Every meaningful career decision involves sacrifice, which is why great leaders help people focus less on what they're leaving behind and more on what they can become. Loyalty often begins when people see a future worth pursuing.
Even when employees are excited about a new opportunity, major career changes naturally create uncertainty. Leaving behind familiar coworkers, routines, and responsibilities can lead people to wonder whether they made the right decision. During this transition period, leaders have an opportunity to reinforce confidence in the choice their new employees made.
A great onboarding process during an employee's first 90 days helps build relationships, deepen acclimation, and showcase the opportunities ahead. It also gives leaders an opportunity to fulfill the promises they made, both explicitly and implicitly, during the job posting, interview, and job offer stages of the recruitment process.
• Don't just get new employees signed up and settled into their roles; introduce them to team members who have built successful careers within your organization. Let them see firsthand what long-term growth and success can look like.
• Don't just train employees to perform their specific jobs; provide coaches, mentors, and opportunities to learn from others. Give them time to practice, encourage them to shadow colleagues whose work intersects with theirs, and help them gain a broader understanding of the organization, the people around them, and the possibilities that lie ahead.
• Don't leave employees wondering how they're doing; provide frequent feedback, encourage questions and discussion, and schedule a focused evaluation near the end of the onboarding period to celebrate progress, address concerns, and establish goals for future growth.
As employees begin to understand the vision and believe in the opportunities before them, they're more likely to leave their former job behind. Not because they have to, but because they want to. When leaders invest in people, answer their questions, and demonstrate that their promises were genuine, commitment begins to replace uncertainty.
That's the foundation on which long-term tenure and loyalty are built. Help your new employees begin that journey. Starting today.
Lindsey K. Rietzsch (pronounced "reach"), also known as "The Happy Lady," is an American entrepreneur, author, singer-songwriter, social media influencer, and inventor.
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