There are often problems with adaptation of new web employees in a team. Though the steps described here can seem obvious, they are exactly the ones being neglected in most cases. That’s why each team leader or project manager should be always mindful of them in order to help new employees join the company workflow quickly and give them opportunities for professional growth.
Here are the 6 absolutely necessary guidelines for web managers.
1. Make new members feel part of a team.
A well-developed, close-knit culture and the team working together for a long time can become obstacles for a newcomer’s quick adaptation. Your function as a leader is to demonstrate that he or she is welcome and considered to be a full member.
This can be done, for example, by posting the photo and a bio of your new colleague on your corporate site along with others’ to show friendliness and hospitable attitude even before the end of a probation period.
A great way is also congratulating a new member on joining the team on social media. You followers are likely to echo your post and leave some pleasant comments that will convey a sense of welcome to your new hire.
The most common end effective method, though, is inviting a new member to the events or parties where all the team members can interact and socialize openly. The perfect occasion is a simple lunch where a freshman can get to know the team better and feel integrated quickly and naturally. Position and experience of a new mamber is a very important issue, so when hiring a program manager for example you should be very supervisory. Here are you some tips to select good program manager.
2. Check in with new members every day.
It is evident that new members need our guidance especially if they are new in this industry; however, team leaders are often so engaged with their multiple projects and responsibilities that they tend to forget about it. As you may seem very busy to a new employee and he won’t like to interrupt you, he is likely to have many unanswered questions. That is why it is a team leader’s role to make short meetings at the arranged time with new employees every day in order to check in with them, provide guidance and advice and let them an opportunity to ask freely.
This tip is applicable not only to new people in the team, but to all the members either. Whenever you fail to have short regular dialogues with your whole team, you’ll notice how the stress builds up in it. Open dialogue between the team members helps them get a full image of the team’s work as well as define their own share in it.
3. Teach them to learn from their mistakes.
Your essential role as a leader is to assure new employees that making errors is inevitable, and a mistake is not a failure but a means of learning and improvement. Everyone in the IT industry knows that trial and error are inseparable from their job. It’s important they understand that their failures won’t be held against them as long as they are committed to find a solution to it and learn from it in order to provide better results and propel themselves to success.
4. Encourage participation.
To encourage participation of new employees at the meetings you have to find a way to make them comfortable speaking in front of the team. A good way is to ask a new member beforehand to prepare a short presentation on his part of the project and report with it at the meeting. When they start speaking and see that their colleagues gladly comment, offer some feedback and constructive advice, they will fell at ease while speaking up and feel a full member of the team.
5. Keep them busy.
It’s critical to keep new employees busy. If long-time members are involved in multiple projects and can find a piece of work to do when nobody’s there to assign a new task, the case with new employees is the opposite.
New employees don’t have any additional sources of work besides your assignments. That’s why you should always keep track of their work and be ready to provide them with new tasks any time. Since new employees tend to be very diligent and complete the tasks as soon as possible to make a good impression, digging up some meaningful job for new employees is a job that takes time.
So it’s recommended to design a work plan for them for their first month unless you want to strip them of quick integration in the company and their opportunities for professional development.
6. Fill in their educational gaps.
Since new employees need to fill in their educational gaps, your share is to help them as a manager. It involves some mentoring, directing to relevant resources and other means. But the most efficient for this purpose is taking them to web conferences.
There is lots of IT events offering new designers, developers and testers a chance to meet and learn from their senior fellows in a friendly and energizing environment.
Participating in such conferences will give them an overall understanding of the industry, people in it and their own place in the web community.
As you can see, the leader’s role is a great responsibility that accounts for the success of the whole team and company. You have to make a strategy on welcoming new members to help them build up their expertise, acquire new knowledge and skills and ensure their career growth.
