To get started today, think about the last person who joined your team. By the end of their first week, could they have told you in one sentence what doing their job well looks like?
Not what the job involves. Not which tools they use or who sits where. What good looks like.
If the honest answer is “probably not”, you’re not alone. Most of us were never taught how to bring someone into a team in this way. We were handed a checklist, or we copied how we were onboarded ourselves. Then we did our best with that.
I even remember my own onboarding years ago and the strongest memories that I have from multiple roles is that I was shown tools, software, systems and processes of how to do my job – not what good actually looks like.
Let’s get into how you can avoid this and give new starters a more rounded and effective onboarding experience.
Why this is so hard (and why we get it wrong)
When someone new joins, there’s a lot to sort out. Accounts, equipment, HR paperwork, a week of introductions. All of it matters and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do any of this.
But none of it tells them what you expect.
There are usually two practical things that cause this.
1) The checklist trap
Onboarding becomes a list of tasks to tick off. Laptop set up, logins working, meet the team, shadow a few calls. Once the list is done, it feels like onboarding is done and dusted.
The truth is that the checklist is easier than the alternative – to tell someone what good looks like, you have to know it yourself. You have to put into words standards you’ve probably never written down. As I wrote about recently, knowing what good looks like, is one of the most useful things a manager can do, even in areas where you’re not the expert. The checklist lets us skip that step and still feel organised.
2) The “let them settle” trap
This one comes from a good place with good intentions. You don’t want to overwhelm someone in their first few weeks, so you hold back. “Take your time, get to know everyone, no pressure.”
I’m not saying you should hand someone a full workload on day one (please don’t). Settling in matters. But settling in and knowing what’s expected aren’t in competition. You can do one without the other.
The problem is that a new starter is trying to work out how they’re doing from the moment they arrive. If you don’t tell them what good looks like, they’ll guess. Some will set the bar too low. More often, the bright, anxious ones will set it far too high and wear themselves out trying to clear it.
Either way, you find out later than you should. Usually at the end of probation, when habits have already formed.
What it looks like when it’s going wrong
Here are a few signals that you can watch out for that may show that onboarding isn’t going as well as it could be.
The busy fortnight
Their calendar is packed with introductions, training sessions and shadowing. Two weeks in, they’ve met everyone and haven’t owned anything. Yes, they’re busy, but they can’t tell you what they’ve contributed to actual work.
The polite yes
Every one-to-one goes the same way. “How’s it all going?” “Yeah, great, everyone’s been really welcoming.” New starters rarely tell you they’re lost, especially when they’re keen to make a good impression. They’re afraid that if you stick their hand up and say that they’re unclear about something that you’ll judge them negatively for that.
The three-day afternoon task
You give them something you’d expect to take a few hours. It comes back three days later, beautifully formatted and far more detailed than you needed. That isn’t a time management problem. They didn’t know where the bar was, so they aimed for the highest one they could imagine and naturally overcooked things.
The probation surprise
The first time they hear something isn’t quite right is at their formal review. To them, it feels like it came out of nowhere. To be fair to them, it did because this is the first they’re hearing of your expectations.
How to actually tell a new starter what good looks like
Let’s get practical and look at how to fix this problem if the points above are sounding familiar or if you simply want to be proactive and not allow them to happen to you.
Write down what good looks like before they start
Before their first day, spend 20-30 minutes writing down two or three outcomes you’d expect from them in their first few months. Keep them in plain business terms rather than task lists. Then add one line that new starters rarely get: what isn’t their job yet.
For example, you could say the following:
- “By the end of your third month, you’ll be running the monthly reporting for two clients without needing me to check it.”
- “You’ll be the first point of contact for day-to-day questions on those accounts.”
- “Not your job yet: pitching for new work or handling budget conversations. You’ll get there, just not in the first few months.”
Share it in their first week. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to exist and they need to understand it.
Sidenote – this matters just as much for senior hires. They may need less hand-holding, but they still need to know what you’ll judge them on and over what timeline.
Give them something real to own in week one
Introductions and shadowing have their place. But people start to feel part of a team when they own something, however small that thing is. Pick a piece of work that’s real, finishable within a few days and low-risk if it goes slightly wrong.
One of my previous companies was excellent at this and it’s why even temporary staff or interns did extremely well – because they were given real work straight away.
The important part is telling them the bar up front for elements that they may not be aware of:
- “This should take about half a day.”
- “I’m more interested in how you approach it than in it being perfect.”
- “If you’re stuck for more than an hour, come and chat with me.”
This is also the quickest way to learn how they work. You’ll get far more from one small piece of real work than from two weeks of watching them quietly shadow other people.
Tell them exactly how to ask for help
“My door is always open” sounds supportive. For someone in their first month, it’s an invitation they’re unlikely to take up. They don’t yet know what counts as a reasonable question, or whether asking will make them look like they can’t cope, or how many questions is too many.
Give them a specific route instead:
- “For anything small, message me directly. I’d rather you ask than spend an hour stuck.”
- “For bigger questions, save them for our one-to-one on Thursday.”
- “If you’re not sure which it is, just ask. That’s a perfectly good question too.”
This is where a regular, well-run one-to-one earns its place. It’s also worth pointing them to one person besides you who can answer the day-to-day questions. It takes the pressure off both of you.
Use 30% and 90% check-ins on their first piece of work
I’ve written about 30% and 90% feedback and how it’s very effective for day-to-day work and deliverables. You agree to a check-in roughly a third of the way through a piece of work to make sure it’s on course, then another near the end to add small improvements. It’s useful for anyone. For a new starter, it’s close to essential.
The 30% check-in catches the three-day afternoon task before it happens. Say it out loud when you set the work: “Show me where you’ve got to after the first hour or so. I just want to check we’re picturing the same thing.”
If someone has joined your team in the last three months, ask them in your next one-to-one:
- “If you had to describe what doing this job well looks like, what would you say?”
Then compare their answer with yours. If they match, great. If they don’t, you’ve just had the most useful onboarding conversation of their time with you. It’s not too late to have it.
If nobody has joined recently, write down what good looks like for the next person who does. You’ll be glad it’s ready.
Because the best time to tell a new starter what good looks like is their first week. The worst time is their probation review.
