This is part 2 on this topic. Here are the lessons I've learned over the years when hiring and bringing on a new manager. Would love hear your experiences! Thanks so much as always for reading and contributing ❤️❤️One of the biggest hiring challenges is finding new managers and integrating them with the team. As a small business owner, it's tough because odds are your attention is being pulled in a variety of directions.Let me know your thoughts on your hiring experiences. Did I miss anything critical here?After years of hiring new departmental managers, here are some thoughts on how you can do it.Last time we discussed this topic we reviewed how to bring on a new manager if your old manager is sticking around a while to help get the new person up to speed. That's great. And just like we want easy employee change-overs, we also all want to find a money tree growing in our backyard, but neither of those usually happen. So let's talk about the most common way this is going to go down:Your new manager is going to come in and essentially have to sink or swim on their own. There's no transition because the previous manager either quit, retired or was asked to move on (that's a nice way of saying it, isn't it?), and now this person is filling in the gaping void that department has been staring down.WELCOME TO THE JUNGLEBefore the new person even starts, make sure you lay some ground work with the employees of that department. It is strongly suggested you have a meeting with them to let them know you've made a new hire. Do an introduction of the new person before they even start.Spend a bit of time outlining their experience, how they did in the interview and why you are excited to have them start. Now would also be a good time to give them an opportunity to voice any concerns or suggestions they might have for improvement that you can discuss with the new hire.That suggestion of course is predicated on the fact that you've actually created a positive business culture where feedback is welcome. If they scatter like cockroaches in the light when you bring up the idea of them giving you feedback, there are a few other issues that need sorting on top of onboarding the new hire.... that's another topic for this newsletter on another day...On the day this person starts, make sure you are the first person they report to. Spend some time walking them through and introducing them to all their team members. Then spend time walking them through the rest of the business and introducing them to everyone else.There's absolutely nothing worse and more awkward than some new person walking around that half the people have no clue who that person is. It eventually reaches that super awkward point where everyone waited to long to ask, and now no one is going to ask. And then everyone would just rather pretend they don't see each other at all. It's f*cked up, but you've all been there.IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR EXPECTATIONSPeople often fail because they don't know what is expected of them. Take some time on day one to outline what you expect of the new manager. But start realistically. If you want them to overhaul the entire department in a week, if we were betting people we'd put all our chips on you not being happy with the results of that expectation.Make sure you also set aside plenty of time for meetings. We don't mean 2 hours of wanting to claw your eyes out meeting, but quick 15 minute sessions a few times week.You'll also want to spend plenty of time actually on the floor where they work. Not to micromanage, but to see what the reality in the department is. Sitting in an ivory tower worrying about your stock picks isn't going to be a friend to anyone here.GIVE, AND BE RECEPTIVE TO, HONEST FEEDBACKNothing is worse than not realizing you aren't doing the job correctly. So it's important you keep that feedback loop going. Involve the staff as well.One option is to provide the team the opportunity to do an anonymous 360 review of the new manager. If your culture provides the safety for the team to be honest, you should get some good feedback. It's important you discuss these findings with the new hire, even if they are hard.Difficult discussions become more difficult with the passage of time. Candor is critical. It's also critical as the main leader, you take personal responsibility for this persons success. Be so invested in their success that you make sure you provide every tool available for them.DON'T FEAR THE REAPER - OR THE CHALLENGE OF THE TASKIf things ultimately don't work out, make sure you reach that conclusion as quickly, but fairly, as possible. As we've said before, it's more important to fire than to hire.If you take a truly collaborative and proactive approach, this probably won't be necessary. New managers are challenging, scary and catalysts for change. And change is hard for people.But it's also a huge opportunity for you and the company. Don't waste it by not dedicating your attention and energy to it.Thanks a ton for making it this far! If you liked what you read, maybe I could entice you to join my newsletter by signing up here. It focuses on small and family business news, ideas, insights and tips that are actually useable. Thanks so much! ❤️If you wanted to share this on twitter, feel free! You can find the twitter thread here. Much love! 😍 see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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