Welcoming New Team Members

Integrating new people into a company is a challenge and a key responsibility.
We tend to interview effectively, hire quickly, and then throw them into the deep end.
Giving them a job description is the easy part — making them part of the family, and making them feel welcome is a whole new ball game.

There is rarely a systemic approach to sharing values and culture and showing new people the ropes. These new people must navigate the “gatekeeper” hierarchy of time and tenure — not role and competence. It takes a snide remark, an undertone whisper, or a power-play to derail good, hardworking people. Organizational seniority can be a potential problem. Unfortunately, pushing ones weight around has nothing to do with size.

Setting people up to fail without giving them an opportunity to succeed is bad business and poor management. Shame on us if we allow that to happen. If we don’t address the situation head-on, we become part of the problem.

I learned very early in my life that we don’t let the lunatics run the asylum.
Time to catch the bull by its horns…