Onboarding A New Employee When Your Team Uses DiSC®

Can you remember your BEST onboarding experience? What about your WORST?

Recently, a coaching client shared this nightmare of an experience:

“There was no onboarding at all. Getting information and meeting people was completely on me. For weeks they promised the office space would be ready for me. But when I arrived – it was full of the previous employee’s clutter. My boyfriend and I went in over the weekend to clear out the extra stuff and actually make it a place where I can work.”

Organizations range very widely in how they approach onboarding. But what we know is that GOOD onboarding significantly increases employee retention, performance, morale, and team cohesion. It orients new team members to their role, the company’s rules and procedures and it also sets the tone for manager-employee relationships and team dynamics.

That’s why, teams that are already using Catalyst™ have a great advantage when onboarding team members.

Here’s are three ways teams can use DiSC® and Catalyst™ in the onboarding process:

1. Helping EVERYONE understand a new employee’s needs and priorities right away. When we’re in a new experience all of us have different priorities and needs we hope to get met. As one of my clients said: “DiSC® provides a shared language,” about individual styles, needs and preferences. This can help new team members advocate for themselves and help experienced team members to identify tailored approaches to bringing a new person on the team.By having new employees take DiSC® – HR and managers have insight into what details and experiences might matter the most to the new employee and which might create undue stress.

   For example, an S style employee may want to have a clear sense of what’s expected in the first week. While a D style new hire may jump at the chance to “prove themselves” by jumping into role-relevant tasks with less instruction.

2. Welcoming new hires to the team. New hires love to get a feel for the environment they are walking into. Teams can use the Group Features on Catalyst™ to help a new hire understand the individuals on their team, the culture of the team and how the team approaches their different priorities – together.

3. Getting to Know the Key Players. New hires need opportunities to get to know key players in their new role 1-1. This is especially valuable (and often overlooked) in remote and hybrid work environments – where casual stop by’s and coffees are less feasible. For teams who are on Catalyst™ – this is a great opportunity to revisit the “Compare a Colleague” feature. This feature allows the current employee (or manager) to learn a little about the new hire before they meet and vice versa. Then in their scheduled 1:1 – the duo can connect and talk about how to build a strong collaborative relationship from the start.

Are you currently using Catalyst™ in your onboarding process? If so – let me know if you have additional ideas on how to use Catalyst™ for great results.