5 Ways to Successfully Onboard New Hires

About this video

Martell warns that hiring flips at the start date: while a candidate is outside, you filter and qualify (and sell toward the bottom of the funnel); once they join, the job is enrolment and engagement, not more filtering — mishandling that transition, he says, pushed a friend’s talented new hire out within a week. His five onboarding steps: 1) An orientation session that acts like a ‘you are here’ map — vision, mission, values, why the company was started, the accountability chart, team structure and how people communicate, run as a checklist with the person’s manager. 2) A training system: every department (he lists product, engineering, marketing, sales, customer success, and ops/admin for a SaaS business) should have one program document or playbook containing the role’s history, processes, systems, best practices, training links and FAQs, so a hire can consume it in days instead of learning by osmosis. 3) Clear 90-day goals, because people stay where they feel they are succeeding, challenged and supported, and humans plan poorly beyond three months. 4) Assign a buddy — ideally not the direct manager — who owns the softer side, such as lunch, check-ins and introductions, so the hire makes a friend quickly. 5) Schedule one-on-ones on a cadence (first day, first week, then spacing out over the first 90 days) to listen, support and harvest fresh-eyes feedback.

Key takeaways

• Stop filtering once someone joins: after day one, onboarding is enrolment — vision, culture and connection, not further qualification.
• Run an orientation that gives the ‘you are here’ map: mission, values, accountability chart, team structure and communication norms.
• Give each role one program document/playbook with processes, best practices, training and FAQs so hires self-serve instead of learning by osmosis.
• Set explicit 90-day goals and assign a non-manager buddy responsible for the social side of settling in.
• Schedule one-on-ones from day one, spacing them out over 90 days, and ask new hires what the company could do better.

Episode details: published January 13, 2020 · 10:46 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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