When you hire a new team member they bring a wealth of new talent to the team. The addition of new talent to the team can produce many different potential outcomes based on the culture and leadership of the team. Will the organizational culture brings out the best in each and every team member, or will it foster low performance? Time will tell and it is yours to decide.
Your employees are your most important asset, and they are a direct reflection of the leadership and the culture of the organization. How can you cultivate the best organizational culture and foster transformational leadership?
Education Week (2019) shares 4 Tips for Helping Your Newly Hired Rockstar Become a Thriving Leader. According to the authors of the blog “Schools and districts devote much time to the interview process, seeking transformational leaders to join the team. But in the excitement of bringing in new talent, whether experienced educators from outside the organization or outstanding current teachers transitioning to school leadership positions, it's critical to remember that great leaders are made, not hired.” Check out the four tips below and think about how you can apply them to your own organization!
1. Spend more time than you think you should explaining your organization's mission and vision.
Creating a shared vision with the team is one of the most important aspects of successful leadership. When team members feel a sense of ownership of the shared vision, they are more likely to do whatever it takes to make it come to life. New team members need to understand what drives a positive and healthy organizational culture, and they need to see how their hopes and dreams for their work can thrive in their new environment. Take every opportunity to help people feel like they have ownership over how to get to where the team is heading once the vision is established.
2. Once you've clarified your vision, do the same for leadership roles--including autonomy.
Most staff are told (and sometimes repeatedly) what rules they need to follow, but not the level of autonomy they have within the system. To what degree do they own the work and have sole responsibility for the outcome, and to what degree are they expected to share ownership with others and reach consensus about how to get to where they need to go? This should be clearly defined and one way to accomplish this level of clarity regarding autonomy is through “role charters”. This tool can help facilitate good decision making and enhance collaboration by clearly defining accountability and decision authority while at the same time establishing behavioral expectations and success metrics. Consider implementing something like a role charter in your district.
3. Support your new leader in building a network.
There is an old African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. This is true of good leadership. The most successful leaders have a wide network and know who to call for support and how to leverage their network to enhance their leadership success. The wider you cast the net to connect your team members to a network of varied perspectives, the more likely your new team member is to learn, grow and thrive as a member of your team!
4. Make sure your new leader creates a 90-day plan.
One of the most common mistakes new team leaders make is that they jump into the new role and start making changes and trying to improve the organization. Consider encouraging your new team members to spend the first 90 days listening and learning before making any changes. Require that they create a 90-day plan that is aligned with the organization’s vision and use that plan for regular check-ins, to see what they are learning and how it is impacting their vision for their new work. At the end of 90 days, the new team member will have a much better understanding of the organization and what type of change will most positively impact individuals and the team. Even if the changes that are enacted at the end of the 90 days are the same changes your new team member proposed upon being hired, they will have a much better sense of how the changes need to be implemented and how success can be measured in the new context.
As we watch leave behind the fall season and head into winter, it’s a good reminder that harvesting talent is the first step, but cultivating leadership is a key to the team’s success. Provide your team members with the time and support they need to tackle challenges and solutions in innovative ways that you may have never imagined!
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