Onboarding Starts During the Hiring Process
Don’t hold back
Onboarding is critical to the success of every employee and probably most critical to the individual assuming the CEO role. What I’ve learned is that the groundwork for a successful transition must be laid out by the Board, the Chief People Officer, and the outgoing CEO and it should begin almost immediately after hire. It can’t wait until the CEO’s first day on the job.
Brandon’s role has been critical in onboarding our new CEO. After we had made the offer, I shared a great HBR article entitled “After the Handshake” on the role of the outgoing CEO, and he has taken that fully to heart. In it, the author outlines that an incumbent CEO can help the incoming CEO both adjust to the company and also understand it.
As recommended in the article, we began by sharing with Liza information about how decisions are made, how the company innovates, and who the key influencers are. By helping her understand the lay of the land up front, we ensured that she didn’t just understand the role she would play, but also the political landscape she was walking into. If we do this right, we ensure that Stash can keep the trust we’ve already established in the marketplace and guarantee that our many stakeholders feel like they are a part of this transition’s success.
Another critical element of our onboarding was bringing the new CEO to the people. Given that our workforce is remote-first, rather than having Liza just show up in our NY office, which is only frequented by a couple dozen people on a given day, the teams put together a fly-around roadshow.
Starting in the west and working her way east, we have designed 6 events in 5 cities. The program is simple: an ALA (Ask Liza Anything) coupled with breakouts about mapping the future. We will be asking participants to think about how to super-charge Stash’s growth and how they each will make an individual impact. Of course, all of this will be mixed with fun and mingling, giving every employee an opportunity to be face-to-face with the new CEO and each other. Our hope is that people leave feeling a personal connection to her and her vision for what’s ahead. And the genuine nature of the handover will be on display at each event with Brandon and others from the executive team front and center helping people understand the why behind this transition.
Usually a start-up founder/CEO has vision, drive, and the charisma to build a company. Fortunately, when that same CEO has the foresight, strength, and ability to set a strong foundation for a new era—that’s an indication of a leader who is not just good, but great. I am eager to see, and be a part of, the new era at Stash, knowing that together we have built a well-structured and thoughtful transition plan to ensure our new CEO is set up for success.
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