What Is Assimilation Training?
July 23, 2023
If you’ve been exploring options for improving new hire performance, productivity, and retention, you’ve probably stumbled across the idea of assimilation training.
Assimilation training has been leveraged by businesses across industries to improve their recruitment and hiring success, strengthen their leadership and staff, decrease employee churn, and improve overall organizational success.
But what is the purpose of new leader assimilation? What does the process look like? How can your organization ask the right questions, spot the right answers, and create a reliable system for facilitating assimilation?
We’ll explore all of these questions and more in our blog. So read on!
What Is the Assimilation of the New Leader?
Assimilating a new manager is an answer to the most common challenges, obstacles, and pitfalls new hires face. Assimilation aims to eliminate avoidable issues like:
- Poor team dynamics
- A lack of alignment with company culture
- Operational disorganization and dysfunction
- A vague understanding of roles and responsibilities
- Damaged team cohesion, morale, collaboration, and success
Assimilation uses a number of strategies, systems, activities, and exercises to help new hires settle into their position, forge connections with their new peers, subordinates, and superiors, and steadily assume responsibility for their role’s essential tasks and duties.
What Is the Leadership Assimilation Process?
There are five steps in the leadership assimilation process:
- Taking Hold
- Immersion
- Reshaping
- Consolidation
- Refinement
Each of these steps is essential to consider when creating your organization’s unique approach to assimilation. Skip a single step, and your newly hired leaders are more likely to add to your turnover rate than increase your bottom line.
Taking Hold
Taking Hold is the first stage of new manager assimilation. During this stage, new leadership hires will focus their efforts and energies on building key connections, engaging their new team, familiarizing themselves with their tasks and duties, taking leadership training, and settling into their new position.
Immersion
The next stage of assimilation is immersion. Immersion involves diving deep into every aspect of recently hired leaders’ new roles, teams, and companies. At this stage, new leaders will begin identifying problems and forming early solutions.
Reshaping
Reshaping is the third stage of assimilation. Reshaping occurs when new managers begin wielding their position’s power, influence, and authority. They begin making small changes, establishing new policies and priorities, and enhancing your company’s culture.
Consolidation
Consolidation represents a continuation of reshaping. The difference lies in the size and significance of the changes – consolidation brings about more significant and large-scale transformations.
Refinement
The final stage of assimilation is refinement. New leaders in this stage of assimilation are settled into their position, performing well, leading their team effectively, and meeting or exceeding performance expectations. From this stage forward, they will focus on gradually improving their approaches and impact as an effective leader in your organization.
What Questions Should I Ask in New Leader Assimilation?
Asking the right questions is critical for successfully assimilating new leaders.
While you’ll want to develop a codified list of questions that are unique to your company’s needs, culture, goals, and values, there are a few questions every business leader should ask during new leader assimilation.
If you’re responsible for supporting the success of new leaders, make sure you’re asking questions like:
- What would you change?
- What challenges are you experiencing?
- How will you approach conflict within your team?
- Is there anything you need clarification on so far?
- What do you like about our established processes?
- How do you plan to manage and improve your team?
- How would you describe your role in this organization?
- How would you describe our mission, vision, and values?
- What resources, tools, or support do you need to succeed?
- How will you approach establishing credibility and authority?
If you want to read more about “What questions should I ask in new leader assimilation?” read this blog.
What Is the New Leader Integration Plan?
A new leader integration plan is a formalized approach to supporting the performance, productivity, and leadership success of recently hired executives and business leaders.
New leader integration plans to provide a number of benefits to new hires, chief among them the precise definition of:
- Roles
- Expectations
- Responsibilities
- Leadership Structure
- Mission, Priorities, and Goals
- Company Culture, Values, and Vision
New leader integration plans also outline the anticipated timeline, milestones, and success metrics for your company’s assimilation process. This makes it easy to monitor and evaluate
new hires’ progress, as well as provide additional support at the first time of struggle.
What Is the Purpose of New Leader Integration?
New leader integration aims to facilitate the smooth, seamless, and successful transition of recently hired leaders into their new teams and organization. Investing in new leader integration sets the stage for longer leadership tenures, more cohesive, collaborative, engaged teams, and stronger organizational growth.
Build An Impactful Assimilation Process with Medallion Partners
Medallion Partners has been supporting the success of business leaders in essential roles for more than 15 years.
Our industry-leading New Leader Assimilation program has been leveraged by successful organizations in nearly every industry to improve the retention, performance, and productivity of new hires. Contact us today to learn more.