another round of interviews. I think to your point, I think that you know you've given companies just as much, if not more, responsibility to make sure that they're not causing the person to fail.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

I mean, let's be real. In the first three weeks, what are you expecting out of this person? Other than to know, like, yeah, they seem like they're really gaining the knowledge. They're actively participating in everything that we've set up for them. I mean, if and believe me, I worked where we like to do higher, fire, repeat. And it's super frustrating because you can also say, like, where were you in the recruiting process? Look, sometimes mistakes happen. Sometimes it just wow, I don't know how this happened, but it's not going to be a right fit. But shame on the manager for not doing their due diligence when they're first coming in. And then really, what does happen though, I think less frequently than it should. If you're coming, if I'm the if I'm supporting the team and I'm the HR manager and my and my ops person comes to me and says, hey, this isn't going to work out. The question really is, well, what have you been doing? Because it doesn't, it's not making sense. So let's before we just say we're going to start over, let's really make sure we've done what we needed to do to support this person to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Oh, and I think this is also where HR gets involved. You mentioned earlier HR manager employee. I think the HR person plays a very important role in the first 90 days because they're they're also there to help guide the manager and really the employee on making sure that the communication's there.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

For sure. I mean, it's easy as an HR manager to stop into the new employee. It's safe. You know, how's it going? Anything we can do for you, but it's also important, and this is why I think it's key like if you get a new employee, it should become part of the manager's objectives that they're going to be evaluated on at the end of the year about how did this person onboard in and how have they become successful? You have to have accountability in the process. It would be dumb for the HR person to not be checking in with the hiring manager, too, saying, How's it going? How's Joe doing in the new role? Where can we help? Is there anything that we need to be doing to support Joe better? He says he sounds like to me he's doing pretty well. Maybe we should think about introducing him to a couple of the key players on some other teams. The other thing that's also really nice is considering it's not, I don't think it's always appropriate for every position, but assigning somebody, particularly in a leadership role, a coach, someone who's not the hiring manager, maybe somebody who's not HR, but a peer in a different function to be like, here's somebody else you can go talk to. They've been around a long time, they know the ins and outs, they're at a similar level to you. They can be really helpful to you in navigating the unwritten rules in an organization.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah, and understanding the culture. And I think that's important. It's natural for a manager to introduce a new employee to the team, to their team, the people that they're working with. But it's not necessarily as common, but probably just as important to introduce them to other teams that they're going to be, you know, even interacting with over time.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

For sure. And I do think it is helpful to, you know, help you, you know, let's say as the HR manager, probably is pivotal in this and the hiring manager. But if I was bringing somebody new into our broader leadership team outside of my function, I know all their peers. And I know who would be a great coach. And I and you can help orchestrate that by going to them and formally kind of saying, like, look, we just hired Mike, he's going to be over here in finance. You know, you're you're doing great over here, different function. Can I let Mike come to you? Would you be receptive to that? So when Mike has questions, maybe something he doesn't want to go to his hiring manager about, or trying to get the inside scoop on something else, you'd be perfect for this. And one, my guess is they would say yes, but you know, it's just another network to help somebody plug in in a safe space because it's really one of your peers.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

For sure. Let's let me touch on a topic. You're talking about HR.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

I'm a new hire, I'm two months in. There's some things going on with my manager, I'm not feeling good about the process. Can I trust you? Yeah. Can I go to an HR person and know that if I tell you the issues, you're not gonna go run back to the hiring manager and tell him.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Well, I can only speak for my style. When people would come to me, now obviously, if it was something that was like against a company policy or whatever, that's different. All bets are off the table. But otherwise, if it's like, gosh, I don't know how to work with so-and-so, he's driving me crazy. He's a micromanager, I would be kind of serving as a coach in that role and just saying, like, look, here's what I know about him. Here's a great way to kind of circumvent that. If it was something more, to be honest, I was always just honest with the person and be like, listen, we can just chat about this. I'm gonna follow up with you. If you want me to kind of, I can broach this subject without even mentioning your name or what we've been talking about, just asking how it's going and so on and so forth, I can do it that way. I mean, that was kind of like for me, it was a little bit of a superpower, right? I could I could do that without somebody, but I would always, if I was going to approach a manager on something that wasn't urgent, I'd ask, what do you want me to do? How can I help?

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Right. And I think it's important for kid for the new hires to understand, you know, I this I was just meant, I'm mentoring this kid. You know, I shouldn't say kid, he's in his mid-20s, but I mentioned seeing a kid, a person right now, a young person. And this is the reason I asked this question is because this has come up. You know, he came to me and said, you know, my boss is a terrible manager, these are the things that are happening, I don't know what to do. And I said, Listen, have you gone to your HR person? And they're like, Oh my god, well, if I go to her, then she's gonna just go back to him. I'm like, not necessarily. HR people are not are not the reporter, you know, they don't they they're they're not gonna get information that go run to the other person, say, Oh my god, I gotta tell you what happened. I mean, that's not what HR is for. HR, their goal is to deal with the employee relations between the manager of the company, the people, that little circle. I I think it's important. I guess I know it's that you described what your style was, but I think it's safe to say in HR, a good HR organization, it's not about serving one or the other, it's about serving all.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Agreed. And like, really, you know, you're part of the business. The HR function is part of the business, their expertise is in people and organizational development, and so on. And so, you know, maybe for that, using your example, I'd be saying to that young guy, like, go in and say, Listen, I want to talk to you about something, I really want it to be just between me and you. I'm looking for a little guidance and coaching, nothing more than that. Can you help me? You know, just so that person, then when they're going in, is kind of setting the groundwork, putting themselves at ease before they go, you know, and prefacing it before they even divulge anything. And a good HR person is going to say, of course, you know, you can talk to me and we'll figure out together what's the best next step.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Absolutely. All right. And that's I I I I wanted to ask this question because I know there's a lot of people out there when they're new to a company, who is the safe space? Yeah. Who can they go to where they know I'm having these challenges? Maybe it's just me, I, but I need to talk with somebody through it. And it needs to be someone at the organization. But I also don't want to go to my boss and suddenly cause in their eyes red flags just because uh I'm I'm not comfortable with something yet, or I'm not sure that something's working for me. And so I think it's important for candidates or new hires to know that there is a person out there that's a safe space, and to not just quit. This is this was the big debate with this client was he's like, uh maybe I should this, maybe this is the wrong place for me. No, wait, hold on. You you're you're you're having this feeling, but you're not really talking to anybody there. Maybe this is just misguidance, maybe this is a coaching opportunity, uh, coaching opportunity. Everything can be a coaching opportunity, everybody needs to grow.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Well, in all fairness, too, sometimes people don't realize what they're doing. What they think is being helpful, maybe isn't. And every person is a little bit different in what they need. You in general, I think people have to be more open to. I used to I used to say this to one of the one of our B VPs is like, all feedback's good. Even if you're giving a bad message, if it's sent with good intentions, all feedback is good. And the problem is, in general, a lot of people just aren't comfortable doing that.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

It feels like I think all well, I also think isn't it fair to say that you can also make sure when you're providing what could be constructive feedback to reiterate that this is for you to grow? This is not me telling you you're doing something wrong or bad, and shame on you. This is an opportunity to further develop. Yeah, I'd want you to be better. Don't we all want to be better? I I would think so. I will tell you the younger generation, absolutely. The big trend now is development, development, development. It's a big trend. Generation C, they want to know that they are constantly developing in the workplace. And so if there's anybody that's open to feedback, they are. But at the end of the day, they're also the ones now that are putting the companies in a deeper microscope on how they treat their employees. So it's a give and take. They're willing to accept and grow, but they also want to make sure that you're accepting and growing. I think that's part of it, is everybody has to be willing to recognize that there's opportunity. I so I have one last question, and don't yell at me. It's a tricky question. Uh, I don't I was gonna give you a heads up, and I thought, well, nah, I'm just gonna let's see what happens. Let's just see what happens. You have one opportunity to redesign the first 90 days for every company in the world. What would be the first change you would make?

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

One change should I it should I have evoked you if you want to ask this question?

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Well, no, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

I don't know if there's no right or wrong answer, but if you've been through enough onboardings to see what works and what doesn't work, and you've also seen what companies do wrong. If if there was let's just let me rephrase it. If there's one bit of what one tip or one bit of guidance you can give all companies on what they should think about the next when they're doing their onboarding program, what would that advice be?

SPEAKER_00 33:25

I think one of the things that I would say is onboarding doesn't end in like 30 days or 60 days. It's not like check off the box and get done. It's about investing and communicating and really getting to know your people and being flexible to adjust to what they need. Some people might be ready to go, and in 30 days, they're like, let me go, I'm ready. And there might be someone who takes 90 days, 120 days. Like, don't give up, find the good things in them and be willing to be flexible. Having said that, I think if you don't have at least a guideline structure of what onboarding is holding hiring managers accountable, because I think we miss that piece a lot, there's a bigger likelihood for failure.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

And you know what? What you just said, I love that answer. I love both. I love both angles of what you just said, but the the latter one I think is really important because I don't think, in my opinion, I don't think companies really have a structured 90 days. I I think they have a structured, well, I know they have a structured first week, usually. It's easy, but yeah, but I don't I think a lot of companies they they they don't make it to the 90 days of structure, they don't have a plan. And to your point, let's not guess at it. Let's kind of put some framework together. Framework. That's the best word.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Let's yeah, if you don't put it down, it's not gonna get done, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Let's put a framework together, what we'd like to see.

SPEAKER_00 35:06

Yeah, and if you don't if you don't hold hiring managers accountable, it's not gonna get done. The last piece is this whole idea that I really loved of this manager assimilation. If you want a team, a new team, especially when the person coming in is new to the team, it could be an existing employee, even that went into a new role. That manager assimilation, we did it a bunch of times. I actually did it as a new manager, and I'll tell you what, it bonds your team together super quick. And all these questions that you're talking about behind the new manager's back, they're answered right up front. You get this one opportunity, it's a couple hours, maybe it's an hour or two process, can't remember exactly. And then the team is soaring. And so, for anybody coming in that's managing new people, doing some type of assimilation is huge.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

No, I love it. I I've actually, this is the first time I've heard this in a recent while. I mean, I've heard similar types of tactics, but I I absolutely love this whole idea of management assimilation. Listen, Kelly, contrary to what anybody believes, this is this is a uh something that's not been it's it's an ongoing thread of of improvement that companies can make. It's not a black and white. I think that we've known for years that onboarding is critical, but there's so many companies doing it so differently. And it's it's great to hear a per another perspective, especially someone who's been in it for so long, to really understand what we should be looking at and how we should set up our employees for success. Side note, what are you doing now? So you you you were in corporate America. Now you're doing what? You're consulting. Tell me about this.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

You know, I've been in corporate America in HR for like 20, 25 years, left for career break for my family, and now I'm back. One of the things I love doing is coaching people in any stage of their career. I've done a lot with people who maybe took a career break like me and are engaging back into the workforce. And how do you even go about doing that? And how do you really put together what you've done on a break? And I'd love to help companies too. I mean, any HR organization, I would be able to do things like the onboarding process for them and so on, or manager assimilations, anything like that. So that's what I'm doing, and I'm so grateful that you're allowing me to talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

No, listen, it's I you you you've I'm grateful that you came on today to talk about this great topic. So um I will definitely make sure that in my podcast notes, people know how to get a hold of you, and certainly my audience can can contact you and and and if they have a need and talk through what you what you offer and hopefully uh get engaged. And it was certainly a pleasure having you on today.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Thanks so much, Mike. Talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

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