Now that you have effectively recruited the best and the brightest talent, used an inclusive hiring process to assure that your impressive recruits became employees, and welcomed them on board in an informed and culturally conscious way, how will you develop them so that they stay long enough for you to realize a healthy return on your investment?
Timing Matters
When does employee development
begin? Employee development begins on the
day your offer of employment is accepted. Development needs to be intentional and effective because development is happening - whether you plan for
it or not. A great on-boarding process includes a strategic employee development
plan that aligns with and supports your organization’s mission from day one.
How long do you want to retain this new
employee? If employee retention is
considered and discussed from the first day as part of the strategy for
development, you can plot your development plan on a timeline. For example, if
the goal is to retain the new employee for ten years, then you can begin with
year ten and work your way backwards chronologically. What is your vision for
what that employee is contributing to your organization in ten years? What is
their vision? Many job interviews include the question: “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Few
employers however, ask new hires this and other career-related questions once
they are hired. It is true, that a critical part of the hiring and on-boarding
process is providing the new employee with a tremendous amount of information
to assure that they can function successfully in the organization, but as I
wrote in the previous blog post, this is a great time to learn more about your
new employee. This is also the perfect time to map your relationship so that
you have an idea of where you want it to go. A critical element of successful
plans is the ability to make changes along the way as new information is made
available. Remember, this is a development plan, not a contract!
ROI
In the world of Diversity and Inclusion
we have many discussions on ROI (return on investment). This question is
fundamental to the amount an employer is willing to invest in an employee and
what they expect to get in return for that investment. This usually includes
the cost of training, the cost of recruiting, the cost of development, and related
initiatives.
Employers will sometimes wait for an
employee to prove their loyalty before investing in their development. This is
a risky decision to make because ambitious employees can become frustrated if
they have to wait too long to engage in career development. On the other end of
the spectrum those who are considered to be the most loyal may turn out to be
great self-promoters with little regard for the well-being of the
organization and may leave
sooner than expected to join the organization’s strongest competitor.
Finding Your Hidden High-Potentials
Individuals who are not members of the
dominant cultural group in an organization may have difficulty promoting
themselves and are often over-looked as high-potentials. These are known as ‘hidden
high-potentials’. There are ways to find them and develop them into valuable
leaders who become loyal, long tenured members of your organization.
How do you develop new hires without
investing more than you think you want to risk or can risk? New employees can
be mentored as a group by a ‘proven’ employee.
Proven employees are those who have been with the organization for at
least two years and are considered to be high-potentials. High-potentials are those employees who have been
identified as having a high potential for becoming future leaders in your
organization. A great way to develop leaders is to have them mentor others, especially
new employees. This reinforces everything that you want them to know about the
organization, especially about its culture.
Every organization has a
unique culture. Every division within every organization has its unique
sub-culture, as does every department within every division. Having new hires
mentored as a group does not require a large investment. This mentoring
experience creates the opportunity to establish relationships early in an
employees’ tenure with your organization which will increase the likelihood
that they will stay with your organization for a longer period and be more
productive while they are there. Another benefit of these mentoring relationships
is that they span your organization’s departments and divisions, developing a
greater understanding of, and appreciation for, your mission and vision by
participants. My favorite benefit of developing relationships between new
employees and seasoned employees is the potential for increasing their cultural
competency. For example, if a new
employee is a wheelchair user, others in the mentoring group can ask - yes, ASK
them - what they prefer in terms of having doors opened or people touching
their chairs, etc. This is a NO-COST
employee development opportunity!
Other examples of development
strategies for new hires are to have them join a ‘development plan support group’
or a ‘distance traveled forum’. These two initiatives
help new employees to actively participate in their career development and
self-assessment from their first day on the job. They also encourage
appreciation for how employees’ diverse experiences, experiences outside of the
workplace and school contribute to an organization’s success. Developing
your new hires using these three strategies are excellent ways to find your
hidden high-potentials. Employees who
are mentored and part of co-development initiatives are much more likely to
speak up, offer input and volunteer for projects. They will come out of hiding because they
have been invited to do so and included in your organization’s efforts to
innovate and succeed.
Onward!
~ Wendy
Let me know what you think. wendy@inclusionstrategy.com
People
are usually thrilled when they start a new job. The ‘new job feeling’ is not
unlike the ‘new date feeling’ or ‘the new car feeling’. It takes most of us a
while to decide whether the date will become a mate and if the car is a keeper
or a lemon. 
