Newbie-havior

I recently had a joyous day at work: my replacement arrived.

I won't be leaving my current job until this summer but, because we'd originally thought I'd leave sooner, we'd already arranged a replacement. Since he's in now, rather than arriving as I'm walking out the door, means I actually get to train him up and get him acclimated to our unique environment before throwing him into the mix. The fact that he was a student at a university where I taught (at the same time, though not one of my students) has made it easier to adopt a mentor-mentee relationship early on.

Getting your newbies used to their new environment and helping them find their place in your office culture is an important early step for them, and one that too often gets neglected. We often leave people to pick it up as they go along, and as a result they may come in with one set of expectations that don't match reality, leading to embarrassing mistakes or misunderstandings that can provide an initial setback or even dog them for their entire time with your firm. You can help your new Creatives be more productive sooner if you introduce them to the culture and the expected behaviors in your company sooner rather than later. This is especially true for people who are just entering the workforce for the first time when they come to you. You shouldn't expect people to "just know," because even if they do figure it out on their own, you're losing productivity while they do.

Nadira Hira wrote about this in The Gig last fall, basing her piece in part on her own experiences. She suggested five key things for newbies to consider, and you as a leader should think about how to help your new Creatives in these areas...as well as any others you think are important. Hira goes into more detail, and you should go read her article, but here are the basics:

1. Consider their surroundings. Your new employee needs to understand the expectations of the workplace. Levels of familiarity, styles of dress, due dates, interoffice romance...all of these things can lead to early problems if they make a misstep.

2. Think tact. Make sure they understand they should treat others, especially supervisors, with a certain degree of respect. If they disagree, they should address those disagreements out of the public eye and do it in a way that can lead to resolution, not to more conflict.

3. Get managed. Encourage your newbie to develop relationships with experienced Creatives who can provide them with insights and perhaps inspiration. Your new employees need someone to talk to about workplace issues, both good and bad.

4. Aim for friendly, not familiar. Don't assume you should communicate with co-workers the way they do with their friends who know all their quirks. Professional interaction will help create the mutual respect that's essential for cooperation between Creatives. And they probably shouldn't add all their coworkers to their Facebook and Twitter on day one.

5. Listen. Seriously. Make sure your new Creatives understand that, while they were hired because of their skills, they aren't yet the master of the universe. They need to listen to others, not simply demand to be heard.

Creatives may be especially susceptible to problems. We expect Creatives to be independent and have unique personalities. Obviously, this is in part what you're paying for, but equally obvious is the need to have them fit into your firm in a way that contributes rather than being unnecessarily disruptive.

And don't pay too much attention to the Gen Y vs Gen X vs Boomer divide...ANY new employee can screw it up early on, so help them out no matter how much real-world experience they seem to have.

My replacement is still calling me "sir," and I'll need to break him of that soon. But he should still call our Big Boss "sir"...that's just the way we roll.