Onboarding funnel for new managers
Equipping new managers is a critical process that can have a significant impact on the efficiency and long-term success of the team or department they lead. While onboarding generally follows a standard approach for most new employees regardless of role, there are some additional things to consider when welcoming new managers. Specifically, it is essential to quickly understand the culture and processes of the new work environment, integrate it with your team, and develop strong leadership skills. In this guide you will learn everything you need to know about onboarding your manager.
What is manager onboarding? Why is it important?
Manager onboarding refers to the structured process of integrating new managers into an organization. This includes taking on new roles and providing the tools, knowledge and support you need to lead your team with success and efficiency. What distinguishes manager onboarding from standard employee onboarding are additional considerations to the challenges, responsibilities, and expectations associated with leadership positions.
The special situation of preparing someone to envision a management role becomes a dedicated process for the onboarding managers that every organization needs. Managers are an extension of the company culture and need to be fully embodied to promote success within the team and organization. Additionally, comprehensive manager onboarding strategies can accommodate their roles and start working quickly with the team to maintain engagement and productivity levels.
It is important to recognize that management changes almost always cause employee disruption, but effective onboarding can significantly minimize them. Finally, onboarding the manager is important to keeping the manager himself. Given that if they feel unsupported at the beginning of their journey with your organization, they are likely to resign and look for other opportunities.
How long does it take to get on board the new manager?
The overall process of onboarding a new manager or leader actually doesn’t have a set period. A general rule of thumb that you can keep in mind is three to six months, or even a year in senior management. This timeline relies heavily on role complexity, the manager’s previous experience, and the specific onboarding practices of the organization.
To ensure a smooth and successful transition, each stage of onboarding requires a detailed checklist. For example, the first month should be dedicated to corporate culture, role expectations, and immediate responsibility. By the end of the 90-day mark, new managers will need to achieve deeper integration, build stronger relationships, and set goals for individual and team development. Six months later, they had to complete the required training course and attend a performance check-in. Beyond this point, onboarding takes a long-term approach, highlighting continued development, strategic planning, and leadership growth.
What to include in manager onboarding
As each has its own unique needs, we do not recommend following the same onboarding process for different management layers. However, before investigating these differences, let’s look at the elements that remain the same in all categories.
Introducing corporate culture, values, vision and mission. All managers need to embody and express their corporate culture to other employees, clients and collaborators, regardless of seniority. Therefore, achieving effective cultural integration is a fundamental part of managers’ onboarding.
Explaining the structure of the company. Managers usually review organizational charts to identify positions within the organization, understand how teams connect with other teams and departments, and to understand who should report to, among other things. You need to understand the internal structure of
Personal introduction. During onboarding, new managers will need to meet colleagues who work with them in the company, whether they are fellow managers, team members, or directors.
Roll-specific training. Onboarding should include related training courses for managers, such as leadership courses and training on processes and tools used throughout the company.
The expectations of goals. Anyone who enters an organization must know that they are expected to achieve. Therefore, you should receive information about team, department, and organizational goals, strategic plans, and comprehensive goals.
This is the general direction onboarding needs to follow, no matter who is intended. In the next section, we consider additional steps that correspond to role seniority and complexity.
Team Lead/Junior Manager
Team leaders or junior managers are often at the beginning of their leadership journey. As a result, they often have strong technical skills, but lack the leadership skills required for effective team management. Therefore, the main focus of onboarding planning is to provide training opportunities to develop leadership and people’s management skills.
If these individuals are promoted internally, they probably don’t need to showcase the culture and values of the company. However, they need to help them adopt it to understand the management model their organization supports.
Finally, make sure to schedule regular check-in and feedback sessions with senior management. These meetings allow new leaders to learn more about providing the support they need, providing constructive criticism and effectively exchanging feedback while adapting to their new roles.
Senior Manager/Department Manager
At the next level of management, you will find senior managers and department heads. Unlike previous categories, these professionals have more experience in team management in addition to technical skills. Therefore, their onboarding plans can focus on further developing these skills in leadership courses, seminars or workshops.
In addition, senior managers and department heads must be given insight into the overall business strategy, goals, and key performance indicators (KPIs) of the new organization. In this way, they can create a team or departmental strategy that is consistent with the organization’s comprehensive mission and objectives.
Finally, as in previous categories, senior management and department heads should meet with executives and stakeholders to gain a more understanding of the management and feedback process for the new workplace. This helps you lead your team in a way that doesn’t change from the culture and values of the company.
Director and executive
Welcoming new members of senior management, such as directors and executives, is a huge change for your business. If they are not directional, they may act inconsistent with the company’s existing culture. Therefore, it is essential that their onboarding plans include a detailed introduction to the organization’s culture and leadership philosophy. This ensures a smooth transition for both new leaders and their teams.
Like middle managers, directors and executives must also be informed about the organization’s overall strategy, goals, missions and KPIs. However, given that they are more liable, they also need to understand high levels of finance, investor relations, board expectations, and other important areas.
Finally, their onboarding plans should help build strong relationships with fellow executives and key decision makers to promote effective collaboration and communication between different departments.
Manager Onboarding Best Practices
The success of a manager’s onboarding strategy depends on how comprehensive and well thought out the process is. Keep five best practices in mind to help new managers enter the organization with as much confidence and involvement as possible.
Create an onboarding plan
Planning and organization are essential elements to a successful onboarding process. This means identifying the main stages of onboarding and how long they take to create a checklist for each. Typically, you should describe the first three months of new hire employment, and create a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan that includes an overview of your specific goals and regular check-in. After that point, the new manager will likely find his footing and require less frequent feedback sessions. Still, give them access to training resources and knowledge bases that can continue using even after the first three months of onboarding.
Make resources available in advance
New managers need as much time as possible to prepare for their new role. As a result, they should have access to documents, company policies, organizational charts, training resources and leadership guides, even on their first day at work. This allows them to enter the organization not only know their colleagues and team members, but also feel confident and informed about the company’s policies and processes. They also have time to explore the company’s leadership style and consider ways to adapt it to their own. Finally, witnessing their workplaces being organized and ready to arrive will create a positive first impression, increasing their involvement and motivation, and improving their performance.
Set clear expectations
Typically, when a new manager enters an organization, the pressure increases. They are expected to successfully integrate into the company culture and lead the team while building their skillsets and trying to grasp the new work environment. To make this process a little easier, make sure that your manager’s onboarding strategy effectively clarify what you expect from them. Communicate early on short- and long-term organizational goals, strategic plans, metrics and KPIs that you think are important. This will help new leaders set meaningful goals for themselves and their team, prevent misunderstandings, and pave the way for their success.
Provide continuous support
Even if they have previous experience, don’t leave a new manager yourself while onboarding. On the contrary, they need continuous support when they begin their journey with your company and once onboarding is officially over. This support comes from mentors who provide new leaders with insights and solutions to problems and concerns. Additionally, by updating the Leadership Training Resource Library, new managers can continue to develop their leadership skills. And finally, promoting effective communication with other leaders within the organization can help promote a knowledge sharing culture that supports those in need.
Explore culture in depth
Managers and leaders play an important role in sharing and enhancing the culture. Therefore, one of the most important components of a manager’s onboarding strategy is introducing the company’s traditions, values and norms of communication. This allows you to explore these elements and understand how to incorporate them into your leadership style. Successful cultural integration is essential to achieving consistent management practices across the organization, and to help employees be guided in collaboration with the value of the company, strengthening morale and engagement.
I’ll summarize
Manager onboarding is an essential process for successful leadership within an organization. It is the tools needed to understand the culture, vision, and strategic planning of the business that new managers are participating in, provide the support they need to succeed in their new roles, and develop leadership and people’s management skills. It helps to provide. In this article, we have considered managers that should include onboarding in different levels of management, as well as best practices to follow to maximize their effectiveness.
If you are interested in exploring software solutions to increase the effectiveness of your organization’s onboarding strategy, check out the onboarding software directory.
