A couple of months ago I was planning what the first few days of my new employees’ experience with my business would look like.
I was armed with my beautifully curated Canva presentation which would outline everything she needed to know, a page of login details, all the forms I needed her to sign and my fresh new Code of Conduct.
But none of it felt quite right.
At the same time, I was working with a client who wanted to exit someone from their role partway through their probation period because they hadn’t chosen the right person for the job
…and I was about to replicate a similar process to theirs.
It was time to shake it up a little.
A mentor of mine recalled a memorable onboarding experience which gave me some inspiration to be a bit more creative.
So day 1 at Leanna J Consulting looked like this:
10am – Meet at Delicia Acai & Protein Bar at Henley Beach for a chat over a nutritious smoothie.
11am – Walk around the picturesque Henley Beach foreshore in the sunshine, chatting and discovering our mutual enjoyment of interior design and property.
12pm – Lunch overlooking the ocean at Melt Henley Beach, learning about my new hire’s huge passion for food and cooking.
3pm – Make a plan for tomorrow and head off to get a good night’s sleep before getting into the finer details of her responsibilities tomorrow.
Here’s what I learned from this approach:
In order for our fully remote working arrangement to be successful, we need to be able to trust each other, and as Stephen M. R. Covey talks about, a key part of that is being able to trust each other’s character.
By spending time listening, I am now armed with key information which will help me to meaningfully reward her in the future by indulging in her passions.
This relaxed environment gave us the opportunity to talk about topics not included in my fancy presentation. We spoke about my future plans for the business, why we do what we do in the way we do it and loads more – all things she has fully embraced and engaged with on a level that is hugely exciting for me as an employer.