5 Tips To Help Your New Employee Join Your Church Staff

Congratulations, you’ve hired a candidate! Bringing a fresh face and perspective onto the team is always an exciting phase. Don’t be fooled, however, the next few months will be critical in determining the long-term success of the candidate. Here are a few things you can do as the leader of your new employee to help onboard them smoothly and ensure a happy and productive future. 

1. Be patient. Change isn’t easy.

With a new team member, there always seems to be a “honeymoon” phase. The leash is a little longer, there is adequate patience for getting up to speed, etc. There’s really no official time table for this to occur but one thing is certain, always lean towards patience. There is a huge investment both on your part and the candidates part to make this transition go as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. Keep in mind the amount of detail and dynamics the new employee is adjusting to and managing: address changes, kids schooling, new home issues, etc. Not to mention the social and emotional dynamics of leaving past relationships behind and developing new connections.They will get up to speed hopefully sooner rather than later but always lean towards patience.

2. Check in.

Once a new employee is hired and the hiring leader feels that he or she has “fixed that issue” it's easy to quickly move on to other pressing needs within the organization. We often see this happen and can easily cause some ripple effects. Now that the position is filled, don’t simply escape to new issues. In many ways, the work is just now getting started. Periodically check-in on progress, pursue and clear any roadblocks they may be experiencing and support your new employee through the chaos.

Consistent communication is key to a new hire's adaptation into a new environment.

3. Consider the spouse factor.

A successful transition is largely based upon how the spouse and family acclimate. Because of this, when dealing with a potential long distance move, we are constantly asking about family dynamics like where grandparents live, where the candidate and spouse grew up, etc. Make it a point to steer a few key people on or off the staff team to reach out to the new spouse in order to begin the bridge building process. Lunches, double dates, random gifts are all fair game in winning over the hearts and minds of your new employees family.

4. Prepare for the learning curve.

Your environment is unique. Although you’ve hired a sharp leader that can likely figure things out given enough time, don’t be opposed to getting them some advanced training. Since the learning curve into your culture is likely a steep one, begin to think of ways you can bring them up to speed faster.

Can you provide individual meeting times with the IT rep, is there an upcoming conference they can attend that gives them a better perspective of what your wanting to do? There are countless opportunities to get them the tools they need to expedite the on-boarding process.

5. Invest time. 

On-boarding a new employee takes time.

Specifically, the process takes your time. Between checking in with their progress, facilitating and supporting the adjustment of their family and ensuring the candidate gets up to speed as fast as possible, they are going to need a hefty time investment from you. Certainly there are ways to do this outside of work as well. Plan a few staff lunches, elder dinners, etc.   Make yourself as accessible as possible and you should be able to watch the candidate fall into place successfully.

Our team at Vanderbloemen Search Group is here to help in any way possible. It’s a huge commitment to bring in a new employee to the team and it takes a lot of time and effort however, as you on-board new members in a healthy manner, your organization will go to new heights.

What are some other tips you've learned from the hiring process?

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