Post selection honeymoon

Congratulations, you made it through the selection process and appointed the winning candidate- a perfect match. The crystal ball of selection worked, after all. Now you need to keep up the engagement levels as it is as when they first walked in the door. Using the match-making metaphor, post contracts exchange is the honeymoon period for the new starter and the employer. Apparently, this is between two months to a year of post-employment.  


For most of us, the honeymoon destination is the induction process or onboarding. There are several articles on induction and why induction leads to retention. I will not go into details about this, but if you were wondering about the link between induction and retention, read this article. 


I would like to focus on the extra bits that can enhance staff engagement levels during this honeymoon phase and beyond, as there is no second opportunity to make a good first impression. What is engagement, and why is it important. I would like to piggyback on the CIPD and their adopted definition of engagement. The CIPD adopts Utrecht's university group of occupational psychologists' definition of work engagement which defines work as a state of mind in which the employee shows: 

• Vigour (energy, resilience and effort). 
  
• Dedication (for example, enthusiasm, inspiration and pride). 
  
• Absorption (concentration and being engrossed in one's work). 
  
  
  

So, how does this relate to induction? The key is tapping into your new staff's motivation. A unique opportunity opens to us within the first few months of employment; we can fill that time with compulsory training, meeting new people, orientations etc. Still, we can also fill it with things that would motivate your new staff to stay in a state of mind of vigour, dedication and absorption.   


The manager must understand the new starters' motivations to achieve this successfully. There are several theories of motivation, but Herzberg's two-factor theory is particularly insightful during induction. I am drawn to this theory because it sees job satisfaction and dissatisfaction on two different continua rather than as opposite ends of the same. When our new starter joins, they are usually on the motivated continua, and the line manager's role is to ensure that they stay on the job satisfaction continua.  


Herzberg talks about the hygiene factor and the motivation factor. A new starter would ideally be high on the hygiene factors. For example, the salary on offer would be satisfactory for the candidate to accept. The working relationship is still new, so there is an opportunity for both parties to have a good working relationship. Hopefully, the working conditions meet the basics of the health and safety laws of the land, etc.  


To stay on the motivation continuum, the line manager needs to create a working environment that supports recognition, achievement, responsibility, growth, advancement, and the work content.  
Recognition- create a recognition profile of your staff as they join. I came across this idea about two years ago from some colleagues from Boston University. You can use Microsoft Forms or any other survey tool to ask how they like to be recognised.  


Achievement- Build vigour and dedication by ensuring that the induction is a mixture of orientation and actual work. Regardless of our motivation, most of us get satisfaction from achieving something. We must recognise this power during induction as that sends a message to the new starter that they are up to the task and that the organisation trusts them to deliver. Depending on the complexity of the role, it can start with little actions such as asking for their thoughts and contributions on a task that is almost completed or providing them with an almost completed knowledge-based task and asking the new starter to complete it. 


Responsibility- This goes beyond the responsibility within the role profile. Consider other informal opportunities beyond their role. In one of my blog posts, I talked about informal roles in the team. A manager's ability to spot both the formal and informal role the new start plays within the team, and utilise those, the more the new starter gets embedded into the team. 


Possibility for growth- This is where having a completed learning gap analysis is sound. I raised this in a previous post, a successful candidate will have a development area that can be gleaned from the recruitment process. Even the perfect candidate would need to learn the organisation's internal rules. Offer your new starter the opportunity to complete a learning gap analysis in the early days. The timing for learning will, of course, be role-specific but helpful to glean other areas of interest beyond their contractual role. 


Advancement doesn't mean promotion, as it is still early days but the positive status of the new starter in the workplace. A manager can activate this in the early days through storytelling. This can create a vision for the staff of the possibilities available in the organisation. This can also build a sense of dedication by ensuring that the new starter has opportunities to understand the team's successes. Mainly showcasing the areas where the organisation has enabled people to shine. The line manager can play a crucial role here in ensuring that there is an alignment between how the new starter sees themselves and how they see the organisation. 


Achieving all of this is no mean feat but is a sure recipe for extending that post-selection honeymoon phase. 

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