5 Ways to Ensure New Hires Assimilate Well

You did it! You finally found the right person for your church's vacant position. The days, weeks, and months of resume reviewing and interviews have paid off. However, as important as making the actual hire is, something that is even more crucial is making sure the hire sticks. In addition to a stellar onboarding process, here are a handful of tips to make sure your new hire assimilates onto your team well.

1. Set up regular check-ins.

Nothing can be more frustrating to a new staff member than not knowing what or how they're doing. This can eventually turn into frustration for the employer as well. A great way to keep everyone on the same page is to schedule regular check-ins for the first several months. In the first two months, weekly check-ins may be the best route. Once you and your new team member both feel comfortable with the work they are doing, these check-ins can spread out a bit. 

2. Give regular feedback.

Giving regular feedback to new team members is crucial for their development and integration. You'll be giving pretty regular feedback in those frequent check-ins, but beyond that, reviews and evaluation are necessary to make sure everyone is still working toward the same vision. Keep the tone of your feedback positive and constructive as your new hire continues to learn the ropes at your church.

3. Ask them for feedback on you.

A great way to strengthen your team is to ask your new hires to give you feedback on you and your leadership. This may seem like a trap to a lot of new employees, especially if they don't know you very well yet, but it is actually a great way to ensure you are leading in a way that is effective and successful. To help your new staff feel comfortable with the idea, give them a template or a survey to fill out that can help guide them through the feedback process. 

4. Set up regular team gatherings.

Another important facet for successful staff assimilation is to create and facilitate environments where your team members can get to know each other in a more relaxed environment. This can be done in a lot of ways. Once every couple months, set a few hours aside for a team event at the end of the workday. Game nights and movie nights are some of the favorites among our people here at Vanderbloemen! Cultivating an environment where your team can get to know one another outside of work duties is a sure way to create a strong staff culture. 

5. Set new goals based on performance.

You probably already have general goals for this particular position set; however, hopefully this new hire will meet and exceed those goals after an appropriate amount of time on staff. After they've spent a year in the role, revisit those goals. Is there anything they completely blew out of the water? Maybe that goal should be adjusted to reflect their performance. Is there something that you've realized shouldn't actually fall under this position's leadership? Adjust it. Successful employees are constantly developing. This constant development is what keeps high capacity team members happy, challenged, and excited to come to work everyday. 

Are there any other steps that your team uses to ensure successful assimilation? We’d love to hear them!