Although there’s often a substantial lag between hiring and productivity there’s a lot you can do to reduce it.

Yesterday we discussed what to do between acceptance and start to solidify your hires, integrate them into the team and familiarize them with the company’s market and products.

That effort doesn’t end the day they report to work.

During the first couple of days take time to go over the information you’ve already shared (see previous post) and get some feel of where the knowledge gaps that will slow productivity. Be sure to make this a positive experience—it shouldn’t feel like finals week.

To have the most productive employees, you must build a partnership. Your people must believe that you’ll treat them fairly and help them to grow to reach their true potential—and you must do exactly that.

People respond to this treatment by going the extra yard, working the extra hours, becoming, if they aren’t already, and real 10 percenters.

Offer plenty of feedback, waiting for the annual review is grossly unfair, as is giving feedback only when something is wrong. Honest and authentic feedback don’t mean abusive or destructive. Offering recognition of what the person does well and being candid about areas that need improvement are two hallmarks of a good review.

This holds true for all your people, candid feedback throughout the year means no surprises during the annual review.

Stay with the buddy system you established at acceptance, having access to someone who knows the ropes and culture is invaluable to those new to the company and the team.

Be sensitive to any actions or behaviors that are causing a problem, or have that potential and address them immediately. It’s far easier to “nip it in the bud” on a friendly, informal basis than to let it escalate into a major situation.

You’ve invested a lot of time and money in acquiring every one of your employees and building a world-class team, group, department, or company. It’s just plain stupid to ignore, even for one day, anything that will damage those efforts. Early intervention is key to avoiding human-based problems and that’s your real job as a manager.

Always remember that when it comes time for your own review you are who you hire and nothing you do as an individual will offset a low-productivity team or high turnover.

Image credit: djayo on sxc.hu

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 5:30 am and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture, Hiring, Motivation, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Tags: Hiring, productivity, reviews
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