Creating a High Octane Culture - Part 5

Do it right from the beginning.

Have you ever started a job and nothing was prepared for you? Maybe you showed up and your new boss was like "Oh hey, that's right, you start today." And then you sit around most of the day feeling like an ass.

Your desk is not prepared. You can't sign into your computer. You don't even have an e-mail account yet. Maybe you get to sit in on some meetings just because the boss can't think of anything else for you. And you feel like a nuisance.

How special does this make you feel? Not very?

Well unfortunately, that kind of welcome is called "orientation week" at many companies. They wait until you show up to get their act together.

At Next Step, we realize that if you hit the ground running with a newbie and make them feel incredibly welcomed and special from day one, then your chances of success are 1068% better. We researched it and everything.

Ok, no research. We just think it's no brainer.

Here's the formula:
Make someone feel special = they will worker for you and stay forever.

And you thought E = mc2 was ground breaking.

Here are some of the things we do the first couple weeks:

1) Throw a party! We have a company-wide lunch so everyone can meet the newbie.
2) Have her desk completely organized with a key to office, paper, pens, the computer passwords working, e-mail working and a list of everything she'll have to know to navigate the office.
3) Develop an orientation schedule. Newbie sits down not only with HR and gets the standard employee manual orientation, but with each employee individually for at least 15 minutes. Newbie will learn what that person does and also gets to know him/her a bit.
4) CEO takes newbie out to lunch. This is where I get to tell my start-up story. You know, when I bought my first desk at OfficeMax and assembled it in my bedroom and then started making sales calls. In my opinion, the "history of the company" talk creates an appreciation of how we got where we are today. It endears newbie to the company and makes him realize that this is someplace special. Plus he feels special because the CEO bothered to take him to lunch!
5) A "Your Company" Way presentation. I present a Next Step Way PowerPoint to newbies that details what it means to be a Next Step employee. Every company develops its own culture and DNA. We certainly have ours and I am very proud of it. At Next Step, we all know what it means to be a Next Stepper. One doesn't have to ask if it's OK to do something. We all just know if it's a "Next Step" thing to do or not. We have a very distinct culture, and if you're not living it, you'll stick out like a sore thumb.

6) Develop a "how to" manual for newbie's position. We had a new sales person start yesterday and today he will get a copy of "Next Step Sales Boot Camp." It's 24 pages and was written by the managers and me. If newbie has any questions, he can also refer to the manual first.

And of course, he can always come to us. He'll realize that after day one.